2018 Free Dining Watch Thread V3

[Huff]

Just got through again and the man I spoke with was able to confirm that I could have free dining the whole length of my stay, but they are out of free dining rooms at Pop Century for that time period. Really makes me mad the woman I spoke with this morning argued with me about it instead of just trying to book it when I could have possibly had it.

I saw zero FD availability at POP for 11/24-11/27 or later. This was seconds after FD went live. This is the same experience I've had each year. Within the next few days or weeks I expect Pop to show FD off and on.

 

[StephenM84]

Thank you to everyone in this group. I got exactly what I wanted by 5:05am this morning.

 

[Life is good]

No availability for Pop with the November dates. I was on line when it dropped. Went to Sports.

 

[otg]

I think that's really strange that your price changed $50....I wonder what the explanation would be for that!? I have another reservation too for Dec. 8 and it includes the FD promo, but those are not my 1st choice of dates.
I'm planning on calling once the craziness dies down and see what they say. I'm expecting that Nov 28-Dec 6 are exemption dates, so the trip doesn't qualify.

I wonder if anyone has called about this issue.

The dates are available at sports if you want to change resorts

 

[IluvMGM]

I saw zero FD availability at POP for 11/24-11/27 or later. This was seconds after FD went live. This is the same experience I've had each year. Within the next few days or weeks I expect Pop to show FD off and on.

Yeah, I will keep checking and hoping.

 

[Nancyg56]

My pleasure everyone. BTW at 4:19 this morning my source texted me to call him. I did not see his text until 5:15 and called him and he gave me all the resort info I was waiting for. So I quickly come to this thread to let everyone know my new info and realized FD has dropped 20 minutes earlier so there was no need for me to post the info.

Oh well I'm really happy for everyone.

I appreciate all of your help.

Could not get FD for our original Beach Club reservation, but we were able to switch over to Yacht Club (looks nice) for the earlier week....stinks to pay parking, but the savings will far outweigh the parking costs. The Disney person I talked to on the phone said beach club was almost impossible unless you were willing to upgrade to the more expensive rooms, so kudos to those who were able to make it happen. We tried immediately online when it dropped last night and nothing, not even RO discount was available. Oh well...same awesome pool, food and wine festival, a few more steps to Epcot to burn those calories and we are going back to Disney!

I was nto able to keep the BC either. I would not have minded teh YC< but for my DD it was a no go, and we understood. Booked at OKW 2 BDRM villa and saved over a grand just on the lodging and then the cost of FD for 7 adults. Not bad, even with teh compromise. (You will love that area)

I hear what you're saying, but you also need to understand that they don't need to work to fill their most popular resorts, like Polynesian, POR, and Beach Club. So, Poly and POR weren't offered at all for free dining, I don't believe, and Beach Club had very limited availability. One thing you need to know going into the free dining offer is that if you aren't flexible on dates or resorts, you probably won't get the offer.

If you go back through this thread and read it closely, you'll find there are many people who had to switch their resort and dates. A lot of people moved from Pop to All-Star Sports. A lot of people moved from Beach Club to Yacht Club. A lot of people moved from POR to Coronado Springs Resort. See how the offer filters people to the rooms Disney needs to fill? Now, if someone came in and said, "I'm only staying at POR and only on these specific dates," they wouldn't have gotten free dining. It seems like that's your situation. I'm sorry your resort didn't have free dining availability on your dates, but beggars can't be choosers. Sorry you'll miss out on Disney World this year.

Absolutely. WE compromised resorts because we could not compromise the dates. Normally I do nto book unless I get teh discount I want, so this year there was a lot riding on getting the discount, We woudl have paid, but I woudl not have liked it.

 

[Jadeey]

Couldn’t give up and just found Sports for most of our dates. (Nov 25th - Dec 4th rather than 7th) I’ll just do a room only for the last couple of days.

Woohoo!

Now to decide if we want to do our room only at Pop which means having to move or just stay at Sports the whole time.

 

[~Teri in VA]

My sister and I kept trying and were just able to book POP FD 11/24-11/29. We had hoped to stay through 12/1. What are our best bets for extending our ressies?

