2016 Free Dining Watch ~ Part 2

[Disneylover99]

For my dates in November there has been nothing but expensive suites available since 8am this morning. I have been going to this resort for years and stay in the same building. I have the disney visa and there were no rooms available on that either. People tend to avoid Coronado because it is a conference hotel so I am not sure why there are no rooms right now. I have never had a problem getting free dining but this year blows my mind. I will keep calling them and pray that something opens up soon.

I wish you good luck!

 

[KimBean]

Plenty available with the Disney visa. Boggles my mind why more people don't have the card even if it's just for incentives like this. To me it's a no brainer. Availability is MUCH better than without it.

Disney don't want me. LOL!

W


We were aiming for December the whole time. Seems like most on here were trying for August September and November

I'm not. I looked for Nov or Dec.

 

[sommergirl25]

Just said it was not available but he wanted to transfer me to another department to see if they could fix that. *PRAYING*

 

[wolf29]

We were able to get 10 nights August 18-28, Visa FD. We were originally booked at Pop, but made the change to AS Sports. Maybe dates at Pop will open up, but totally fine with Sports and so happy to have been able to get FD. Thank you so very much to all here that were able to help us make this happen!

 

[sommergirl25]

Well... guess I will have to keep trying. No availability for my dates.

 

[cassie58]

Doublepost

 

[lacy1101]

This is the first year since FD has been offered that I have been unable to take advantage of it, and every year I have been able to have it added to my already-booked reservation.

Same here. After staying up til midnight, getting up again at 1:00am, 2:30am, and 4am, all I was able to do (that was even close to the cost of our existing CSR standard reservation), was a pirate room at CBR. After learning from this thread that the beds in that room are doubles and not queens, and that these rooms are the furthest away from everything, and after looking on the Disney website all day for another deal and reading this thread off and on all day, I gave up our free dining room and booked a standard room at POFQ, paying for the dining plan. Hopefully, a free dining deal that works better for us will open up or we will get in on a resort discount offer or code. If not, that's okay....we're still going to Disney!!

 

[cassie58]

we originally booked at POP for November, but my TA was unable to get free dining for it. I was very disappointed, but we checked in a around 9am and saw that CS was available with free dining and the whole package was cheaper than if we had stayed at POP! How strange, but exciting! I have never stayed at CS! What do you like about it? I'm feeling very grateful that we were able to get FD. We are booked from 11/15-11-24. So excited to be trying something new! I hope you all were able to get what you wanted! I've enjoyed reading this thread!

You will love CSR! Great pool with a water slide, and a large hot tub. Beautifully landscaped pathways around the lake, with hammocks to relax on the beach alongside. Very comfy queen beds and a larger room. We usually stay at CSR, and stayed at POP for FD availability in Dec. , and enjoyed it, but DD kept commenting that she missed CSR and her hammock! Your family will probably miss the theming they are used to at POP, but for the price of this deal, You really can't beat it. I would request Cabannas 8A or B to be closest to the pool and a bus stop, and a short walk to the main building, El Centro. You do not want Ranchos, as they are the furthest section.

 

[sun2shine]

It's just to hold the reservation. If you don't cancel within 24 hrs they will charge the card 10 per person on the reservation I think.

You DO need a credit card because if your a no-show to your res. They will charge you. $10 per person I believe.

Okay, thanks.
I thought it would give a choice whether to use a credit card or the dining plan.

 

[twoolle]

I had a good nap, but not long enough. If I would've been booking, I would've taken today off for sure.

Ha! No vacation days for this SAhM! And we survived coaching tball tonight...barely!

As my DH left for work this morning he said "I'm off to pay Walt!" He is not extremely thrilled about going again this year, but we all know the saying "when momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" and he knows I love this so he will put up with me for the next few months! Now if we could just get a Blues win tonight everyone in my house will be happy!

 

[Jhondy210]

When I called they told me they do not put rooms that are cancelled back into the free dining promotion. I don't get it. If someone cancels I thought it would pop back up online.

I can only imagine this is true only for people who cancel non FD rooms to get an FD room. If they don't put the FD rooms back into the FD rotation when they are cancelled that would make no sense that rooms are constantly changing with availability. I'm thinking there is just a lag time from when they are cancelled to when they are seen on the site.

 

[KimBean]

No free dining left at the Yacht Club after a 2 hour wait!

What dates? I've seen it.

 

[TSM]

I had a good nap, but not long enough. If I would've been booking, I would've taken today off for sure.

I'm still up after only 2 forty five minute naps throughout the night last night!!!!! The second nap was until 4:15 when I got online and got just what I wanted!!!!!! Then I couldn't sleep because I was excited!!!!!! Off to bed I go now though!!!! Thanks for your help again this year Black562!!!!!!

 

[surffood13]

I had a reservation October 19-23 for All Star Sports. Went online and modified OK in less than two minutes to get room discount. Seems that was the way to go than going through the phone.

