Free Dining Coming Tomorrow…
If you’ve been following our Free Dining Plan at Walt Disney World updates, you know tomorrow (April 24, 2017) is the rumored release of this popular discount. For many of you, Free Dining release day is like Christmas morning…except you’re buying something in order to get something “free” instead of receiving a bunch of totally-free* presents (*unless you’re an adult) from Santa Claus. Okay, so maybe it’s more like a cross between Black Friday and Christmas morning, but now you’ve made my whole comparison clumsier.
ANYWAY…the point is that the promotion should be released tomorrow. Again, it’s rumor at this point, and everything is subject to change until Disney officially releases the promo with exact details. Who knows? Maybe we’ve got the rumor all wrong and instead of a ‘Free Disney Dining Plan’ promo, this year it’s a ‘Free Doofus Drake Pin’ promo as part of some convoluted synergy play for the reboot of DuckTales on Disney XD. (Hey, it’s possible!)
Alright, jokes aside, there are a couple of important things to keep in mind as you ‘prepare’ for the release of Free Dining. If this is your first rodeo with Free Dining release day, you need patience and flexibility…
In terms of patience, you need to be prepared for hiccups in Disney’s online booking system, long waits on the phone lines, and who knows what other errors.
If you’ve spent any amount of time on Disney’s websites, you know that Stitch has a penchant for eating random pages. 😉
On the flexibility front, it’s highly likely that room availability–even at resorts that are not excluded–will be minimal to nearly non-existent at some resorts, over some date ranges.
Thanks to Pandora – World of Avatar marketing and strong consumer confidence in the United States right now, fall/winter occupancy rates have been trending above average.
I’m the first to admit when I’m wrong, and I did not see this coming. Last fall, I predicted an increase in Walt Disney World discounts. Now, we’re poised to see the opposite. (Perhaps I should predict just that–we’ll probably all get lucky and I’ll be wrong again!)
Since Walt Disney World only offers the Free Dining promotion to increase occupancy rates (no, it’s not because they are “nice”), higher occupancy means less of a need for the promo to fill rooms. Less of a need means less availability.
What this means to you is that having a backup (or 3-4 backups) plan is essential. If your first choice is unavailable, you need an alternative ready to go. Sometimes this means being open to a different hotel, sometimes it means being willing to upgrade room categories or even tweak your travel dates (if possible).
If you are totally inflexible, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. If you’re using a travel agent, be sure to let them know the ways you’re flexible. I also recommend giving them some leeway to make other tweaks if good options present themselves.
This flexibility is incredibly important if you’re staying at Pop Century or Port Orleans Riverside. Even though the Picnic Burger topped with hot dogs is gone (RIP), Pop Century is still going to be in incredibly high demand. Riverside won’t have availability (at all) for some date ranges, and will be very limited for others.
Other resorts are going to be similarly limited, but those are the big standouts. Other details are covered in our Free Disney Dining Plan at Walt Disney World post; if you’ve been following this stuff, you’ve probably read a lot of this dozens of times, so I’m not going to rehash it all here.
One thing I’m working on is new post ideas covering Free Dining. Our main Free Dining Plan post has over 1,000 comments, with many of those being questions from confused readers. While I think I do a good job of covering frequently asked questions, I find myself updating and refining the text in that post a lot based on recurring questions.
A problem with being ‘too close’ to any topic is that you start to assume knowledge that isn’t so common for newbies. There’s no doubt that has happened with me and the Disney Dining Plan (something with which I have a love/hate relationship). I’m working on a couple of posts right now (including one on whether you should upgrade or downgrade), but if you have ideas for things you’d like to see covered or questions that I could addressed, please share in the comments here. I’m all ears!
Want more dining tips? Check out our 101 Delicious Walt Disney World Dining Tips. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
I think our various Free Dining posts cover almost everything, but are there are lingering questions? As mentioned, we know this can be more overwhelming for Free Dining newbies than it is for seasoned vets, so don’t be afraid to ask any questions! Are you planning on booking Free Dining? Opting for a room-only discount instead? Have any tips for free dining rookies? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Can you not stay longer than the 5d/6n? They are telling us we need to shorten our 8day stay.
Yes, you can stay longer. You can have as few as 3 nights as well.
Got it! Had to change dates (2 weeks earlier than planned) but was able to get free dining, keep the gift cards and stay in a standard room (and not upgrade to the pirate room) at CBR! Super stoked…thanks Tom for the tips!
Hi! How did you manage to get free dining and the gift cards together? Did you book CBR with gift cards first and then added free dining? Did you have to call them or did it on-line?
I am curious as well how you know for sure you still get the gift cards? We were also booked at CBR way prior and had received emails about our reservation getting the gift cards. Then free dining was announced and we had to move the reservation to a week earlier but were able to secure the free dining by doing so. I am just not sure we still get the gift cards……
I am curious, as well, how you know for sure you still get the gift cards? We were also booked at CBR way prior and had received emails about our reservation getting the gift cards. Then free dining was announced and we had to move the reservation to a week earlier but were able to secure the free dining by doing so. I am just not sure we still get the gift cards……
I ended up rebooking our reservations online with a new reservation instead of modifying the old one. All I got when I tried to modify the old was the spinning wheel! But got us in at Pop Century with 3 rooms, 2 on the dining plan and 1 we are passholders!
Got it, thanks so much!!
Which phone number did you use?
I modified my reservation online around 5:45 this morning.
got it thank you for all your updates!!
Got it! Thanks Tom for all your blogs help in planning our trip!
I see the link, but it says “offer not available” – anybody else see that?
Make sure it says 2017. The 2016 offer says “not available”. It is easier to see the offer if you “modify” or set up your trip
page is loading now
I am getting nothing! Is anyone else having any success?
Nothing here either.
I have been on since just before 4am and nothing for me either. if you do a search for free dining something comes up but the link is not active.
Nothing for me either!!!
I got it! 🙂 At Pop Century too!!!! 🙂 Very Excited – THANK YOU TOM!
I got it on line at 5:00 am Booked our room and then got another for my daughter and her family . Keep trying on line!!
Any word on if Canadians can double dip on the ticket discount and free dining? If not, use the “compare” feature can show you if you’d be better off taking room discounts and CDN ticket discounts over free dining. I compared three options (because I’m both a penny pincher and the exchange rate is prohibitive for many):
Option 1: room discount + CDN ticket discount + base tickets (we would only upgrade to hoppers in order to qualify for FD) = $1246.45 savings over option 2 (divided by people in our party and nights, it averages $50 person/day for food but that includes 3 kids who will not eat $50 in food)
Option 2: rack rate at same resort+ standard ticket price + upgrade to hopper tickets (what you’d pay to qualify for FD)
Option 3: room discount + CDN ticket discount + hopper + quick service meal plan (following speculations that mod. could be offered QS instead of full). ($149 more than option 2 with 100% less headache)
In short, Canadians, we might actually get a break with our crummy dollar right now. Some pretty decent perks minus the chaos of booking during the FD promo. Anyhow, it’s worth really, really scrutinizing the deal here.
As far as I know you can’t double dip. You have to get the room + ticket as a package in order to qualify for free dining.