Free Dining 2008 Watch

[Tiff172]

I called in and got free dining for AKL from 8/28 until 9/1!!!! YAY!!! Now if only I could upgrade to savanna....all the rooms are gone

 

[aheape1979]

We're staying at POFQ from 9/10 to 9/14 on FD! Total price for me, DH, DD3 and DD18mos. $1094.62. We will be doing MK for 2 days and Sea World for 1. ADRs at Cinderella's Dream Dinner, 1900 Park Fare Cinderella Dinner, Winnie the Pooh Character Breakfast at Crystal Palace, Boma, and Kona Cafe. (DD3 is in love with Cinderella!) Made those on my original reservation at 180 days advance. Made a 2nd ressie this am online for FD. Ooh, I need to cancel the 1st one without FD! Good luck to everyone!
I called about FD rooms on Tuesday and was told they didn't have any POFQ rooms or any moderate rooms during our dates. Guess they opened up more rooms when they opened to the gen. public. Thank goodness! More spending money for WDW!

 

[PixieDusters]

WAY TO GO and Welcome to my fellow Hoosier Diser!
We have mostly the same ADRs as well.... I only have 5, and all 5 are on your list.....
Chef Mickey's
Sci Fi
Crystal Palace
Coral Reef
Kona

Thanks! I feel better with my choices now! I wasn't so sure what to choose. We have always done CS before with maybe one character breakfast somewhere. I planned on doing one dinner OOP, and I still booked one too many. I was thinking we got 7 days dining for number of days there, but it is only 6 for the number of nights. I am sure we will now have two OOP because I can't decide what to cancel. We are so excited to try dining at Disney!
Kokomo is my hometown! I feel right at home now! Yeah

 

[hmhanel]

We got the Poly for 9/11-9/15. This is our first time at the Poly and we are excited

My DS will be 13 and is now ready to ride all the rides

Anyone else at the Poly during these dates?

 

[faindrops27]

We got exactly what we wanted.....

2 rooms for at Pop standard for 5 nights.... 3 adults with FREE DINING!!

also was able to get Free Dining for my friends family... at Pop for 4 nights
2 adults and 2 teens

*WE CAN'T WAIT!

I am so happy for you, and yours!! Woohoo!! Have a great birthday Bash!!

 

[Kycha]

I called around 11:30 this morning and was ecstatic when a cm picked up immediately. Only to be told their system was down and to call back later. I called back around 12:30 and again was connected to a cm right away. Fortunately, the system was up and running again. I had no problems getting ASSports for Aug 31-Sept 7. I was put on hold when I tried to pay with gift cards. That part of their system was still down. So, she took my gc numbers down to have them added to my resv. later. Put me on hold again, came back and the system is back up and she had my deposit down and I'm done. Took about 20 minutes total.

I would have booked online, but I had 2 $100 gift cards to use for my deposit and it wouldn't allow me to use more than one card and I didn't want to put it on a credit card.

 

[B-Ride]

We got the Poly for 9/11-9/15. This is our first time at the Poly and we are excited

My DS will be 13 and is now ready to ride all the rides

Anyone else at the Poly during these dates?

Not for those dates. We are booked for Aug 24-Sept 1 for our 2nd year in a row with Free Dining at the Poly. If you are anything like us you will love the resort. Last year was our first time there and it is now the only place we want to stay.

Make sure you take advantage of the Dining Plan and book a dinner at 'Ohana (assuming you are not a vegetarian). We also ate at Kona Cafe which we feel is one of the most underrated restaurants at WDW. We are booked into both again this year.

You can't beat dinner at the Poly and then a quick monorail ride to MK for some evening rides and Wishes. Or if you are tired, have a swim and watch the Electric Water Pageant and Wishes from the Poly beach.

Enjoy!!

 

[WeemanMom]

Well, I tried to get free dining starting Sept. 20th. I thought that if you booked your trip starting on the 20th that you could get free dining for the duration of the stay, but the CM told me that wasn't the case . Oh, well.

I'll still be going, but it'll cost a bit more. I still booked the dining plan, and have reservations for the Crystal Palace, Hollywood & Vine w/Fantasmic, Tokyo Dining, Jiko, Cinderella's Royal Table, and Le Celier. It'll be my first time back to Disney World since 1979!

Call back, get a different CM. It could be the CM or it could be the resort you are staying at. We are going 09/13 through 09/27 and we have free dining the whole time (we also have room only reservations for 09/12-09/13 and again 09/27-09/28, but that's another story).

 

[DisneyGirl@Heart]

Booked!

ASMU Family Suite with free dining!
September 1 - 8

$2660 for 4 adults including insurance.

Now I just have to get airfare lined up!

How did you get a suite? I was told they weren't included...

 

[vellamint]

How did you get a suite? I was told they weren't included...

I heard they were included but only if the allotted amount of discounted rooms were not already taken during the timeframe that you need.....

I needed a family suite also in order to have a continuing reservation and not have to switch resorts......which I dont think is going to be too fun.....oh well we can moan and complain to each other as we stuff our faces with free food !!

 

[angwill]

Thank you. I do have AAA, but are you saying to apply the AAA discount to the 8/21-8/24 window (since it can't be combined with the FD portion of the trip?). I just wanted to understand where the discount was applicable, plus it would only be on the Room. Thanks again for your suggestion.

Yes, if you apply the AAA to 8/21-8/24 as a room only reservation you would save 20% your room which should add up to around $50 savings then you could actually buy your ticket through a ticket broker for a couple dollars less per ticket than Disney sells tickets saving a few more dollars. I have used 2 of the ticket brokers with great success if you want their names PM me. Then you would still have your one day tickets that you wouldn't need so you can save them for a future trip to save on an upgrade to the ticket you will need then.

