New free dining offer yeaaah

[Lehuaann]

I was just told about 20 minutes ago that I could not do this, as I wanted to pick my tickets up 3 days early since I have a room only reservation and then the package for the FD. It is much cheaper if I put my 8 day ticket on the FD reservation versus having to split it up, but I was told it is only 24 hours in advance now that you can get the tickets.

I pm'd Cheshire Figment (our resident GR/ticketing CM) a few weeks ago and he made no mention that the rules have changed...and his sticky info remains the same, up to 3 days.

I've learned that when it comes to things only GR handles, I don't listen to CRO CMs.

 

[anut4disney]

I just heard from Dreams Unlimited and I got the free dining. I am saving $1,379.70.

What is so cool is I made these reservations last month and didn't think there would be any discounts during Christmas. My check in date is 12/17/11 the very last day of free dining so I even lucked out there. I really did get some pixiedust.

Thanks everyone for all the information and Robyn from Dreams Unlimited.

 

[KrazyKollector]

ABSOLUTELY! (gift cards).
That's exactly how I've done it for the past two trips!

Thank you! I just wanted to be super sure.

 

[Tiggs14]

Thanks for posted just booked August 19 to September 4th

Stuck with the free quick service plan at Pop!

 

[crazycatlady]

It took me 2.5 hours this morning, but I got my free dining for POP 10/23 to 10/31. I was a nervous wreck by the time the CM picked up the call! I was so worried when there was just dead silence on the line, then the Dis went down before I could find out if that was normal. When the boards finally came back up it was to see that my dates were now mysteriously being blacked out by some CMs and people were getting disconnected after being on hold for an hour and a half. I went into work an hour and a half early (6 am) so I could have all my reservations done by the time I started work at 7 am (central), but of course I was still holding as my work time went by and then everyone, including my BOSS came in to the office. My hands were shaking and my stomach hurt by the time the poor CM answered. When she asked for my address I started stuttering because I could honestly not remember where I lived for a moment. After I got done telling her my address the very sweet CM paused and said, "Ma'am, are you ok?" I laughed and told her that it had been a very stressful 2.5 hours on hold. She was great and got me the free dining with no problems, even though people on the boards were reporting at that same time that they were being denied for my same dates. Anywhoo, she checked for a pin to get me free dining for the 1st 3 days of my trip that were blacked out, couldn't find any, but then gave me a free upgrade to CBR for those 3 days (actually, $2 a night extra). What a morning!!!

I hope everyone got what they were hoping for this morning and a great big
THANKS to Danny!

 

[mindync]

I have an off-the-wall question. Can I pay off my trip with Disney Gift cards or does it have to be credit or check?

I've applied payment with Disney gift cards and it worked just fine.

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

crazycatlady I remember when you left for work this morning Glad you got what you needed/wanted!!

 

[SarahD]

Did LovelyMouse22 ever get her free dining?! Her story was crazy - and I'm afraid she's still on hold somewhere!

 

[Yummy]

Just wanted to share my excitement as well I called tonight when I got back from work to modify our reservation (2 rooms) to add the FD. I was on hold for maybe 15 minutes or so, and got a great CM. Forgot her name, but she was super nice. It all got taken care of within a few minutes.

We're checking in December 3, so juste before the Pop Warner blackout dates (we had the same dates and got FD too two years ago). I'm so excited!

I guess now, I really don't have anything left to plan.

- ADRs ---> check
- Balance paid ---> check
- Free dining ---> check

 

[crazycatlady]

crazycatlady I remember when you left for work this morning Glad you got what you needed/wanted!!

Thanks Grumpy Grandma!! I appreciated your kind words this morning, too.

I was hoping the free dining would start on Oct. 21st, but 8 nights of free dining is still awesome and I am excited to try out CBR for a few days. We saved about $1600!! I do wonder why, though, that some people started calling later than others and got through in much shorter times.

 

[mrsheppo]

Another happy DISer saying thank you to Danny for his awesome information. I was on hold for 2 1/2 hrs when I finally had my call answered. I was able to modify my reservation to get the DP upgrade for POP. I had about 5 minutes to spare before I had to leave for work. Getting the free dining made the work day tolerable (even though I got up 2 hours early to call in).

