Booked our package in March, and still forced to swap resorts. (added free dining)

[Trollingforthimbles]

We will be arriving 10-28 and departing on 11-03. Our package was booked months ago for Riverside, I called early on the morning Free Dining was released and they had no availability, nor did they have any at French Quarter. Since we stayed at Coronado Springs last year, I didn't want to go back there (wasn't really a fan) and the only other option was Caribbean Beach.

CB looks a lot like Coronado in my opinion and I'm not loving the idea either, but we can't afford anything more pricey and don't want to downgrade...

Sigh, this sucks. I can't believe we had to move even though our package was booked so long ago.

 

[monica9]

Can you keep calling and asking if they can just tack it on to your reservatons? maybe you will find the right person who will say yes. By telling them you will have to downgrade and they will end up getting less money out of you guys that might make them reconsider? No idea on this one. Can you upgrade to a better room at POR and get the fd? Did you ever consider looking into WL or AKL? The resorts are the cheapest of the deluxes.

 

[sharadoc]

The reason is that your original reservation has nothing to do with a free dining reservation. It seems like they just "add on" the free dining, but in reality they are cancelling out your original room and giving you a free dining room.

It's always a discussion on here - do you book and hope for a discount or wait for the discount to come out? If a lot of book and hope, then the resort will look more full, therefore Disney doesn't need to open up as many rooms with the discount/free dining. A catch-22.

 

[KELLY]

We will be arriving 10-28 and departing on 11-03. Our package was booked months ago for Riverside, I called early on the morning Free Dining was released and they had no availability, nor did they have any at French Quarter. Since we stayed at Coronado Springs last year, I didn't want to go back there (wasn't really a fan) and the only other option was Caribbean Beach.

CB looks a lot like Coronado in my opinion and I'm not loving the idea either, but we can't afford anything more pricey and don't want to downgrade...

Sigh, this sucks. I can't believe we had to move even though our package was booked so long ago.

Because there was enough rooms booked before the promo came out they didn't need to offer the resort. This is how it has always worked. Just because you have a room booked don't mean it will be available for the promo. It. actually does the opposite and makes for less availability. I don't get why people get so upset over this a moderate is a moderate. We only had the option of CSR or CBR in a standard room. I went with the one with queen beds.

 

[Princess Me]

I would keep calling & trying to get what you really want. I booked our Sept/Oct trip in March also for free dining at the CR & the room type I wanted (Tower-Lake View) was already booked up so I settled for Garden Wing-Garden View, but the CM I spoke to was really nice and told me to keep calling because rooms open up all the time for many reasons, she especially recommended I call right before & after my 45-day mark. So three months & 5 phone calls later I finally got the room type I wanted. Good luck!

 

[minnie mum]

Sigh, this sucks. I can't believe we had to move even though our package was booked so long ago.

The thing is, though, that you changed your package. You didn't have to. You could have kept the same package without the free dining. There is never a guarantee that FD will be available for all room types at every resort. FD is offered to fill rooms. If a resort is already booked heavily, few if any discounts will be offered at that resort. POR is one of the most popular resorts, so it is not surprising that FD would be difficult to get.

Monica9 was incorrect in recommending that you just call again and have it 'tacked on'. That's not how discounts work. There has to be a room with free dining available. Once they are gone (if they are even offered in the first place), they're gone. And she is also incorrect in saying that threatening to downgrade would prompt them to give you the FD at POR. They won't have a problem helping you to downgrade at all. Switching to AKL or WL would always cost more money on a FD plan, since you are paying rack rate for the room.

 

[jenlw]

You may want to see if they have a Royal Room at Port Orleans Riverside. They really aren't that much more if you get a standard view. I know they have those available for the week on 11/13, but October could just be busier. The only reason I would not want to stay at CB is that I'm pretty sure they just have double beds. POR, FQ and CS all have queens. Not sure if that is important to you or not, but if a little bit more expensive room might be available at POR, I would rather pay a little more for the queen beds. FYI, for my weeks in Nov CS and FQ are not available, and at POR just the Royal Rooms have availability. Good luck! Oh, and you may just want to try randomly each day to go online and check the availability through the free dining package link. One day FQ was not available, I checked again a few days later and it was, then the next day it was not available again. Same with POR, one day a standard room was available, the next only Royal, and the next a standard again. Just keep checking and maybe something at POR will pop up one day when someone happens to cancel