******Official 2017 Free Dining Plan Watch, Wait, and Dream

[Jellybass]

If you have never done sit downs, definitely. This is our 4th trip with our 12 year old daughters and we have the summer quick serve deal and we are unlikely to switch unless the FD is really good.

 

[tchull]

We are staying at Pop, and considering upgrading, not for value, but for the experience. My brother did it and he said eh, wasn't really worth it, for him, but I'm taking two newbies and I want them to have the best experience.

We are considering an upgrade too if we can get the FD promotion. If we don't get FD, I'll be happy with a standard room at POP and will pay for the TS Dining Plan. With FD, however, we could upgrade to a standard room at CBR for $19.19 more and a pool view for $52.92 more. My only hesitation is the construction at CBR. We are planning a four night/five in early September.

 

[PrincessMommy75]

The TA facebook acct that said FD would drop on 4/17, said for dates in September, late November and early December. Don't know if that was a guess or what...

Do you know what facebook site that was on?

 

[anorman]

We are staying at Pop, and considering upgrading, not for value, but for the experience. My brother did it and he said eh, wasn't really worth it, for him, but I'm taking two newbies and I want them to have the best experience.

Definitely upgrade! The table service experiences that Disney offers really make the vacation that much more special. We have done both the DDP and not. The vacations with the DDP were definitely more magical

 

[pigletto]

That's a great price for bonnet creek. Is that a 1 or 2 bedroom? I've looked on vrbo.com so you use something else?

Skyauction.

 

[Rusty2rules]

Ok, for what it's worth, I just got off the phone with a cast member to help me with a dining reservation (that darn Stitch is eating my page). She expects free dining to be available for my time slot (end of September) when (not if – when) it's released. Take it for it's worth, just thought I'd pass it along.

 

[Sadiemae76]

So, I finalized my spreadsheet and if we don't get FD, we may very well end up off site. This would also mean dropping our number of days at Disney down drastically, since we'll likely hit up the beach and Universal as well.

For our family (2 adults, 2 kids) assuming we can stack the CBR GC compensation (subtracted from totals in these calculations) and need a PH pass for FD for a 7 night stay in September:
1. CBR, FD w/PH, GC $2896
2. POP (or other value), FD w/PH, TS upgrade $3189
3. Off site, 5 day park tickets, no PH, breakfast included at hotel, budget $750 for food; $3070
4. POP, TS DP OOP, no PH $3637
5. CBR, GC, DP OOP, no PH (currently booked) $3697

Looks about like my breakdown. How old are your children? Mine are 14 and 12 so in the "eating as adults catagory "

 

[Gatita78]

For those of you planning on staying at POP or other values, if you get free dining will you leave it as a QS plan? If you plan to upgrade to the DDP is it cost effective to do so or at that point would it be better to just book a mod (assuming one is available)? I want to do at least one character meal. I'll have to do the math but just wondering what others are thinking. We will have 3 Disney adults, one child and one infant.

Do your maths, but I think It would be better for you to book a mod

 

[Elsaalltheway]

I definitely get the experience thing. When we went for our honeymoon, we got the DDP and it was so nice to have that break and sit down to some nice meals. We really enjoyed it. I can see how you would want to show the newbies that part of Disney. This time we will have 3 kids in tow and one of them will be under two, so I'm not so sure sit down is the way to go, haha!

Either we go all the way up or we do two meals out of pocket. We already have reservations at Boathouse and dinner at Ohana's. So I'm letting them each pick one more place and then I'll chose the differences. I think since we are all 38 and older, only one character meal would be necessary. I'm leaning towards Tusker House.

 

[babydoll65]

For two adults and one kid, yes that would be the cost to upgrade from regular DDP to DxDDP, but it is per NIGHT of stay, not days you play.

Lol, just realized what I put. I know it's per night, thank you

 

[scard192]

Kind of off topic, and I didn't catch up on the pages I missed so not sure if it was mentioned yet, I recieved an email from Visa today. To summarize, Disney Visa cardholders get an additional 3% rewards dollars through end of summer on some purchases for a total of 4% (I have the regular card, the one with no annual fee). Didn't read through the details yet just wanted to give a heads up in case it goes into some of your spam folders.