 

[Kristina]

Kristina, what are you dates? I can pop over to the WDW site and see if its available on line for you.

Oh that is so sweet but guess what, I got it !!! I got an email from my Dreams agent pretty quickly so I must have missed the crush earlier. At first though the Dreams site was saying it couldn't accept any more at that time but I refreshed and then it was fine! Boy there's nothing like making à WDW FD ressie

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

Thanks Grumpy Grandma!! I appreciated your kind words this morning, too.

I was hoping the free dining would start on Oct. 21st, but 8 nights of free dining is still awesome and I am excited to try out CBR for a few days. We saved about $1600!! I do wonder why, though, that some people started calling later than others and got through in much shorter times.

After all my waiting for free dining for Oct/Nov I ended up booking with an ap discount since it is a solo trip .... much better for me costwise. So glad they released the ap dates this morning too. I did everything online so no sitting on hold for me. But I do have a little matter for Sept 2012 that I have to clean up so guess I will have to make a call but not until the hold times are way down. Have a wonderful vacation!

 

[Kristina]

....to make your day!!! (stupid phone lol).

 

[buckeev]

?.. I do wonder why, though, that some people started calling later than others and got through in much shorter times.

just "the luck of the draw"....131 minutes here at 6 am....then this evening....4 minutes (for a question).

Just got off the phone with a friend from STL....he sez...."can you book us for the same trip?

 

[KEPE]

Congrats Kristina.

So tell me, did anyone NOT get what they wanted? Not because of Blackout dates but because hotels were closed out? I did see someone from Boardwalk or something but anyone else? I was soooo nervous. I have CSR and someone mentioned yesterday about it being a convention resort so it could fill up quickly, I was soooo nervous. Then the first time I called and he told me that FD didn't start until 10/30, he checked CSR for the 30th (even though I told him I couldn't change my dates) and he told me it was booked and I would have to change my resort as well I thought for sure it was going to be booked. I also notice MANY people got POR and POFQ and I thought I read that they were smaller so less rooms would be available. I know many have said the Diser's are just a drop in the hat for disney reservations but you NEVER would have guessed that from this morning and how crazy everything was.

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Add DH and I to the list of happy people
We are only there for 3 nights, but FD is really going to be nice. (POFQ)
If it weren't for the DIS, I would never have known about it.
This is THE place for information

 

[DisneyMom14]

First and foremost...THANK YOU DANNY for the heads up about this promotion!

I will admit that I didn't sleep well last night. First, I hated to get off the Disboards. I eventually fell asleep thinking about codes, date change possibilities, and our first day back at work/school today and waking up too late to do any of it! I had nightmares during the night and then woke up BEFORE my alarm went off at 5:00 CST. Checked Disboards, Mousesavers, Disney Visa Rewards, and WDW website several times while getting ready for work. Sat at the computer at about 5:45 CST and read up on this thread. Started calling at 5:59 CST. Five minutes into my wait, the Disboards CRASH!!! OMG! So now I'm blind. I have no idea what's going on and to make me more nervous, there is no wait music AND I keep hearing clicking that I keep thinking is me getting disconnected. The wait time SAID less than 7 minutes but actually got answered in about 35 minutes. I had to cancel our room only and make a package reservation. Since my sister was still on hold, I took care of her reservation so she could hang up. Then I took care of my brother's as well. The CM was excellent and very helpful, but toward the end of our call I was realizing that I was going to be late on my first day back at work. Luckily, I was not the only person walking in a few minutes late as the parking and the line to sign in was LONG. Calling early was important because I had NO computer access at all today. By the time I got home today, this thread had 40+ new pages!!! So I just got caught up.

It's been fun you guys! Thanks for all the advice and I made sure to pay it forward to others. I saved $534 at my resort and room of choice for the dates I wanted. I could not be happier.

Happy Dance:

 

[mcraw]

i emailed my TA this morning to see if she got the free dining for me. she said she would call me later. I have not heard from her at all. would it be wrong for me to call disney myself? Or am I stressing for no reason?

 

[KEPE]

Mcraw, when you book through a TA can you still look up your ressie on the WDW site? I know I haven't gotten my email conf. from disney yet for the package part (got it for the room only) but I see the update under my ressie info.