2018 Free Dining Watch Thread V3

[kpd6901]

I did manage to book an art of animation suite the cars one from December 19 through the 24th and I did get free dining six people it was about 5400

We already have a cars suite for Nov. 19 to Dec. 1, locked, sealed, and delivered, booked thru our TA. It wouldn't let her modify the dates this morning to remove the first bit, so she called in....after hours, she was told no availability for FD thru Dec 1. In the meantime, she did place a hold for FD for us at cars suite from Nov 24 to Nov 28. My parents are coming with us, and mirroring this whole scenario, but at Pop for themselves. Regardless, we are checking in on Thanksgiving, the 22nd. That would be a split stay, if we can get FD, but these dates were our plan B anyway if Nov. 19 wasn't included in FD. The resorts and dates are pretty set for us, and we figured that if we were going with our plan B dates, then we wouldn't have FD anyway. Since some of our window and both our resorts are included in the offer, we will just wait this out and see if we can get a decent discount off our original rate plan, whether FD or later Room Discount.

 

[garris3404]

So did everyone get what they wanted?

Yes I got exactly what I wanted. And it booked by 5:08 AM. Thanks for all your knowledge and help!

 

[IluvMGM]

So did everyone get what they wanted?

Is there truth do you know that you have to a split stay now because dining is only available from the 24th-27th instead of normally having it available your whole length of stay as long as you check in on one of those dates? And, those are only 3 nights and it is a minimum 4 night stay.

 

[chuff88]

So did everyone get what they wanted?

We got free dining, which was the main thing we wanted. We ended up a Caribbean Beach, which was our third choice resort overall, but after reflecting on it we're super happy! 7 nights of DxDP coming our way!

 

[djc9699]

Did anyone who went last year in December for free dining have a hard time making table service reservations? What if you're on the site each morning it opens (180 days prior)? Thanks!

I went from 16 - 28 December last year with free dining. I was on the site at about 6:00 just to get our Christmas and Christmas Eve booking and an Ohana and BOG dinner and Garden Grill PPO breakfast. Got all of those that morning. I then went back later and added everything else we wanted. We ate at many places that we had never tried and probably would not have eaten at without free dining. If you are going at Christmas free dining is the best thing in my opinion. We wanted a table service meal to get out of the crowds each day and we enjoyed it so much that I am going again this Christmas. It might just become my normal time to go.

 

[DisKaren]

So did everyone get what they wanted?

We aren't able to do FD this time due to the minimum requirements, but we have another deal booked. I really appreciate all your help!!!

 

[DisneyFever]

Sounds like you and I faced a similar situation. I had a Nov 24 - Dec 2 trip booked and attempted to modify by clicking the 'change' button. The problem was that even though it was showing the FD promo, when I selected it my price was $50 more and the only thing I needed to change was from a rack-rate booking to a FD booking as I had room, dining, park passes and ph on my original reservation.

I attempted to book a completely new reservation but it always showed that nothing was available at Pop for my dates. I ended up switching my dates to my Plan B and we're now going 2 weeks later on Dec 8.

I have a feeling there was an error in what we're being shown and that in reality there is no more FD offers available at Pop from Nov 24 - Dec 2 and rather than being shown that they just provide the higher price, hoping people don't notice.

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.

 

[IluvMGM]

Is there truth do you know that you have to a split stay now because dining is only available from the 24th-27th instead of normally having it available your whole length of stay as long as you check in on one of those dates? And, those are only 3 nights and it is a minimum 4 night stay.

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.

 

[kjetjl]

I realized free dining dropped about 5:05 am. I wanted two standard rooms at all star sports. First issue I had was I was on the Canadian site. Fixed that. Then, I would click the offer for standard room and it would state something like promotion not available. Clicked back, refreshed a few times and finally got it to work. Went to book the 2nd room, clicked the purchase button and got a message that my cart was emptied because room was no longer available. My sigh woke my husband up. It was only about 5:15am at the time and I thought, seriously, standard rooms are gone already? Clicked through the offer again and got the 2nd standard room. In hindsight it was less than 15 minutes but it felt like the longest 15 minutes! Omg. We have been doing free dining since 2007 and I remember calling and being on hold for HOURS. This was easy peasy in comparison. Congrats to everyone who got what they wanted. And a big thanks to people on here who provide information so we are ready!!

 

[kathleen29]

Does anyone know if there are typically RO offers that come out later on for December bookings? I only broke even with FD because of the 4 day park hopper tickets and it might be more beneficial to do RO and add on dining.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

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!

