Room only & free dining package ?

[mking624]

I will be at WDW from 11/8-11/12. I know my check in date for free dining has to fall on the 9th to qualify. So my question is regarding my stay on the 8th...if I book a room only ressie for that night, and my free dining package starts the next day, will I have to go through the process of checking out that morning, waiting until check in time to check back in, and have a completely different room? Or has anyone experienced being able to stay in the same room? I'll be there for the half marathon weekend and will be going to the fitness expo on the 9th and would like to spend a bit of time at a park also...so I don't want to spend a lot of time worrying about check ins/outs if I can help it, but it's not a huge deal if it's necessary. I'm just hoping to find out behorehand. TIA!

 

[weesignlanguage]

Are you talking about November or January? Your post said 11 but I think you may mean 1!

We actually did this very thing last marathon weekend. We checked in on Friday of that weekend and stayed that night and the next night on a room only discount. We then re-checked in with Free Dining that Sunday morning for the entire next week since that is the day free dining started.

We choose to change resorts for the free dining but we have stayed at the same resort before and done the same thing. We never had any problem with keeping our room but you will have to re-check in. It doesn't take too long though. The disney reservations people will tell you that they cannot guarantee you will keep your room but you can at least request and I think they usually honor it.

And just fyi- if you choose to do this and need your park tixs that are attached to your free dining package early, you can get them a few days ahead. We pulled straight into epcot both this january and last january and went to guest services and they had no problem giving us our tixs that come with the fd package even though the package didn't start for 2 more days!

Hope this advice helps you plan!! Have fun!

 

[mking624]

Are you talking about November or January? Your post said 11 but I think you may mean 1!

My dates are 11/8-11/12 (November 8-12), I typed it correctly but a space may have helped me.
I appreciate the response! I'll request to stay in the same room, but just shrug it off if they have to switch me. It's not a huge deal, I just thought I'd ask ahead of time...thanks for the help!

 

[Hitchhiking Ghost]

In 2010 we had a 9 night stay starting with the Friday after Thanksgiving. The free dining didn't start until that Saturday. So we did a room only reservation for the first night, then an 8 day MYW package with free dining. We were at POR-AB and were able to stay in the same room for both reservations. I did have to go back to the lobby the next morning and "check-out" then check back in and get my tickets and dining all placed on the card.

I'm not sure if you can pull days forward for park tickets. We got in during the evening so didn't bother to go to the parks that first night, so it wasn't an issue for us to just have room only, then have our tickets start the next day.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

We had 3 rooms at CBR for our 2010 stay. Our first night was a room only with FD starting the next day. When we checked in the first day, we were told that we would not have to go back to check out/back in and that they would send a CM to our room the next morning with our new KTTW cards. They even had delivery time slots for us to choose from but I can't remember the increments - maybe 7:00-7:30; 7:30-8:00; 8:00-8:30? We stayed in the same room our entire trip and our KTTW cards were hand-delivered to our doors on day 2!

 

[weesignlanguage]

Sorry! I thought you were talking about the January marathon! My mistake!!

 

[mking624]

I'll be there for the Wine & Dine half marathon...hopefully a full marathon will be in my future!

Thank you all for the responses! I don't need to worry about getting my tickets for that first night as I'll be arriving in the evening and will just be relaxing. I'm glad to know this is not an unusual circumstance and it may work out for me to keep the same room!

 

[Qltrgrl2]

We are doing the exact same thing from Nov 8-12 at CBR. I was able to get the AAA rate for the first night and then the free dining for the next three. I am sure the resort would prefer to not to do the full clean for a checkout room for just one night. Hopefully we will stay in the same one. Good luck!

 

[aubriee]

We are doing the exact same thing from Nov 8-12 at CBR. I was able to get the AAA rate for the first night and then the free dining for the next three. I am sure the resort would prefer to not to do the full clean for a checkout room for just one night. Hopefully we will stay in the same one. Good luck!

Don't bet on it. I know due to the way discounts fell I had to use a GP discount for my first night and then an AP discount for the rest of the stay at CSR a few years ago. I had the CM link the reservations when I first booked them and then asked again at check in. The CM at check in said she saw the notation where I was continuing my stay, but could not guarantee I could stay in the same room and to just make the request the next morning when I checked back in for the second part of my stay. I know room assignments are made several days in advance and the CM had a funny look on her face, so I should have known something was up. Sure enough the next morning I had to move from my room into a new room all the way across the resort. You'd think they'd have left me alone where I was already at. Also MissyTara who posts alot on here has posted that she had to change rooms during a split stay at PORS. They kept her in the same building though.

 

[mking624]

Well hopefully it works out to where I can stay in the same room. I'm sure how full the resort is plays a factor in it as well. But if it doesn't work out, oh well. Hope for the best, expect the worst.

 

[mking624]

Just updating this in case anyone else ever has questions...

Since it can sometimes be difficult for me to chat on the phone when I have two toddlers (who insist they want to chat with the person on the line also), I made use of the live chat on the Disney World site. The cast member on there let me know to call 407-560-2428 and specifically say I want to link my reservations so that they could do their best at keeping me in the same room. I finally got a chance to call today, and this cast member told me they could not link reservations except in the case of reservations overlapping each other. Since mine do not overlap, they could not link them. She then said that at check in, I need to let them know I have a continuing reservation (which she said is different from linking them), and hopefully I can stay in the same room. I asked if there can be a notation saying that I have a continuing one and she told me it is something I have to let them know about upon check in. I wasn't going to press it at all since my room only is just for one night...so if I have to switch, it's not as if I'm going to be completely settled in my room. It's no big deal. But it would be nice if all the cast members used to same lingo so as not to confuse guests. At least the nice little bonus was that I got a small refund for my one night room only because of the discount that's currently out.