Free Dining 2014 Discussion ~ Part 3

[apriltjr]

I just had to share my experience this morning! I woke up an hour late, so didn't try to call until 8:15 EST Anyway, I tried for 30 minutes to get through; only getting "all circuits busy" msg. But FINALLY!

I pick my phone up to take it off speaker and put it to my ear...wait, whaaat? The autobot is speaking spanish! I guess in my excitement I accidentally hit the button for spanish...well I wasn't about to hang up so I just kept pushing zero every time the autobot stopped talking

After about 10 zeros, I was on hold listening to music!

I was on hold for about 10 minutes, got through, apologized for being on wrong line, but the CM was very gracious, got all my changes made and was a very pleasant guy. He even made a joke that "there's usually a survey I would ask you to take, but it's in spanish, so you can just hang up!"

So we're booked for CBR 11/12-11/21 Yay!

Good luck to everyone still trying to book!

 

[CJ2001]

Im ringing from Australia & have been on hold for an 1hr 15 mins, I know its past there calling hours now - do they pick up after 11pm? So far its cost be over $20!

 

[Aubrav]

I couldn't get through this morning so I tried a number someone recommended. I was so excited when I got straight through but they told me I needed to call a different number in order to get my reservations in order. So I called the number the phone rep gave me and it was the spanish line, completely in Spanish, lol.

 

[utlegaleagle]

After 1 hour and 52 minutes on hold, I finally got through.

And, alas, no pin codes. Never have received one.

 

[mirage0306]

Well, I've been on hold for four hours and 18 minutes. I don't think anyone is picking up.

 

[linzjane88]

Wow. Whudda day! Stayed up till midnight (browser refresh x100), tossed and turned hoping I wouldn't miss my 3AM alarm, eagerly got up at 2:57AM hoping for a quick ten minute booking and back to sleep which turned into (browser refresh x2,394) just staying up until I left for work at 7...I ended up with a res at CBR 9/6-9/13 (okay and maybe also another business level one accidentally-ish cause I wasn't paying attention and was caught up in the emotion--the voices were yelling "Book faster!!!" Your going to miss free dining!". But I am totally cancelling in the AM!).

Thank you to all the fellow FD lovers who camped out and filled the thread with fun and updates . Hope everyone got what they wanted (or next runner up at least). You guys know your Dis! Anyhoo I am sleep deprived and rambling.

 

[linzjane88]

After 1 hour and 52 minutes on hold, I finally got through.

And, alas, no pin codes. Never have received one.

I've always been too chicken to call in and check but between my husband and I we have gotten two in the last three months. Both have been for deals that were already posted on the site.
30% off of select rooms if I travel by 8/28?! Woooooeeeee! I feel special

 

[Just Love Disney]

Wow. Whudda day! Stayed up till midnight (browser refresh x100), tossed and turned hoping I wouldn't miss my 3AM alarm, eagerly got up at 2:57AM hoping for a quick ten minute booking and back to sleep which turned into (browser refresh x2,394) just staying up until I left for work at 7...I ended up with a res at CBR 9/6-9/13 (okay and maybe also another business level one accidentally-ish cause I wasn't paying attention and was caught up in the emotion--the voices were yelling "Book faster!!!" Your going to miss free dining!". But I am totally cancelling in the AM!).

Thank you to all the fellow FD lovers who camped out and filled the thread with fun and updates . Hope everyone got what they wanted (or next runner up at least). You guys know your Dis! Anyhoo I am sleep deprived and rambling.

We are BOTH neurotic I haven't slept but a wink since Tuesday morning and I, too, am sleep deprived! I feel very thankful that we booked FD today and I just finished making our ADR's. Time for bed and happy Disney dreams.

And again, Black - you're the bomb!

 

[deakam]

GigiDisneyFreak, it is even worse than originally reported. Not only is the Daisy and Donald meet and Greet at AK, going to be FP+ only, but Minnie at DHS and Pooh and Tigger at EPCOT at UK are both going to be FP+ only meet and greets. This appears to now be confirmed:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/entertainment/epcot/character-meet-winnie-tigger-uk/


Kenny has updated the story on his website to reflect this- yep as I thought earlier if he says it, there is about a 99.9% chance he is right!

Minnie and Pooh and Tigger are also going to be TIER ONE FP+! Absolutely ridiculous!

This is crazy the last time I was there--September 2013---we walked right in to see Minnie in her new dressing room. I felt bad for her because there was no one and I mean no one, waiting to see her.

 

[lisafab]

So glad I made the effort to book at work yesterday (while I should have been working ). I've just checked my dates and CBR now only has water/pool, king and pirate rooms available. I could've stretched to water/pool but didn't want to have to.
Frustratingly POR has standard rooms available which they didn't have before th offer. Maybe that's a good omen for it being added to FD...

 

[chewysmom]

I cannot tell you how happy I was that I got up with the rush early this morning to book. I was trying to convince myself to wait until later after the craziness had died down because everyone said that in the past resorts haven't sold out even by the end of the offer. I'm so glad I didn't listen to that part of me because everything was selling out before the offer on the website was even working. If I hadn't gotten up with the rush I would have missed out. I can't afford the $4700 for a deluxe resort which is all that is showing as available now for my dates.

ITA w/ everything you said. I was telling myself I was crazy for getting up at 347 am, and maybe I was a little, especially since it didn't appear on the website for me until at least 725 or so. Thankfully I was able to get right on once it appeared and get my first choice for resorts for my dates. Phew!

I don't remember it being like this in 2012, so for kicks and giggles I went back to look at my old emails from when I booked. I booked FD on 9/27-just a mere two days before the promotion ended-and already 2 months since it had been released-and got my first pick for resorts then too. Lucky? I don't know. We've tried to pick weeks that had really low crowd levels. We can go anytime-I homeschool the kids, so I can pick any week for vacation and both my job and dh's job are fine w/ any week as long as they have a little bit of notice.

