Free Dining Fall 2015? (and a whole lot more)

[lustergirl]

Don't be! I was totally unclear. Shouldn't type on message boards without being fully caffeinated

No worries but your post got me to thinking. I guess if you were to call back and have the free dining added then you may not qualify unless you book a different resort or room.

I am probably on the safe side though as I will book AS Sports pretty soon for a late September trip and there is always availability.

 

[lazer]

No worries but your post got me to thinking. I guess if you were to call back and have the free dining added then you may not qualify unless you book a different resort or room.

This happened to us one year..we ended up having to move from POFQ to Pop.

 

[Honeybee83]

Not to beat a dead horse, but it doesn't matter where you're booked or if you're booked at all.

When/if free dining happens, you have to book a new reservation (and cancel the old if you have one). It doesn't just get added.

That being said, we're booked at POR, because we're going no matter what. *might move to CBR if there isn't FD at POR. (Quite a few reasons why we booked in advance of FD.)

Other than ADRs and ensuring the room you want, is there a benefit to booking in advance if you know you're going for sure?

 

[Honeybee83]

Yeah, unfortunately you'd need a pin for that stay more than likely.. POR was excluded from free dining, as well as the first week of October last year.

Sad face. We've always wanted to stay there.

 

[lazer]

Not

Other than ADRs and ensuring the room you want, is there a benefit to booking in advance if you know you're going for sure?

Not that I know of!

 

[Team Bunch]

Does anyone remember the dates last year when we started hearing firm rumors? "it's defffinately happening", or "these are the dates I think are happening" I would love to hear a firm rumor to get me excited again.

 

[lustergirl]

This happened to us one year..we ended up having to move from POFQ to Pop.

For many years now POFQ has been excluded. It is a small resort and very popular.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

If you know you are going for sure whether there is free dining or not there are a couple of ways to look at it.

What will you do if either the resort you want is not available, or the date you want is not part of the promotion.

Will you keep the reservation or change it?

If you're going to change it then you will have to call anyway when free dining is released, no matter what you do. So it won't matter all that much if you book now, or book when the offer is available.

If you must travel on those dates or you must stay at that resort, no matter what happens when the free dining offer is released, then you are done. You only have to call if free dining applies to your date/resort, and you still have the resort or date you needed.

 

[Azjenn]

So bummed....We had booked a bounceback for September 12-26, 2015 at POFQ w/ Free Dining but we are going to have to cancel it. Instead, we will be going late October and are keeping our fingers crossed that FD will be offered at that time. It's hard to give up a reservation that already has the FD attached but we've realized that it's just not a good time to take the kiddos out of school for an extended absence

Did you call the bounceback number to see if you can maybe switch your ressie to the October dates? If rooms are available they will gladly do it. I had to change mine after we got home and it was no problem at all.

 

[Gena001]

However, I did call my TA to see if any PIN #s came up, and one did show up for us. Disney said they sent it to us, but we did not get.

Who is your TA? I know that Disney used to let you know if you had been issued a code, but I didn't think they did this any longer.

 

[Just Love Disney]

Did you call the bounceback number to see if you can maybe switch your ressie to the October dates? If rooms are available they will gladly do it. I had to change mine after we got home and it was no problem at all.

Did you re-book within the same FD dates that were being offered during the bounceback or was your new reservation outside those FD dates but they allowed you to keep FD anyway?

 

[Honeybee83]

I think it depends on where you're staying, if you're flexible, and if you're going whether there is free dining or not. Typically, we would wait ...unless we for sure knew we wouldn't be flexible in the resort choice and were afraid it would book up.

That being said, we booked POR. We're going no matter what and our dates aren't flexible. But, we may change resorts based on what resorts offer FD. Also, my husband booked and I didn't know

Gotta watch those husbands. They're sneaky.

 

[Meldev]

Did a Free Dining Pin code come out before the visa offer last year? Historically is that how it goes or does it come out after? I didn't notice pin code release on Mousesavers site.

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

Did a Free Dining Pin code come out before the visa offer last year? Historically is that how it goes or does it come out after? I didn't notice pin code release on Mousesavers site.

Normally the first wave of PINs come out first for FD. Then the Visa offer a few days before the Public offer.
But, one year it skipped the Visa offer entirely, so nothing is guaranteed.
Pins will still come out even after the public offer.

 

[aaarcher86]

Did you re-book within the same FD dates that were being offered during the bounceback or was your new reservation outside those FD dates but they allowed you to keep FD anyway?

It'd need to be within the original offer dates

 

[Just Love Disney]

It'd need to be within the original offer dates

You are correct. I called in awhile ago and was told that although I would lose the FD, they could rebook me at 30% off the room. I didn't jump on that offer only because I think I have read somewhere in this thread that FD cannot be used in conjuntion with any other offer (such as the FD that most/all of us are waiting for)....

Also, the two reps that I spoke to both said that FD would NOT be announced until sometime in the summer since they just recently rolled out the summer offers? Think there is any truth to that?

And, I also had them check my account for a PIN (was informed they are now called "Unique Offer Codes". No such luck there either

Still crossing fingers in hopes of FD to be announced at SOME point, even if it is later rather than sooner!

 

[donp]

You are correct. I called in awhile ago and was told that although I would lose the FD, they could rebook me at 30% off the room. I didn't jump on that offer only because I think I have read somewhere in this thread that FD cannot be used in conjuntion with any other offer (such as the FD that most/all of us are waiting for)....

Also, the two reps that I spoke to both said that FD would NOT be announced until sometime in the summer since they just recently rolled out the summer offers? Think there is any truth to that?

And, I also had them check my account for a PIN (was informed they are now called "Unique Offer Codes". No such luck there either

Still crossing fingers in hopes of FD to be announced at SOME point, even if it is later rather than sooner!

Historically, that has been true--the late October through December deal used to come out in the summer, but last year it all got released together in May. I really don't think that they know until the day before it drops.

 

[5kidsmommy]

Well to be safe I just switched our reservation from POR to CBR, hopefully we can get an early december free dining offer. Or at this point any discount.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Well to be safe I just switched our reservation from POR to CBR, hopefully we can get an early december free dining offer. Or at this point any discount.

I thought of doing this for September but if it means I can't stay at POR ever again because free dining won't ever happen there then I will either bank on the discount or pay rack. I think we are all so used to getting the discount we don't know how the other half lives.

 

[LouFapp]

I`m planning to book from October 24th to October 31st.

If we go by what was offered last year October 24th is out of the promotional period and I`m not eligble for the plan... I've read a way around this is to book two seperate trips (24th and 25th - 31st)... Would I do that today assuming those exceptions happen or would they be able to seperate my trip so I can take advantage of this potential promotion?

The other option is to book from the 25th to the 1st but then my kids would miss Halloween at home... Besides Mickeys Halloween Party (which would likely be insanely busy on the 31st) is there any other halloween activities for the kids?

It might seem weird but I would hate to miss out on them trick or treating since they only have 4 or 5 years where they are genuinely into it and not just in it for the candy.

OT as I've only had a few posts here but Id just like to say how informative this board has been for me... I can't imagine trying to do this without a resource like this.

We have been to mnsshp on halloween in 2013 and it wasn't anywhere near as packed as i thought it would be. Granted we are b8g on character photo ops and we only stood in 1 candy line, but we had a great time. Most ride lines are fairly empty.