Free Dining 2014 Discussion ~ Part 2

[jessicamouse]

Can someone with knowledge please tell me if I decide not to book FD when when everyone jumps in tomorrow will I still most likely be able to book a Free Dining package later? As I recall last year I booked with a free dining Pin and then the Free dining came out to the general public and it seemed like when I checked for availability under the general public offer there was plenty to choose from even when the offer was about to expire. Am I remember this correctly and does it seem fair to say that booking tomorrow or not even in the next week or two is not do or die for getting something I want? I am looking for a moderate. Because there is no Port Orleans I am hoping to get a PIN that perhaps will include Port Orleans. Wishful thinking perhaps but that it my current plan and I do not want to book and risk Disney not sending a PIN that might have been coming my way. Thanks and advice would be so much appreciated!

Normally, I would say yes, it isn't a problem to book later. For the most part that is probably still true. However, given the fact there are only two of the moderates available this time around, and you say you want a moderate, I would personally call tomorrow if you would like to ensure a particular room category. Supply seems more limited this year than in the past.

Good luck

 

[SPOERLX3]

silly question....we are booked at All Star Sports 11/16-11/22. I will be calling tomorrow to modify our reservation for free dining. We really want to stay at CBR but don't want the dining plan, would prefer quick service. I know, crazy......right? But our 11 yr old son is autistic and only eats pizza and French fries. Trust me we have tried to introduce new foods to him and this is his fourth visit to Disney. It's not inspiring him to try new foods. Is it possible to get free quick service at moderate?

You could always go to Via Napoli (YUMMY) or/and Mama Melrose TS and your son can always order off the kids menu at any other table service, that offers pizza, with his credit and then you and hubby can enjoy something else on the menu Also most buffets like Crystal Palace offer pizza on the kids bar, letting you and DH enjoy the rest of the menu

 

[wdw4rfam]

Of the Value Resorts offered currently under the FD plan (Music, All-Star, Pop, and possibly some AoA), which would you choose 1st, 2nd, and 3rd?

Our favorite is ASMO, by far, and its excluded. So first would be POP, ASMU, then sports. We've never stayed at sports, just walked through. I think standard rooms are blocked at AOA, or that would be my first choice. We LOVED values, and never had issues with buses or excessive noise at any of them. The all stars are nice, because they are all walking distance to each other, so if one line is shorter at night at one of the parks, we always jumped on the other bus and walked to our resort. My sister didn't want to do it the one time and we beat her back by an hour. We tried POFQ one year, and POR the next, and then had our third child turn 3, so got stuck at POR, or we would have probably gone back to value, as there really isn't that much difference to us. But this year my parents are going so we are doing CBR (their choice) and putting a kid with them. If not, we would have booked 2 rooms at a value since POR was blocked.

 

[wdw4rfam]

Just a piece of advice to all those calling in the AM...if someone didn't already mention it, when we called last week, there were LONG pauses between the prompts. So don't hang up, I had up to a minute after one and almost hung up. Glad I didn't because a lot of people one minute later were getting all circuits busy, and couldn't get in at all. So once it answers, hang in there. Doesn't hurt to get more than one phone going either. DH and I called at the same time and his was answered 45 minutes before mine, which I hung up when I completed the change to FD on his phone, but it was still holding.

 

[RedheadRinger]

Good luck to everyone tomorrow. Last week I held for 2 hours and 35 minutes, I called at 7:00am. The CM that I spoke with told me that usually around 10:00am the phones start to slow down.

 

[LittleDisneyLovers]

I'm in Australia, so midnight EST/EDT is 2pm in the afternoon for me.
Yes, That is easier than staying up until midnight, but I had to organise my hubby to pick the kids up from school so I don't miss anything!

We are a family of 5, so it's limited our resort choices anyway, but since POR is not available I have no other mod choice, so it has to be a Value with upgraded DDP or a Deluxe. I still haven't made up my mind, I keep running the numbers, but they don't change, funny that

I don't have any reservation yet, as I didn't want to hinder the FD resorts with another room booked.
We have stayed at POFQ and SS before. Loved POFQ, really didn't like SS.

