Split Stay 2012 FD booking, Does my plan work?

[Saylan]

I'm deferring to the wonderful gurus on this board for thoughts on my booking plan.

We are going down for the January half marathon in 2012. The members going are:

- my DBF and I from January 5-13
- DF and DM from January 5-10, most likely on a separate reservation

As free dining doesn't start until the 8th (boo), I'm thinking of doing an inital split stay booking. We really like the free dining option, but may consider room discounts if any become available.

What we're thinking is:

- Booking 1 - Jan 5-7, room only, OOP meals
- Booking 2 - Jan 8-13, FD with room, 6-day tickets

We would like to be able to pick up our package tickets 3 days early (on the 5th) if that is still possible (is it?). We may want to transfer them to our KTTW card. Are we able to do that prior to the second booking or do we have to wait until then?

DF and DM won't be elgible for FD so they're likely to do one booking, maybe under CAA unless a RO discount comes out. They have two no expiry days left on tickets from when dinosaurs walked the earth and don't plan to buy more tickets for such a short stay.

We're (DBF and I) undecided on Value vs Moderate until we decide how many table service meals we'd want. I'm thinking doing a Value booking and hoping for an upgrade offer to a Moderate. Are you able to get an upgrade offer on a FD package? I somehow doubt it as it seems like two discounts which I know you can't do. If that's the case, I think we'd go back to the table service discussion and book based on that as the rooms from Value to Moderate don't really affect us much.

Am I crazy or did I miss anything glaringly obvious?

 

[mommyof3princess27]

You are able to do a split stay to get FD(room only first part then the package the scond ressie) you can upgrade to reg DP if staying at a value for roughly $36 a person (I think)

 

[mom2rtk]

We would like to be able to pick up our package tickets 3 days early (on the 5th) if that is still possible (is it?). We may want to transfer them to our KTTW card. Are we able to do that prior to the second booking or do we have to wait until then?

If you were asking if you could do this TODAY, I'd say sure. Folks continue to post on a routine basis that they are still successful with this.

But many of us who booked for free dining for October forward were very specifically told (completely unprompted) that they are changing policy and won't be able to.

We are hoping to pick up our tickets 1 day early in December. I'm planning on posting to the boards here before going to see what recent experiences are. I'm sure if folks have trouble with it, we'll hear about it here.

 

[Saylan]

If you were asking if you could do this TODAY, I'd say sure. Folks continue to post on a routine basis that they are still successful with this.

But many of us who booked for free dining for October forward were very specifically told (completely unprompted) that they are changing policy and won't be able to.

We are hoping to pick up our tickets 1 day early in December. I'm planning on posting to the boards here before going to see what recent experiences are. I'm sure if folks have trouble with it, we'll hear about it here.

Yes, I thought I had read a while back that you couldn't do it anymore and then I found conflicting info that you could. Thank you for clearing up the mystery as to why I heard two stories. I guess my two options are to ask when I call to book or wait to book until people have tried it. Or do both...

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes, I thought I had read a while back that you couldn't do it anymore and then I found conflicting info that you could. Thank you for clearing up the mystery as to why I heard two stories. I guess my two options are to ask when I call to book or wait to book until people have tried it. Or do both...

I wouldn't bother asking. The CM's on the phone will likely tell you no and you won't know any more than you know now. You have to either decide to live on the edge (like I'm doing.....) or change your dates. I think if you see reports back in Oct and November that people are being successful with it, you're safe.

Don't expect to be able to do it at your resort. Plan on doing it at DTD or one of the parks.

 

[Saylan]

I wouldn't bother asking. The CM's on the phone will likely tell you no and you won't know any more than you know now. You have to either decide to live on the edge (like I'm doing.....) or change your dates. I think if you see reports back in Oct and November that people are being successful with it, you're safe.

Don't expect to be able to do it at your resort. Plan on doing it at DTD or one of the parks.

Perfect. I found the thread in the Theme Parks where CF and others have commented. I'll keep an eye there and here. I figure we're not going until January and even with the 45 day change window, that's ample time to see reports from October/November FD guests.

This will severely impact our plans only because I will not sacrifice being in MK after the race with my medal. It was my highlight before and will be again.

What is your back-up plan, if you have one?

I expect we will wander DTD our first evening there so I'll probably try there instead of a park.