2016 Free Dining Watch ~ Part 2

[goldie09]

Since FD wasn't available for our dates (grr Disney, no late October love!) I am very happy that we scored a RO discount (25%) at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I've only ever stayed Value or offsite before so this will definitely be a nice visit I do wonder how busy it will be in October - the Deluxe RO discount was 30% in August-September and 25% in October...however, I like to remember how fortunate I am to have gotten ANY discount. Realistically, even though FD might have saved us money 'on paper', I have to say that having been on the DDP before, it is more food than I would normally eat, so really, would I have been saving money if it was money I wouldn't have spent anyways? Sigh, trying to talk myself into the RO being better than FD...

Next up: what will I obsess over now?! ADRs, FPs...

 

[Wood Nymph]

Oh, I don't think I realized that. DH loves the woods view, so now I feel even better about changing to courtyard view because he won't have to look at the construction. Thanks!

Most of the woods have been chopped down - clear cut - to make room for the new cabins.

 

[margievis]

I'd be willing to change my family suite to 2 standard rooms. Do you have to book them separately and do $200 each on them? We don't have a spare $600 laying around at the moment and I already used $200 to do the family suite. Can I somehow modify my existing family suite into 2 rooms if they were to become available?

You can, but not online. You will have to call. At least, I did.

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

I've been bummed all morning that I couldn't get in on free dining cause of my military ticket technicality. Then I realized we are so lucky to be able to go to Disney at all!! My husband and I never got to go as kids and now my kids will be going on their second trip.

Really awesome!

I nominate this for "Post Of The Day".

 

[MissErikaRae]

Just an update for everyone calling- I just waited an hour to make a reservation and I asked about the GF as I saw it was available online with RO discount. He said the only rooms available were at CBR for the room only discount. I ended up booking it online but just be aware that their system is running slow and isn't accurate.

 

[black562]

Is everyone hanging in there after a long night?

 

[sahm2two]

You can, but not online. You will have to call. At least, I did.

Ok thanks. My TA is working on it. Poor girl she's been on the phone all day for her clients.


Side note- someone said they applied for a Disney visa online, got approved and used it to secure FD today?? Should I dare?!? Right now I'm looking at $2,000 more than we were planning which is.... A lot of money.

 

[MissErikaRae]

I'm not sure I could pass up TPV for that amount of money!

I booked the GF TPV room! I figured since the Poly wasn't offering a discount I could change it back at a later time with the standard pricing if i preferred the Poly. Thanks for the response!

 

[CJK]

Anyone able to score a RO discount at Poly at the end of October? I'm seeing absolutely no rooms available at the discount.

 

[MissErikaRae]

Anyone able to score a RO discount at Poly at the end of October? I'm seeing absolutely no rooms available at the discount.

I just tried to get RO discount for September 24- OCT 1. When I called he said the Poly had nothing available during the offer time EXCEPT a club level room that was going to be over 6k. We ended up switching to GF for a TPV for only $200 then the standard view we had booked at the Poly.

 

[lancgirl]

Things online are really changing by the minute. AKL was showing nothing for my dates about an hour ago, now a few categories are coming up in GP and even more in the DV offer. Keep checking back everyone! You never know!

 

[DISbot]

Be aware that the availability is different EVERYWHERE. My TA couldn't see/book CBR standard rooms, but I could, and the CM on the phone with her was seeing different things than she was. I see the two different availabilities for standard and DV, but it seems like everyone is looking at a different database.

 

[JennJ84]

Is everyone hanging in there after a long night?

Got it at 4:08 last night WOOHOOO

 

[sweetyk83]

Thank you. Be happy to have the resources to experience a good time. If free food at a theme park is the roughest part of your life right now, then you have it pretty good. I'm personally excited to go for my third time with my wife (previous times she was the gf) and take my daughter and son. Skipped FD for the better room in December. Now bring on the overpriced churro!

Oh my goodness, isn't that the truth!
BTW, I actually had my first ever, non Disney, Churro a few weeks ago! So that is so on my list this time! Bring on the overpriced churro!

 

[KT0191]

Is everyone hanging in there after a long night?

Barely

 

[MissErikaRae]

Things online are really changing by the minute. AKL was showing nothing for my dates about an hour ago, now a few categories are coming up in GP and even more in the DV offer. Keep checking back everyone! You never know!

How are you accessing the Disney Visa offer? I feel a little stupid...I have a Disney Visa but haven't received an offer.

 

[BJ7644]

Is everyone hanging in there after a long night?

Trying to get DD4 to nap so I can too! Hope everyone else is hanging in there...

And thank you for sharing all your info! I have followed along for some time now. Haven't posted much but this was a great thread to follow with a lot of helpful people.

 

[Wood Nymph]

So in my MDE account, its still showing our old set of Magic Bands as active...will we get to order new ones for this trip? Cause I *NEED* the purple one. And DS lost his...lol

The message to customize your MagicBands for your new trip will appear shortly, if it hasn't appeared yet. Your old MagicBands are good, too, so you can use both sets for your next trip.

I am trying to book for November 5th-11th with the "Back to School" offer but it seems to be sold out?

The back to school offer is a room only discount and those are only good for the discount period. The discount ends Nov 5th and can't be applied to rooms booked after that date.

Hello, Sorry if previously asked. I am an annual passholder. I would like to book the free dining and give the park hopper to some friends of ours since we will not be able to use it. Do you know if they mail you the park hopper to have in hand to use at anytime and if so when do they mail it because we are planning to go in december, but my friend is planning to go and use the park hopper in september. thanks for any help

We are annual passholders and have tickets from our free dining reservation, so we have the same situation, almost. I'm keeping our package tickets and using them to renew our Annual Passes.

You will be able to assign your package tickets, the ones you got with free dining, to someone else, but you won't be able to do it until your check in day. That is when the package tickets become active. Then you can go to guest services or a ticket window, have them put the ticket on a hard card, and mail it then. Unfortunately, you won't be able to give the tickets to your friends in September since they don't become active until December.

 

[kristie73]

I'm sad. I know I wasn't getting free dining with my dates (Oct 12-21), but I sure was hoping for a room rate discount. Nothing showed up as available to upgrade my existing Garden View room at POR. No discount magic for me. I even called and spent 90 minutes on hold. They couldn't find any discount to apply. Frustrated!

 

[JennJ84]

Is anyone have trouble getting through on the phones to Disney? I keep getting "all circuits are busy now."