ADR and Free Dining

[ggauthier82]

Hi everyone, I am new here and I have a few questions. I hope I am posting in the right place.

We are planning a trip to DW in August 2011, family of 4, maybe 5 if my mother decides to come with us. I am anxiously waiting to see if Disney will offer free dining plans starting mid-August as they have in previous years. We had taken advantage of this deal in 2009. I assume these will be announced in April...

Now I just learned that ADR can now be made 180 days ahead, instead of 90 days ahead as was the case in 09. That would mean that we would have the make reservations starting Feb. 16th.

I know we can book now and apply discounts such as free dining later when they are announced, but we don't know where we'll be staying yet, depending on whether or not my mother is coming (All-Star Movies if she isn't, POR if she is). Would it make sense to reserve for one and then switch to the other if my mom comes? I heard we could upgrade from Quick-Service to Regular if we go to a value resort. Is this still true?

Also, does anyone think they won't be offering free dining this year? I know there are some room discounts available now for mid-August, I'm wondering if I should book using these discounts in case the free dining isn't offered this year (I know I can't have both), and I would have to book before March 27th.

And if I do wait until they are announced in April, will I be still be able to make ADR or will it be too late and we'll be stuck with limited restaurants at odd hours?

I hope someone has some insight for me, I'm not sure what I should do, and we want to save as much $$ as possible.

Thank you all for your precious help! :animwink:

 

[slappy magoo]

First of all, welcome to the boards.

The main sponsor of these boards is a Disney-specialized travel company called Kingdom Konsultants. I'd say, give them a call, and they'll steer you to the right trip, AND rebook your trip when/if a better deal comes along. They work on a commission that comes from Disney, NOT from you, so there is no fee you have to pay for their services.

 

[Courtney1188]

Disney actually already offered the free dining plan for that time next year, I booked it back in December for our upcoming September trip. I believe they stopped offering it on December 20th. But maybe it will show back up.

 

[ggauthier82]

I know it was offered before, but we decided we are going a few weeks ago so we were too late. I sure hope it's not too late...

 

[accord99cutie]

I would suggest booking now with a room discount, at whichever resort you would rather end up with, in this case, Id book at the mod resort with a room rate. That way if mom decides to go, you have enough room. Plus, if free dining comes out, you can switch ressies at that point, and either hope for the same resort with free dining, or move if it is not available for your resort.

 

[Monty]

Book a room now. Use the confirmation number to get the 180+10 window for booking ADRs. You can book up to 10 days' ADRs right when you reach 180 days from check-in.

Sort the rest out when you know.

 

[ggauthier82]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will start thinking about where we want to eat and I will probably book the POR. I just hope they have free dining, it would save us a lot more money than just the room discount!

 

[AJScooch]

As Courtney said, they already offered the free dining for August and the promotion ended on December 20th. I booked POFQ with the free dining for that time. Also be aware that it looks like you are thinking that Disney will do the free dining as of 8/15, which is what they had done in the past. This year the free dining didn't start until 8/19. I don't know if this makes much of a difference for you but it did a little for us because we are both teachers and wanted to have about a week home before going back to work. Last year we stayed for 12 nights and were hoping to do that again but may have to cut it back to 10 nights in order to be home when we want to.

As other posters have said, book with the room only discounts, which starts on 8/14, and if they re-release the free dining, you can change your reservation to that. Also, depending on where you stay, you may find that the room discount plus paying for the dining plan is cheaper than the free dining offer. We have found that to be true for some of the resorts, especially the deluxe and deluxe villa resorts. The prices on the moderates seem to be pretty close.

Good luck.

 

[mickeysshoes]

We will be there the same time and when we first booked it was with the free dinning and then when the room discount came out i called and found out it was a better deal then the FD...so they changed it and saved me over $400. But it all depends on what level resort you will staying in.

 

[ggauthier82]

Hmmm... so far the best deal I could find was the Kids Stay and Play Free, which saved us about 500$, but the free dining would save the 4 of us about 1200$, does that sound right? I would have to calculate again but I am pretty sure the free dining would be a better deal. I will calculate everything tonight.

As no one seems to be positive that I will get another chance at free dining, I am definitely going to book with a deal before time is up. We can't afford to go at full price!!

 

[ggauthier82]

Also be aware that it looks like you are thinking that Disney will do the free dining as of 8/15, which is what they had done in the past. This year the free dining didn't start until 8/19.

Thanks for the information. I assumed it would be 8/15 because the Kids Stay and Play Free deal starts on 8/15 if I'm not mistaking. If that's the case, maybe I will be able to get the free kids' deal for part of my trip and free dining for the remaining part (if they do have FD again)? I would probably have to book 2 packages in that case, right?

Ahhh this is getting so complicated!! Why didn't we decide this back in December!!! It's very frustrating!

 

[ggauthier82]

Well, I just called Disney's reservation number with a few questions, and the agent told me that there are very little chances that the free dining plans will be offered again for August 2011. I'm very disappointed, I calculated every option, and with the room discounts and the kids play free offers, and our vacation will cost us at least 500$ more than if we had been able to take advantage of the free dining. That's a real bummer.

 

[Mukta]

Don't be discouraged. Disney reservation agents don't know everything.
I second Slappy's recommendation. Call Kingdon Konsultants. They will do a great job of finding discounts for you.

http://www.kingdomkonsultant.com/

 

[Monty]

Well, I just called Disney's reservation number with a few questions, and the agent told me that there are very little chances that the free dining plans will be offered again for August 2011. I'm very disappointed, I calculated every option, and with the room discounts and the kids play free offers, and our vacation will cost us at least 500$ more than if we had been able to take advantage of the free dining. That's a real bummer.

The CMs at Disney Reservations don't ever know what programs are coming in future until they are briefed, usually the morning of the announcement. The "agent" you were talking to would have no way of knowing. Iger made comments about cutting back on discounts, perhaps that is what prompted the thinking, but none of the cutbacks have been seen as yet...

The more experienced CMs will simply say they are not aware of any plans to have the free dining.

 

[ggauthier82]

Thanks for that, I am still hoping something better comes up. At least our package is booked so we'll have some sort of discount. 197 days to go....