Free dining booking dilemma

[mcraw]

Need help here!! I had booked 10/22 room only and 10/23-29 with free dining through a travel agent. Then FD dates changed. I discovered on Sunday night through disney site that rooms were available at my resort with free dining 10/22-10/28 and 10/22-10/30 but not 10/22-10/29. I called disney directly to see why the 29th check out caused a problem. A nice cast member assisted me and held a reservation for me with the 10/22-10/29 free dining package. However, my travel agent said that the cast member was wrong and could get fired b/c she changed dates manually. I did not ask or expect the cm to do anything wrong. I just wanted 1 reservation with free dining for our entire stay. The travel agent is now saying I cant do this and could risk loosing my free dining if I transfer my reservation with her to my held reservation with disney. What should I do? I dont want to loose free dining. However, having a room only reservation the first day and having to check back in the next day seems like a pain. PLease help!!!

 

[carebee21]

Need help here!! I had booked 10/22 room only and 10/23-29 with free dining through a travel agent. Then FD dates changed. I discovered on Sunday night through disney site that rooms were available at my resort with free dining 10/22-10/28 and 10/22-10/30 but not 10/22-10/29. I called disney directly to see why the 29th check out caused a problem. A nice cast member assisted me and held a reservation for me with the 10/22-10/29 free dining package. However, my travel agent said that the cast member was wrong and could get fired b/c she changed dates manually. I did not ask or expect the cm to do anything wrong. I just wanted 1 reservation with free dining for our entire stay. The travel agent is now saying I cant do this and could risk loosing my free dining if I transfer my reservation with her to my held reservation with disney. What should I do? I dont want to loose free dining. However, having a room only reservation the first day and having to check back in the next day seems like a pain. PLease help!!!

Something seems really off about this. If they have the room for free dining through the 30th, then it would be open on the 29th. I've heard of not having rooms for periods of time or having to change your check in date, but never the check out date. I'm wondering if your travel agent was misinformed or is lying (although I don't understand why she would lie.) And the CM that helped you just reserved another package for you, she didn't manually change info on your old reservation, so she did nothing wrong!

At this point in time, I would reserve the package yourself for exactly what you wanted repaying the deposit and cancel the reservation with the travel agent and just wait for a refund. I don't think you can transfer the money from one reservation to another without faxing paperwork into Disney alerting them to the fact that you don't want to use that travel agent, and in the meantime, the resort could fill up or the free dining dates could change again. If you've already paid a good portion of the trip off and can't wait for the refund or can't afford another deposit, I would demand the travel agent make a three way call with you on the line, her on the line and Disney. See what the issue is for yourself. (And I know they can do this, because we had to do one when AAA screwed up our Disney reservation, and then told us they couldn't cancel it without a huge fee (which I later found out was completely false!). This is also the reason I book everything myself now.)

 

[MamaBearJohnson]

All that matters for free dining is your check IN date. If you check in on a free dining day, you get it for the entire stay...even if you were to check in on the last day of free dining, like the 28th or whatever, you could get it for the next 14 days if you wanted to. Disney is right, your travel agent is probably just trying not to lose a deal. Good luck!

 

[Sandisw]

I have had a travel agent who was able to take over a room I put on hold at Disney without loss of discount.

If you have a reservation with Disney for free dining with the dates you want, you can simply cancel the TA reservation and book the one through Disney.

Or, let the TA know that you will continue with her if she can secure you the same thing that Disney secured for you.

The Disney CM's can't touch a TA reservation but it sounds like what the CM did was simply book you a new reservation and put it on hold--not adjust the TA's one (which sounds like what the TA thinks).

Good luck!

 

[dbennett3899]

I have to agree w/ Carebee... Something is not adding up right and seems strange. All that should matter is your check IN date... Keep us posted!

 

[skier_pete]

Makes no sense. If you can get 10/22 - 10/30 at the resort, then you should be able to get 10/22 to 10/29. Sounds like your TA is messed up.

Try this:
Have the TA change the reservation to 10/22 - 10/30.
Then, call Disney with your reservation #, and cut the extra day off yourself. As long as you are not within your 45 day window, you should be fine to do this. (Though you must be getting close to 45 days.)

 

[Lyndsey]

I am booked with free dining from March 25 thru April 3 2011..Free dining ends on March 29th but the CM said as long as I check in during free dining dates I can have it my whole stay up to 14 days..So book with Disney ur TA is wrong!

 

[wacowgirl]

Oy! What a mess! I agree with the PP, either a) cancel your ressie with the TA and book it yourself through Disney or b) have a 3 way call between yourself, TA and Disney, or c) speak again with your TA about how if you check-in on one of the free dining dates, its good throughout your stay.

If you're not satisfied with your TA's actions, speak with the TA's supervisor. Is your TA a Disney expert? Doesn't see like she is.

Either way, you will have your free dining! GOOD LUCK!! Let us know the outcome.

 

[Seahunt]

Just my .02 - like everyone else posted you can even check in on the last day of FD and get it for your entire stay. So I think your TA's confusion is the they are not aware that WDW revised their start dates for your stay from their first offer.

It originally did say October 23, but then changed to October 22, and I think the TA is still thinking it doesn't start until October 23. I think that's why the TA said that the CM manually changed the date incorrectly and you could lose your FD - because she still thinks FD doesn't start until the 23rd.

At least this makes more sense to me than a TA thinking the end date was incorrect. Let us know how everything works out.

 

[dhardawa]

It sounds to me like the CM booked you a new reservation and the TA is mad because she is going to lose her commission on the original one and is bullying you into keeping the reservation with her.

 

[Luv2Roam]

That is my guess too, that the TA doesn't want to lose the commission. You can have a resewrvation turned over to your TA. You will have to sign off on the res. And they again will own it, rather than you.

 

[mcraw]

Thanks for all your input!! The disney online booking is the one that wouldnt let me book 10/22-29 even though it would do the 10/22-10/30. Confusing for sure and why I called Disney. But the good news is that the TA emailed me today and is going to transfer the reservation. So I get what I want (1 reservation for the week and free dining) and the TA keeps my reservation. Yeah!!