I just went and looked and I got the e-mail. I will register when I get home. Looks like I can put my cable package as well as insurance and cell phone too!

 

[Azjenn]

Ok, for what it's worth, I just got off the phone with a cast member to help me with a dining reservation (that darn Stitch is eating my page). She expects free dining to be available for my time slot (end of September) when (not if – when) it's released. Take it for it's worth, just thought I'd pass it along.

Please oh please let this be a cast member that actually knows what they are talking about

 

[Elsaalltheway]

We are considering an upgrade too if we can get the FD promotion. If we don't get FD, I'll be happy with a standard room at POP and will pay for the TS Dining Plan. With FD, however, we could upgrade to a standard room at CBR for $19.19 more and a pool view for $52.92 more. My only hesitation is the construction at CBR. We are planning a four night/five in early September.

I just did the math. I didn't see any rooms at CBR open for my time in early to mid sept. But even upgrading would still put us cheaper then the POFQ and that is the cheapest Mod available, and I know that is not going to be on this years FD. So I'll stick with the bounce back and probably upgrade.

 

[ustasmom]

right, I understand that, but I was under the impression that we couldn't separate our package to just upgrade 2 tickets. We either have to upgrade all tickets or no tickets (and then we can upgrade individual ones once we get there at guest services).

Please do tell me if there's a way to do it otherwise! That would be ideal for me anyway to upgrade before we go.

I am hoping for free dining but I have AP already so those tickets will just sit. If it is all or nothing you can always just buy one AP and have them drop the priority on the one minimum ticket to the bottom. Then you have $250 toward another ticket sometime in the future.

 

[babydoll65]

For those of you planning on staying at POP or other values, if you get free dining will you leave it as a QS plan? If you plan to upgrade to the DDP is it cost effective to do so or at that point would it be better to just book a mod (assuming one is available)? I want to do at least one character meal. I'll have to do the math but just wondering what others are thinking. We will have 3 Disney adults, one child and one infant.

In your case it would be cheaper to go to a moderate than upgrade the dining plan. Would cost 125$ per night for you to upgrade the dining plan at pop

 

[Elsaalltheway]

Definitely upgrade! The table service experiences that Disney offers really make the vacation that much more special. We have done both the DDP and not. The vacations with the DDP were definitely more magical

I totally get this, the only problem is that with all the scheduling one of the party might be breaking off at lunch each day. That would put a little more pressure on everybody to stay together.

 

[babydoll65]

I'm sorry I know this has been answered already but I can't find it. How much is it to upgrade from QS to regular dining plan for an adult?

It's 37$ per adult per night

 

[Sailormoon2]

regular TS and QS? Thanks!

Anyone (adults too) can order a "kids" meal from a QS location. I have never tried at TS, but will go out on a limb and assume "No", unless you have a really awesome server.

 

[stitchfan75]

The TA facebook acct that said FD would drop on 4/17, said for dates in September, late November and early December. Don't know if that was a guess or what...

That is the same months they historically offer. Expect the week of Thanksgiving to be blacked out. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't include values, it's all about occupancy and the AS resorts are having no problem staying full. Each year they put more restrictions on the offer. For new people...it's not like a RO that they just apply to your reservation. You literally have perform a chicken sacrifice, promise your first born, and dance in the pale moonlight (kidding...maybe...). The year we got FD, we you had to book a park hopper or WPAM, plus it had to be a certain amount of days and certain times. We initially wanted CBR, ended up at AKL. The day we booked I had a previous reservation that had to be canceled, it took all day for my TA to find a room that was during our dates and had FD. A few weeks later a room for POP came available but we passed.
Here are the rules:
1. You HAVE to be up when it drops if you want the best shot in getting the dates you need.
2. You have to be flexible with either your dates or where you want to stay.
3. The website will crash...it's a given, and phone lines will be an hour plus wait...also a given.

 

[ustasmom]

Anyone (adults too) can order a "kids" meal from a QS location. I have never tried at TS, but will go out on a limb and assume "No", unless you have a really awesome server.

We've never had the dining plan. I have Tables in Wonderland and an AP. So we were getting discounts on some QS which was nice. We typically only do kids' meals, both QS and TS. If you are paying OOP, they don't much care how you order. We just don't do any buffets as my people just can't eat enough to make it cost effective.