Angela

 

[Albertan mom]

Got in!

Had to go Standard, there were no Preferred rooms left.

POP
Sept 19-28
Free Dining!
10 day hopper w/water parks option
$2161.00

Yay!

My CM was very nice, but he made me give him the code. I said "can't you just give me free dining?" (just because I didn't want to search for it)
He said no, I had to give it to him. I said what if I didn't have one. He said, then you wouldn't get free dining!
So have the code ready!
The one that worked for me was AYG, I tried CMT, CMK, and those didn't work.

Also, had no problem booking Sept 19 and on.
He didn't even question it.

He did totally try to get me to upgrade to a mod resort though!

 

[gorillaboy]

Call back, get a different CM. It could be the CM or it could be the resort you are staying at. We are going 09/13 through 09/27 and we have free dining the whole time (we also have room only reservations for 09/12-09/13 and again 09/27-09/28, but that's another story).

Everything's cool now. I'll be going from 9/20-9/28, staying at POP Century, and was given Free Dining. I decided to upgrade to Deluxe Dining since I have expensive dining tastes, and I'd be ordering appetizers anyway. Going to a TS restaurant every day will eat up some time, but since I'm going by myself I should still have plenty of time to see everything.

I couldn't quite get every reservation I wanted, but here's what I've made so far:
9/20: Dinner at 50's Prime-Time Cafe
9/21: Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, Dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse
9/22: Lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In, Dinner at Hollywood & Vine w/ Fantasmic!
9/23: Lunch at Coral Reef, Dinner at Tokyo Dining
9/24: Breakfast at Boma, Dinner at Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
9/25: Dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table
9/26: Lunch at Le Celier, Dinner at Jiko

I was thinking of going to Kennedy Space Center on 9/27, so I'm not sure of that day yet. Thanks to all who recommended that I call again!

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

So glad to hear all the success stories from today! It makes me feel less freaked out about this process for '09 - actually I'm hoping to bounce back from '08 to '09... We're also thinking of upgrading to one or both of: DxDDP or Adult MYW for DD so she can actually eat food rather than what passes for food on the kid menus.
Any of you this year upgrade someone under 10 to adult for this?
Those of you who upgraded to DxDDP, I guess you're just budgeting the extra $$ for tips for the extra TS meals? I have to adjust to that idea, but am cosidering it for future trips. Will you tip near 18% at buffets? I've considered buffet tips less than other TS because they are just bringing drinks and removing plates not taking and delivering food orders - am I out of line with current standards?

 

[dizneydiva2005]

Got in!

Had to go Standard, there were no Preferred rooms left.

POP
Sept 19-28
Free Dining!
10 day hopper w/water parks option
$2161.00

Yay!

My CM was very nice, but he made me give him the code. I said "can't you just give me free dining?" (just because I didn't want to search for it)
He said no, I had to give it to him. I said what if I didn't have one. He said, then you wouldn't get free dining!
So have the code ready!
The one that worked for me was AYG, I tried CMT, CMK, and those didn't work.

Also, had no problem booking Sept 19 and on.
He didn't even question it.

He did totally try to get me to upgrade to a mod resort though!

wow- my cm who answered was so great... I just said I wanted to change my ressies to the free dining. He did it straight away, said we saved over $1400 and it's just disney's way of saying thanks!

 

[SmallWorld71]

Wasn't able to call until 6:00pm. Got the nicest CM on the phone - Madison. Unfortunately our 1st 2 choices were gone (Pop and Movies). Only values available were Music, standard and Sports, preferred. Gave DS9 the choice and he picked Music because we stayed in Sports 2 years ago. I know we'll have a blast at Music , was just hoping for Pop cause it's the only value I've never been to. Ironically, I had a room already at Pop but had to change dates a bit for the free dining. Couldv'e kept 'em, but who can pass up free food.

So, Music it is, from 8/24-8/31 with room only on 8/23. See you there!

 

[Step]

How did you get a suite? I was told they weren't included...

Luck I guess. One just happened to be available during my dates. Might be because I booked through a travel agent.

 

[capturedfairy]

I called in and got free dining for AKL from 8/28 until 9/1!!!! YAY!!! Now if only I could upgrade to savanna....all the rooms are gone

Ask as soon as you are checking in for a free upgrade, I innocently asked "IS there any possibility for a free upgrade" Be VERY nice to the CM, more likely if there is availability they will give you an upgrade. I got a savannah view at the Uzima Savannah. Which is not as good as the Arusha view, but you are closer to the pool, so yeeeeeeeeeeahhhhh

Just ask. you won't lose anything by just asking. May the Magic be with you.

 

[B-Ride]

Got in!

My CM was very nice, but he made me give him the code. I said "can't you just give me free dining?" (just because I didn't want to search for it)
He said no, I had to give it to him. I said what if I didn't have one. He said, then you wouldn't get free dining!
So have the code ready!
The one that worked for me was AYG, I tried CMT, CMK, and those didn't work.

That's very interesting. I asked for Free Dining and my CM didn't ask for a code. Later in the call she did say "And where did you get this code?" I tried not to laugh and say "From You!"

I am surprised CMT didn't work as that is the code she added to my reservation and if you book online it is the code that shows on the final page.

 

[mickey mommy]

I didn't get asked for a code either. She just wanted to know where I saw the promotion and I said "the Disney website". Anyway, she was so very nice.

Beach Club - 8/25/08-09/1/08
2 Adults
2 Kid's who count as adults (10 and 11)
1 child (9) and 1 infant (2)
Saved us about $1000 since we were already going to do the dining plan- ooohhhh sooooooo happy!