2016 Free Dining Watch

[RedWolf95]

Once I hear something, this is where I will be posting the info.

Dirty Steve, You called it last year so definitely looking forward to any news you can get

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

I'm following along to quietly cheer everyone on! We got FD last year for December and it was great! I am hoping to pop back in to WDW for a quick trip this summer but we all won't be back until 2017. It's a little early to be watching for FD for 2017, but the FD watch thread has become one of my favorites. Good luck everyone! Wishing you lots of Pixie Dust!

This is me too, I'm following to support everyone and join in the excitement! We already have our free dining BounceBack booked, but I'm wishing the best to everyone! Normally we are in the craziness but got to do our first BB deal this time, we normally cannot as we don't usually go back to back years.

 

[jmbarnes101]

Sorry, this is my first post and I'm not used to the abbreviations yet. I'm taking my DD's this year, will be 13 and 10 at time of visit and last visit was when my youngest was three weeks old, and my sister and her family are going. We're hoping for 6 night FD in November at either the POP, All-Star, or CB. If staying at one of the value resorts does it make sense to upgrade to the regular DP or is it generally cheaper to stay at the moderate resort?

My youngest likely won't eat anything off the adult menu, except at a buffet or something like HDD, can I say she was 9 or can I pay for a kid's meal out of pocket for her and and my oldest DD and I use them as extras for a signature dinner?

Thanks everyone.

 

[mandis77]

Sorry, this is my first post and I'm not used to the abbreviations yet. I'm taking my DD's this year, will be 13 and 10 at time of visit and last visit was when my youngest was three weeks old, and my sister and her family are going. We're hoping for 6 night FD in November at either the POP, All-Star, or CB. If staying at one of the value resorts does it make sense to upgrade to the regular DP or is it generally cheaper to stay at the moderate resort?

My youngest likely won't eat anything off the adult menu, except at a buffet or something like HDD, can I say she was 9 or can I pay for a kid's meal out of pocket for her and and my oldest DD and I use them as extras for a signature dinner?

Thanks everyone.

When I ran my numbers I found it was roughly $500 more to stay in moderate with DDP vs. staying at a value with the upgraded plan.

 

[RedWolf95]

This is me too, I'm following to support everyone and join in the excitement! We already have our free dining BounceBack booked, but I'm wishing the best to everyone! Normally we are in the craziness but got to do our first BB deal this time, we normally cannot as we don't usually go back to back years.

I wish we could have done the bounceback, but it always seems to only be for September and we've been going later October/Early November. Oh well I guess I should be happy that they have continued to offer FD in late fall, hopefully they will this year as well.

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

I wish we could have done the bounceback, but it always seems to only be for September and we've been going later October/Early November. Oh well I guess I should be happy that they have continued to offer FD in late fall, hopefully they will this year as well.

Yes, we like to go late October but that time being offered seems to be less and less and non-existent this year with the BB. We did last day of September, first week of October last year as that was when family wanted to go. And this year, DH and I made use of the BB when we were down there last year, and of course October was not on it. I'm hoping we like September for the lower crowds, but I'm dreading the heat!

 

[RedWolf95]

Sorry, this is my first post and I'm not used to the abbreviations yet. I'm taking my DD's this year, will be 13 and 10 at time of visit and last visit was when my youngest was three weeks old, and my sister and her family are going. We're hoping for 6 night FD in November at either the POP, All-Star, or CB. If staying at one of the value resorts does it make sense to upgrade to the regular DP or is it generally cheaper to stay at the moderate resort?

My youngest likely won't eat anything off the adult menu, except at a buffet or something like HDD, can I say she was 9 or can I pay for a kid's meal out of pocket for her and and my oldest DD and I use them as extras for a signature dinner?

Thanks everyone.

You could definitely pay out of pocket for kids meals if you want and save sit down credits for signature restaurants. Not sure Disney would be too keen on fudging the age though.

Agree with Mandis77, I think most find that it costs less to stay at a value and upgrade the dining plan than to book a moderate.

 

[RedWolf95]

Yes, we like to go late October but that time being offered seems to be less and less and non-existent this year with the BB. We did last day of September, first week of October last year as that was when family wanted to go. And this year, DH and I made use of the BB when we were down there last year, and of course October was not on it. I'm hoping we like September for the lower crowds, but I'm dreading the heat!

Yeah that's always a concern with September, of course last year we were there 10/29-11/5 and it was about 90 degrees every day, ughhh. Had a great time but the heat was a real bummer.

 

[CandiceF]

Yeah that's always a concern with September, of course last year we were there 10/29-11/5 and it was about 90 degrees every day, ughhh. Had a great time but the heat was a real bummer.

