Buy park tickets now or wait for fall special offer?

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Hope I'm posting in the right place.

We are doing 10 nights Nov 28-Dec 8, 2017, likely at POR. Hoping for a free dining special offer to come out sometime next month, which is what seems to have happened historically.

There is currently a 25% off tickets deal for Canadians. It's actually a really good deal and runs until May 20. I don't want to miss it. But, if I buy my park tickets now, separate from the package with dining, will that make me ineligible for the package? Or will they "honour" my pre-purchased tickets when I buy the package?
 

Victaman

Active Member
I know, in the past, when we already had our room reserved and tickets purchased we were able to call and add on the free dining package once it was announced. Although the tickets were purchased through Disney. When you mention the discount for Canadians you didn't indicate if that was a discount offered by Disney or if it was through a third party. That might make a difference.
 
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21stamps

Well-Known Member
Just FYI- those dates were excluded from free dining last year. and most of the resorts were not discounted for at least part of those specific days.
I was there 11/25-12/4. Only 5 of my 9 nights were discounted- because I purchased an AP. You can work with it- I had 2 reservations at the same resort, I did this to be able to get the discount afterwards.. so, first night was full price, next 5 were discounted, then we had to switch resorts due to availability- those 3 nights were non discounted at the second resort. So definitely play with the dates when discounts come out!
You can "check out/check in" at same resort without moving your room. If your check in date falls before a discount offer.
 
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officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I know, in the past, when we already had our room reserved and tickets purchased we were able to call and add on the free dining package once it was announced. Although the tickets were purchased through Disney. When you mention the discount for Canadians you didn't indicate if that was a discount offered by Disney or if it was through a third party. That might make a difference.
Thanks! That's what I was wondering.

The Canadian offer is through Disney.
 
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Thanks! That's what I was wondering.

The Canadian offer is through Disney.

Are the tickets part of a package? Unless I'm mistaken, you have to buy the tickets with the package to be eligible. You would not be able to buy the tickets separately and link them to a free dining package.

As others have said however, since your dates are not during the time free dining has been offered historically, you might not be eligible anyways.

If free dining is announced, it should happen before May 20, so you will have time to decide.
 
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MightyMouse

Well-Known Member
As a Cdn I had looked into this once the offer was announced. I had already purchased my package and questioned if I would now be eligible for the new Cdn offer. I was told the offer is for park tickets only and is not eligible for any other package deals.
 
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Minnie Mum

Well-Known Member
There are rumors on a couple of Disney fan blogs that the FD offer will be coming out earlier this year (late Mar/early Apr). We'll see if that happens.

IMO, you might be better off buying the discounted tickets and then getting the RO discount on your resort room (these offers usually come out at the same time as the FD offer). You'd have to do the math, but the ticket discount (25%) plus the room discount (20 - 25%) may be better than free dining, depending on how your family prefers to dine. It would certainly be a no brainer for our family.
 
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Greg H

Active Member
There are rumors on a couple of Disney fan blogs that the FD offer will be coming out earlier this year (late Mar/early Apr). We'll see if that happens.

IMO, you might be better off buying the discounted tickets and then getting the RO discount on your resort room (these offers usually come out at the same time as the FD offer). You'd have to do the math, but the ticket discount (25%) plus the room discount (20 - 25%) may be better than free dining, depending on how your family prefers to dine. It would certainly be a no brainer for our family.

We are in a similar situation and are just waiting on any potential fall offers as opposed to purchasing the Canadian tickets now. The deal is supposed to last until May so you should have lots of time to make a decision following any additional offers coming out for the fall. Also, the Canadian ticket offer is actually better than 25%. I believe it is more like 35%. I doubt that Disney would allow for this Canadian ticket offer to be combined with a free dining offer, but who knows. There is lots of talk here in Canada about people avoiding cross border travel but I do not know if that is actually playing out in the stats. Our dollar is still sitting around .75 as well so hopefully Disney will be aggressive with offers, but who knows :)
 
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