Free Dining Questions

S

serena

New Member
-What if I were to make room only reservations prior to the offer of free dining.... then if they offered free dining, could I then switch that reservation to free dining promo?

-When they offer free dining is it for all the resorts or only certain ones? If it's only certain ones and I had previous reservations at another resort could I then switch that?

-If I had the good fortune to have a 40% promo (which I currently don't) and then booked that on a room prior to the free dining offer, could that discounted room rate then be transferred to include free dining as well?

-Lastly, and probably not likely, but has free dining ever been connected to FW?

Thank you!
 
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Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
serena said:
-What if I were to make room only reservations prior to the offer of free dining.... then if they offered free dining, could I then switch that reservation to free dining promo? Yes. You will need to cancel and rebook. It will not be done automatically.

-When they offer free dining is it for all the resorts or only certain ones? If it's only certain ones and I had previous reservations at another resort could I then switch that? It could go either way. Again you will need to cancel and rebook.

-If I had the good fortune to have a 40% promo (which I currently don't) and then booked that on a room prior to the free dining offer, could that discounted room rate then be transferred to include free dining as well?No. You can not combine discounts. You either get the free dinning and pay rack rate on the room or you take the 40% discount on the room and pay for dinning.

-Lastly, and probably not likely, but has free dining ever been connected to FW? Not to my knowledge. The cabins might be a possibility but I doubt the camp sites would be included.

Thank you!
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Pioneer Hall

Pioneer Hall

Well-Known Member
Any reservation can be canceled up until a certain point, so you would be able to rebook. In the past all of the resorts have been included, and I believe Fort Wilderness was a part of this. And, as Yoda said, you cannot combine discounts.
 
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K

kimmychad

Member
serena said:
-What if I were to make room only reservations prior to the offer of free dining.... then if they offered free dining, could I then switch that reservation to free dining promo?

-When they offer free dining is it for all the resorts or only certain ones? If it's only certain ones and I had previous reservations at another resort could I then switch that?

-If I had the good fortune to have a 40% promo (which I currently don't) and then booked that on a room prior to the free dining offer, could that discounted room rate then be transferred to include free dining as well?

-Lastly, and probably not likely, but has free dining ever been connected to FW?

Thank you!
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when i booked my reservation for this sept when i was there last year she said i could book the cabins at fw only. which sucks cause i booked a value instead.
 
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disneydudette

disneydudette

Well-Known Member
You do not have to "cancel" your reservation, but you do have to call and have CRO apply the discount code to your exisiting reservation. You can do this with any room only reservation or even any package. Don't call to cancel, then call back to book, simply call to have the code applied to your existing reservation under the same reservation number.

No word on the resorts offered this year, but in the past every resort has been available for this promotion, but some resorts offered certain categories. For instance last year, they offered ASmu on the promotion, but not the Family Suites. Not sure about FW but I know for a fact that campsites weren't offered last year. Some categories are also limited which can be a hassel when trying to carry over existing reservation. Many people who had preferred rooms at Pop already booked were forced to switch to standard (or vice versa) due to no more rooms being available. Some even had to move to a different value due to Pop selling out. We started calling at 6:30a the day the package was released to Disney Visa Card holders and already ASmo standard and Pop Preferred were sold out for our dates; I got through at 7:45am to make our reservation, and this was 3 days before it was even being released to the public. :rolleyes:

My tip... CALL EARLY and as soon as possible. The sooner the better; especially with values!

I've been having a hard time keeping up with all the discount codes being offered. People have recieved postcards/emails with 20% - 40% some can be used just as room only and some can be applied to packages that can include MYW plus dinning. Either way, you can not combine discount codes as other posters have mentioned. But be smart about it, I know for us, as much as we loved free dinning, a %40 code would provide us with bigger savings since we wanted to stay deluxe and are just two people.

We traveled on free dinning last year and LOVED it :slurp:
 
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Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
disneydudette said:
You do not have to "cancel" your reservation, but you do have to call and have CRO apply the discount code to your exisiting reservation. You can do this with any room only reservation or even any package. Don't call to cancel, then call back to book, simply call to have the code applied to your existing reservation under the same reservation number.

