Free Dining Frenzy

[dhardawa]

Well, I'll admit, I saw the resorts dropping and booked more than one reservation. I wanted fall break in October, but the only resort that wasn't a deluxe was All Star Sports. I grabbed it, but also grabbed CBR for the week before Christmas. Neither of these is good.

October
Not the resort I want
Went last year and it was busy
Cheap airfare from where we live already sold out (all the schools here do fall break)

December
Love the resort
Worry about weather
Love the decorations
BUT I have a kid who will be a high school freshman and that's likely finals week

Then, today, I realized my daughter had a PIN code in her email. I was able to book POFQ for the week before thanksgiving. Airfare isn't open yet, so it's not sold out, it's not finals week, the weather should be good, and I love POFQ.

So, I've got three reservations now. I keep trying to cancel the other two, but can't get through to do it. I'd love to let those two go so other people can have them, but wait and wait and wait and finally have to hang up.

 

[disneynewbee]

Well, I'll admit, I saw the resorts dropping and booked more than one reservation. I wanted fall break in October, but the only resort that wasn't a deluxe was All Star Sports. I grabbed it, but also grabbed CBR for the week before Christmas. Neither of these is good.

October
Not the resort I want
Went last year and it was busy
Cheap airfare from where we live already sold out (all the schools here do fall break)

December
Love the resort
Worry about weather
Love the decorations
BUT I have a kid who will be a high school freshman and that's likely finals week

Then, today, I realized my daughter had a PIN code in her email. I was able to book POFQ for the week before thanksgiving. Airfare isn't open yet, so it's not sold out, it's not finals week, the weather should be good, and I love POFQ.

So, I've got three reservations now. I keep trying to cancel the other two, but can't get through to do it. I'd love to let those two go so other people can have them, but wait and wait and wait and finally have to hang up.

What dates do the schools do fall break? Just curious as we have an Oct trip booked. Our schools unfortunately don't do fall breaks so my kids have to miss.

 

[disneynewbee]

In the past we had booked in advance and called to add free dining. This time I listened to Black and booked a new ressie online and it was quick and painless. This will be my strategy from now on. I got exactly what I wanted for 3 rooms. I was a little freaked at first because they didn't open it when the phones opened. I couldn't call because my kids were not off to school yet and it's a surprise trip. After I got them to school I checked and it was up online.

 

[saskdw]

In the past we had booked in advance and called to add free dining. This time I listened to Black and booked a new ressie online and it was quick and painless. This will be my strategy from now on. I got exactly what I wanted for 3 rooms. I was a little freaked at first because they didn't open it when the phones opened. I couldn't call because my kids were not off to school yet and it's a surprise trip. After I got them to school I checked and it was up online.

This is how we've always done it. We just booked our 6th Christmas trip in 7 years with FD. Always online, never used the phone. Honestly I wouldn't do business with a company that expected me to wait on hold for 2 hours. But there no need to, those on hold have made their own problems by booking earlier.

 

[Mikie]

I don't ever make reservations until I get a PIN or see a discount code offered. What's the point of doing that?

Doesn't it just make the resort look like it's filling up and then the marketing staff decide it's full enough not to offer a FD PIN or a RO discount?

Is there some benefit to booking a resort early and then trying to get a code or discount later that I'm not aware of?

I'm traveling with a group of 12 with fixed dates and lots of popular "must do" dining plans. A PP had a good explanation of needing the ressie to get our ADRs done at 180+10. We ended up in the FD blackout dates, but had been hoping to cash in on it. I know booking the reservation doesn't help me get FD (May even hurt) but to get a big group in our choice of hotel on our required dates you gotta do what you gotta do and hope for the best!

 

[freckles04]

What dates do the schools do fall break? Just curious as we have an Oct trip booked. Our schools unfortunately don't do fall breaks so my kids have to miss.

Here in Tennessee it varies. My county is Oct 6-10 but the next county over is Oct 13-17. And I believe one of the private schools here is the 20-24.

We are doing Oct 1-10 and my son will miss 3 days of school, but it was the only way I could save on airfare (our exact fall break dates were sky high or sold out by the time I booked). We went Oct 5-13 last year. It was quite busy. We met a LOT of other Tennesseans on Fall Break.

 

[dhardawa]

What dates do the schools do fall break? Just curious as we have an Oct trip booked. Our schools unfortunately don't do fall breaks so my kids have to miss.

Here, kids are out the first two weeks of October.

 

[dhardawa]

Ugh. I have now made four reservations, have finally managed to get one where I could get decent airfare, and I can't get through to cancel the others. This is absurd! I call and sit on hold forever. I've tried different days, different times, etc. Right now, it's 9:40 am on a Thursday and I've been on hold 45 minutes. Asinine.

 

[Kmygrl73]

Maybe don't say cancel reservation? I kept being on hold for over 30 minutes the other day and as soon as I said new reservation, they picked up!

 

[asc]

yesterday, I called at 1:30pm eastern to see if I had a unique offer code. it took less than 5 minutes on hold for me to get through. they checked me, my wife, sister, MIL, FIL and my mother for a code....nothing yet and told us to keep checking.

 

[Aubrav]

What dates do the schools do fall break? Just curious as we have an Oct trip booked. Our schools unfortunately don't do fall breaks so my kids have to miss.

Here in southern Indiana we have a new fall break from October 4-18. "Fall Break" used to be just 2 or 3 days off at the end of the week. Then last school year (2012-2013) they changed it to a full week and now this school year (2013-2014) they changed it to two weeks. I think they are shooting for more of a year-round approach as now the kids get two weeks off in October, December, and March, and their summer has been shortened to right at 2 months or less. The counties surrounding us do not follow the same plan.

 

[Aubrav]

Ugh. I have now made four reservations, have finally managed to get one where I could get decent airfare, and I can't get through to cancel the others. This is absurd! I call and sit on hold forever. I've tried different days, different times, etc. Right now, it's 9:40 am on a Thursday and I've been on hold 45 minutes. Asinine.

Try calling the same number on two different phones. After waiting on hold forever last week, that's what worked for me. The second phone got answered very quickly.