Free Dining Success Rate

[wilkeliza]

Didn't go with Free Dinning but did price it out and decided to go Room only instead. I would have gotten my dates and level for AKL had I booked though at about 10 am on release day.

 

[saskdw]

It really seems to me that the availibilty is so limited they are really just releasing it to appease the forum members and travel agents. There is no way someone from the unknowing general public would be able to get their hands on a decent room with this FD release.

In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 they released FD in the spring and I would book the room I wanted for December in July or August. Never had any trouble getting what I wanted and used to laugh at all the fanatics staying up all night to get a room that I could book 2 months later.

This year all of the "popular" room choices were gone by 10am!! LOL

To awnser the question, we got the standard room at CSR for Dec. 10th-20th that we wanted. I booked it online at about 7:15 am CST, which is 9:15 am EST.

 

[rspencer38]

Got my dates and resort (POP Century) on first try!

 

[JennyT1]

Already had booked as we were toying of going with or without FD. Woke up at 4 and got exactly what I wanted...CSR, reg room Aug 23-31

 

[Jewel3k]

Up at 5 something when my husband got up for work. Easily modified existing September stay CBR Standard View with no changes.

 

[Disneylover99]

Booked at 4:30am. We wanted POR, but only RR were available so we booked CSR, standard.

 

[Jessiemendez1]

I think they really limited the rooms available

It really seems to me that the availibilty is so limited they are really just releasing it to appease the forum members and travel agents. There is no way someone from the unknowing general public would be able to get their hands on a decent room with this FD release.

In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 they released FD in the spring and I would book the room I wanted for December in July or August. Never had any trouble getting what I wanted and used to laugh at all the fanatics staying up all night to get a room that I could book 2 months later.

This year all of the "popular" room choices were gone by 10am!! LOL

To awnser the question, we got the standard room at CSR for Dec. 10th-20th that we wanted. I booked it online at about 7:15 am CST, which is 9:15 am EST.

totally agree. Unless you are up on Disney news and planning in advance, the average Disney vacationer won't land free dining in a standard anything room and most likely have to spring for deluxe - where the room discount is often the better option.

 

[Mickeycrocs]

I was up at 4:05 trying to get CBR and had to switch to all star sports and haven't been able to get a room there since.

 

[Jessiemendez1]

I was up at 4:05 trying to get CBR and had to switch to all star sports and haven't been able to get a room there since.

I had a standard that had to switch to a preferred. Isn't there over 2200 rooms in CBR?? I'd love to know the exact number of rooms they allocate. We'd probably all be shocked.

 

[DisCatGirl]

My opinion - everyone loves and expects free dining. They book rooms in advance, hoping they can convert their reservation once the promo is announced. Disney has much less incentive to offer if promos - they do it when there is a need to fill rooms. If a lot of rooms have already been reserved, no need for wider availability of rooms and dates.

 

[TiggerManiac]

I had booked a standard room/tickets at CBR for 11/28-12/6 about 11pm central on Friday, April 22. I figured by that time, Disney wouldn't be revising the number of rooms they'd assigned to the promotion, and I wanted a standard room. I was up at 2:30 central Monday morning, and the special hadn't dropped. Set an alarm for 3:30, and there it was. Standard rooms with queens already gone, so I switched to standard king for $250 more. Went to bed hoping I'd be able to switch back to Queen room.

DH woke up when I got in bed, so I told hm what I'd done. Decided to check availability if I switched dates to one day earlier. Standard queen available, so I switched dates and back to my original price. Still hoping I can get my original dates back, but if not, I'll keep what I've got.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

I was hoping to get CBR standard room for 5 people 12/21-12/28. I was able to get CBR preferred 12/21-12/27. Obsessively checking to hopefully get that last day.

 

[1437disney]

Got the dates and hotel we wanted at 4:05am EST. 3 rooms at CSR (2 standard and 1 water).

 

[mommajo143]

Then got the e-mail from Disney Visa about the extra days!

I'm curious about the visa email. I have a Disney visa & never get anything...

 

[VillainFavs]

Came in at 8:10 in the morning on the 25th. I don't usually see anything from them either so don't know why I got it this time.

 

[lady_hlh]

I was able to switch to YC last night which was my second choice after CR but only by using the Disney Visa free dining offer link, the regular free dining still showed no availability at YC. I never got an e-mail from Chase about the disney visa offer either but someone on the resort codes forum posted a direct link to the offer so that you can book it online.

 

[glitzybabes]

I was booked at POR, sept 16-24. I stay up all night waiting for free dining to be release. Around 3:20 I began to get sleepy and set an alarm for 3:59am. I don't remember the alarm going off at all. I woke up about 4:55am and checked and FD was up. I was unable to to get POR but I did get my 2nd choice of CSR standard room for the same dates.

 

[Em's GiGi]

I'm curious about the visa email. I have a Disney visa & never get anything...

You have to go into your chase disney visa account and make sure the settings indicate that you want emails and special offers, etc. I did that and apparently it put me on the list!

 

[Glennie5]

Got the dates, hotel and room we wanted. Booked online right at 4am.

 

[Estrattman]

I didn't know it was going live till I got the DV email. I immedietly went online and book the Pirate Room for us and a King at CBR for my parents. My parents were fine with the King room and we were excited about the Pirate Room, but it was a bit more then a standard and we were concerned about the walk. So after trying all day yesterday - 2 standard rooms popped up online, I instantly changed out reservations. So know we are all staying in standard rooms at CBR. I'm so excited! Saved us over $800 for our inital estimations. We DID have to change out dates by 1 day, but it wasn't that big of a deal for us.