Modifying a Free Dining Reservation

[Tom P.]

Hello,

I wasn't sure where was the best place to post this. So mods, please feel free to move as appropriate.

We have an 8 night stay with free dining beginning on November 28th. Due to circumstances, it looks as like we may not be able to do 8 nights, and might have to cut back to a shorter trip.

If our arrival date remains the same, but we want to shorten our stay, does that mean we lose free dining and have to start over with the current discount offer? Our family is large (7 people), so for us, free dining works out to be a whole lot more savings than a room discount. I'd hate to lose it.

Thanks,
Tom

P.S. I've called Disney to ask, and they were not helpful at all. Basically acted as if they knew nothing about what would happen.

 

[BigAlsGal]

As long as the start of your trip falls within the free dining offer you will have fee dining for the full length of stay.

Now if your free dining offer says you have to stay 8 nights you might be out of luck.

 

[VillainFavs]

The problem is you can't just modify the reservation. You would need to cancel and rebook under the same offer. And that offer is now expired. I don't think you'll be able to do it.

Does everyone need to cut it short? And by how much? Is the savings enough to just leave it as is, even if not everyone is there for the whole time?

 

[Tom P.]

So you can't reduce the number of days on a trip without rebooking from scratch? We've *added* days before withouthe starting over.

 

[parkbr]

Hi Tom,
not quite the answer that you're looking for, but I was able to 'add' days like you said - going in Dec. I double, triple checked that my free dining offer was still valid and they all confirmed yes. I wonder why they can't reduce it and make you lose that offer.

 

[kandb]

The problem is you can't just modify the reservation. You would need to cancel and rebook under the same offer. And that offer is now expired. I don't think you'll be able to do it.

Does everyone need to cut it short? And by how much? Is the savings enough to just leave it as is, even if not everyone is there for the whole time?

I was told something totally different by a CM. When the ticket prices were going up, I called to say I might shorten the trip and the CM told me I could drop days any time and it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Barbara76]

So you can't reduce the number of days on a trip without rebooking from scratch? We've *added* days before withouthe starting over.

We have reduced days during free dining before, I had to call though.

 

[purple figment]

Because the free dining promo has expired you will have to call and ask to speak to Guest Services because the person answering the phone will not be able to make the changes you want. Also, you used to be able to shorten or lengthen a resort reservation easily, but the procedure has changed. Now, when you want to change the length of a resort reservation there has to be additional availability for all of the nights you want, beyond the current reservation you are holding. For example, you currently have an 8 night reservation, but if you want just 7 nights there has to be 7 nights available. Disney no longer wants a single night unbooked which is what used to happen when someone shortened a stay.

 

[MyGirlLovesTink]

I had to call recently to change our free dining reservation from 8 days to 7 days and it was no problem. Didn't affect our free dining at all because we still had the same check-in date.

 

[dansdad]

I was told something totally different by a CM. When the ticket prices were going up, I called to say I might shorten the trip and the CM told me I could drop days any time and it wouldn't be a problem.

Unfortunately you got some bad information.

 

[maxiesmom]

They used to let you cut days from a trip with no fuss. They no longer do. Now you would have to re-book the trip.

 

[2forMe]

I thought I heard of people doing this at check in....not sure if there was a penalty etc.

 

[MyGirlLovesTink]

When did they change the policy? i just did this exact thing that the OP is asking about in July and it was no problem, did not affect my free dining reservation at all, there was no need to do a whole new booking.

 

[VillainFavs]

When did they change the policy? i just did this exact thing that the OP is asking about in July and it was no problem, did not affect my free dining reservation at all, there was no need to do a whole new booking.

Big difference is that you were rebooking while it was still a valid offer. The time to book Free Dining has long since expired.

And are you sure they didn't just rebook it without you realizing?

 

[Nancyg56]

When did they change the policy? i just did this exact thing that the OP is asking about in July and it was no problem, did not affect my free dining reservation at all, there was no need to do a whole new booking.

You were lucky. My DD tried to make a change and was nto able to. The CM went ahead and made the change, bumping up her price with a shorter stay. YIKES! DD said NO!!! I said No!!!!! Anyway the CM was not able to fix it, and Guest Services had to intervene.

Please Know that the reason you were able to make the change was because for you, all the conditions were met at teh time you made the call. For others, reducing one day can be a disaster if their stay is no longer eligible. It may be cheaper to just hang on to what they have. DD was able to have this mistake rectified because she had told the CM not to make the change, but the CM did so anyway. Had DD authorized the change and then reconsidered even a split second after, she would have been out of luck.

 

[MyGirlLovesTink]

The confirmation number on my booking stayed the same. Wouldn't it of changed if they did a whole new booking?

 

[Nancyg56]

The confirmation number on my booking stayed the same. Wouldn't it of changed if they did a whole new booking?

No. I have made multiple changes and the conf number remains the same.

 

[dansdad]

When did they change the policy? i just did this exact thing that the OP is asking about in July and it was no problem, did not affect my free dining reservation at all, there was no need to do a whole new booking.

Almost a year ago. If you were able to drop a day or days then the offer must have been still valid and there were rooms available for a new booking under the offer.

 

[mickeynut1]

Hello,

I wasn't sure where was the best place to post this. So mods, please feel free to move as appropriate.

We have an 8 night stay with free dining beginning on November 28th. Due to circumstances, it looks as like we may not be able to do 8 nights, and might have to cut back to a shorter trip.

If our arrival date remains the same, but we want to shorten our stay, does that mean we lose free dining and have to start over with the current discount offer? Our family is large (7 people), so for us, free dining works out to be a whole lot more savings than a room discount. I'd hate to lose it.

Thanks,
Tom

P.S. I've called Disney to ask, and they were not helpful at all. Basically acted as if they knew nothing about what would happen.

As purple figment posted, you need to speak with guest services as CRO isn't able to check availability/modify a reservation with an expired promo. As long as the shorter stay is available under FD, guest services can modify your existing reservation and keep FD; however, if the shorter stay isn't available, you won't be able to modify without losing FD.

 

[Tom P.]

Thanks to everyone for all of the helpful replies so far!

Can someone explain what the difference is between the normal reservations cast members and guest services? I honestly had not heard of the latter (in terms of phone cast members) until this thread.

Does guest services have an email address you can use? Do they have a direct phone number? Or if I call the main number and ask for them, will the cast member know what I'm talking about and direct me appropriately?

Thanks again,
Tom