My kids are 3, 12 and 13. What would you all do? Value or deluxe? It's roughly about $100 a day difference. Love to hear your thoughts, if anyone is still awake?

 

[donp]

I'm in Australia, so midnight EST/EDT is 2pm in the afternoon for me.
Yes, That is easier than staying up until midnight, but I had to organise my hubby to pick the kids up from school so I don't miss anything!

We are a family of 5, so it's limited our resort choices anyway, but since POR is not available I have no other mod choice, so it has to be a Value with upgraded DDP or a Deluxe. I still haven't made up my mind, I keep running the numbers, but they don't change, funny that

I don't have any reservation yet, as I didn't want to hinder the FD resorts with another room booked.
We have stayed at POFQ and SS before. Loved POFQ, really didn't like SS.

My kids are 3, 12 and 13. What would you all do? Value or deluxe? It's roughly about $100 a day difference. Love to hear your thoughts, if anyone is still awake?

Would love to try AofA family suite and upgrade to Regular Dining Plan--suspect that would save you quite a bit over deluxe. If price were the same, would love to stay at the Contemporary (I believe you can sleep five in the garden rooms)

 

[houstonmama]

Oh gosh, my brain is on over-drive and I have more questions. Just want to say that I soooooo appreciate all of the help thus far

We have stayed in Deluxe and Moderate, but never a Value.

For those of you that have stayed in Values, and either Moderate or Deluxe, what are the main differences?

Would you downgrade to a Value if that was the only way to get FD?

The Values look fun but our kids are 15 and 12 and I'm afraid it will be REALLY loud with all the little kiddos. True or Not?

Looking to hear from those with experience - Thanks [

So we've stayed deluxe (GF, BC, BWI, Poly, AKL) and stayed a couple of nights at AoA LM room. I thought the rooms were adorable and the theming was too. The biggest difference to me was when it came to food. In the value there is only 1 restaurant so there were times it was packed, at least to us it felt packed and overwhelming. At deluxe theres a couple of restaurants to pick from so each restaurant seems less busy. When staying at the monorail or BW resorts there is also easy access to the other resorts for food.

We went over to Pop one night because we thought maybe it was just AoA food court but it was the same. Pop was not for us but I would stay at AoA again.

I want to try moderate and was hoping for POR FD but we all know how that went Have you stayed at CSR or CBR?

 

[houstonmama]

I'm in Australia, so midnight EST/EDT is 2pm in the afternoon for me.
Yes, That is easier than staying up until midnight, but I had to organise my hubby to pick the kids up from school so I don't miss anything!

We are a family of 5, so it's limited our resort choices anyway, but since POR is not available I have no other mod choice, so it has to be a Value with upgraded DDP or a Deluxe. I still haven't made up my mind, I keep running the numbers, but they don't change, funny that

I don't have any reservation yet, as I didn't want to hinder the FD resorts with another room booked.
We have stayed at POFQ and SS before. Loved POFQ, really didn't like SS.

My kids are 3, 12 and 13. What would you all do? Value or deluxe? It's roughly about $100 a day difference. Love to hear your thoughts, if anyone is still awake?

I would go deluxe. Have you looked at the pricing for AKL or WL? The rooms are little smaller than some of the other deluxes but at leas the price is a little better . We wanted to try POR this time but with the exclusion we'll probably go with AKL for September. We really love it there. Haven't stayed at WL but will be trying it in December. It gets good reviews too. WL has easier access to MK and the monorail so thats a plus for us.

Good luck!!

 

[Just Love Disney]

I want to try moderate and was hoping for POR FD but we all know how that went Have you stayed at CSR or CBR?

We've stayed at CBR and it was just okay but not great compared to POR.

 

[atisikitabasket]

silly question....we are booked at All Star Sports 11/16-11/22. I will be calling tomorrow to modify our reservation for free dining. We really want to stay at CBR but don't want the dining plan, would prefer quick service. I know, crazy......right? But our 11 yr old son is autistic and only eats pizza and French fries. Trust me we have tried to introduce new foods to him and this is his fourth visit to Disney. It's not inspiring him to try new foods. Is it possible to get free quick service at moderate?

