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

[sharonabe]

Did you see this prediction from the dad site about the end of free dining?

Now, he admittedly says he doesn't really know, but I'm intrigued when he says there's been no rumblings of free dining. Does anyone with more experience than me know if this is true?

http://www.dadsguidetowdw.com/did-it-finally-happen-is-free-dining-finally-dead.html?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=Dad's Guide to WDW

In some respects this makes sense. A completely new discount that isn't as good as FD is probably in the works for the near future. It may not be this year, but I would expect soon. Dad isn't the only one who's been saying Disney is trying to get rid of FD.

I think Disney will keep the bounceback FD for now just to entice it's guests back and get their money a year ahead of time. It becomes something like a loyalty reward.

 

[Neeky78]

I'm American so I don't know what cheesy American is. I guess my normal? Bahahaha!!!!

Primetime
Haven't been to either (have never seen diamond horseshoe come up? Is this seasonal, now I have to go look.)
Crystal Palace
Ohana for breakfast! The best.

Cheesy American is your equivalent of our "hug a koala, swim at Bondi Beach, eat vegemite, get bitten by a spider".

Stuff that is a rite of passage for visitors, but usually snubbed by locals who see it all as passe.

So for us, a Thanksgiving style meal served by Pilgrims would be awesome, but perhaps too cheesy for American residents to consider as a dining option.

And, yep, Diamond Horsehoe is a temporary dining place (only found that out yesterday after I'd posted my This or Thats). It's behind Liberty Tav and they share a kitchen and the menu seems very similar - family style serving of food.

 

[Nagy3girls]

If there is no FD for your dates, where do you want to stay? Just because you have a room now doesn't mean you will get to keep that room with FD. If there are no more POR garden views for your dates now, chances are there won't be any for FD, including the one you have.

My dates are Aug. 21-Sept.4. We'll keep our reservation and stay at POR with no FD if we can't get FD for our dates, but will try for BC if FD is available and POR has no availability. Should I book BC garden view now as a second reservation just in case?

 

[pigletto]

I find the dad site garbage. All it is is one giant advertisement for the travel agency he endorses. When I did subscribe every email was just something telling me to buy his stuff or use his travel agent.

And there was no rumbling this time last year yet either . He could be right , but even a clock is right twice a day .

 

[Neeky78]

Believe me, I tried! Haha. My 9yo would be up for anything but not without his brother. They're attached at the hip. I'm taking one night where no one wants to go back out and hitting a park by myself. I'm either wandering MK or Epcots WS. Epcot may win because I can just walk back to the resort.

Which resort are you at? I was wondering about walking to the parks. We're big walkers and have no problem walking 30/45 mins to get to a park rather than sit on a bus for an hour.

We're booked at CBR. Is that walking distance to anything?
We may possibly change to Coronado depending on FD. Is that walkable to anywhere?

 

[KimBean]

Cheesy American is your equivalent of our "hug a koala, swim at Bondi Beach, eat vegemite, get bitten by a spider".

Stuff that is a rite of passage for visitors, but usually snubbed by locals who see it all as passe.

So for us, a Thanksgiving style meal served by Pilgrims would be awesome, but perhaps too cheesy for American residents to consider as a dining option.

And, yep, Diamond Horsehoe is a temporary dining place (only found that out yesterday after I'd posted my This or Thats). It's behind Liberty Tav and they share a kitchen and the menu seems very similar - family style serving of food.

Thanks for letting me know! I get it now.

 

[KimBean]

Which resort are you at? I was wondering about walking to the parks. We're big walkers and have no problem walking 30/45 mins to get to a park rather than sit on a bus for an hour.

We're booked at CBR. Is that walking distance to anything?
We may possibly change to Coronado depending on FD. Is that walkable to anywhere?

Google tells me it isn't walkable. Maybe not a path? 4 miles it says from Caribbean Beach to Magic kingdom.

Coronado is 3 miles.

 

[KimBean]

Oops. My mistake.


PS I'm getting ansy. I've been playing with multiple resorts and sets of dates to compare prices. I need to start making spreadsheets like you pros.

