Disney Visa Offer Oct-Dec

[sshahan76]

hello everyone,
I could really use your help. Please forgive the lengthy post...I read about the Visa offer and have done some research on the dining plan, but I'm still unsure of the savings.

We (3 adults, 1 child age two) already planned on arriving on 12/13 or 12/14 so that works out. We are staying 6 nights at CBR and booking through Magical Journey's for the 1st time.
I've read the posts here and really could use the clarification. We REALLY aren’t familiar with the dining plan at all. We do eat at the parks and at the resorts, but I have a hard time reasoning that we would spend $63 per person every single day. Maybe I am wrong…and we’ve never been with a child or another person. Here's where it gets me...the special says it is free, but yet it says it is $63 per person per day. I think this is where I am confused, is it free or not?…the special says this:
“4 nights/5 days At a select Disney Value Resort. Only $63 per person, per day.
Total package price of $1,253 is based on 2 adults, 1 junior and 1 child in a standard room, for stays most nights 9/28-10/11, 11/9-11/22, 12/14-12/20/08.”
So how is it free? Even at $63 per person per night (why does most documentation say per night instead of per day?) that comes to more than $1,100 for 3 adults.

Am I way off or just that confused?!?!? Or am I overcomplicating things? Could it be that Disney is really giving away free dining (with plan rules) to the three of us for our length of stay? That just doesn't seem possible?

Please help!
Thanks in advance. I have until Sunday afternoon to cancel and redo my airfare if this is TRUE!!!

-Sarah

P.S. No, this is NOT my first Disney trip or Disney planning, but my husband and I have never done the dining package. We've been five times plus the Disney Cruise!

[Sunshine1010]

- The dining plan is free, the trip isn't.
- The dining plan usually costs 37.99 per adult per day, and 9.99 per child per day...but if you go during the specified times --- it's free
- You'd still have to pay for your tickets, resort, airline, etc.

Dining plan:
1 table service a day (sit down restaurant)
1 quick service a day (fast food type)
1 snack a day
PER PERSON

If you go to this site under info central, look under 'Dining' and it will give you all the information about the dining plan, as well as a list of the table service restaurants. You will NEED to make reservations to eat because walk-ins are hard to come by. 1-407-wdw-dine is the restaurant dining reservation number.

Hope I helped.

[sshahan76]

Thanks. It still seems hard to believe!!!
Yes, of course I know the trip isn't free. Obviously we'll still pay for lodging, airfare and park tickets. I hope I can change our airline tickets and start booking ADR's.

Personally, I think the advertised offer is not clear when they say $63 per person per day on it, and my husband agrees! LOL!

Thanks again!

Sarah

[sshahan76]

Ok, after reading and re-reading the offer, we are so embarrassed! We were reading it all wrong! For whatever reason we were reading it as a Dining Plan offer, not a Magic Your Way vacation package offer. Duh!

So sorry everyone!

We hope Debbie K. at Magical Journey's can get us the deal. She has been very helpful and I also love Intercot and the message boards here! So happy to have stumbled upon it!

I just found that to change our dates by one day later we only spend another $176 total on airfare, so the FREE dining package is SOOOO worth that!!!

Now I just hope to get ADR's at Rose & Crown, Ohana and Le Cellier...those are our favorites!

Suggestions for best character dining for 2 yr old son are welcome!

Thanks new friends...I think my anxiety over this has passed and I can now go to bed (at 3 a.m.!!!) oops!

Sarah & family

[Sunshine1010]

It seems very confusing, very overwhelming and very foreign. My first trip was just 'going to the parks'. I never would have guessed over 10 years later, I would have needed to make a reservation 6 months in advance to eat at a restaurant.

Promotions, specials, discounts, AP perks, DVC perks, DDE, DDP....it can be a daunting task to plan your vacation.

I'm sure you'll have a great time. Congratulations on your upcoming trip!

[mickeefan]

Sunshine 1010,
I saw your earlier post.
"I want everyone to know that I have THE BEST travel agent in the world. Her name is Wendy. I don't think she knows Peter Pan, but she's just as magical........"

I completely agree with you 99.9 percent. The only exception is that the "I" needs to be changed to "we".
We found Wendy several years ago when I was ready to jump out a window.She has been absolutely fantastic at getting us the best deals. I would be completely lost without her.
She is not only a travel agent, but a real true friend.

[Sunshine1010]

Mickeefan ------ Wendy is awesome. I'm glad you've had great experiences with her as well.

Just one of the things I like about her is the fact that I can contact her every month, several times a month, and ask for different quotes. I take the ones I can afford, and the ones I want. She has never complained about giving me quotes (especially since she knows I don't take all of them).

[SpecJoe Magic]

We already have MYW tickets with no expiration. Can we use them with the free dining promotion or would we have to buy new tickets to go along with the package at the same time we book the room?

[Tink1]

We already have MYW tickets with no expiration. Can we use them with the free dining promotion or would we have to buy new tickets to go along with the package at the same time we book the room?

