2015 FREE DINING THREAD _ All Questions HERE!!

[DisneyNannie]

For those who got through on the phone, what was your wait time? Im at 1 hr and 34 minutes and counting.

I waited 2 hours and 12 minutes.

 

[jesusluvsu2005]

Add me to the camp of normally at POR and nervous about CBR! The pool at CBR looks really cool though. Hoping for warm enough temps in Dec for pool time.

 

[verleniahall]

How is it possible that I have everything needed to qualify for the dining plan and they still wont allow me to modify my reservation? what a waste of a 2.5 hour wait on the phone! so mad right now

They only have so many rooms available for each promotion at each partipating resort - i was up at 4:30 CST to change mine to FD - i think someoe said that oen resort ony had 7 rooms for this promotion - sorry you weren't able to get what you wanted

 

[totebagg]

So, in the end, here's how it looks. It took me until 8am eastern to get through via telephone. I had already booked @ AOA with dining but just wanted to get over to a mod. Well, when it was all said in done, I TOTALLY blew my budget and we are now booked:

Beach Club Resort club level
9-19-2015 to 9-26-2015
7 day park hoppers with Water Parks
Free Dining.

So- It was significantly over my budget, but HEY, still a bit lower than POR or CBR without a promotion. I am going to justify it with this:

It's our Family Honeymoon (Familymoon) and a celebration of our 1st anniversary! It is worth it, right?

Congratulations! I am afraid of going to a deluxe because I may not want to go back to the moderates - plus you got club level which I hear is awesome. Hope you have a fabulous Familymoon!

 

[lazer]

How is it possible that I have everything needed to qualify for the dining plan and they still wont allow me to modify my reservation? what a waste of a 2.5 hour wait on the phone! so mad right now

There are only so many rooms at each category/resort set aside for free dining. You might have to move around your dates or your location. There just isn't a lot of availability.

 

[Funfire240]

For those of you that were able to modify online....did you have to add park hopper first or did it add it for you?

It added it in with the option to change to water parks or upgrade for hopper and water parks. After I went under packages and free dining was there, it took me to the ticket page with the option to change the number of days of tickets and at the bottom park hopper is already chosen for you (we didn't have it prior to this).

 

[lazer]

They only have so many rooms available for each promotion at each partipating resort - i was up at 4:30 CST to change mine to FD - i think someoe said that oen resort ony had 7 rooms for this promotion - sorry you weren't able to get what you wanted

We were basically typing the same thing at the same time. haha. I should just copy and paste this answer

 

[ocalla]

I really wanted BC if YC. Going at the slowest week possible in Sept. No standard or Garden view rooms avail with either discount. Shocking. Had to settle for BW instead.

 

[mousiemom]

How long would you estimate that it takes to walk to AoA?

not too far we always either drive over to eat that crab/shrimp burger or we will hop on AOA bus from park and eat and walk back to pop.

 

[Aubrav]

Oh I can definitely understand why so many people love to stay onsite, it sounds so much more convenient. Which is why I'm glad I'm trying onsite now, and I'll see how I like offsite later - everything is a trade off. For me, I am a night owl, so I really wanted to stay offsite so I could have somewhere to exist when my family went to sleep, I really wanted a separate room. I still had a lot of money dedicated to eating out in our budget, because I didn't want to stay offsite and cook, I just wanted the extra space to relax and a nice resort to go to, since I had no intention of staying in the parks all day with my kids. Or at least a balcony and an interior hallway. I would LOVE to try a deluxe someday, that's what is out of my range. And actually renting DVC points was going to be an option if I couldn't get FD to work, I figured it would be the best of both worlds, I was just nervous about losing the money if we had to cancel. But I figure if we don't try a value resort now, we'll never know if we actually like it! I do see us trying offsite someday though, then I'll be able to make a better decision about what works for us. That's assuming I can convince DH to come back to Disney after this drama, lol.

On another note, I'm glad you were able to get your resorts worked out! Or at least you did the last I read, I'm still behind on reading. Although I hate that the Disney Visa thing didn't work out. Hopefully it will help you in the future!