I have a spreadsheet! Lol. I think though that pretty much all it told me is to get ASMu as early as available (nov-dec.)

 

[KimBean]

We have decided we are going regardless of free dining out not so that had taken some pressure off. I really hope there is a room discount if they don't offer free dining or it's going to be tough.

Agreed. We are going either way as well but I need a discount of some kind.

 

[sharonabe]

Which resort are you at? I was wondering about walking to the parks. We're big walkers and have no problem walking 30/45 mins to get to a park rather than sit on a bus for an hour.

We're booked at CBR. Is that walking distance to anything?
We may possibly change to Coronado depending on FD. Is that walkable to anywhere?

Neither one of those are walkable to anywhere. If you want to walk to any park, you need an EP resort (Boardwalk Inn, BEach Club, Yacht Club) and you can walk to EP and HS. You could also do Contemporary and walk to MK. Otherwise, you're not walking to any parks. It's just not set up that way. It is not safe!

 

[wildboyzmommy]

Ok, This or That game!

Prime Time 50s or Sci-fi?

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My boys (3 teens) and I went to Sci-Fi and loved it. I am totally into the cheeze (yes, so much so that I spell it with a z). We loved the movie previews and even had to look up a few on imdb to make sure they were real movies. Next time we go I want to check out Prime Time!

 

[tinkpower]

Agreed. We are going either way as well but I need a discount of some kind.

It looks like for August and September the last couple of years has been 20-30%. But the were more discounts in general in 2015 than 2016. The preschool onewould be good for us. But we are staying at POR and I think it got less of a discount than other mods. Can anyone confirm that?

 

[teedee]

So guess no rumors yet means this isn't happening tomorrow night/ Monday morning. So we have probably at least 1 more week. I'm sick and have nothing better to do then stare at this board. Lol.

I'm glad I'm retired. I can, and do stalk these boards daily. While I'll be thrilled when free dining drops, I'll really miss this thread!

Terri

 

[jods]

Which resort are you at? I was wondering about walking to the parks. We're big walkers and have no problem walking 30/45 mins to get to a park rather than sit on a bus for an hour.

We're booked at CBR. Is that walking distance to anything?
We may possibly change to Coronado depending on FD. Is that walkable to anywhere?

We're staying at the BC. Last year we had an adr there and dh made us take the boat from epcot. Walking is quicker! I don't think you can walk to any parks from your resort.

 

[itsjustryan]

I find the dad site garbage. All it is is one giant advertisement for the travel agency he endorses. When I did subscribe every email was just something telling me to buy his stuff or use his travel agent.

I Agree.

The end where he says let my friends at .... worry about all that stuff, makes the first part of the post seem like a setup to push subscribers to his agent.

I will say I find some stuff in his site useful.

 

[krisfan]

No FD no disney resort for me.. in off season we definitely get very good off site resorts around 100.. last year i got vistana villages one bedroom with full kitchen for 90 with tax...

 

[Sharongal74]

I think last year there was some rumblings a week and a half before FD dropped. But nothing like the weekend before it really came out. And dad does say that every year. I do wonder with all the construction if that will make a difference, add in pandora. Then toy story land and Star Wars will bring people in. I hope they don't stop it. We have always gone during free dining. Hopefully there will be chatter this week!

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

I Agree.

The end where he says let my friends at .... worry about all that stuff, makes the first part of the post seem like a setup to push subscribers to his agent.

I will say I find some stuff in his site useful.

His predictions don't mean much as he has admitted he has no inside info, some info he shares is good insight but.....we have sources that contribute to this thread that have proven themselves time and time again.

 

[Neeky78]

If you're using the dining plan and want to free up a TS credit, you can also get Tonga Toast at Captin Cook's and use a QS credit.

Ooh, nice tip!
What is Tonga Toast? I'm picturing thick toast with butter and a drizzle of condensed milk or something? I could Google it, but I'd rather hear from you guys about it!

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

Ooh, nice tip!
What is Tonga Toast? I'm picturing thick toast with butter and a drizzle of condensed milk or something? I could Google it, but I'd rather hear from you guys about it!

Tonga Toast=AWESOME