Hi - first post on forum, hope I’m doing this right 
our plan is to book a trip for next year, last week of October and hopefully be able to add FD when it comes out (we won’t book til late winter b/c I need to verify school schedule for fall 2015 too). the way the dates were offered this year, the day we would like to arrive (sat 10/25) was blacked out from FD but it was offered again starting the next day on sun 10/26. Could we book our package with FD sun-sun and then just do a RO res for the sat arrival day? would we have to check out of room and check back in?? sorry if that’s confusing…let me know if anyone has done this before! It’s all hypothetical at this point anyways I guess!
Yes if free dining happened to start at any point during your stay you could book a room only for the first so many days and then a second package to include free dining. Keep in mind that the package portion has to include park tickets. Not too big of a deal if it’s your second day but could really raise the price if it’s in the middle of your stay and you have to buy two sets of tickets.
As to whether you’d have to check out and back in, the answer is that technically yes. You’d need to go to the desk and they would process a check out and a check in as though you were two separate guests. As to whether or not they would make you change your room it would likely depend on the the current capacity level of the hotel and which CM you get. No way to know for sure either way.
And just keep in mind this years FD was pretty weird as compared to some other recent years and there are no guarantees from one year to another.
And welcome to the forums! Glad to see you made your way over!
thanks Outer! I do like the forum but since I can only use on my PC, just wasn’t able to get on much. My husband and I have each gotten a PIN for this year’s FD promo with expanded dates that include the end of October, starting at 10/19 so I’m really keeping my fingers crossed that they include the whole end of the month next year in the general public offer.
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oh and yeah doing only RO for the first part would only work if we were doing this for the 1st day or maybe 2 b/c I wouldn’t want to buy 2 sets of park tix. we would use that first day or 2 at the ppol or maybe go offsite to sea world since the fam is asking to go there next time.
Well and most have reported that they have been able to get package tickets a day or two early but not more than that so you’d definitely have options. Now the hard party though… waiting until next summer to see if it’s included lol. I hate that part.
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Another thing I’ve heard is that if people are booking rooms already in hopes of free dining, there is a lesser chance that Disney will offer it (as the rooms will already be booked). As great as FD is (I’m booked in for this year), it was designed to fill rooms and entice people to come. If the rooms are already full, they don’t “need” to offer it. I think that’s why POR was excluded this year. Next year they may exclude more.
Welcome to the forums 
Hi, yes, I have heard that same reasoning before in regards to booking too far in advance that FD might not be offered. My only concern with not booking anything until the promo comes out is that I would possibly miss my 180+10 date to make ADR’s. if our trip is going to be at the end of October, I would need to have a package reserved by end of April in order to take advantage of booking at the 180+10 date for ADR’s. I probably would wait as long as possible to see if dates are released.
I think it makes sense to book a room that you’ll be happy with and can afford. Then, if free dining or another promotional discount comes out, you can re-evaluate and either apply it to your existing room or upgrade to an even better room. If your trip is during black-out days or if there isn’t a discount you can use, at least you already have a room you can live with. If you can’t afford to stay without a discount, then waiting is the best option.
That’s what my group did for our November trip. We all decided we really wanted to stay at POFQ. Five of us booked rooms before 180. When the discounts came out last week we were pleasantly surprised that we could apply them to our rooms. 4 of us applied the discount and got money back, 1 of us upgraded to Yacht Club because the discount made that affordable, and the last person in our party was finally able to book a room. She had been waiting to book until the discount came out because she couldn’t afford it otherwise. It all worked out really well.
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good point sally. We could always book at AoA and then move to poly if FD comes out.
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