FREE DINING UPDATE- RUMOR and SPECULATION / Update Page 80 !

[tiki23]

Now I see Your reasoning....I never worked in Disney but did work for a large retail corporation in customer service, when a person is unhappy with company policy, then it is up to the customer service rep or manager (ergo the CM in CRO or the Manager) to satify the caller on a "one to one basis" and overide the system in order to make that one customer Happy.

Oh I loved the "B&B" callers when I worked in customer service. First came the "Begging" and if that didn't work they proceeded with the "* itching!" LOL

 

[n2mm]

What I'm saying, I think, is if you book rack rate at POP, and FD comes out, even if the "FD rooms" are booked, they are still going to give you Free Dining.

That did not work for my DIL last year. She booked 3 rooms at Pop w/dining and tickets (package). FD was released and she called to see if she could "apply" the new promotion to her rack rate packages and was told no. There were not 3 rooms available at Pop for her timeframe that were available under the promotion. There was availability at A/S Music, so she had to switch to A/S Music to get FD for her 3 rooms. Yes, she got FD, No, she did not stay where she wanted to.

 

[Bridge203618]

It's not that I don't believe that's the policy. It's that I don't believe it's a hard and fast rule. If you stick to your guns, ask for a manager, etc., you will get free dining at the room you are booked at.

Not sure I would go to the bank with that one...

 

[Melanie230]

What I'm saying though, is that if you book at rack rate, you can ALWAYS switch to a promo. They don't sell out of a promo. If those promo rooms are sold out, they will do SOMETHING for you to lessen your price point.

No they won't. Sometimes you may get as Knox pointed out Pixie Dusted and get an upgrade, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes people call to get their reservation changed to the promo only to find out that the promo is sold out and they get nothing except for the original reservation they already have.

 

[disneyfan55]

That did not work for my DIL last year. She booked 3 rooms at Pop w/dining and tickets (package). FD was released and she called to see if she could "apply" the new promotion to her rack rate packages and was told no. There were not 3 rooms available at Pop for her timeframe that were available under the promotion. There was availability at A/S Music, so she had to switch to A/S Music to get FD for her 3 rooms. Yes, she got FD, No, she did not stay where she wanted to.

Exactly and that is what happens. Sometimes if you continue to call often, a room may become avail. but not always. Sometimes you have to change resorts.

 

[CanadianGuy]

That's exactly what I"m saying.

I stand by my previous comments.

Counting on being a customer service exception is not a good way to book a trip.

And after four years on these boards - 99% of the time folks have to change resorts or dates or both when their prebooked situation doesn't align with the promo availability..

I do not recommend counting on this method to secure a promo. A lot of disappointment will ensue.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I stand by my previous comments.

Counting on being a customer service exception is not a good way to book a trip.

And after four years on these boards - 99% of the time folks have to change resorts or dates or both when their prebooked situation doesn't align with the promo availability..

I do not recommend counting on this method to secure a promo. A lot of disappointment will ensue.

Well, I don't count on it for myself (we don't go during Free Dining, and we only stay Deluxe), but I do think that Disney has good customer service, and will accommodate you if you insist that they do. LOL.

 

[Bridge203618]

Well, I don't count on it for myself (we don't go during Free Dining, and we only stay Deluxe), but I do think that Disney has good customer service, and will accommodate you if you insist that they do. LOL.

Maybe because you stay at deluxe. Disney isn't stupid.

 

[gigi1313]

This is half correct.

If you are already booked, you have a room. If you call for the promo after they are out of the promo rooms, you are STILL going to get the discount for the room you already have.

No, you're NOT! you will still have the room at the price you agreed to when you booked your original room...

having a room today at rack rate does NOT guarantee you the same room at promo rate two months from now when the promo is released...

however, if you are on the ball/in the know and switch your reservation from a plain jane to a promo/discount deal, you are very likely to get lucky and find the switch do-able... quite often the switch happens behind the scenes, the ressie number stays the same, the original deposit gets credited to the promo ressie so the customer has no idea exactly what transpired, just that their previous rack rate room now has a discount

 

[disneyfan55]

No they won't. Sometimes you may get as Knox pointed out Pixie Dusted and get an upgrade, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes people call to get their reservation changed to the promo only to find out that the promo is sold out and they get nothing except for the original reservation they already have.

Yes, this happened to me. We did have 2 rooms with a PIN so we had a 40% discount but when the AP discounts came out the discount couldn't be applied. I checked everyday!

