POFQ and free DDP advice

[bellelayne1]

HI All!
Tonite my hubby and I called and booked our vacation for the end of Oct, beginning of Nov.
WOOOOHOOOO!!
Backstory then my questions. The last time we went was in Dec 2014. When we called in June and booked it they told us on the phone they could get us free dining if we stayed at POFQ. Apparently this doesn't happen often. I don't know why, maybe because in 2011 we stayed at Pop Century for our honeymoon???
Anyway my questions are:
Is this a thing that happens to people, they call and are given a choice of a different hotel?
NOw that we've booked without a discount of any kind are we still going to get notifications through the Disney Visa, through WDW emails and regular mail? Do you think if there is a dining plan announced that we'd have a special "code" on our account like before to give us another opportunity? I know we can book in advance and when the specials come out we can change the hotel, the dates,all the details of our trip but we really like POFQ and we're hoping we didn't mess ourselves out of free dining by booking early.
Any thoughts?

 

[Accident]

Free dining disappears fast when it's offered. So far it's been yearly *BUT* the end of summer/fall bounce back deal was free dining so we'll see what happens.. DisneyTouristBlog (<-link) has some rumors about the 2016 offering and some historical information on the discount.

The short is since you booked yourself, it's going to be on you to notice it comes out and adjust your trip to fit it in if you want it. Generally a value resort only gives you quick service but a moderate you get the basic with 1 table service. I did it in 2015 and found the best deal for us was to switch to a moderate for the better plan. you have been able to upgrade it to deluxe if you really want/need that.

 

[Nancyg56]

As Accident pointed out, FD or any other discount will be on you to look for. and then call to see if you can apply the discount. I will say that POFQ has fewer discounts available than some of the other Moderates. so when and if you see the offer, get on it ASAP. ALso, be prepared to change resorts if need be.

 

[Hopefully]

As the others have indicated, they will not call you. You need to call them to apply any new discount

 

[lovndisney12]

We have done two free dining trips to POFQ in December and just returned from one at CSR. My suggestion would be that if you really want the free dining plan look at what has been offered the past several years and have a couple of back-up plans. We really enjoyed our POFQ stays but also had a great time at CSR this time. We knew that POFQ was not part of the offer the previous year so we looked at some other possibilities and decided on CSR regardless if POFQ was part of the offer again for 2015. So keep your eye out for when it is announced - I'm thinking it was around June this year??? But again, you should be able to search and find out this information. We went on that morning as I was patiently waiting for the announcement. Stuff filled up extremely quickly but then more was opened up a little later (whether this was WDW adding more rooms at the discount or people changing/canceling reservations - I'm not sure)

 

[DisneyWishes14]

HI All!
Tonite my hubby and I called and booked our vacation for the end of Oct, beginning of Nov.
WOOOOHOOOO!!
Backstory then my questions. The last time we went was in Dec 2014. When we called in June and booked it they told us on the phone they could get us free dining if we stayed at POFQ. Apparently this doesn't happen often. I don't know why, maybe because in 2011 we stayed at Pop Century for our honeymoon???
Anyway my questions are:
Is this a thing that happens to people, they call and are given a choice of a different hotel?
NOw that we've booked without a discount of any kind are we still going to get notifications through the Disney Visa, through WDW emails and regular mail? Do you think if there is a dining plan announced that we'd have a special "code" on our account like before to give us another opportunity? I know we can book in advance and when the specials come out we can change the hotel, the dates,all the details of our trip but we really like POFQ and we're hoping we didn't mess ourselves out of free dining by booking early.
Any thoughts?

It sounds like you booked during a free dining promo window in 2014. OR, in the past, they used to offer "secret" discounts over the phone to fill rooms in other resorts. For example, I booked a few years ago (can't remember what resort it was now), but they offered me a discount if I picked YC instead. They don't do this anymore.

As PP's have said, no one will notify you when discounts are released. The best place to check for discount releases are on these boards. In fact, if you check out the Disney Resort Discounts threads, one may already have been started for your travel period. I would subscribe to that thread.

When something is released, you need to jump on it ASAP and, as others have said, be willing to switch resorts if POFQ is excluded or if the discount sells out there.

 

[siskaren]

As PP's have said, no one will notify you when discounts are released.

That's not entirely true. Disney Visa sends out e-mails regarding discounts for cardholders.

 

[patty57]

That's not entirely true. Disney Visa sends out e-mails regarding discounts for cardholders.

Sometimes they do. I get notified maybe one time out of every five or six Disney visa discounts. The notifications are very unreliable for me.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

My two cents worth. The Disney Visa emails seem to go out the afternoon a discount goes live. These boards are where you will see the availability or rumored date of a discount release first. POFQ was not available this year in the 2016 BB FD offer, so I doubt it will be available if a general public offer comes out. Here is my story of how things went down with the newly released promotion. I had a FD BB offer booked for the end of May 2016. I booked it as a place holder. On December 28, I wanted to see what the room only discounts were for this same time frame. I didn't have internet access, so I had to call. I got in right at 7:00 and thought this should take five minutes to book a new reservation. That was not the case. The CM had to first check with another department to cancel my FD reservation and then book my RO reservation. I was trying to book on another cell phone, using roaming while I waited for the CM to return to my call. Later that night my DD told me, even online, I would have to cancel my other reservation before I booked a new one. Disney will not allow you to have more than one reservation over the same time period. The CM was telling me the same story. After over an hour on the phone, I have my RO reservation, but it was less than a magical experience. CSR was my choice for FD and a standard was available at CSR with the current discount. As mentioned, have a plan B and C, moving resorts or dates. It sounds like most people where not able to get their first choice with the new Spring discount.

 

[bellelayne1]

Thanks everyone! :-D
We're aware that Disney won't tell us when a different discount pops up and we have to be scouting things out all the time ourselves then call them to post the discount. I don't want Disney to do that for me. Whew, could you imagine the craziness that would be for Disney?! whoa.
Disneywishes14, thanks! That was what I was wondering about calling in and missing out on special codes or special discounts like that.

I'll continue watching on here and checking my Disney Visa account, emails, etc.
YAY!! We're going back!!!

 

[Sue M]

Thanks everyone! :-D
We're aware that Disney won't tell us when a different discount pops up and we have to be scouting things out all the time ourselves then call them to post the discount. I don't want Disney to do that for me. Whew, could you imagine the craziness that would be for Disney?! whoa.
Disneywishes14, thanks! That was what I was wondering about calling in and missing out on special codes or special discounts like that.

I'll continue watching on here and checking my Disney Visa account, emails, etc.
YAY!! We're going back!!!

I would think about using a Disney Authorized Vacation Planner TA. (No, I'm not one) lol. These are web based Travel Agencies that specialize in Disney bookings. They know when Disney releases an offer and are on the phone when lines open to get you the discount.

I work, and don't have the time to sit on hold or deal with crashing web site, so I find it easier to have my TA deal with it!

POFQ is rarely included in discounts. But POR usually gets them.

I'd go over your dining wants, Allears.net has menus and pricing for all Disney restaurants. I usually go with my daughter (adult) and free dining at a moderate for 2 people vs room only discount is not much difference. Depending how you eat. We do better with room only discount. And at a deluxe free dining is never a better deal.

I've dealt with 2 agencies, both were great. I used to book myself, but have gotten spoiled. I still prefer to book my own ADRs and Fast Passes. But using TA for booking, and making payments is super easy. When I want to make a payment all I have to do is send her a quick email. Faster than logging on to Wdw web site and digging out cc#.