CSR free dining?

[Katie Bain]

Hello. I always lurk on these forums but I can't find an answer I need!

My boyfriend and I are planning a 6 day trip to WDW in September. This is the longest trip I have taken at Disney world so I am trying to make it special. I have heard good things about the Disney Dining Plan. I like the idea of paying up front for all my dining. It will allow one less stress of the entire trip.
I have heard that Disney does free dining during the fall as a promotion to vacation packages. My question is, is it still worth it even if CSR is going to be under construction? Has anyone ever taken advantage of the free dining and how did you enjoy it. After hearing the massive construction on CBR I changed my mind from that resort.
Originally I had planned on staying at AoA in the little mermaid room but the fact that we are 22 and 25 maybe being completely surrounded by kids and Disney characters may not be the best decision. I also just had the Quick service dining plan planned for AoA because I have heard that the free dining plan excludes the little mermaid rooms.
I need help guys and I hope that you guys can help. This vacation is going to be very ...special (; but i am all about a great deal.

 

[Spectro]

Csr usually has free dining in September. The free dining promotion was on again for U.K. Guests to book last year for this years stays, so it's possible it may be on again this year for USA. I would imagine that with the construction at resorts it will entice guests to fill the rooms during a quieter time of year.

 

[BigRedDad]

Different resorts get the free dining when it does come out. You have to decide for yourself which resort to go to when and if it comes out. CSR is under construction as well so you won't avoid that.

 

[LeighM]

You would really need to do the math because some people don't save money on free dining and you would lose out on the room discounts by getting the dining plan. It might be better cost wise to get a good discount on the room and pay out of pocket for the food. Personally, my husband and I always managed to save money on the dining plan and loved it when we had free dining. We also liked the convenience of having everything prepaid (except for tip). We do the regular dining plan and it's just enough food for us and we would eat at places we typically wouldn't paying out of pocket. Plus, using the snack credits at the Food & Wine kiosks worked out really well. We've always stayed at POR and got free dining there for 2 of our stays. Because we find the humidity unpleasant in the fall, we spend a lot of time at our resort midday to rest and take a nap (we're in our 30s but that humidity can kick my butt!!). I'm not sure if I would want to stay near a lot of construction noise and it's hard to say what CSR will be like during your trip. One other thing to consider is renting DVC points and staying at a deluxe to make it really special. You can get some deluxe rooms for the same cost as a moderate. I would rather do that and pay for food out of pocket because of all of the construction at the moderates.

 

[MickeyMomV]

When they have construction going on there is usually a little inconvenience involved but Disney does good trying to hide it and not make it too intrusive. Another way to look at it is if they are redoing rooms then there will be less guests there and the food court and transportation will be less crowded.

As for the dining plan - Free is not always free. You do have to forgo room discounts and you will more than likely have to get park hoppers. For the room only discount, if you are staying Mod that is usually 20% off. Average mod night is about $250, so over 5 nights you will save about $250 with the room discount and the part hoppers will cost you another $150. So that comes out to about $200/person over 5 nights. If you think you will spend more than $200/person in food than Free dining is the way to go. For us we always get the park hoppers anyway so we would split the $250 between 3 people and I know we would spend way more than $85/person on food over 5 nights.

 

[TheOrangeBird01]

Free Dining in my eyes is Disney's best promotion. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT IF YOU CAN. Dates should be announced relatively soon (Summer I believe).

 

[Chaset24]

I had read somewhere that they may annouce some of the Free DDP offer dates around the end of March. Also, by doing some research it appears that the dates attached to the offers are getting earlier and earlier each year. Here is a link with more details: http://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-world-free-dining-dates/... I check this link every week, as it is updated every time new information is available.