 

[kandb]

Our dates are 9/27- 10/3. I got on at 4ish AM this morning right when it dropped (the offer wasnt there at 4 but I hit refresh and it was there).
At that time the only thing available for our party of 5 was All Star Music suites, Cabins and several deluxe.
Deluxe is way out of my price range so I booked the ASMu Suites.

At 7:10am my daughter got the Disney Visa email.
Clicked on the link and the only thing available besides deluxe is Cabins, no ASMu Suites.

As of right now (11:05am) the same thing that was available this morning at 4ish is still available on the regular free dining offer (ASMu, Cabins & deluxe)

So this does indicate to me that the pool of rooms they are offering the GP is different that what they are offering the DV holders since ASMu is not available to the DV holders but it is available to the GP.

I am considering moving to the Cabins. I am just not sure about either of my options.

I just hate it that I had my 3 choices (CBR, POR & 2 rooms at POP) and none of them are available at all.

That's ridiculous that you tried to book a moderate at 4am and couldn't get one. Disney should just stop this free dining if they are going to just tease people with it. You were right there when it dropped and couldn't even get a moderate.

 

[vanjust14]

I need your opinion I was able to reserve yacht club garden view for 5
Nights with fd for $3371.46 and I also reserved Disney Wilderness Lodge standard room for 7 nights with FD for 3083.42. That's a huge difference. 2 extra days for less. We always stay at yc or bc because we love the pool, but the price for dwl is tempting. I know that the resort is going through refurbishment. Is that why the price is so low? What do you all think?

I'd stick with Yacht Club to be closer to EPCOT since that is my favorite park. The pool is fabulous. Granted, I have never stayed at Wilderness Lodge. I'm not too sure I would want to stay with all the refurbs going on. Plus, you got an amazing deal for Yacht Club. I'm paying $3100 for 4 with fd for 6 nights at CSR. Not sure how you got that deal but it's great and definitely worth keeping IMO.

 

[damskipi13]

Got my father in law booked with free dining AND because they require park hoppers he now has those over a base ticket. Still saved him $103!
I'm super bummed that we couldn't do it for our reservation. Lesson learned that in the future free dining is a better deal for us than a military discount by around $800.

Military tickets make it a weird deal. They're non refundable which means I can't go get a refund from our ITT or SOG.

The way the person with ticketing/guest relations explained it is that because it's a discounted ticket not purchased from Disney I would have to go to the park and they would give me whatever the current value of the ticket is. Then I'd have to repurchase park hoppers.

If I had purchased park hopper military discounted tickets I would have likely been okay but we were trying to save money by buying base tickets. That turned out well.

I'm just taking it as a lesson learned and next time we go I'll be sure to buy park hoppers ahead of time or just wait to buy tickets till after they release free dining. Assuming they do a military discount or free dining when we go back.

Can I ask what deal you got for your FIL (resort/dates/# of people) where the FD came out better? Between the military tickets and the military room discount, FD lost every time I did the math. Are you not using the Armed Forces Salute tickets for your own reservation?

How are the all-nighters hanging in there? Caffeine and adrenaline have kept me going so far, but all of a sudden my eyes just glazed over and I hit a serious fatigue wall. Yikes! any benefit I got from the 2-4am snooze is now long gone. Here's hoping we make it through the rest of the day

Well I'm not a full all-nighter but I was only out of here for 2.5 hours. And I was pretty punchy at work today! It took me until 9 minutes before the deadline to finish my paper, but I did it! Once I got home my dog allowed me a solid 7 minute nap, and believe me I cherished every second of that. Looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight!

I just want to say congrats to everyone who was able to snag free dining. Unfortunately, our dates (11/12-11/19) were not included, and we were not flexible. I am thankful to those who helped point me in the direction of potential savings. I was able to work with an unnamed agent to get a great deal, and while it is not as big of savings as free dining, it is still a savings of $900 for our family of 5. Thank you for this great community. I was silently watching the boards with you until after midnight, and up at 4:30 to check the dates. This is a truly great group, and I am excited to chat with all of you about the rest of the planning now.

Yay, I'm so excited for you! I was worried because you'd gone silent for a couple of days. I'm glad you were able to find a deal that worked for you. Where did you end up?

 

[Jess_Loves_Disney]

I was able to book FD this morning at 4am, the only available resort with a preferred room was CBR so I booked it. My question is hubby and I really want a king bed (also was available at the time) but I went with preferred over king since I like to be close to the main buildings. Can I call and request a king bed in a preferred room or am I out of luck? I wish CBR had preferred king rooms like CSR does!

 

[Amboo]

I'm doing surprisingly well after last night. I only got about an hour after I finally went to bed around 6. Definitely looking forward to bed soon though!

I was really hoping for Pop, but was only able to get Sports. Hoping I might get lucky and be able to switch eventually, but at least we got something! And I really wish they'd let Canadians apply for the Visa.

 

[Linleedo]

What dates? I've seen it.

9/24-10/1. All gone!