******Official 2017 Free Dining Plan Watch, Wait, and Dream

[ellbell]

Ugh...This free dining thing is killing me. I am just sitting here waiting day in and day out looking into glow of my monitor! lol

The good news is, if it follows the trend we only have about a month left to wait and most of us have been hanging out here that long already. So yay halfway there.

 

[menotyou21]

Ugh...This free dining thing is killing me. I am just sitting here waiting day in and day out looking into glow of my monitor! lol

Crazy busy day.....yet DISBOARDS FD was on my mind all throughout!!!! This addiction is tough.....

 

[ellbell]

always do CRT!!!!! Where else in America can you eat in a castle? lol

Casa Loma in Toronto.

 

[menotyou21]

Casa Loma in Toronto.

nice.....I guess I meant the US....lol

 

[Neeky78]

You've all fallen asleep on me, haven't you?

 

[JennJ84]

You've all fallen asleep on me, haven't you?

nope. I am here

 

[Neeky78]

Ok, This or That game!

Prime Time 50s or Sci-fi?
Liberty Tree or Diamond Horseshoe?
Crystal Palace or Plaza?
Ohana or 1900 Park and Fare?

Keep in mind we're Australian, so cheesy American is no problem for us. Tourist kitsch it right up our alley! Fingers crossed we get FD so there is not This or That. We just get it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: we're foodies, but for this trip, atmosphere and fun will probably trump the menus. Our daughter will be 12 so is young enough to enjoy the kids stuff, but is fine with doing more grown up stuff too. She's a foodie too but isn't fussy.

 

[JennJ84]

We take our kids to Crystal Palace and 1900 park. I personally love the Prime Time 50s but kids are not interested in that.

 

[Lety S]

A few years ago I was notified that I had a water leak about 30 days before our Disney trip . Sending pixie dust your way!!

The night before our 2015 trip, our sewage pipe clogged and my husband was outside, at 3 a.m. digging, while wearing his pjs! We found out it was a broken clay pipe (our house was built in the 30's) and there was no way we were going to get it fixed before we left the next morning. We just covered the hole and hoped for the best. Needless to say, there was work to be done when we got back two weeks later. Also, a day before our 3 week 2016 WDW/Universal trip, my MIL had a water pipe break and leak. This time my DH tried to patch it up, but it didn't hold up well. We had help and someone went to fix it for us while we were gone.
Sending

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Ok, This or That game!

Prime Time 50s or Sci-fi?
Liberty Tree or Diamond Horseshoe?
Crystal Palace or Plaza?
Ohana or 1900 Park and Fare?

Keep in mind we're Australian, so cheesy American is no problem for us. Tourist kitsch it right up our alley! Fingers crossed we get FD so there is not This or That. We just get it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: we're foodies, but for this trip, atmosphere and fun will probably trump the menus. Our daughter will be 12 so is young enough to enjoy the kids stuff, but is fine with doing more grown up stuff too. She's a foodie too but isn't fussy.

I haven't been to any of these but am planning on Sci Fi, Crystal Palace, and Ohana out of what you've listed. Never really considered LTT or DH because they didn't seem as fun for the kids.

 

[revdisney33]

Ok, This or That game!

Prime Time 50s or Sci-fi?
Liberty Tree or Diamond Horseshoe?
Crystal Palace or Plaza?
Ohana or 1900 Park and Fare?

Keep in mind we're Australian, so cheesy American is no problem for us. Tourist kitsch it right up our alley! Fingers crossed we get FD so there is not This or That. We just get it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: we're foodies, but for this trip, atmosphere and fun will probably trump the menus. Our daughter will be 12 so is young enough to enjoy the kids stuff, but is fine with doing more grown up stuff too. She's a foodie too but isn't fussy.

In my opinion, I would do Prime Time as its a blast and if you play with the servers it's a blast. Liberty Tree is one of my daughter's favorite and chose that for her 10th birthday dinner. Crystal Oalace to me is a rite of passage as its right at then end of Main St USA and seems like a must do at least once. As far as Ohana and 1900.... We like both and hard to compare. 1900 Buffett at either breakfast and dinner is American fare with characters, where Ohana is character in morning but at night a fun night of constant food coming to your table....noodles are awesome. I would also suggest Kona at the Poly for breakfast. Never make a trip without going there. Tonga toast. Yum. Take a look at Boma for a great Buffett also. With this all being said, you will enjoy no matter what. Food isn't always 5 star, but always fun. Enjoy!

 

[zebrastreyepz]

Ok, This or That game!

Prime Time 50s or Sci-fi?
Liberty Tree or Diamond Horseshoe?
Crystal Palace or Plaza?
Ohana or 1900 Park and Fare?

Keep in mind we're Australian, so cheesy American is no problem for us. Tourist kitsch it right up our alley! Fingers crossed we get FD so there is not This or That. We just get it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: we're foodies, but for this trip, atmosphere and fun will probably trump the menus. Our daughter will be 12 so is young enough to enjoy the kids stuff, but is fine with doing more grown up stuff too. She's a foodie too but isn't fussy.