All ideas are welcome. Thanks everyone! And pixie dust for those still trying!!

 

[Nancyg56]

My sister and I kept trying and were just able to book POP FD 11/24-11/29. We had hoped to stay through 12/1. What are our best bets for extending our ressies?

All ideas are welcome. Thanks everyone! And pixie dust for those still trying!!

I would try calling. The rooms will be fluid for a while as folks release them, cancel, and as DIsney evaluates what is really open after the rooms that were booked upon speculation or that were not available for FD are dropped. Mine will be dropped tomorrow if I can get through. I gave up today.

 

[rockinrhonda]

Hope everyone else got what they hoped for. I got exactly what I wanted, Sept 21-Oct 1 at Pop Century Standard rooms times 2 for the 8 people. Not sure if there is normally this much inventory because its still available. If there is, next time I would set my alarm to book at about 6:30 instead of staying up most of the night. Hoping to get a bounceback Free Dining when we go this year, but we'll see what they have with Star Wars land coming.

I will be at Pop that same week, 2 standard rooms. Do you know if the renovations will be done by then ? It would be nice.

 

[cab0ad]

Can anyone confirm you get dining your whole trip if you check in on the last few days? I am seeing many people say you don't. I got POP sept 28-oct 7. Sept 29 was the last day.

 

[mamamelody2]

Can anyone confirm you get dining your whole trip if you check in on the last few days? I am seeing many people say you don't. I got POP sept 28-oct 7. Sept 29 was the last day.

As long as you check in on an included day, you get free dining for your entire stay.

 

[rockinrhonda]

Can anyone confirm you get dining your whole trip if you check in on the last few days? I am seeing many people say you don't. I got POP sept 28-oct 7. Sept 29 was the last day.

I'm pretty sure that you will have the dining for the whole time.

 

[RolloTomasi]

Can anyone confirm you get dining your whole trip if you check in on the last few days? I am seeing many people say you don't. I got POP sept 28-oct 7. Sept 29 was the last day.

As long as your check in date is eligible, you’re good to go.

 

[mamamelody2]

How are people able to see what's still available? Is this on the phone? All I get is Stitch eating the page when I try to look. I'm just curious if my dates are still available, but I can't even get to that page. I do have free dining already. I'm just nosy.

 

[mamamelody2]

Anybody else looking forward to seeing what alcoholic or specialty drinks they can get with their free QSDP? I am!! I'm not a huge drinker, but we have 9 park days, and if I can get 3 or 4 free drinks, that would be awesome!

 

[McKelly]

Did anyone get a Unique Offer Code today with Free Dining? Just wondering if the availability is better, meaning more resorts. It doesn't seem like it, but the website can be glitchy.

ETA: The more I look at it, it looks like the room only is for the unique offer code, but the free dining is just the general offer. Tricky!

 

[themommy]

I had the exact same issue last year, I couldn’t book POP beyond the first Saturday in December. I was told it was a combination of Pop Warner allotment and the renovations, but since the renos won’t be an issue by that time this year - looks like it has more to do with Warner.

When are the usual dates for Pop Warner mayhem if you don’t mind? We’re booked December 7-December 15.

 

[SPOERLX3]

My sister and I kept trying and were just able to book POP FD 11/24-11/29. We had hoped to stay through 12/1. What are our best bets for extending our ressies?

All ideas are welcome. Thanks everyone! And pixie dust for those still trying!!

I know you may not want to give up on your POP room but you could move to ALL STAR Sports and you can get all of your days with FD there.
It is available for all your dates 11/24- 12/1. Just a thought.
The only other option would be, wait until the room discounts come out and see if POP has 11/29-12/1 available with a room discount but then you would have to pay for your food.

 

[donp]

Did anyone get a Unique Offer Code today with Free Dining? Just wondering if the availability is better, meaning more resorts. It doesn't seem like it, but the website can be glitchy.

ETA: The more I look at it, it looks like the room only is for the unique offer code, but the free dining is just the general offer. Tricky!

Yup