Free Dining and Disney Visa?

SGMCO

Vintage Style is Sweet--Rumbleseat Fashions
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
We didn’t take advantage of FD last year 2015 but want to go this year 2016 in Sept.
I just looked over the list of Historical Discounts and it did not list offering FD earlier than public to those who have Disney Visa’s in 2015. Can anyone confirm if WDW offered a few days advanced booking time for those who have a Disney Visa for this last year? thanks
 
I don't think it was offered early to Disney Visa cardholders this year. Some promotions are released early and others aren't.

Enjoy your vacation!
 
How disappointing!! I've had my DV for several years now and that is one of the main reasons I got one. It won't be the one I use regularly now, not much benefit, I get better % on other cards.
 
No it was not offered early for us card holders. I hope maybe this year it will be considering all the issues from last year with the site crashing and people staying on hold for hours trying to get through.
 


I can't remember, is booking by phone the only way to book FD? Seems like they would allow you to book online. Still disappointed!! but I'll get over it.
With all of the weeks FD was offered last year, it didn't look like they were really cutting back that much, like people are saying.
 
With all of the weeks FD was offered last year, it didn't look like they were really cutting back that much, like people are saying.

I don't think the challenge was the dates offered as much as the limited number of rooms available. They seemed to really curtail the number of rooms that could be booked with FD.
 
Last year FD was open to all and not out to card holders first as they did in the past. You could book online as the promo was out there. I was trying for days both by phone and online. It was one big hot mess. BUT what it did do for me was to start looking at the room only discounts and the other discounts and with doing a little math I was able to book room get tickets and buy the dinning plan for less then what the free dinning package was charging. The free dinning came with the need to upgrade tickets to hopper or water parks with set number of days. I was able to put my own package together and save a few dollars. So free is not always free. Just really need to see if it fits your total needs before jumping in. The hopper option did not make sense for us as we don't hop that much if ever. Like to just hit one park enjoy the day have dinner and then head to Disney spring or our hotel for a swim. Water parks add on only makes sense if you use twice or more. Otherwise it's not worth the increase when you can go one day for less.

Good luck and will look for free dining but again this year doing the math first. Already have some dates we are thinking about so will wait and see now.
 


Last year FD was open to all and not out to card holders first as they did in the past. You could book online as the promo was out there. I was trying for days both by phone and online. It was one big hot mess. BUT what it did do for me was to start looking at the room only discounts and the other discounts and with doing a little math I was able to book room get tickets and buy the dinning plan for less then what the free dinning package was charging. The free dinning came with the need to upgrade tickets to hopper or water parks with set number of days. I was able to put my own package together and save a few dollars."

When I have calculated the Room Only discount it is only around $60.00 per night and we have 3 Adults and can't eat on $20.00 pp per day. Also I thought that you had to purchase a vacation package to be able to add the Dining plan? am I wrong, can they be added separately? Where did you look for and find these Discounts?
 
When I have calculated the Room Only discount it is only around $60.00 per night and we have 3 Adults and can't eat on $20.00 pp per day. Also I thought that you had to purchase a vacation package to be able to add the Dining plan? am I wrong, can they be added separately? Where did you look for and find these Discounts?

There is usually a room-only discount offered at the same time as the Free Dining offer. Whether free dining saves more money or the room discount may depend on several factors include the ages of your party (all Disney adults? kids?), at what resort you plan to stay, and how long is your stay. Deluxe resorts will almost always come out ahead with the room discount. Value resorts typically offer greater savings with the free QS dining plan. But you have to crunch the numbers for your own party. And last year WDW added the twist of requiring a park hopper ticket, so that's $69 per person MORE that you have to spend in order to get "free" dining. For your party of 3 adults, you have to spend $207 (plus tax) more just to get dining for free. I believe the QS dining plan costs about $43 per adult per night. So it depends how many nights you stay how much you might save, and then compare to a room only discount.

A dining plan can be added to a room-only reservation. I don't believe you can add it online but must call to do so. It's a "ticketless package" and will have the same deposit and cancellation terms as a room+tickets package, as opposed to the room-only deposit and cancellation policy.

Enjoy your vacation!
 
Last time the FD that we saw was only a QS Meal (per person/day). That was pretty lame. As was mentioned you can probably do better then the FD if you shop around for good rates. We don't do hopper or water parks, so the upcharge plus the rack rate, doesn't make sense for us. Especially when it was a QS only meal a day.

@SGMCO you can add the DDP on to a Room only discount. We have done it in the past.
 
Last time the FD that we saw was only a QS Meal (per person/day). That was pretty lame. As was mentioned you can probably do better then the FD if you shop around for good rates. We don't do hopper or water parks, so the upcharge plus the rack rate, doesn't make sense for us. Especially when it was a QS only meal a day.

@SGMCO you can add the DDP on to a Room only discount. We have done it in the past.
Room discounts are not much at all--we have 3 adults and we need at least $152.00 in discount per Night to be able to do just Room discount for MOD. 20% room discount is nothing. Deluxe Resorts are double price per night so that's not worth it. We have to pay $20 extra per night for having an extra Adult in room which is my DS (20 yrs.) So FD is the best deal for us, saves us the most money.
 
Room discounts are not much at all--we have 3 adults and we need at least $152.00 in discount per Night to be able to do just Room discount for MOD. 20% room discount is nothing. Deluxe Resorts are double price per night so that's not worth it. We have to pay $20 extra per night for having an extra Adult in room which is my DS (20 yrs.) So FD is the best deal for us, saves us the most money.
Sounds like you have a plan and worked it out. Awesome. I hope you have a great time.

We were contemplating it another time (although the whole trip ended up getting cancelled for other reasons), but for us, our comparison was based on a a Value resort with the FD. Again, it wasn't the regular DDP, rather it was only a "QS" meal per person/day. No TS, no Snack. (Although I think we still would have gotten the mugs). When comparing the cost of the value resort versus our "Go To" resort of Fort Wilderness, plus the up-charge on tickets for Water Park or Hopper (neither of which we never have used and thus don't purchase) versus the huge discount I can get on tickets through work (much better then even Undercover Tourist or AAA), it just didn't make sense for us.

An advantage for us, is that Fort Wilderness allows up to 10 at the campsite (no additional charge) and there are 5 of us (Me, DW, DD18 and her BF21 and my DD11) We weren't even looking at the up-charges of additional adults (there are technically 4 of us) in the room, more so the fact that there was 5 of us total. We'd either be cramped in the room (5 for a room normally meant for 4 or less) or we'd have the additional charge for 2 rooms. We even looked at the Suites (even more money), and the conclusion is that, for us, the Fort was the best choice. Sadly they rarely (if ever) offer the FD at the Fort. No need for them to do that, because it's hard enough to find openings there in the first place.
 

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