Free Dining Question

[TEK224]

A friend and her family are going to WDW in early Dec. My friend is staying off-site with her DH and kids. Her parents and sister's family are staying onsite at AofA. Her Mom purchased a package directly through Disney. At the time free dining wasn't offered. She already paid for the package, which included 7 nights hotel and dining and 4 days of park tickets. Could she call and have her package adjusted to now get the free dining (which goes through 12/13)? Would they just credit back the dining plan money to her cc?
If they won't do that, could she cancel her reservation and re-book to now get free dining? It would save her a lot of money, since she paid for the dining plan for 6 people.

 

[momof1princess]

okay, first, let me ask...does free dining start DURING her trip? if her trip starts BEFORE free dining does, she won't be eligible for it unless she adjusts her dates to start her trip after FD starts. i see FD is only from 12/10-12/13. how does this coincide with her trip?

this is what i mean: if her trip starts 12/9/12 and ends on 12/15/2012, she wouldn't qualify for FD, because it starts on 12/10.
however, if her trip starts on 12/10 through 12/13, she can get free dining for the entire trip, even if the trip ends after FD does. does that make sense?

it really depends on the start date of her trip.

 

[LJSquishy]

I believe she will need to call and cancel her current vacation package and rebook under the free dining promotion, but I can't say for certain. Have her do it as soon as she can because there are limited rooms available at each resort under the free dining promo. I'm not sure if they will refund her entire trip and then have her pay for the new trip in its entirety, or if they will just credit her the difference (my guess would be the latter).

 

[erincon23]

okay, first, let me ask...does free dining start DURING her trip? it her trip starts BEFORE free dining does, she won't be eligible for it unless she adjusts her dates to start her trip after FD starts. i see FD is only from 12/10-12/13. how does this coincide with her trip?

this is what i mean: if her trip starts 12/9/12 and ends on 12/15/2012, she wouldn't qualify for FD, because it starts on 12/10.
however, if her trip starts on 12/10 through 12/13, she can get free dining for the entire trip, even if the trip ends after FD does. does that make sense?

it really depends on the start date of her trip.

BUT, if this is the case, she can make one reservation for the night(s) before the free dining starts, and a separate reservation to use the free dining --even at the same resort if available, and may be able to stay in the same room. Her best bet is to CALL Disney and ask. Tell them at the beginning of the call that she's just looking for information first -- they'll pull up her res, and see what can be done. Since she's more than 45 days out, there shouldn't be a change penalty. A lot of people on the DIS are very knowledgeable about these things, but none of us know what's going to be available at the minute of the call.

 

[mm1971]

A friend and her family are going to WDW in early Dec. My friend is staying off-site with her DH and kids. Her parents and sister's family are staying onsite at AofA. Her Mom purchased a package directly through Disney. At the time free dining wasn't offered. She already paid for the package, which included 7 nights hotel and dining and 4 days of park tickets. Could she call and have her package adjusted to now get the free dining (which goes through 12/13)? Would they just credit back the dining plan money to her cc?
If they won't do that, could she cancel her reservation and re-book to now get free dining? It would save her a lot of money, since she paid for the dining plan for 6 people.

It would depend on the pricing of the package. Did they pay rack rates? In order to have the free dining, you would lose any room discounts that they received. A lot of times, it is less expensive to take the room discount than the free dining. Also remember that with AoA you get the QS dining plan and there would be a cost to upgrade to the regular plan. Things are never that simple with Disney pricing models.

I am pretty sure she would need to rebook the package with free dining if that was the final choice. They wouldn't just send her a credit. If this is the less expensive way to go, I would rebook first and cancel the old reservation after it was completed. It is possible that the free dining is no longer available as well since they only have so many for each resort available. You also risk losing your reservation and not being able to get the same hotel if you cancel the existing one first. I know it is another big charge ont he cc, but the credit will offset it. Good luck!

 

[smitch425]

If the current reservation is scheduled for a checkin on a covered date, she will just need to call to see if the discount can be applied. They may not have any available rooms under the promotion as they only include a set amount. It is possible that she may have to switch to a different themed area of the resort. Also, this only has a chance of working if they are booked in an AoA suite. The LM rooms are not eligible for free dining. There is no reason to cancel and rebook anything unless she needs to book it as a split stay for date/promo reasons.They will issue her a credit on the form of payment that she used when she originally paid.

 

[jcieutat]

If the current reservation is scheduled for a checkin on a covered date, she will just need to call to see if the discount can be applied. They may not have any available rooms under the promotion as they only include a set amount. It is possible that she may have to switch to a different themed area of the resort. Also, this only has a chance of working if they are booked in an AoA suite. The LM rooms are not eligible for free dining. There is no reason to cancel and rebook anything unless she needs to book it as a split stay for date/promo reasons.They will issue her a credit on the form of payment that she used when she originally paid.

+1!

I hope all the rooms are not gone at this point. FD was offered quite a while ago.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

We booked free dining last week. It was available at all the values mid December. A of A is selling well and not partipating in free dining for regular rooms. It says to call to see if available for suites.

 

[TEK224]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't look closely enough at teh notice. Didn't realize it was only certain dates between now and Dec. Unfortunately their Dec. dates don't coincide with free dining. Bummer.