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

[Disneylover99]

So I'm confused. If the boards go down at 4 a.m. how are people booking the FD at that time, like many people have talked about? I think we are all getting to be a little OCD!

The disboards go down, not the WDW website.

 

[ThistleMae]

The disboards go down, not the WDW website.

Oh....thank you, I thought I was losing my mind...which is already half gone after stalking this thread, day after day, after day...all day long!

 

[heath92681]

anyone stay at yc/BC? I currently Have the WL FD BB but if I have to go earlier WL seems to be sold out 8/23 (our trip would include that date). We're leaning towards BC as a back up but I saw YC is a little cheaper. Is there a difference? I know they share the same pool. I picture more kids on the BC side and more adults on the YC side. I have 2 boys who will be 4 and almost 6 at the time. Would we be frowned upon for having kids on the YC side?!? We're hardly at the resort just for afternoon pool time and to sleep!

We stayed at BC for one night before our FD reservation last year. It was just gorgeous and it easily became my favorite resort. We got lucky enough to be given a water view room and watched the fireworks from our room. I'd stay there again in a heartbeat.

 

[pigletto]

Perfect room, to some extent. But cheapest room for many. Free dining begins to lose it's value if you are booking the most expensive room at a moderate or have to book a deluxe to get the FD offer. Deluxe rooms are usually the last to be booked up, so there will be some availability there, but you may be better off booking a room only discount depending on how many people are in your room.

That's exactly it for me. There's a fixed number that I can't/won't go above. So it has to be one of the less expensive moderate rooms and it pretty much has to be a moderate room as well. I can't do a deluxe and we don't fit well into a value room, so I am hoping we won't have to move offsite this trip too.

 

[JackieO]

Ok, still trying to get this all set in my mind. I'm booked for Sep 10-20th at POR (not a deluxe room). I'm worried that this resort won't have FD and I've heard that the BB offers end on Sep 9th.
I know we don't know until it all comes out but, I'm thinking about the actual morning of. Let's say the FD won't work for my reservation. I won't have the offer to "change", right? So at that point, would I want to just try to get a whole new reservation, say a day early and at another resort?
Like the rest of you, I'm freaking out and I certainly don't want to spend this much time just to mess it all up that morning!!
Can you imagine, some people just book their trip and go?!?!

 

[Wojodis]

From seeing this board for the 1st time a few days ago to what just happened--I don't know enough to think anything or worry at all. In fact, I still have no clue how to even use this forum. Haha

 

[Disneylover99]

Ok, still trying to get this all set in my mind. I'm booked for Sep 10-20th at POR (not a deluxe room). I'm worried that this resort won't have FD and I've heard that the BB offers end on Sep 9th.
I know we don't know until it all comes out but, I'm thinking about the actual morning of. Let's say the FD won't work for my reservation. I won't have the offer to "change", right? So at that point, would I want to just try to get a whole new reservation, say a day early and at another resort?
Like the rest of you, I'm freaking out and I certainly don't want to spend this much time just to mess it all up that morning!!
Can you imagine, some people just book their trip and go?!?!

If you cannot modify online, just book a new reservation online. Hopefully we'll have a better idea of resort and date exclusions soon. Prioritize your resorts and check out the rack rates of rooms at each resort now, so you're not surprised at the prices. There can be a huge difference in price between the cheapest room and most expensive room at the same resort. Be prepared.

 

[JackieO]

If you cannot modify online, just book a new reservation online. Hopefully we'll have a better idea of resort and date exclusions soon. Prioritize your resorts and check out the rack rates of rooms at each resort now, so you're not surprised at the prices. There can be a huge difference in price between the cheapest room and most expensive room at the same resort. Be prepared.

Oh, we'll have a good idea of the dates and resorts before? I thought we were just waiting to get a heads up that the deal was starting. Man, I love this board!

 

[Marianm]

Had anyone had experience getting FD at CR? IF it's offered during the time I'm there- just wondering how fast the offer goes for that resort

 

[Disneylover99]

Oh, we'll have a good idea of the dates and resorts before? I thought we were just waiting to get a heads up that the deal was starting. Man, I love this board!

We've sort of known in the past. Hopefully we'll know a day or two in advance this time. But nothing is definite until the deal officially drops.

 

[smallworldnh]

If you do the change online, is there an actual place or button or something that will let you add or change to a FD reservation?

 

[memma05]

If you do the change online, is there an actual place or button or something that will let you add or change to a FD reservation?

On the Disney website under My Disney Experience if you view your reservation there is a cancel and a change button. I have used the "Change Reservation" in the past to apply the free dining offer once it is available.

 

[tomeaine]

On the Disney website under My Disney Experience if you view your reservation there is a cancel and a change button. I have used the "Change Reservation" in the past to apply the free dining offer once it is available.

Do you recall if the free dining option under offers or is under the dining selection package?

 

[Taylor F.]

Perfect room, to some extent. But cheapest room for many. Free dining begins to lose it's value if you are booking the most expensive room at a moderate or have to book a deluxe to get the FD offer. Deluxe rooms are usually the last to be booked up, so there will be some availability there, but you may be better off booking a room only discount depending on how many people are in your room.

Oh good... we are staying at Poly this year. The standard room is currently $490/night, but we're splitting that cost with my mom. So FD would make this entire vaca or we might have to drop to a mod/value. Haha.

 

[memma05]

Do you recall if the free dining option under offers or is under the dining selection package?

I don't I'm sorry! When FD dropped I had a previous reservation in a standard room at CBR. As soon as the discount was released I couldn't get a standard room so I made a new reservation for a preferred room with the FD promotion. A few days later I checked and a standard was available at CBR with the promotion so I went back and changed the original reservation to include the FD promotion.

 

[memma05]

Maybe someone here can walk us through how we modify a reservation that has done it recently

 

[ehoops120912]

I have been following all 68 pages....Do we have any idea on the possible dates? Did I miss something?

 

[KNovacovschi]

I believe it was more the economic downturn in the US that fueled it. It just happens that SARS was at around at about the same time. The economic issues lasted longer and were more widespread than SARS was in North America.

I'm just going by what we were told by disney when we first got FD in 2007.

 

[samsteele]

Do you recall if the free dining option under offers or is under the dining selection package?

I recall that it has always been under "offers". However, this thread & others on the Boards are the best first source of info for any FD offer. In the past few years, followers knew that the offer was going to go up within 48 hrs or so. Some pulled all nighters waiting to book. Last year, I woke up late at 4am and booked at AS Sports. POP reg rooms were already gone at that time. The FD resorts went quickly (the mods even more so than the values & many of the mod rooms were the more $ garden & water view) but another quiet release occurred a week or so later so all may not be lost. Possibly TAs were giving up their holds for clients who opted to cancel, etc. If possible, have a backup choice in place so if your desired resort is already gone, you have a safety net choice that you can pull the trigger on since you have already vetted it with family or friends. Of course, there is no guarantee that what happened last year will happen this year. At best it's only a bit of guidance.

 

[Disneylover99]

Oh good... we are staying at Poly this year. The standard room is currently $490/night, but we're splitting that cost with my mom. So FD would make this entire vaca or we might have to drop to a mod/value. Haha.

Make sure you have a back up plan if standard isn't available for the Poly. Even though there will be deluxe available, standard rooms (even at deluxe level) will be hard to come by. You don't want to end up having to pay an extra $200 per night for a theme park view in order to get free dining.