Free Dining 2014 Discussion

[ciera321]

I'm posting the link to the pictures of CBR new rooms. I hope it's OK to post them here..... Please move this if it's in the wrong place!!! It's the 9th post....
http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=198185

 

[JamieLM]

I want to switch our standard room at POR to a royal room. As I understand only so many rooms are allocated to the FD offer, but since there are not a lot of royal rooms, what are the chances for the rooms to be included? So would they only offer 3 royal rooms in FD and not all 6, for example. Thank you.

 

[BuckeyeMickey]

I too am in the same boat, family of 5 and hoping, praying, begging for POR free dining in Sept. I am combing the web now for more info on that CBR refurb! Otherwise our backup plan is ASMu family suite and upgrade to regular DP. But it is more expensive than POR, hence the praying hahaha!

 

[wdwmaw]

I'm posting the link to the pictures of CBR new rooms. I hope it's OK to post them here..... Please move this if it's in the wrong place!!! It's the 9th post....
http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=198185

I'm another person following this closely as we prefer CBR to POR and keeping up with this topic on the resorts board. The photos were posted last year and rumored to begin this month. So far ,no one on the resorts board has posted seeing any actual renovations being done. Someone posted speaking with a manager at CBR and she confirmed renovations will be starting soon. Also another site posted that permits were filed for renovations at CBR and the permits have dates of this month till next year. Really want Jamacia section to be done by our October trip. Really sweating this one, do we try to get into POR for free dining or do we chance it and stay with CBR and then not be able to fit us all and be out more money trying to find a place with FD we can all stay in????

 

[mouserrificmom]

I'm posting the link to the pictures of CBR new rooms. I hope it's OK to post them here..... Please move this if it's in the wrong place!!! It's the 9th post....
http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=198185

That picture certainly looks like a murphy bed like the ones in the AB at POR. I like that it has some more drawers too (storage is our only issue at POR in the AB) - but it looks like drawers where the fridge is at POR. Are there fridge's in CBR? We have never stayed there. I find it curious that those photos are more than a year old, but yet there still is no "confirmation" regarding Murphy Beds at CBR and the rehab just starting now?

It would be FANTASTIC news if they will handle rooms for families of 5 AND that they would be available by September!! It is really nice to believe that Disney may be creating more options for families with more than 2 children

 

[Later_Mater2009]

We are also a family of 5. I am hoping FD is included for POR! We booked before I began stalking the FD thread and didn't realize that it is recommended we wait to book until FD is released.

From looking at the boards, it seems like a lot of people are reporting that they are staying at POR in September, around the same time as us. I'm worried that we won't be able to add FD if they limit the number of rooms.

CaraMiaBelle, did they release more rooms a month later when you got your room at POR or did it seem like you just happened upon a cancellation?

OR does anyone know if they release a certain number of rooms per deal and then do another wave of rooms with FD later or if they release them all in the beginning and you either luck out or you don't?

If FD isn't available for POR, I'm worried we'll end up having to pay a lot more money for a deluxe or to stay at a value and upgrade to the regular DDP. Even still, the value ASMo and AofA are both quite a bit higher than POR.

Which other moderates can accommodate 5? And for those of you that have stayed at one of the other resorts that accommodate 5, which would you choose if you don't have the option of POR but you want FD?

Thanks!

We are right there with you, let me know what your back up plan is, as I will probably need one too

 

[kbsparks]

Another family of 5 here with all the same issues!

 

[sle1977]

Another family of 5 here with all the same issues!

Sounds like there should be a page for all of us families of five.

 

[BrownMomma7]

Sounds like there should be a page for all of us families of five.

Yes!!!

 

[mollybug2]

I want to switch our standard room at POR to a royal room. As I understand only so many rooms are allocated to the FD offer, but since there are not a lot of royal rooms, what are the chances for the rooms to be included? So would they only offer 3 royal rooms in FD and not all 6, for example. Thank you.

Last October we had to upgrade to a Royal Room in order to get free dining. Later on regular rooms opened up, but we kept the RR. It seemed like people snapped up the cheaper rooms first!

 

[Team Bunch]

We are right there with you, let me know what your back up plan is, as I will probably need one too

I would like to hear other family of 5 back up plans as well. I am thinking 2 connecting rooms at pop and upgrading to regular dining plan, but would love to hear other ideas.

 

[SPOERLX3]

Thank you!! It's been crazy trying to book dining for this huge crowd too. I did get most of what I was going for. Hoping there will still be rooms left when I go to call in.