Every package must have some form of ticket media. A one day base would work

Nanci

[Emsparents]

Is it just me or is there just not a lot of BUZZ about this free dining offer. I am reading a lot of posts and it seems to me there is more confusion than anything. We booked the first offer for our trip in November and saved a ton, now they come out with this one, I have also seen room only discounts, AP discounts extended to other states, who knows what will be next! I can remember the last couple of years waiting for a discount and it being a free for all for a week trying to get re-booked before the rooms were gone. There bookings must be really down to be offering so many discounts. I am still not seeing much buzz about the week we are going so I am still not too worried about crowd levels. I see it helping October and the non holiday after Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas periods. But it begs the questions are reservations down that much? Friends of ours went the week after July 4th this year and said the longest wait they had was 30 minutes anywhere. She also said a boat operator told her they were down 25% from their normal summer bookings.

Just pondering and wanted to see what anyone else thought.

[SpecJoe Magic]

The offer says "most nights" within those date ranges. Does anyone know if every night from 12/14-12/20 is included in the free dining offer?

Also, what is the extra charge per adult per night in a room? I'm doing calculations to figure everything, but I'm not sure if I'm using the correct amount.

Finally, does anyone know how much the room discount is on this package for a deluxe resort? (Polynesian).

[TheDuckRocks]

I think the "most nights" refers to individual resort availablity. We are going 12/14 thru 12/19 and were able to get the discount for the entire stay. But I know it was not available for a king-bed or water-view room at POFQ but you could get a standard room. At WL they had courtyard-view or honeymoon suites available but no standards.

[Mickey 101]

I see that some room discounts are available with this free offer, but wasn't clear still whether you can use your AP room discount, plus the free dining. I didn't think so, but just wanted to clarify. Thanks!

[sorarail]

DH and I will be at WDW from 11/8-11/14. We're staying at Yacht Club and already have paid for everything - Magic My Way w/ park hopper. We didn't purchase a meal plan because we have several hundred Disney Visa Rewards dollars we plan to use for dining. Entire trip was paid for using Disney Visa through the Disney online reservation site. Will Disney allow this dining perk to be applied to an "already paid for" trip? If so, I'll use some of our rewards dollars for a room upgrade or something else fun.

[sorarail]

I just spoke with a very nice woman at WDW travel who tried numerous ways to book the package for us only to find out that the allotted number of packages for Yacht Club have already been taken.
That's what I get for not checking the Intercot boards daily!

[christinelee10]

To show how confusing WDW makes it to book the best deal at the resorts............I originally booked back in August when I received a PIN in an email. For 8 nights, Inner Courtyard view at the Wilderness Lodge, Magic Your Way with park hopper and dining for all 8 nights for 2 people..........about $3300.
When a new general public package was announced at the end of August for resort with MYW with dining, I called and surprise......my first reservation with my PIN was $400 cheaper than the general public one.
Then, I heard about the free dining with Disney Visa for 12/14-12/20. We are going the 12th to the 20th. The first person I spoke to said there was absolutely no availability for these dates at any resorts. I hung up and called back and got a lovely women. She could only book me 12/14-12/20 6 nights with free dining for about $2500 at the WL. A separate reservation was required for 12/12-12/14 which would be about $800 for 2 nights, court yard view with dining and tickets. This was equal to my very first quote of $3300 with my PIN # in August!!!!
Now, I'm really interested, did she just give me that price because she knows I already have the reservations then and knows what my price quote was????????
My husband calls with his VISA card, asks for 8 nights WL with free dining ...same dates....same package.....$3650!!!!!!!!
No wonder people pull their hair out. Either I got a great deal on my PIN code or basically they have figured out to get the same amount of money for the room and just send out different codes to get people excited about saving some money!!!

[the other micki]

Just wondering......you think they'll make this a 'public' sale as well (to people who don't carry a Disney Visa)....?

Well, I just got something in the mail today from Disney about free dining for these dates. It seems to be open to the public and not to just Disney Visa holders! Too bad I'm going end of April! (Maybe something will come up later for us...)

[Sunshine1010]

Hhhmmmm....how interesting.

[AdventurerKim]

I called several times looking for availability at POP for the free dining and got multiple responses! I check in Nov. 21; twice I was quoted a price at All-Star with no problems of "black out" issues but nothing at Pop and twice the guys said that the code didn't work for my length of stay Thanksgiving week. From everything I read said that the offer was good if you checked in by Nov. 22, and the free dining was good for the length of stay. It got to be a pain to keep calling and getting the run-around or no help at all, so I didn't try today. I'm hoping something else comes along soon.

[jamimb]

I got the discount for Thanksgiving week at All star Music on the 22nd of this month. I already had a package with dining for the 22nd through the 28th paid for and I called and they were able to apply the code since I was checking in on or before the 22nd. I already had a great rate for lodging so this only saved us about $400. I say only but we are thrilled to death!!!!