 

[itchin2go]

It's not that I don't believe that's the policy. It's that I don't believe it's a hard and fast rule. If you stick to your guns, ask for a manager, etc., you will get free dining at the room you are booked at.

You can't possibly know this. I'm glad it worked out for you in the past, but I would hate for someone to rely on your opinion and be disappointed.

I have tried to "apply" a promo (a PIN actually) to an existing reservation, only to be told that there were no eligible rooms at my chosen resort (WL).

 

[disneyfan55]

You can't possibly know this. I'm glad it worked out for you in the past, but I would hate for someone to rely on your opinion and be disappointed.

I have tried to "apply" a promo (a PIN actually) to an existing reservation, only to be told that there were no eligible rooms at my chosen resort (WL).

It happened to us at WL in Feb as well.

 

[selina4disney]

Just so everyone is clear..... WE DO HAVE INTERNET IN CANADA....

Althought it does get cold aiming our dish on top of our igloo.

Sorry just helping spread the sterotypes for our friends down south.

When we had satellite internet in Minnesota we used to have to sweep the snow out of the dish to keep the internet working in winter. Now we have DSL. Wanna borrow my broom??

 

[focusondisney]

I stand by my previous comments.

Counting on being a customer service exception is not a good way to book a trip.

And after four years on these boards - 99% of the time folks have to change resorts or dates or both when their prebooked situation doesn't align with the promo availability..

I do not recommend counting on this method to secure a promo. A lot of disappointment will ensue.

Especially after Disney finds out internet boards are saying this is a sure way to get a promo rate!

Well, I don't count on it for myself (we don't go during Free Dining, and we only stay Deluxe), but I do think that Disney has good customer service, and will accommodate you if you insist that they do. LOL.

" If you say so."

 

[CanadianGuy]

Especially after Disney finds out internet boards are saying this is a sure way to get a promo rate!

" If you say so."

For the record, Disney DOES in fact read these boards and find stuff like that out.

 

[gigi1313]

This is a stupid question, but I need to know.

If I book a room at CBR the same day the fall promotion comes out, will I have a good chance of getting in?

I'm a little worried about this.

CBR is a very large resort, therefore having many rooms... so my guess would be, yes... but you may have to be flexible on view/room locations (i.e. preferred), room type (standard vs pirate), etc...

 

[focusondisney]

For the record, Disney DOES in fact read these boards and find stuff like that out.

Well, hopefully most people here will listen to those of you who know what you're talking about, & not listen to those posting nonsense.

 

[ShhhQ]

In 2007 we booked a room at ASMo... when fd came out our TA informed us there were no rooms available at ASMo for our travel dates, however there was a room available at Pop... so we switched to Pop and loved it.

In 2008 we booked 3 rooms at Pop (had extra family and friends going)... We were prepared to change resorts if necessary when FD came out... however, there was no need, we were still booked at Pop and loved it.

This year (skipped going in 2009) we decided to try a different resort... so we booked at ASSp... we are hoping for FD or any other discount to make our trip affordable and are WILLING to change resorts if it is necessary. AND we will love it.

Does that help?

 

[meljw1960]

Actually that speaks to exactly what I was talking about.

IN your case you got pixie dusted (by the sounds of it) but the discounted rooms were sold out before you got to upgrade and so you had to upgrade to something else to get the discount.

That's the same idea as downgrading or switching resorts.

Let's say you had a Pop Standard room. Those were sold out .. your choices were to upgrade to preferred to get the promo or switch resorts.

That's exactly what I'm talking about.

Having the booking guaranteed you nothing when it came to the promo.

I actually had the opposite happen. I booked two room at POP in 2008, but WANTED preferred rooms. when the free dining came out, we could have stayed at POP in a standard room, or move to AS sports for the preferred. we chose to change it to sports. so it DOES happen. my first year of free dining, in 2007. my friend and I booked it in JUNE and had booked POP, they offered us an upgrade to OKW or SSR. we chose SSR. so we got lucky. but that was because they overbooked POP.

 

[meljw1960]

oh and this year... we were lucky enough to get the BB offer last August. we booked two rooms at POP, not knowing if we would have another person coming or not. Well, she IS coming now and I still have to wait for the FD promo to book a 3rd room. Plan B is 4 of us stay in one room. either way, we are going AND getting FD LOL