Free Dining Oct-Dec Is Here!! Dates Confirmed!!! ~ Part 2

[sjs314]

I totally agree with your post. The extremely limited availability was probably due to a large number of double bookings. I don't understand why you would hire a travel agent and turn around and book your own reservation. Why hire the agent???

I can only speak for myself but I booked with a TA for first time ever back in May for 2 reasons #1 she was a Friend & #2 she was able to get me an agency exclusive discount at the Poly for Jersey Week.

I did feel uneasy as I am a bit of a control freak making my own ADRs etc.

As the rumors of the RO discounts started surfacing and I was seeing 30% at the Poly I did the Disney Math and started thinking about upgradeing to CL.

Fast Fwd to Thursday 2:00-3:00am, I am up seeing the promos live online, No Poly CL but my backups WL CL and BWI CL both available. I woke up DH at 3:30am and he said he'd rather stay BWI CL than Poly Std room.

Rather than wait to contact my TA and maybe miss out I booked online then emailed my TA to cancel my other reservation.

I found out booking with a TA is not the best option for me, I need to be in "control"

I'm sure once everyone is done shifting resorts and room catagories Disney will re-evaluate the % of room bookings and release more rooms into the pools of rooms for both FD and RO.

Just keep Checking online and don't hesitate book it if you see it!

 

[sjs314]

For anyone that is looking for a RR at POR, they are showing available for 11/23-12/3 right now. This is the first I have seen them since 12 AM on Thursday morning.

Yep exactly I saw CR BLV & CR TPV for Nov3-8 RO that were not there on Thursday for anyone interested

It looks like all the many resort/room changes are starting to show up in inventory availability for dscounts

Sending everyone can get what they want!

 

[disneyfantotheend]

I was super tempted to book online at 4:30am Thursday when I saw it. But i thought about it and my TA had to do work to get me our original reservations, make our payments, add DME info, etc. i thought about how I would feel if I worked hard and never got paid for it . Again when she was on hold forever, I thought should I just do it online? But I didn't give up on her and she came through.

I am so sorry for those who have had bad experiences with their TAs. It is very scary to allow even a good TA in control of your reservation, i suggest than anyone who wants to get a TA think hard first. If you are not willing to give them complete control, just book yourself. A lot of this mess is due to the system and not the TAs But some certainly do have legitimate complaints against their TAs.

 

[babydoll65]

Good morning everyone. I hope some people are slowly getting what there looking for. Hoping rooms open up today for some who are still looking. I'm sure there are rooms that will be cancelled soon. I honestly had no hope on Thursday of getting fd when I saw some of the posts about POR not having availability but kept forgetting that were not all going in the same date range. Plus i had to leave all this up to my 70yo mother to do. She was put on hold at 7:04-9:10 but got the job done. Was surprised to see that POR didn't get a room discount this time because it would have been convenient to get a ro on November 10th before the start of our pkg but because so many people pulled out of pofq, we were able to get a garden view for 20% off. So she can just drive her scooter over to POR the next morning. Does anyone know how long of a walk it is from one resort to another?

 

[Tinker Pam]

If anyone needs to call now is a good time. On hold less than 15 seconds. CM said this is the quietest lines have been since Thursday. She was sooooo nice and made the call magical even though I still didn't have any luck finding a room at riverside. She encouraged me to keep checking back as They are seeing more availability as reservations are released

 

[babydoll65]

Thanks. Tried it and doesn't work for me. It didn't even show my reservation just one of my ADRs. I think MDE is messed up for me.

Give them a call and see what they can do. Mde has been a mess for a while but all my resort's and adrs look correct just the fd looks like it's not there. The UK site shows everything but I printed out my confirmation which has everything listed correctly. I have the app for my kindle and I think works better than online but you can't make payments with it.

 

[pistachio]

If anyone needs to call now is a good time. On hold less than 15 seconds. CM said this is the quietest lines have been since Thursday. She was sooooo nice and made the call magical even though I still didn't have any luck finding a room at riverside. She encouraged me to keep checking back as They are seeing more availability as reservations are released

I was trying to make a change to a room. I just got off the phone with a CM and she said "Don't look for anything to come available for the FD period". I told her that other CM's are telling people to keep trying (the one I spoke with last night said to keep trying as people cancel and more rooms open)

She said "They are newbies. They don't know what they are talking about. I hear them tell people that, and I think 'oh no....they'll just keep calling back."

 

[disneyfantotheend]

I was trying to make a change to a room. I just got off the phone with a CM and she said "Don't look for anything to come available for the FD period". I told her that other CM's are telling people to keep trying (the one I spoke with last night said to keep trying as people cancel and more rooms open)

She said "They are newbies. They don't know what they are talking about. I hear them tell people that, and I think 'oh no....they'll just keep calling back."

Maybe she is the newbie, cause every year I hear people get what they want weeks or months after the promo begins. People do cancel , upgrade, change room types so you never know. If you don't mind the possible rejection don't give up just because of one CM.

 

[pistachio]

Maybe she is the newbie, cause every year I hear people get what they want weeks or months after the promo begins. People do cancel , upgrade, change room types so you never know. If you don't mind the possible rejection don't give up just because of one CM.

