Free Dining 2014 Discussion ~ Part 2

[Cindaddy]

I know. But it happened!

I believe you! I just meant that it would be unusual that it wasn't required. It's required, but you got around the requirement.

 

[Tuffy4God]

Noooo. Got FD, did NOT have to purchase park tickets. I specifically asked because that was my understanding too, but I was told "nope - don't have to purchase tickets."

I'm extremely jealous as I'd love FD, but already have my tix. I just called and tried and she said I had to have the 2-day min tix. I figured it was worth a try. Congrats to you!

 

[ARAITHEL]

I got thru at 8:31 AM CST, I haven't received an email yet nor has anything updated in MDE. Should I call back?? I gave my DV card number and he said everything is confirmed. Should I just chill until this afternoon?????

Mine showed up when I refreshed my MDE when I was on the phone with the CM at 9:15 this morning. I haven't gotten an email, but mine is right there in black and white online. spooky. I'd have to call.

 

[dansdad]

So my question is this....if I can rent points at any time in any deluxe level resort (where available of course), why don't more people do this? Am I missing something? Is there a distinct disadvantage to doing this? Or maybe people just aren't aware of DVC rentals?

I just want to make sure I'm not missing any major red flags.

Thanks for any feedback you have to share

There are drawbacks. But renting points is still worth it to us. For example:

No flexibility once you book renting points. You can't switch your dates once booked.
You can't cancel and get a refund.
No daily housekeeping. But you can pay extra for it.
It can be tough to get popular resorts/dates as you have to find an owner at that resort to make the booking at 11 months out.
Have to pay at least 50% and up to 100% of the cost when you book, which could be at 11 months out.

 

[donp]

I got thru at 8:31 AM CST, I haven't received an email yet nor has anything updated in MDE. Should I call back?? I gave my DV card number and he said everything is confirmed. Should I just chill until this afternoon?????

I got the same jitters last year when I could not verify everything in the first few hours. I got all my emails and confirmations with in 24 hours. I would not waste my time calling back if I were you. You could always go on Disney.com and chat with somebody to be reassured.

 

[martinmont]

DH wants us to make another payment but I can't find the button to pay on MDE next to my reservation. I thought I have always seen it, did it disappear?

 

[deakam]

Been following along since day 1. I have been back and forth and back and forth and after making and canceling and making another reservation I have finally come to the conclusion that I have got to be crazy!!!!I wanted PO anything. Apparently not going to happen. I had booked a room only just to get my ADR's in order. Canceled that and then rebooked at Pop preferred for my days waiting for the GP dates and resorts to be released. The reason I pre booked is because everyone on here was going from Riverside to 2 POP rooms. That resort is going to fill up really fast. I have been playing with numbers and finally made a decision.

I am moving from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin to the sunny shores of the Atlantic ocean next year so this will more than likely be my last actual stay at Disney. I have decided to go back to my favorite one last time. I will be booking the Wilderness on May 7. I really do love Pop but the bus stop is too far from the gate exit after a really long day in the parks, especially the Magic Kingdom and we have 3 days planned there. With 3 adults and the RO discount being 20% FD is a better price. Now here's hoping WL is still available.

 

[aaarcher86]

Noooo. Got FD, did NOT have to purchase park tickets. I specifically asked because that was my understanding too, but I was told "nope - don't have to purchase tickets."

Not to be a bubble buster, but I almost guarantee you they gave you the room discount instead.

Tickets are a requirement - there's no package codes for FD that don't call for tickets.

Do you have your package code? Feel free to PM me.

 

[squirrel4569]

30 minutes total once I was able to get through. On hold for about 20 minutes. I switched our AoA booking to Pop and added a night. Upgraded back to the DDP and saved $347.

