New free dining offer for Fall - anyone has details?

[mdcpr]

Hi - just read that there’s a free dining offer for Fall. Anyone knows where I can find more details? What I don’t understand is that this ‘free dining ‘ would be $885 more than my present reservation at a Deluxe. I’m trying to find out what covers. My ADRs at the moment are Cinderella’s table (already pre-paid), Be Our Guest and the River of Light dining package at Tusker House.

Thank you!

 

[Bronson55]

I see all kinds of information about these new offerings everywhere but an official Disney site.

 

[jrogue]

I see all kinds of information about these new offerings everywhere but an official Disney site.

It's on the official sites under special offers

 

[Dave B]

Hi - just read that there’s a free dining offer for Fall. Anyone knows where I can find more details? What I don’t understand is that this ‘free dining ‘ would be $885 more than my present reservation at a Deluxe. I’m trying to find out what covers. My ADRs at the moment are Cinderella’s table (already pre-paid), Be Our Guest and the River of Light dining package at Tusker House.

Thank you!

What is your original deal you booked, its hard to tell without knowing the specifics of what you already booked, what deal, how long, where at?

 

[mdcpr]

What is your original deal you booked, its hard to tell without knowing the specifics of what you already booked, what deal, how long, where at?

Room and park hopper tickets at Deluxe resort for Thanksgiving week.

 

[Dave B]

Room and park hopper tickets at Deluxe resort for Thanksgiving week.

And do you have the dining plan or free dining currently?

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

There are tools to determine the net value of free dining, such as https://magicguides.com/disney-dining-plan-calculator/.

Seems pretty straight forward, if you're going to eat more than $885 worth of food the free dining will save you money.

You might also choose to get free dining and eat more table service meals than you had planned. It can be fun to use free dining as a means to eat more nice meals than you would have otherwise, but it's also a lot of food. It can very much be overkill for some people.

Is a discount even a possibility for you during Thanksgiving week?

 

[Dave B]

There are tools to determine the net value of free dining, such as https://magicguides.com/disney-dining-plan-calculator/.

Seems pretty straight forward, if you're going to eat more than $885 worth of food the free dining will save you money.

You might also choose to get free dining and eat more table service meals than you had planned. It can be fun to use free dining as a means to eat more nice meals than you would have otherwise, but it's also a lot of food. It can very much be overkill for some people.

Is a discount even a possibility for you during Thanksgiving week?

Thanksgiving is available, crazy

 

[Bronson55]

It's on the official sites under special offers

Thank you for the reply. Been doing this for years and that,s exactly where I had been looking. Nothing this morning but I checked again a few mintes ago and bingo ! Thought I was losing it. Must have been some kind of delay. Thanks again, I appreciate your help.
...update, in case anyone else is having this problem, I found out it isn't showing using google chrome but is when using firefox. Not sure why but that was my problem.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Thanksgiving is available, crazy

Last year:

8/20/18-12/23/18​

8/20/18-12/23/18 - Free Dining for general public (blacked out 9/30-11/23, 11/28-12/6)

This year:
Available for most check-in dates 9/1/19 – 9/18/19, 11/17/19 – 11/27/19 and 12/8/19 – 12/23/19.

Not too different I guess.

 

[mdcpr]

And do you have the dining plan or free dining currently?

I don’t have the dining plan yet, but this ‘free’ dining looks like it would be $885 more than what I have now.

 

[NYwdwfan]

I don’t have the dining plan yet, but this ‘free’ dining looks like it would be $885 more than what I have now.

Right - because you pay rack rate for the hotel to get free dining. What you have now doesn't include food so you need to determine if you are going to eat more than $885 of food like @Wendy Pleakley said.

 

[Dave B]

Last year:

8/20/18-12/23/18​

8/20/18-12/23/18 - Free Dining for general public (blacked out 9/30-11/23, 11/28-12/6)

This year:
Available for most check-in dates 9/1/19 – 9/18/19, 11/17/19 – 11/27/19 and 12/8/19 – 12/23/19.

Not too different I guess.

Except Thanksgiving is a week later this year than last for some reason

 

[Dave B]

I don’t have the dining plan yet, but this ‘free’ dining looks like it would be $885 more than what I have now.

for how many guest? $885 for 4 people is only $220 a person, that's not bad at all, especially for a weeks worth of food

 

[jrogue]

Thank you for the reply. Been doing this for years and that,s exactly where I had been looking. Nothing this morning but I checked again a few mintes ago and bingo ! Thought I was losing it. Must have been some kind of delay. Thanks again, I appreciate your help.
...update, in case anyone else is having this problem, I found out it isn't showing using google chrome but is when using firefox. Not sure why but that was my problem.

Could have been a cache thing where your browser was still storing the old info. Glad the new stuff popped up for you!

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Pay attention to the number of dining credits you'd get vs. how many you'd use as well.

Cinderella's Table takes two credits, which is worth $60 per adult. It may seem like a good deal, but you could get better value for free dining if you paid $38 for an entree elsewhere, for example.

 

[Dave B]

Pay attention to the number of dining credits you'd get vs. how many you'd use as well.

Cinderella's Table takes two credits, which is worth $60 per adult. It may seem like a good deal, but you could get better value for free dining if you paid $38 for an entree elsewhere, for example.

But if she wanted to eat somewhere else, she would not have booked Cinderella's Castle

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

But if she wanted to eat somewhere else, she would not have booked Cinderella's Castle

For sure, but it's part of the decision whether or not to use free dining.

If paying for the plan, doing mostly 2 credit buffets would probably be a waste of money. With free dining, it's less of a benefit but might still be a net positive (using that $885 benchmark).

She might also consider paying for Cinderella out of pocket and using free dining for other meals. If that's feasible, free dining becomes more valuable.

 

[DisneyGigi]

As someone that has done free dining 6 or 7 different times since 2007 ( it was better then) you have to look at where you are going to eat and how much- when it comes to staying at a deluxe. I don’t know the length of your stay but the dining plan, if you pay for it, was around 75 bucks an adult- 10 and up, I think (full table service) last time we purchased it in November. Refillable mugs included too. We can’t eat cheaper than we can buy the dining plan if we are doing a table service each day. With APs it still worked out cheaper for us to buy it. Yes, room rate is rack rate, but if dining is your thing, free dining works out better sometimes. Run your numbers, look at your plans and menus, costs and see which works out best. There are tons of places just as good, that are 1 credit. I hate wasting 2 credits and if we want to do one, whether we paid or got it “free” we usually pay out of pocket for the 2 credit. Good luck, and run it every way you can, to see which works out best for your family.