Planning vacation for next year

[Stephen King]

Hello all! I have not been down to the world in about 5 years, but we used to make an annual pilgrimage down to the parks every year with our kids for 2 weeks in December. I pretty much had everything down to a science with planning everything. I am sure there are quite a few changes in planning that are happening since then.

The kids are grown now, and my wife and I have taken a couple of visits to Disneyland/CA since. I want to surprise her with a trip back down to the world for our anniversary. (We were married on the Poly beach in a little covert ceremony lol)

I am targeting the time frame when they offer the free dining package in December 2017, likely staying at POR. What I used to do in the past is about a year out I would book the room, then at the 180 day mark make my dining reservations. When they popped up the promo for free dining I would call in and have them modify my reservation for the free dining promo. (I am also a Disney Visa cardholder)

So is this still the best method, or have things changed up a little since then? Any help or strategic ideas are appreciated!

(By the way - I used to be active on the forums a while back under another screen name but can't seem to get access to my old account - so I am starting fresh

 

[Herdman]

Sounds like that should work. One thing I will say is that we are staying at POFQ during Thanksgiving week this year, and we had told our travel agent we would be willing to switch to POR if they offered free dining or room only discounts any days during our stay. We figured POFQ would be excluded as it was, but there was very limited availability at POR. So, my point being, I don't know that you could positively count on getting free dining at POR if that is your absolute choice for your resort.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Sounds like a plan.

One tip: if free dining is released and you have to modify any part of your package to make yourself eligible (meaning you'd have to make the change on the phone and can't do it online), don't waste time on the phone -- just book a new package with free dining online, and then cancel your initial reservation. (*Do this only if you're more than 30 days away from your arrival date, so no cancellation fees would apply.)

We did the same thing this year that you plan to do (booked during a week likely to have free dining, and tried to modify the package once free dining was released). Our TA spent something like 8 hours on hold the day free dining was released, trying to get through to modify packages for several of her clients, including us. By the time she got through, all the free dining slots at our resort were gone.

A couple of weeks later, however, a few extra slots were released. I saw one online and rather than bother trying to have our TA call again and modify our existing package, I simply booked a new package with free dining online, and then had our TA cancel the original reservation and transfer the new one to her to manage. Easy-peasy, and I didn't have to worry that by the time one of us got through on the phone, the rooms would be gone.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Look at what was offered last year to get an idea of what to expect. Free dining was available for December 10-21 arrivals.

Book before the deal is released if you want that 180 + 10 access to dining reservations, but be flexible on dates and resort choice.

Use a travel agent and let them deal with modifying and/or upgrading reservations. It costs you nothing.

 

[carriebeth]

One thing to keep in mind is free dining dates are pretty much shrinking every year it seems and there is no guarantee it will even be offered at all with every year. So if you absolutely must do free dining in order to be able to take your vacation, you might just want to wait till it is announced...if it is announced. Otherwise you could be pretty disappointed not being able to go.

If/when it is announced it is a crazy frenzy. Expect to be on the phone at a super early time in the a.m., get a busy signal for hours and hours, and finally get through only to be on hold for many many hours. Seriously, its crazy.

 

[TXDisney]

Sounds like a good plan just make sure you book FP 60 days out as well

 

[21stamps]

One thing to keep in mind is free dining dates are pretty much shrinking every year it seems and there is no guarantee it will even be offered at all with every year. So if you absolutely must do free dining in order to be able to take your vacation, you might just want to wait till it is announced...if it is announced. Otherwise you could be pretty disappointed not being able to go.

If/when it is announced it is a crazy frenzy. Expect to be on the phone at a super early time in the a.m., get a busy signal for hours and hours, and finally get through only to be on hold for many many hours. Seriously, its crazy.

I may be completely off base, but I think that one reason it is shrinking is because so many people book in advance hoping to get it before it is released.

From a logical standpoint- If the rooms are sold then why would Disney be motivated to offer a discounted package?

OP- with 2 adults check out the room only discount too. My family is a party of 2 and last year the math came out much better (as in over a $1000 savings) with the RO vs FD.

 

[SaltyD]

How romantic!! Keep in mind that December is a high volume time of year and even though free dining may or may not be offered, availability for those packages may be very limited for your desired dates. I'd suggest you decide if you're doing the Anniversary surprise trip regardless, book your trip anyway and just keep fingers crossed for free dining. Then hope for availability, and if none, at least you're booked already!