You know, after staying in 3-4 bedroom houses and condos with extensive or private pools, the thought of staying in a tiny hotel room was really hard to swallow. However, looking back now, I can't even imagine choosing something off-property despite the extra space. It really was magical, like you're in Disney all the time and you never leave! Because of the bus system, you can come and go as you please and you may not have room in your hotel room but the resorts are expansive and nice for a solo walk or sit if you're into that kind of thing. For you it's probably best to try both so that you can compare. Like I said, you never know what you're missing until you try it.

And yes, thank you! I did get it all worked out and squared away and, technically, more value at near the same price that I paid last year. So I'm happy. I really hope you like your choice!

 

[godchaser]

FINALLY!!!!! After busy signals and being on hold 2 different times for a total of 5 1/2 hours.....we got FD!!!! We had to go up from a standard to a preferred King at CSR....but we are still saving $500.00!!!! Super excited-Hurry Up September!!!!!!

 

[Aubrav]

How is it possible that I have everything needed to qualify for the dining plan and they still wont allow me to modify my reservation? what a waste of a 2.5 hour wait on the phone! so mad right now

What do you mean? The CM wouldn't let you?

 

[vicarrieous]

There was plenty of speculation that limitation would be had this year and there would be less availability. I would love to have know exactly what percentage changed from last year to this.

I am also fairly certain there was no special Visa card holder release because it was so limited.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Any other phone numbers I can try? Have been at this for over 3 hours. Am emotionally and physically exhausted!!! And....I'm booking for someone else.

 

[jlundeen]

That is correct. Having an existing reservation did not give anyone any special type of room categories etc.

That's true...but for us, as Aubrav said, FD wasn't the driving force for booking early. When we started planning, we started saving as if we would be paying full price...and now, that's what will happen. But we did get the resort and room type we wanted. We just need to adjust our plans to accommodate it.

I understand that many families can only go to Disney if they can get the discounts...I feel bad for those that it didn't work out for, and now are trying to figure out how to do any kind of Disney trip!

Hopefully, things will settle down and maybe some availability will open up after a few days as folks rearrange their plans.

 

[5kidsmommy]

I am relatively new here, but this post helped me so much!! I just got off the phone after a 2.5 hour hold... got CBR standard view 11/15-11/20 with free dining added in!! (we already had a reservation for CBR for that time frame, going with or without free dining lol) I am so excited!! I thought for sure that we would need to change resorts, room category, or dates (all of which I was willing to do!) but the cast member was awesome and worked some magic!!

Same exact dates and room level as me!

 

[smhwalker2011]

so we received an amazing deal!!

before free dining at AKL: 5250
after free dining at AKL: 3920

CAN I GET A CELEBRATORY DANCE !WE'RE GOIIIINNNN TO DISNEY WORLD! HECK YA.

 

[LuvGoofy6]

I checked at midnight and then went to bed. I woke up a little before 2:00 am and decided to check and nothing. When my alarm went off at 5:45 I checked for a third time and saw it was up. From what I understand I missed the window opening by 10-15 minutes at 2:00 AM. I was wanting POFQ and pretty much knew it would be excluded but it doesn't hurt to hope. Well, it wasn't available for my December dates so we are at Wilderness Lodge with Courtyard view which with the park hopper was more than I wanted to spend. Standard view was already sold out. I almost went with CBR or CRC but didn't want such a large resort.

If some families of 5 didn't get what they wanted maybe you could check with the "Magical" place and see what they have available. Maybe they have some of their own deals? Good luck to those still trying to get through.

 

[DisneyWorld4Ever]

Any other phone numbers I can try? Have been at this for over 3 hours. Am emotionally and physically exhausted!!! And....I'm booking for someone else.,
407-934-7639, 407-560-2428, 407-939-5277

 

[valerie160]

Nope . I've had my reservation booked for almost a year and was super excited about the contemporary. The free dining would have been icing on the cake, but they didn't give it to me. Said garden wing room didn't qualify for the FD. I switched to a different hotel to get free dining, but I'm sad I had to give up the contemporary.