That's what I thought. Thanks, I will keep checking. Her negativity just surprised me. The funny part was at the end when she said "have a magical day."

 

[momofkids]

I was trying to make a change to a room. I just got off the phone with a CM and she said "Don't look for anything to come available for the FD period". I told her that other CM's are telling people to keep trying (the one I spoke with last night said to keep trying as people cancel and more rooms open)

She said "They are newbies. They don't know what they are talking about. I hear them tell people that, and I think 'oh no....they'll just keep calling back."

Sounds like she just doesn't want the high volume of phone calls. Rooms are already opening up for people; so, she obviously doesn't know what she is talking about.

 

[babydoll65]

That's what I thought. Thanks, I will keep checking. Her negativity just surprised me. The funny part was at the end when she said "have a magical day."

How can she say" have a magical day " after disappointing you like that. It's already been proven that some were able to get what they wanted just recently.

 

[sjs314]

Sounds like she just doesn't want the high volume of phone calls. Rooms are already opening up for people; so, she obviously doesn't know what she is talking about.

I totally agree!

 

[Greenfield1984]

I was trying to make a change to a room. I just got off the phone with a CM and she said "Don't look for anything to come available for the FD period". I told her that other CM's are telling people to keep trying (the one I spoke with last night said to keep trying as people cancel and more rooms open)

She said "They are newbies. They don't know what they are talking about. I hear them tell people that, and I think 'oh no....they'll just keep calling back."

I've been calling once a week since I booked with my pin in may, and then once (ok maybe twice) a day since the gp offer came out and have always been told to keep trying

 

[plutospalforever]

How can she say" have a magical day " after disappointing you like that. It's already been proven that some were able to get what they wanted just recently.

For sure! I believe at least 3 folks posted yesterday they were able to score a room at POR. Keep trying, ya never know! : )

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[plutospalforever]

Hi everyone! We are staying at CSR for 11-16 to 11-23 for FD. I booked a standard room as that was all they had. I put in a request for bottom floor and close to the main building and transportation. I know that the Casitas 1, 2, and 3 are the buildings that are preferred and closest to the main building. We have stayed before at CBR, CSR and at POFQ (2 times) and we were in love with being so close to the main building at FQ so we could refill our mugs anytime etc and a short walk to the bus stop.

My Q is- is it unreasonable to think that without it being a preferred room that we will not be close in any way to the main building? I am really worried ab this since it is such a large resort. We have stayed at CSR 3 yrs ago but my DD 8 was sick with migraines for over half of the time so i really never explored the resort. We wanted to do POR RGR (as we have never stayed at POR) but there was no availability. Should I keep trying to get preferred at CSR or POR RGR or just keep what we have and be happy with it ( and just figure out what location to request??)

Thanks so much for your input!

Hi!! Congrats! If you would really like a preferred room or POR RGR, keep trying!!! They are opening up even as recent as yesterday. Good luck!!!

 

[Libmom333]

I was double booked and just cancelled my original reservation at POR over the phone with a perfectly lovely CM. I told her that I booked at another resort online with the free dining during Thursday's am phone craziness. It was no problem at all. She said that she was on the phone Thursday from 6:30am to 11pm and the average wait time was 1 hour and 45 minutes!

 

[Mom22girls56]

Oh my goodness!!! I need help advice or something!! I emailed my ta today and received a response that hold times were over 5 hours and they are still trying.

I asked if they would be working over the weekend or if it wouldn't be to Monday and stressed how we don't want to miss this deal.

She responded with saying they will be working over the weekend but that it is not good for our travel dates. It ends the 23 (of November) and picks up December 2nd. We check in on 23. A Disney cm quoted me a price for free dining but I stupidly told him I'd hold off because I believed my ta would come through and I didn't want to double book, plus we are ttraveling with 2 other families and all our adrs are made. What do I do?????

As long as the offer is good on the day you check in, you get it for your entire stay. I'm kinda new to the boards, but I believe that is right.

 

[pistachio]

For sure! I believe at least 3 folks posted yesterday they were able to score a room at POR. Keep trying, ya never know! : )

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

I will keep checking because I see all the posters who called back and something opened. I was really just changing the view - I requested riverview when I booked but apparently the CM gave me gardenview. I didn't realize that until I finally got the confirmation. But this lady made me feel like she was smacking me on the knuckles with a ruler!

I'm happy to see all the folks here who were able to get their bookings. Congrats to all of you.

 

[katie43901]

Just called and was only on hold for a few minutes! That felt like a victory in its self! Wasn't able to switch to another deluxe, as we are having doubts about AKL now that we switched from YC to FD at AKL. Hoping for some rooms to come available soon!

 

[Mom22girls56]

Well I left a a message for my ta and emailed her. I think I have been plenty patient since the last time she contacted me was early wed. I have zero clue if I am booked or not. My guess is a big fat no. Please send some thoughts my way for fd. I am so aggravated.

Sorry to hear that. Completely unacceptable. Have you tried to book at FD package yourself?