Our DS11 is also and we have same issue. He will eat pizza, some chicken strips depending on the breading, French fries and Caesar salad. Sometimes we can get him to eat steak with ketchup. He has just stated eating cheeseburgers which helps a lot. We have never had a problem using his adult TS credit for a kids meal item but they usually give him more of adult size. He loves rainforest cafe food he gets Dino bites in adult size. Via Napoli has adult pizza. Wolfgang puck has adult pizza. But look at the kids menu if they have pizza I am sure they will let him order it. We were really surprised at 50s prime time he actually ordered fried chicken with corn and French fries and a vanilla malt and he ate it. to get our son to try new things we order him a meal with a new item and item he loves if he at least tries the new item he gets a treat later if he won't then no big deal he will at least eat the item he likes. Good luck have an awesome trip we will be there Nov 16-22

 

[Gillespiedisney]

I'm in Australia, so midnight EST/EDT is 2pm in the afternoon for me.
Yes, That is easier than staying up until midnight, but I had to organise my hubby to pick the kids up from school so I don't miss anything!

We are a family of 5, so it's limited our resort choices anyway, but since POR is not available I have no other mod choice, so it has to be a Value with upgraded DDP or a Deluxe. I still haven't made up my mind, I keep running the numbers, but they don't change, funny that

I don't have any reservation yet, as I didn't want to hinder the FD resorts with another room booked.
We have stayed at POFQ and SS before. Loved POFQ, really didn't like SS.

My kids are 3, 12 and 13. What would you all do? Value or deluxe? It's roughly about $100 a day difference. Love to hear your thoughts, if anyone is still awake?

We have little ones (4) (2) (1) and doing deluxe and being close to the parks is very important to us. it gives us the opportunity to take breaks back at the resort if need be. we are staying at the poly this trip even though there will be some construction going on during our stay. I just love the poly so much and its so close the MK I wouldn't stay anywhere else. Once my kids get older I think we would to the BR.. walking distance to epcot and a short ferry to HS. Also both of those Deluxes would fit your family of 5.

 

[Matthews4Disney]

I just called and tried to change from CBR to AoA because DFIL is now going with us so we've become a party of 5. The CM said it was completely unavailable. She didn't seem to 100% know what she was doing though so I'm calling back. I was on hold over an hour for that call. I know it was available yesterday afternoon bc I priced it with a CM to tell DFIL how much it would cost. What do you guys think??? Think it is really booked solid already for FD???

 

[Dawn Dis]

We had free dining last year and booked a BB for this September with FD!

Does you BB have to be at the same exact resort?

turning into a Disney fanatic

 

[totebagg]

We had free dining last year and booked a BB for this September with FD!

We also went last year in October and booked the BB for free dining in September. Even though I'm glad it's all settled I am really missing the rush and excitement from booking! Good luck to everyone tomorrow.

 

[Three cats]

Does you BB have to be at the same exact resort?

turning into a Disney fanatic

No. You can pick from any available resort.

 

[Misjanuary1]

FD friends I am rooting for you all tomorrow morning (or online anytime after midnight when it becomes live)! I am a Disney Visa holder so snagged a Business class room at CSR Sept 26-oct 2 which is what we wanted with the PO resorts out! I was on at 7am est (4am AZ time!) and was on hold for 23 minutes and got kicked out of the queue, called back I and was on hold for another 1 hour 30 mins! Finally got through to a CM, made all my changes and was kicked back off when CM came back on to confirm everything went through. I was in a slight panic but checked MDE and new changes were showing and then held my breath for about 10 minutes waiting for the confirmation email....and it came! So just telling you that to let you know that even with some challenges, I was able to get exactly what I asked for so don't worry! I called 407-939-7675.

PIXIE DUST!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dawn Dis]

No. You can pick from any available resort.

So we could possibly get POFQ next year for FD with a BB...???

turning into a Disney fanatic

 

[Aubrav]

Less than an hour for trying at midnight!

 

[Three cats]

So we could possibly get POFQ next year for FD with a BB...???

turning into a Disney fanatic

The bounceback pamphlet in your room will list the available resorts to choose from. Haven't booked a bounceback in quite a while so not sure if POFQ is usually included.