No word on the resorts offered this year, but in the past every resort has been available for this promotion, but some resorts offered certain categories. For instance last year, they offered ASmu on the promotion, but not the Family Suites. Not sure about FW but I know for a fact that campsites weren't offered last year. Some categories are also limited which can be a hassel when trying to carry over existing reservation. Many people who had preferred rooms at Pop already booked were forced to switch to standard (or vice versa) due to no more rooms being available. Some even had to move to a different value due to Pop selling out. We started calling at 6:30a the day the package was released to Disney Visa Card holders and already ASmo standard and Pop Preferred were sold out for our dates; I got through at 7:45am to make our reservation, and this was 3 days before it was even being released to the public. :rolleyes:

My tip... CALL EARLY and as soon as possible. The sooner the better; especially with values!

I've been having a hard time keeping up with all the discount codes being offered. People have recieved postcards/emails with 20% - 40% some can be used just as room only and some can be applied to packages that can include MYW plus dinning. Either way, you can not combine discount codes as other posters have mentioned. But be smart about it, I know for us, as much as we loved free dinning, a %40 code would provide us with bigger savings since we wanted to stay deluxe and are just two people.

We traveled on free dinning last year and LOVED it :slurp:
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"Technically" you do have to cancel your first reservation. The CM at the DRC will book your new reservation, cancel your old reservation and then apply and deposits to your new reservation so it appears to be a simple modification when in actuality it is not.
 
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disneydudette

disneydudette

Well-Known Member
Master Yoda said:
"Technically" you do have to cancel your first reservation. The CM at the DRC will book your new reservation, cancel your old reservation and then apply and deposits to your new reservation so it appears to be a simple modification when in actuality it is not.
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I didn't want to give the OP the impression that you physically had to call and ask them to cancel your reservation, then call back to book a brand new reservation etc. I'm sure there is a whole bunch of mumbojumbo that goes on behind the scenes in regards to events like this, but in the past, all we've had to do is call CRO, ask them to apply code "XXX" to our package, reservation number "xxxxxxxxxxxxx" and never had an issue. To us, thats not "canceling" it's just editing an existing reservation. :shrug:

Expect the date range to be roughly 8/30ish to 9/27ish. This is what was being offered for Disney's Bounceback Free Dinning program in the fall. When last year's Bounceback was offered, it was valid for 8/5 to 9/29 and when free dinning dates were released a few months later, they were for 8/26 to 9/22.
 
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Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
disneydudette said:
I didn't want to give the OP the impression that you physically had to call and ask them to cancel your reservation, then call back to book a brand new reservation etc. I'm sure there is a whole bunch of mumbojumbo that goes on behind the scenes in regards to events like this, but in the past, all we've had to do is call CRO, ask them to apply code "XXX" to our package, reservation number "xxxxxxxxxxxxx" and never had an issue. To us, thats not "canceling" it's just editing an existing reservation. :shrug:

Expect the date range to be roughly 8/30ish to 9/27ish. This is what was being offered for Disney's Bounceback Free Dinning program in the fall. When last year's Bounceback was offered, it was valid for 8/5 to 9/29 and when free dinning dates were released a few months later, they were for 8/26 to 9/22.
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It all depends on who you get at the DRC. Most of the time you will get a CM that knows the drill but I have had times when I called to modify a reservation and the CM was quite adamant about not being able to do so. If you know how the system works it makes dealing with that rookie CM much easier.
 
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CleveRocks

CleveRocks

Active Member
When free dining is offered, it's not offered across the board for every room in every caetgory in every resort. Free dining is an incentive to get more people to rent rooms. If enough rooms in a particular category in a particluar resort are already sold, then Disney has no need to offer people an incentive to rent more rooms.

In other words, even if free dining is offered, there's no guarantee you'll be eligible for it from the get-go.

Actually, there's a Catch-22 here. Let's say that thousands of people all decided to make reservations for the historical free dining time period, so many people that the resorts are nearly sold out for that time period. Guess what? In that case, Disney won't offer free dining!!! Why should they??? They obviously don't have to give away something for free to attract customers if they already have just about sold out the joint. Know what I mean?

That's theoretical, of course. But here's a practical bit of info. Having an existing reservation does NOTHING to give you a better chance of booking free dining than someone who just makes a reservation on the first day free dining is announced. There are only a certain percentage of "free dining" rooms available. If enough people make new reservations before you call to try to rebook with the dining plan, then you will be out of luck because the percentage of free dining rooms has already been filled.

I hope this all makes sense.

The most important thing for you to do is decide whether or not you will go to WDW, regardless of free dining. Then just take what comes. If you are thinking that the only way you will go is if you can get free dining, then my advice is DON'T make a reservation yet (not until free dining is announced), since it's not like that would give you any advantage.
 
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