I would recommend that you have a back up resort (or 2) ready in case POR is excluded. There are only a certain amount of rooms alloted for the FD promo and POR is one of the more popular resorts. And make sure you call as early in the morning as you possibly can (7am EST).
I know what it is like to have to book for a large party. My husband and I are blessed with 5 children, all married + 9 grandkids so there are 21 of us in my immediate family. We take our grandkids to Disney the year they turn 11. We have taken all of them except the last 3 and this year, our middle son and his wife wanted to go so we are tagging along with their family but when I plan a trip with us all together, it is 6 rooms and it can really get completely crazy!

Good luck!

 

[SPOERLX3]

Still looks pretty good for most of September. At this point, it's looking very close to last year (though things can change).

Just hopin' and a prayin' that the 24th is included in the first round and I don't have to wait till later in the summer to book

And as always, thank you Black for your wonderful insight and info!

 

[FrugalFashionista]

ah! therein lies the rub..... disney has gotten smart adn added the 2 day tickets to the parameters for the "free" dining. we did the "free" dining last dec. and had to purchase 2 day tickets for the 2 of us, which we didnt' use (since we already had annual passes) we will use those 2 day passes from last dec at the end of this month.. we will enter a park once, thereby locking in the price. then we will go to guest relations and "bridge" those tickets to our current year's annual passes. if we do "free" dining this fall, we will have to purchase 2 day tickets we won't use for another year. the way we figure, if you plan your trips right, you can go once a year and get 2 trips out of one annual pass (and not have to buy hoppers).... if you go 2X a year, and you really plan it right, you can get 3 trips out of one annual pass. the COMMON CORE has NOTHING over the "DISNEY MATH"! bwaahaa haa!!!

Omg this made me laugh so hard! I hate common core but will do Disney math all day!

 

[FrugalFashionista]

CaraMiaBelle, did they release more rooms a month later when you got your room at POR or did it seem like you just happened upon a cancellation? OR does anyone know if they release a certain number of rooms per deal and then do another wave of rooms with FD later or if they release them all in the beginning and you either luck out or you don't?

If I remember correctly, POR started opening up later bc those that had prebooked jumped to other resorts like CSR and CBR to get FD. The rule with anything Disney is don't give up! You never know what you may find.

 

[jhaig]

Suppose the FD offer is released on one of the previously mentioned dates - do these dates indicate when the Disney Visa card holders can take advantage of the offer, or are these dates for the general public?

 

[scard192]

If I remember correctly, POR started opening up later bc those that had prebooked jumped to other resorts like CSR and CBR to get FD. The rule with anything Disney is don't give up! You never know what you may find.

and POFQ was excluded from the Fall FD offer. We would have changed to POR if we had not gotten a Fall FD PIN that included POFQ; so we kept the reservation (had to upgrade to Garden View).

Bet a lot of folks who booked in advanced at FQ moved to PR.

 

[DisneyObsessed89]

Suppose the FD offer is released on one of the previously mentioned dates - do these dates indicate when the Disney Visa card holders can take advantage of the offer, or are these dates for the general public?

Technically it would be both. The Disney Visa card holders usually get a chance to book a dew days earlier than he general public but it's usually opened to both.

 

[scard192]

Suppose the FD offer is released on one of the previously mentioned dates - do these dates indicate when the Disney Visa card holders can take advantage of the offer, or are these dates for the general public?

DV holders often get a 3 day advance on booking. For the Fall 2013 GP FD offer that came out on August 1, it went straight to GP release.

 

[Meldev]

I would recommend that you have a back up resort (or 2) ready in case POR is excluded. There are only a certain amount of rooms alloted for the FD promo and POR is one of the more popular resorts. And make sure you call as early in the morning as you possibly can (7am EST). I know what it is like to have to book for a large party. My husband and I are blessed with 5 children, all married + 9 grandkids so there are 21 of us in my immediate family. We take our grandkids to Disney the year they turn 11. We have taken all of them except the last 3 and this year, our middle son and his wife wanted to go so we are tagging along with their family but when I plan a trip with us all together, it is 6 rooms and it can really get completely crazy! Good luck!

We have 4 kids - 3 will be counted by disney this fall as the baby will still be 2. But for purposes of space and having 2 bathrooms we are booking 2 rooms-connecting. Hoping for CBR refurb - would love to get rooms with Murphy beds - technically everyone could have their own bed that way! We loved POR but really want to try a new resort and thought the pools at CBR would entertain our kids best (ages 2-10 at travel time).
I hope we hear something about the refurb soon - I'd book preferred if possible with FD if I knew they were getting refurbed first.
Black, do you know anything about the possible CBR changes?

Thanks - love this thread and hoping for early Disney Visa offer!