 

[vrajewski10513]

I must have been one of the extremely lucky ones... I called this morning a little after 8am to book a package with free dining. I knew POFQ was going to be excluded so I asked for POR and sadly that was excluded as well so we ended up booking Coronado Springs Standard King room (which is great cause hubby is a sprawler lol) with free dining for our dates 9/9-9/16. I say I must have been one of the lucky ones because my whole call, wait time included, was only 20 minutes

 

[Grimlock34a]

I got thru at 8:31 AM CST, I haven't received an email yet nor has anything updated in MDE. Should I call back?? I gave my DV card number and he said everything is confirmed. Should I just chill until this afternoon?????

I received my e-mail about thirty minutes after I completed my transaction and it looks like I did mine after you.

When I go to MDE, I can clearly see MYW - Free Dining Visa. Same thing when I check the reservation details through the e-mail I got.

 

[Cindaddy]

My ressie didn't show up in MDE. I had to link the reservation even though I got the email. Shows up fine now.

 

[LovesBelle]

Just called (couldn't do it until now) and I wasn't on hold at all once I made it through the phone tree. Called 407-934-7639. Very helpful CM, Emily, clearly had the system down. Booked at Contemporary Dec. 13-19 with FD; was told I can cancel the last 2 days (which I will do if we decide to go to WWOHP) without penalty until 45 days out, after which time I would pay a change fee but still not lose the FD. The whole call took maybe 10 mins from start to finish, including the survey!

 

[DisMom829]

I received my e-mail about thirty minutes after I completed my transaction and it looks like I did mine after you.

When I go to MDE, I can clearly see MYW - Free Dining Visa. Same thing when I check the reservation details through the e-mail I got.

On the hone calling back....

 

[denman007]

I believe you! I just meant that it would be unusual that it wasn't required. It's required, but you got around the requirement.

Until you check-in and find out you don't have any dining.

 

[Ava]

I'm so happy for everyone getting Free Dining! I got mine booked this morning but I'm still following this thread.

I've never had the DDP before so I'm excited to try it out. We'll probably be OD'ed on character meals by the time we're done - I booked 5 of them - but I'm sure we will have a good time!

Now I just have to decide if I want to upgrade my DD to the adult plan so we have more adult QS credits available. It's only ~$21 so its probably worth it, since there are definitely QS places where we could get 2 adult meals and have plenty of food for the 4 of us. I'll call back another day for that though; I can't take another hour listening to Disney hold music today.

 

[chrishem1972]

OK....just called back... total magic... was able to get CSR -- I guess this CM knew what they were doing

 

[TheRatPack]

DH wants us to make another payment but I can't find the button to pay on MDE next to my reservation. I thought I have always seen it, did it disappear?

Mine takes a while to load. Once the balance loads it shows the payment link.

 

[merimarie]

I still haven't gotten the e-mail...does anyone know if you can book the offer online or do you have to call?

 

[jezebel73]

I too, am a big planner, but I'm stymied this time around. Last trip we did all the high demand ADR's, like BOG, CRT, ohana, etc., and this time we want to shake it up a bit. The kiddos will still want a few character meals, so we will probably revisit Chef Mickeys. I'd like to try Garden Grill, whispering canyon, Kona Cafe, captains grill, California grill, 50's Prime Time, Sanaa, Beaches n cream, Restaurant Marakesh...too long of a list!!!. That is why I am so excited about the prospect of free dining. It opens up a lot of freedom to be able to try things that you haven't done before, with less risk of being unhappy with the choice.

Good luck getting everything you want

Last family trip in 2012, BOG had just soft opened so we missed it - that's the biggie on my list. Luckily it's toward the end of the trip, improving my chances. Otherwise, we are also trying a lot of new ones - Jiko, Beaches and Cream, Via Napoli, Yak and Yeti...and I have a list started for what I want NEXT trip already!! I am actually a little sad that character meals aren't high on the list anymore. DD will be almost 10 (and upgraded to adult dining since hey - it's free!) and my niece will be 14. We're doing a couple of signatures and paying a little OOP this time.

Best of luck to you as well!!