What time were you able to book this at? This is proof for those that are worried about limited availability and things running out! At 9 a.m. there was absolutely NO Yacht Club left and then at 10:30, there were only Turret Suites available and by 11, there was nothing.

By the way, we LOVE YC! It's a very nice resort with excellent cast members and a more relaxed feel than the BC! I feel the BC is a more hectic resort with a lot of action always going on! LOL!! At the YC, there were times when I could just sit in the lobby and unwind if I was waiting for my husband or kids!

 

[Jules16]

Did you have dining added to the package already? If you didn’t then that explains why the price didn’t budge. Otherwise, I dunno. I’d keep them both until you can call like you said. I also noticed that it took several hours to the website to update with the correct hotel but I got confirmation e-mails. Eventually they update online but not on the iPhone app.

No! My original package only had 3 day park hopper and they added the FD to it. But under my tickets I have 4 day park hoppers.

 

[DisKaren]

Is there truth do you know that you have to a split stay now because dining is only available from the 24th-27th instead of normally having it available your whole length of stay as long as you check in on one of those dates? And, those are only 3 nights and it is a minimum 4 night stay.

I just tried to book 11/24-12/4 online to see what it would do, and ASSP and ASMU came up as available for FD.

 

[G719]

Does anyone know if there are typically RO offers that come out later on for December bookings? I only broke even with FD because of the 4 day park hopper tickets and it might be more beneficial to do RO and add on dining.

It will probably be July when we see the room discounts for nov/dec.

 

[IluvMGM]

I just tried to book 11/24-12/4 online to see what it would do, and ASSP and ASMU came up as available for FD.

Yeah, the woman this morning lied to me and now I am out of luck. Took me all day to get through again and it is too late.

 

[Becky Mouse]

I didn't get it so I canceled my vacation. This nonsense about (they run their company like a radio program contest "the first 100 callers win..."), 'we have only so many slots available' is fine. If in the long run they think they will make $ that way they are welcome to it, but it won't be my money they make a profit off of. I think the assumption is if you have already planned a vacation with them you won't cancel if you don't get it, and they may be right; just not in my case. There are too many other places to go and see in the world that will be more than happy to take my $.

I had Beach Club for a week the day after Labor Day. If anyone is interested my booking just became available. Have at it, I will be going on a cruise (non Disney) or Universal.

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.

 

[SPOERLX3]

I was on first thing and couldn't get anything at pop around those dates. I keep checking. There is availability for rooms now for just a room which wasn't like that earlier. They just aren't available for free dining,
Anybody here a few years ago that remembers the time rooms are added back into inventory. I feel like there was someone who mentioned it 2 years ago.
Im at sports but Im gonna keep trying! As of right now it says there is no resort available for my dates. Our dates are Nov 27-Dec 4.

You may have been referring to me, maybe not. 2 years ago, I had booked CBR room for 5. when FD released, I couldn't get anything at CBR for a party of 5. The only 2 options I had was the cabins or ASMu. We booked ASMu and by 8:25 that morning a standard room at CBR for a party of 5 came open and I grabbed it. My sister and her family were going with us, she couldn't get CBR on drop date either but 3 days later, CBR for her family of 5 came open.
Keep watching, periodically during the day. TA's can put 3 day holds on reservations and can release them anytime, once they have discussed everything and confirmed with their guests.

 

[Huff]

Has anybody gotten FD for any dates ending Nov28-Dec1? (Beginning in the Nov24-27 window)., Especially at AoA or Pop?

I booked 11/24-12/3 as AsSports. Could not get Pop.

 

[Deranged Hermit]

So did everyone get what they wanted?

Yup, booked everything online about 9ish this morning at Coronado. Zero problems, other than I would have preferred to to talk to someone so we could link my families reservations , but I'll do that tomorrow.

 

[Lovetherodent]

Because flights out of the city where I live are very limited, I decided to add a night at POP before my vacation, giving me the opportunity to take the late flight out the day before I want to arrive. Booked it 2 days ago, no problem. With all the FD frenzy, I was pricing things out earlier to see if I could get a better deal (couldn't). What I saw was that, last time I checked, I could not get that single room at POP for one night as a RO, and that POP had been booked more than 3500 times in the last 24 hours! Meanwhile, ASMo, not part of the FD deal, had been booked about 300 times. Wow, this morning must have been just nuts!