Prime Time
Liberty Tree
Crystal Palace
'Ohana

 

[Neeky78]

In my opinion, I would do Prime Time as its a blast and if you play with the servers it's a blast. Liberty Tree is one of my daughter's favorite and chose that for her 10th birthday dinner. Crystal Oalace to me is a rite of passage as its right at then end of Main St USA and seems like a must do at least once. As far as Ohana and 1900.... We like both and hard to compare. 1900 Buffett at either breakfast and dinner is American fare with characters, where Ohana is character in morning but at night a fun night of constant food coming to your table....noodles are awesome. I would also suggest Kona at the Poly for breakfast. Never make a trip without going there. Tonga toast. Yum. Take a look at Boma for a great Buffett also. With this all being said, you will enjoy no matter what. Food isn't always 5 star, but always fun. Enjoy!

Thanks for that! Sounds about on par with what I was thinking. Hadn't thought of Kona, or anywhere for brekkie as we're usually quick morning eaters and like to get out and about. But it's worth seeing if we can squeeze it in. Thanks.

Saying that, I am going to try and book BOG for brekkie as I like the early entry into the park and understand that's probably the easiest booking for BOG to get.
Might have to save our grey stuff for later in the day tho!

Speaking of which, I have a quirky sense of humour and have considered getting a tshirt printed with "Try the grey stuff...it's tasty!" so I can wear it to BOG to play with the BATB fans' senses of humour.

 

[Attracted to Beasts]

I hope they are held to it! An example I have: 2014 @ Beach Club - I booked 2 standard rooms with 1 adult and 3 kids in each room. I requested connecting rooms. It was my family with 2 cousins, so 2 adults and 6 kids. Our 2nd room was across the hall, not next to or connecting. I get it, but it was annoying. We had only booked 5 months in advance.....so maybe they had no connecting rooms left by that time. We ended up sleeping 6 in one room and 2 in the other. Not ideal, but overall - We had an AWESOME time!

Did you call and specifically request connecting rooms or did you just request them online? The last three years I have been very lucky in getting exactly what I want as far as rooms go. I have called each year and requested-I call the reservation line after I book the reservation then a few days before the trip I call the actual hotel. I call the hotel and ask for bed rails to be placed in the room and then I very nicely add that while I know they a very busy and no requests are guaranteed I just want to double check that they got my request for...whatever I am asking!

 

[revdisney33]

Thanks for that! Sounds about on par with what I was thinking. Hadn't thought of Kona, or anywhere for brekkie as we're usually quick morning eaters and like to get out and about. But it's worth seeing if we can squeeze it in. Thanks.

Saying that, I am going to try and book BOG for brekkie as I like the early entry into the park and understand that's probably the easiest booking for BOG to get.
Might have to save our grey stuff for later in the day tho!

Speaking of which, I have a quirky sense of humour and have considered getting a tshirt printed with "Try the grey stuff...it's tasty!" so I can wear it to BOG to play with the BATB fans' senses of humour.

We don't do breakfast, except for the Kona day. Something quick in the room like you. But we love it there. Have only done BOG for lunch! Get the shirt....Quirky humor is the best!

 

[Neeky78]

We don't do breakfast, except for the Kona day. Something quick in the room like you. But we love it there. Have only done BOG for lunch! Get the shirt....Quirky humor is the best!

My DD 11 just suggested adding a picture of the Genie from Aladdin to the shirt to really mess with people's heads!


I don't know where she gets it from...

 

[Disneylover99]

Last year I had a 1 night room only reservation before my free dining package. I was able to book fast passes at 60 days from room only check in date. You are still limited to the number ticket days you have. I don't know if this has changed but you could do it in September.

I'm wondering if you had any other tickets attached to your MDE that would have enabled you to book that first day. We had a four night room only stay last August and then a FD package with tickets right after. We were not able to book fp's for the first four days until we got there and accessed our tickets.

If you didn't have any other tickets attached, did you have to go to guest services first and activate your tickets?

 

[ustasmom]

Which restaurants need full payment at the time of the reservation? It really stinks to have to pay a couple of thousand for dinner six months away.

 

[DisTXMom]

Which restaurants need full payment at the time of the reservation? It really stinks to have to pay a couple of thousand for dinner six months away.

I believe it's only CRT and the shows- HDDR, SoA, etc. normal restaurants require a credit card to hold the ADR, but it isn't charged. If you were a no-show, you'd be charged.

 

[Neeky78]

Which restaurants need full payment at the time of the reservation? It really stinks to have to pay a couple of thousand for dinner six months away.

Cinderella's Royal Table and the dinner shows like Spirit of Aloha and Hoop Dee Doo require full payment, but you can cancel for a full refund up to midnight the night before. If you have DDP you can use that when you get there and they will refund your credit card.

I guess the positive is you'll have paid it before your holiday so it won't sting as much as being slugged the amount on top of all the other spending you're doing there.

I believe in the past they had so many last minute cancellations and no-shows that the ADR system was useless as people would think the restaurant was all booked out and not bother trying to walk in or get a reservation on the day, meanwhile, lots of people didn't bother showing up and the restaurants had empty tables. The credit card hold, and in the case of popular and 2 TS places like CRT, the full payment makes people less likely to book multiple restaurants so they can decide on the day which one they feel like, or for people to forget or not care they made the ADR.