Did you get what you wanted?

[LIPeter]

Did everyone get what they wanted now that free dining was released? I'm going solo in Sept, so free dining wasn't a big deal for me. However I was looking for the room discounts. I was planning on staying at POR, but by the time I got on the site, only the royal rooms were available. So, I wound up booking CSR, but I got my discount. So, I kinda got what I wanted. How did everyone else do?

 

[happymommy]

I wanted Pop Century (had it booked with the little room only discount), but our particular type of room (HA roll in shower with 2 beds) wasn't available so switched to All Star Sports.

It was definitely worth it to get free QSDP for us.

Funny thing is that it automatically quotes you upgrade to regular dining plan, so I manually chose free QSDP instead. We don't want the regular plan anyway!

So in all, we got pretty much what we wanted and are happy with our choice.

 

[scard192]

our check in date (11/12) was not included for FD. I booked a package with a TA with QSDP and park hoppers at ASSp. saved several hundred dollars over doing a split stay with RO (food OOP) and then FD. had hoped for FD but with that not an option I am happy with the deal I got. Looking forward to seeing the Christmas Decorations at Disney!

 

[absolutmey]

got all ADRs I wanted on Monday morning then saw later on that the RO discounts were released. I signed in to MDE and applied it to my reservation. Saved $600. I think, from what I've been reading here, I'm super lucky that the process was painless and quick. Lots of people had a hard time even getting a dial tone yesterday when they called!

 

[rere101399]

I got our resort and our week, but had to drop a night off the trip I planned to check in a day later because the check in date I really wanted wasn't available and there wasn't availability to check out a day later either. Oh well, I'll take it! Pretty close to getting what I want, FD at our preferred resort during our preferred week minus one night is a win to me.

 

[Ambear]

My trip had no free dining dates but I was able to apply the back to school promo and saved a good chunk off my akl stay. I did it all online in like 15 minutes. So I'm super happy!

 

[VACamm]

Yes sir, we sure did and I'm so thankful! I stayed up til midnight waiting for free dining to go live... which of course it did not. So, I set my alarm clock for 5:30am and went to sleep for a couple of hours. At 5:30am I ran downstairs and logged in to see that Free Dining had in fact had gone live, and I was able to get our first choice for September 3-10th. I had listed our choices in this order:

CBR - standard room (which we were fortunate to get, as I believe this category for CBR sold out before 7:00am)
POR - standard room
CSR - standard room
POP - preferred room

Last night my husband and I were able to get all of our ADR's booked, including BOG dinner. All in all, it was a good day!

I had not prebooked my room, so all I had to do was book online which was easy and super quick. A lot of people on here were not able to get into the phones for hours and hours and hours because they already had room reservations and needed to revise their reservations with a Disney CM over the telephone and not online. The people who were able to book online were able to grab rooms they wanted very easily though. I am super thankful that the Dis Boards had given us a heads up that Free Dining was going to go live in the wee hours of the morning yesterday! There were a bunch of Dis members who were able to stay up all night and book right when the FD went live at 4:00am.

 

[Coconuts]

No, we didn't get what we wanted, but at least we got a trip to WDW.

Some of our disappointments:
1. FD wasn't offered for Jersey week, which it always has been, and we have always gone for FD that week.
2. Had to change our vacation week to the busier week of Thanksgiving so we could get FD.
3. Kids now have to miss 3 days of school.
4. Had to cut our vacation by 2-3 days and change dates from our original plan since there was almost no resort availability.
5. Only ASSp was available, probably my last choice; would have loved a moderate, but the only rooms left were too expensive.
6. Airfare may be harder to snag and more expensive due to the only time and days we could get for FD.

Believe me I have tried every possible scenario, different check in and check out days, different weeks, different discounts...the deal I got was the only one that works for our family so we are ok with it. And...it's our youngest's first WDW trip so we are all excited for that.

 

[Disneylover99]

Did everyone get what they wanted now that free dining was released? I'm going solo in Sept, so free dining wasn't a big deal for me. However I was looking for the room discounts. I was planning on staying at POR, but by the time I got on the site, only the royal rooms were available. So, I wound up booking CSR, but I got my discount. So, I kinda got what I wanted. How did everyone else do?

Same as you. I wanted POR, but not a RR, so I booked CSR and now I'm trying to convince my family they will love it.

 

[TiggerManiac]

We got CBR standard view two-queen room 11/27-12/5. We really wanted 11/28-12/6, but at 4:30 Disney time yesterday morning, only king rooms were left for $259 more. At first, I modified my original dates and took the king room, to ensure I had free dining, thinking I'd change later if I could. Then I went to bed. DH woke up as I got in bed to ask if I was successful.