Dh said maybe the economy really is improving. I don't think so, I just think they didn't have as much availability as they did in years past.

I'm just glad FD booking is OVER for this year for me! It was a rough morning!

 

[cbernstein90]

New to the boards, but I have been following along!

I was able to get a reservation yesterday for CBR in standard room with FD. I was excited but slightly disappointed because CSR was my first choice and standards were not available with FD. I decided to check online this morning and to my surprise, there were standards and water views available! I was able to call and make a quick switch!

So excited for my trip on 9/30!!!!

 

[freckles04]

WOW... so I'm on hold this morning, trying to cancel my old reservation at POP that didn't have Free Dining. (I made it awhile back, not thinking any discounts would ever even come out until August or so, and wanted to secure a Preferred Pool View room!)

Just playing around while on hold, I checked online for my dates Oct 1-10 and there is NO AVAILABILITY under the FD anymore for POP.

Can't believe it's already sold out. Thank you to the poster Black for keeping us informed! This is my first time to qualify for FD and I'm super excited about it! It saved us enough to "pay for" our airline tickets so we don't have to make that horrendous drive!!!

 

[GaBelle]

ITA w/ everything you said. I was telling myself I was crazy for getting up at 347 am, and maybe I was a little, especially since it didn't appear on the website for me until at least 725 or so. Thankfully I was able to get right on once it appeared and get my first choice for resorts for my dates. Phew!

I don't remember it being like this in 2012, so for kicks and giggles I went back to look at my old emails from when I booked. I booked FD on 9/27-just a mere two days before the promotion ended-and already 2 months since it had been released-and got my first pick for resorts then too. Lucky? I don't know. We've tried to pick weeks that had really low crowd levels. We can go anytime-I homeschool the kids, so I can pick any week for vacation and both my job and dh's job are fine w/ any week as long as they have a little bit of notice.

Dh said maybe the economy really is improving. I don't think so, I just think they didn't have as much availability as they did in years past.

I'm just glad FD booking is OVER for this year for me! It was a rough morning!

The first day of FD release is always a madhouse!
Folks will start switching resorts and cancelling. More options will open up in the days and weeks that follow.
We will start to see posts where ppl didn't get their first choice yesterday, and then within a few days it will open up.

 

[Melany502]

Are the phones any better this morning? I wish they have some kind of estimated wait time.

 

[Gillespiedisney]

ITA
Dh said maybe the economy really is improving. I don't think so, I just think they didn't have as much availability as they did in years past.

I'm just glad FD booking is OVER for this year for me! It was a rough morning!

I think this proves the opposite about the economy. People CANT afford to take a vacation unless there is a significant savings! These promos give ppl who can't afford a vacation an opportunity to take one. We are staying in a deluxe resort.. And if it wasn't for the FD deal we wouldn't be able to afford a deluxe. I can imagine this to be the truth with value resorts also, without FD they can't afford the trip.

 

[cassiejo2711]

ITA w/ everything you said. I was telling myself I was crazy for getting up at 347 am, and maybe I was a little, especially since it didn't appear on the website for me until at least 725 or so. Thankfully I was able to get right on once it appeared and get my first choice for resorts for my dates. Phew! I don't remember it being like this in 2012, so for kicks and giggles I went back to look at my old emails from when I booked. I booked FD on 9/27-just a mere two days before the promotion ended-and already 2 months since it had been released-and got my first pick for resorts then too. Lucky? I don't know. We've tried to pick weeks that had really low crowd levels. We can go anytime-I homeschool the kids, so I can pick any week for vacation and both my job and dh's job are fine w/ any week as long as they have a little bit of notice. Dh said maybe the economy really is improving. I don't think so, I just think they didn't have as much availability as they did in years past. I'm just glad FD booking is OVER for this year for me! It was a rough morning!

I agree! I looked at my old email and in 2010 I booked free dining at the end for a December trip and still got what I wanted. This year seems crazy!

 

[Gillespiedisney]

I think this proves the opposite about the economy. People CANT afford to take a vacation unless there is a significant savings! These promos give ppl who can't afford a vacation an opportunity to take one. We are staying in a deluxe resort.. And if it wasn't for the FD deal we wouldn't be able to afford a deluxe. I can imagine this to be the truth with value resorts also, without FD they can't afford the trip.

Not saying this is the case for everyone!

 

[zabache]

I got through about an hour ago to change from CBR to WL. I made the CBR reservation this morning (on hold for an hour and 15 minutes). Tonight I tried calling about five times and got the "all circuits busy" message. Then it suddenly went through and I was on hold for about five minutes when a CM answered. Switched my resort and done. Keep trying-do you have a landline you can try? Not sure why, but that seemed to work for me.

Got past the "all circuits are busy" bottleneck about 8:50. Have been on hold for over 1.5 hours. All I want to do is check for a pin code, Disney... And now I'm wondering if it's just become too late and everyone has gone home... LOL

After they reset I was able to get through. I picked the Spanish option and got a CM after 25 min. Neither my husband or I have a pin. My mother on the other hand does. It's for a room only discount for the summer. She told me to call back after time has gone by to see if we do get pins.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

I think within a day or 2 you will find more availability for the FD offer - with people making the mad dash to make reservations, I think many actually had more than 1 reservation and are now cancelling one as well as the fact that I don't think the computer system could really keep up with all the updates of what was truly available till things slowed down and everything could reset. I know I read somewhere that online only updates 2x a day... I also questioned wether or not WDW "shut off" the availability to online patrons with the phone lines so congested & backed up so that they could better handle the volume.