i booked it all myself through the disney website
so no freebies
not sure about the whole meal credits thing
not sure if you save money doing that or not ??????
its like 70 bucks a day yeh ?
what happens if we dont want to have a sit down meal each night ?
sometimes a simple hot dog and chips may suffice after a long day walking around
i saw on another thread someone had pre ordered a chocolate slipper which looked incredible and yummy (at the palace i think)
sorry im not up to date with all the adr hrt word shortcuts
they should write a code so that everytime someone uses one of those shortcuts it automatically displays the full words
it can be a little daunting
dont get me wrong if you all think the credits is the cheapest way to do it ill have a real good look at it
thanks in advance for all the help
ADR stands for Advanced Dining Reservation. You will learn the shortcut words as you go along and always ask if you are not sure
I knew when I first visited the boards, sometimes I would try to work out the shortcut but really had no idea what they were talking about, so just asked and somebody explained it for me
So never be afraid to ask.
Now even if you book direct with Disney they do offer some amazing discounts that you can have applied to your booking. It is a matter of keeping an eye on the discounts part of this board (I think it's a subheading under the accommodation board in the main headings page).
The difference with booking yourself or through a
travel agent (shortcut TA) in the USA is the TA will apply the specials for you when they come out. As you booked yourself, over the next 10 to 11 months, keep an eye out for the specials for the times that you are there. You then call Disney and have the special applied to your booking.
Now I know you have said that you have already paid in advance. This does not matter and if you have a package booking (which is with tickets, accommodation and maybe dining) then you can make the changes up to 45 days before you arrive. If you have a room only booking (just hotel room, no tickets) then you can make changes up to 5 days before you go. Even though you have already paid, you can add discounts that may come out and they will simply refund your credit card.
Now we were at WDW (Walt Disney World) for 22 nights, staying at AKL (Animal Kingdom Lodge) for 8 nights, BC for 4 nights (Beach Club Resort) and YC (Yacht Club resort) for 10 nights. We booked and paid long in advance. When specials came out for the september part of our booking, there was a 40% off special or free dining. We chose 40% off, this saved $1000's of $'s and this was refunded to my credit card. A few weeks before we left, a 42% offer was released and I was able to have that applied to my 10 night YC booking that I had already paid for. Because of the discount, I changed from a standard view room to a water view room (much better view, more expensive room) but because of the discount I received over $1000 refund! I was in a better room at a cheaper price!
So just because you have booked and paid, at any time up to 45 days (or 5 days for a room only booking) you can call Disney and make changes, add discounts or specials to your booking that Disney release.
I am not sure what you have booked now. Have you booked with some sort of special or have you booked and paid full price? If you have booked and paid full price then if free dining is released next year for September before you go, then you will still be paying the same price as you are now, only on top of that you will get a table service meal (TS), a counter service meal (CS) and a snack for everybody in your group for each night you stay. So yes you would be saving as if you didn't have that, you would be paying for your food. The value of the regular dining play is about $47 per adult per night, so if you add that up for each of the people in your group, you could save $100's of $'s a night.
Disney releases the discounts at different times, so until they are released for the time of year you are going you will not exactly know what they are. But if they offer a discount, it's worth applying it to your booking, better the money in your pocket than in theirs
The sit down meal that is offered on the dining plan (TS meal) can be used at breakfast, lunch or dinner as with the CS (counter service, fast food type meal) credit, it can be used when ever you wish. Also the credits can be used whenever you want over your stay. So just say you are two adults staying for 7 nights on the regular dining plan. You will get 14 TS credits, 14 CS credits and 14 snack credits, those credits can be used any way you like over the 7 nights. So you can use three TS credits in one day if you like and not use any on one day, or use all of your snack credits in one go or spread them out any way you like.
There are many options and it's all about seeing which option is best for your family. We didn't use the dining plan as it didn't suit us this trip, we took the 40 to 42% discount at our resorts. That way we could eat at any TS or CS restaurants or room service that we chose (although we did still have TS bookings for most meals and cancelled what we didn't want when we were there, as we know that it's near impossible to get a table). But it really is different for every family as to which special Disney offers is the better deal. Until the Sept deals are released you won't know which is best for you, but you can start doing some preplanning so when they are released you know which to pounce on. And you do need to pounce as the room discounts go quickly, like in a day or two.
Enjoy your planning. Everybody here is so friendly and lovely and always here and happy to help out with any questions