That was us last year. We went from October 30-November 6 and couldn't take the heat! We booked a FD Bounceback for the end of September beginning of October but cancelled it because we can't take the heat. We are looking for free dining in the fall or a room discount. The kids all agreed that if they had to wait a couple of months longer to save up for disney, they would rather do that then brave the heat like last year! LOL! It was unusual for it to be that hot at the end of October last year so I guess you never know what mother nature has in store!

 

[KozFam]

Sorry, this is my first post and I'm not used to the abbreviations yet. I'm taking my DD's this year, will be 13 and 10 at time of visit and last visit was when my youngest was three weeks old, and my sister and her family are going. We're hoping for 6 night FD in November at either the POP, All-Star, or CB. If staying at one of the value resorts does it make sense to upgrade to the regular DP or is it generally cheaper to stay at the moderate resort?

My youngest likely won't eat anything off the adult menu, except at a buffet or something like HDD, can I say she was 9 or can I pay for a kid's meal out of pocket for her and and my oldest DD and I use them as extras for a signature dinner?

Thanks everyone.

When I ran the numbers for our family - comparing a 7 night stay at Pop with the cost of upgrading to the regular DP vs a 7 night stay at CBR (would come with the regular DP) for 2 adults, 2 kids...it costs us about $250 more to stay at CBR.

 

[RedWolf95]

Sorry, this is my first post and I'm not used to the abbreviations yet. I'm taking my DD's this year, will be 13 and 10 at time of visit and last visit was when my youngest was three weeks old, and my sister and her family are going. We're hoping for 6 night FD in November at either the POP, All-Star, or CB. If staying at one of the value resorts does it make sense to upgrade to the regular DP or is it generally cheaper to stay at the moderate resort?

My youngest likely won't eat anything off the adult menu, except at a buffet or something like HDD, can I say she was 9 or can I pay for a kid's meal out of pocket for her and and my oldest DD and I use them as extras for a signature dinner?

Thanks everyone.

One other thing, you did not ask this but just thought I would share, if you do get an under 10 on the dining plan your child does not have to order off the kids meal for QS and can order anything the adult plan would allow. I believe that is only allowed at QS and NOT sit down but then many of the sit downs are buffets and kids can of course get anything off the buffet.

 

[augusta1]

My dh and I have been talking about opening a Disney Visa card. I have heard that if you have a card you can book free dining early. Is this true? We are probably going to open a card anyways but sounds like this could be another incentive to the card...

 

[sharonabe]

My youngest likely won't eat anything off the adult menu, except at a buffet or something like HDD, can I say she was 9 or can I pay for a kid's meal out of pocket for her and and my oldest DD and I use them as extras for a signature dinner?

At any a la carte place or QS, you can order her a kid's meal without lying about her age. At any buffet or all-you-can-eat place, she will be charged the adult price, so using the adult credits would be your best bet.

 

[vrajewski10513]

My dh and I have been talking about opening a Disney Visa card. I have heard that if you have a card you can book free dining early. Is this true? We are probably going to open a card anyways but sounds like this could be another incentive to the card...

In the past they have opened up free dining first to Disney Visa Card holders. Last year however, they didn't. So it's not a sure thing.

 

[jeremy1002]

In the past, could you get free dining for a room of 4 adults or was it limited to only 2 adults per room? Thanks!

 

[sharonabe]

In the past, could you get free dining for a room of 4 adults or was it limited to only 2 adults per room? Thanks!

Everyone in the room has to be on the same plan. If you have 4 adults in your room, then 4 adults will be on the plan. BTW, if you have more than 2 persons over the age of 18, the extras do have a per night extra charge for the room. I think it's $10/per night, but that info is from a few years ago.

 

[jeremy1002]

Everyone in the room has to be on the same plan. If you have 4 adults in your room, then 4 adults will be on the plan. BTW, if you have more than 2 persons over the age of 18, the extras do have a per night extra charge for the room. I think it's $10/per night, but that info is from a few years ago.

Got it, thanks. I didn't know if FD was limited to only 2 adults max per room, but it sounds like it hasn't been in the past.

 

[SunnieRN]

I think the extra adult charge just raised to $15 per extra adult per night, per the information phone call I made last week.

Sorry I didn't quote the original poster, but I took my nephew on our last trip, who was a Disney adult. When there was nothing on the adult menu he liked, I asked for an adult sized portion of one of the kids meals. It worked out great as he is a big eater but extremely picky!!!

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Sorry I didn't quote the original poster, but I took my nephew on our last trip, who was a Disney adult. When there was nothing on the adult menu he liked, I asked for an adult sized portion of one of the kids meals. It worked out great as he is a big eater but extremely picky!!!

Glad to know this is an option, my son will be in the same boat!

 

[jmbarnes101]

Thank you for the information everyone. It's much appreciated. If FDDP is offered, I'll just pay for her non-buffet meals out of pocket. This will allow us to add a dinner show or signature which would be fun. Now to figure out where to stay. Thank you again and I'm sure I'll have more questions as we get closer.