I then decided to see what would happen if I adjusted our trip by one day earlier. The 2-queen room was available for those dates, so I modified the reservation again.

We'd still prefer our original dates, so I'll continue to check every now and then to see if I can switch. But if I can't, the new dates are totally fine.

I am so glad I was able to modify online with no problems!

 

[Pkltm]

We have a FD BB booked at ASSp but our goal was to try to switch to a MOD, but all that was available for our dates were Pirate Rooms, too expensive for what it is. We are happy to still be going, we are going to upgrade our dining, if I can ever get past the "all circuits are busy"

 

[LIPeter]

Same as you. I wanted POR, but not a RR, so I booked CSR and now I'm trying to convince my family they will love it.

I'm saving almost $400 by staying at CSR.

 

[mommyboys3]

No, we didn't get what we wanted, but at least we got a trip to WDW.

Some of our disappointments:
1. FD wasn't offered for Jersey week, which it always has been, and we have always gone for FD that week.
2. Had to change our vacation week to the busier week of Thanksgiving so we could get FD.
3. Kids now have to miss 3 days of school.
4. Had to cut our vacation by 2-3 days and change dates from our original plan since there was almost no resort availability.
5. Only ASSp was available, probably my last choice; would have loved a moderate, but the only rooms left were too expensive.
6. Airfare may be harder to snag and more expensive due to the only time and days we could get for FD.

Believe me I have tried every possible scenario, different check in and check out days, different weeks, different discounts...the deal I got was the only one that works for our family so we are ok with it. And...it's our youngest's first WDW trip so we are all excited for that.

Have you looked into flights yet? Airfare may be significantly more expensive during Thanksgiving week. If you figure in that extra expense, plus the hoppers/water park tickets you have to purchase to get FD (assuming you wouldn't otherwise) is FD really worth 3 days of missed school, extra crowds & not staying at the resort that you want? I love FD & have gotten it our last 3 trips but it wouldn't be worth it for me if I were in your shoes. I'm hoping to go Jersey week too but I'm holding out for a RO discount.

 

[Coconuts]

Have you looked into flights yet? Airfare may be significantly more expensive during Thanksgiving week. If you figure in that extra expense, plus the hoppers/water park tickets you have to purchase to get FD (assuming you wouldn't otherwise) is FD really worth 3 days of missed school, extra crowds & not staying at the resort that you want? I love FD & have gotten it our last 3 trips but it wouldn't be worth it for me if I were in your shoes. I'm hoping to go Jersey week too but I'm holding out for a RO discount.

I am sure airfare will be more but it's too far out to price yet. And worst case scenario, I may be able to talk them into driving.We didn't get the resort we wanted but I wouldn't keep that letting me go that week. I'm sure ASSp will be ok. Kids were ok with the missed school; DS now being acclimated to high school is confident that isn't too long to miss. I priced out our dates for Jersey week with whatever limited discounts they have now and it's about $2000 more expensive. If a better room discount comes out then we would definetly switch.

 

[#1eeyoregirl]

Yep, we got exactly what we wanted! We were originally booked at AKL for Dec 17-26, and were able to change it to CBR with the free dining (at 4am online mind you). We had originally booked AKL as we were going during Spring Break and had an awesome discount but then ended up pushing the trip to Christmas so my sister and her family could join us. The free dining at a moderate during our time frame is a much better deal for my family since I have one child that is considred an adult by Disney standards and I knew (looking at the historical data) that we would most likely only qualify for a room discount a few nights at most. So, in the end we are now staying at a resort that my family is actually looking forward to more and we are saving around $4k ($2k room difference and $2k for dining plan).

 

[6loversofdisney]

I did get what I wanted.

CBR Standard room

I always do 2 value rooms but since we upgrade the DDP anyway, it cost about 550.00 more to stay at the MOD.

 

[SarahSnow]

Nope but it wasn't going to change our minds anyway as we are already booked (for over a year).

 

[Hawkeyegirls]

I got the resort I wanted, POR. But had to push it a week up. So I am still looking into the price different of doing a RO discount with our original week since I had all my dining lined up and its slim picking now for that week.

 

[hippsmom]

Well I knew in advance that POR was not going to part of the free dining for my dates...back up plan was CBR. Was able to book 2 waterview rooms at 5am. Could have had standard but for whatever reason I picked waterview! Must have been the lack of sleep. But thrilled that I got 2 rooms with free dining .

 

[Jacie]

We changed our dates a bit (Originally were going 11/10 - 11/19) but got what we wanted- All Star Music from 11/15-11/2 (RO at ASMu for 11/14) and booked MIL a room at ASMu from 11/15 - 11/18, all with Free QSDP.