Free Dining Not Allowed At Art Of Animation?????

[luvlife]

I just called to book our November 2012 trip and they told me they weren't honoring the free dining because we are getting the Little mermaid room
They will allow the free dining if I get one of the suites though
Has anyone else heard about this?

 

[mom2rtk]

They offer free dining to fill rooms. The Little Mermain rooms are turning out to be hard to get even at regular price, so no discount needed yet. Not all resorts are always included in free dining, or all room categories. Just what they need to fill.

 

[ekidwell0001]

I havent heard of that yet, because we are checking in sept. 28th into a LM room and we got the free dining!

 

[deegack]

They set aside a certain number of rooms for each promotion. So if they hit there max on free dining of little mermaid rooms then they stop offering it.

 

[chartle]

As posted above it all about availability.

There may have been rooms set aside but those are gone to no free dining.

 

[Magical JenK]

Here is a link to some of the discount info: http://www.wdwinfo.com/discounts/disneypackages.htm#general

Free Dining is here:
September 2012 – December 2012 Free Dining Offer!

Valid for stays select nights 9/30/12 - 12/20/12.

Book a Walt Disney World vacation package that includes a stay at a Walt Disney World resort and a park ticket, and receive the Dining Plan for free!

•Book a Disney Value Resort and get the Quick Service Dining free!
•Book a Disney Moderate, Deluxe or Deluxe Villas Resort and and get the Regular Dining free!
Sample Pricing: The following pricing is for select dates 10/19/12 - 11/1/12, 11/24/12 - 11/29/12, and 12/10/12 - 12/13/12 in a Standard Room. Sample pricing does not include tax. Rates will vary depending the resort, room type, and dates of travel.

•Value Resort (4 nights, 5 days for a family of 4): $1,922
•Moderate Resort (4 nights, 5 days for a family of 4): $2,421
Discount Codes: The following codes can be used to obtain these discounts by calling Disney directly, or by contacting Dreams Unlimited Travel.

•Disney Value Resorts - X9N

•Disney Moderate, Deluxe and Deluxe Vill Resorts - I87
3 night minimum stay/14 night maximum stay.Must purchase a minimum of 2-day/maximum of 10 day park tickets. Dining plans can be upgraded at an additional cost. This discount must be booked by 9/29/12. Free dining available select nights 9/30-10/4, 10/19-11/1, 11/9-11/15, 11/23-11/29 and 12/10-12/20/12.All discounts are subject to availability, certain restrictions apply. Blackout dates may apply. Discount is not valid at campsites, 3-bedroom villas or the Little Mermaid Standard View rooms at Disney's Art of Animation resort.

For the Late Fall Free Dining, the LM rooms were NOT included (stated above), but I do believe they were included for the Free Dining promo that went from late August to end of September (before this one started).

 

[mousiemom]

oh yeah, i had a pin code for free dining so i booked 3 rooms under the AOA, LM rooms, it was good for them too, this was early may of this year, then another member of our party received a pin code for fd, so i called to add 3 more rooms to our grand gathering and that pin code didn't include the LM rooms, so i had to redo our reservation and move all of our rooms to pop in order for all 6 rooms to have fd, we will just walk across the bridge and eat at the food court, no problem.

 

[mom2rtk]

I havent heard of that yet, because we are checking in sept. 28th into a LM room and we got the free dining!

That was a different promotional period. The current one never included the Little Mermaid rooms.

 

[ShannonsDDH]

When the original Free Dining was released, Art of Animation was excluded. They must have added it at some point or when they extended it.

 

[luvlife]

I am sooooo dissapointed I really was looking forward to seeing how excited my little ones would be. I know we are going to the parks for that, it's just that we'll be at the hotel more this trip.
I think they would have loved the pools also

The rep was more than willing to book us a suite with free dining though

 

[mom2rtk]

When the original Free Dining was released, Art of Animation was excluded. They must have added it at some point or when they extended it.

But the November never never included it and likely won't. Those rooms are just too popular right now.

 

[luvlife]

I just saw the fine print for the free dining and I can't believe I missed the little mermaid exclusion. I wish I would've caught that before I got so excited about it.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

But the November never never included it and likely won't. Those rooms are just too popular right now.

exactly. I really think Disney had no idea how popular those rooms would be. So they offered FD in the first promo for the rooms but haven't offered it (that I know of) since. I doubt if we'll see FD or any discount for the LM rooms in the near future - they just book up without a discount.

 

[Sunnywho]

the free dining can add up, maybe it's worth upgrading to the suite or changing to a different resort? If you're at POP you can walk across the bridge and check out AOA. Or if you went for a moderate you'd get the regular dining plan. That might end up being the same price as staying at a value and paying for meals oop.

 

[LilyWDW]

I just saw the fine print for the free dining and I can't believe I missed the little mermaid exclusion. I wish I would've caught that before I got so excited about it.

The thing is, even if they had been included in general, that doesn't mean there would have been rooms available. Even at resorts included in the discounts, there are usually only a limited number of rooms available and they can run out. So, don't feel so bad.

 

[BuzzandWoodyMom]

I just called to book our November 2012 trip and they told me they weren't honoring the free dining because we are getting the Little mermaid room
They will allow the free dining if I get one of the suites though
Has anyone else heard about this?

The Little Mermaid rooms being excluded from the current free dining board, has actually been a very hot topic. It's been dicussed here on the Dining Board, the Codes and Rates Board and the Resort Board. It was even leaked before the the dates were officially announced that the Little Mermaid rooms would be excluded with this round of FD discounts.

We were lucky enought to get a pin code for free dining at the Little Mermaid rooms, so we are going to try them out. We usually get 2 connecting rooms at All-Star Movies, which we LOVE and if we had not gotten the pin code we would have gone back there because there is NO WAY I was paying full price for those Little Mermaid rooms.

 

[TDC Nala]

What's been posted above is correct. Disney offers free dining at resorts where they have empty rooms. Little Mermaid is one section of a larger resort, and it is popular because the resort is new and the rooms cost less than the suites. Everybody with less than 5 in their party who wants to check out the new resort is going to be booked there already.

When the hype over the new resort dies down, they might have fewer guests booking those rooms, and they might offer free dining.

For the free dining offer that expired in May, they did have some availablity at Little Mermaid. The current offer does not.

I have a room at Little Mermaid for 1 night in November, it's a Thursday so the price wasn't too bad.

 

[plutojen26]

I know...I was sad too. I was trying to book a stay in October and was told the same thing. They then tried to upsell me to a suite. I said, well, it's just me so I can't fathom spending that much just for myself for 4 days. So, I chose Pop Century...at least I can walk over and see it

 

[iamfishie]

I was very frustrated about not getting FD for the Little Mermaid section so I wrote a very long, but polite, letter to the CEO of Disney. Low and behold, a few days later, guest relations called me and we got the free dining!

 

[Dizneydaz]

This is why I was so excited when I was able to get free DDP at AoA for our trip starting on 9/29 back in April. I originally booked POP but then when LM magically appeared as an option-I jumped on it. I think I booked it the first day it was offered.

We are so excited to be staying at Art. Due to running a fridge swap at POP for over 5 years our last 6 trips we have been at POP. Prior to that we would go to different resorts, or at least hop to a mod for a few days.

Now that all resorts have fridges we have the freedom to go to any resort we want. I love all the themeing at AoA and having the extra added bonus of staying in an almost brand new room (LM opens 9-15 and we arrive on 9/29)

Can't wait!