New Bounceback: Free Dining 2019

I just read on another website that PO-R is excluded for the December 2019 days.

1. Can anyone confirm this?

2. If we will be staying at PO-R on our upcoming October stay can we book the bounceback there even though it is excluded?

Any help would be appreciated.

I believe POR has been excluded in December the last couple of years.
 
I was wondering about POR since it’s been excluded in December the past few years. Looks like that’s still the case for 2019.
 


POR excluded for December. :sad1:
That's a bummer.

Thank you for posting this information. Now that I know ahead of time I'll start looking into other resorts.
 
I inadvertently tested a question which was raised a few pages ago. I booked a throwaway room (campsite) for the purpose of booking the FD bounceback for Dec 2019. I didn't realize this was not allowed. When I book a reservation, I do so for a combination of benefits that come with the cost, and sometimes the benefits I want don't include actually sleeping in the room. As long as you pay in full and don't try to scam anyone by cancelling or trying to get out of paying, I didn't think it mattered. Apparently Disney is on the lookout for people who book a room for the purpose of booking a future stay bounceback and has decided that particular benefit requires you to actually step foot in the room. The initial guy I spoke with was friendly and chatted about my one-night stay asking if I booked it solely to book the bounceback offer, saying he had heard that from lots of others. I laughed and replied with a 'might have' or something similarly non-committal (while I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, I also didn't want to put him in an awkward position if he had been told otherwise). He asked which resort we were looking at and how many day tickets. I told him this stay would be the first of our next round of annual passes after a year break. He suggested banking tickets for future use by AP holders. He checked availability then put me on hold a while. When he came back, he said it was available but I would have to call back after our current stay was activated. I said 'so after the 3pm check-in', he said yes or even tomorrow.

About an hour later I got our room assignment via text, had already done online check-in, so no problems there. I called back a couple hours later and got the same guy. He put me on hold a couple times, then transferred me to guest services who said that I was not eligible to book the bounce-back because I had not actually gone to the resort. They checked with the front gate and no one on the reservation had scanned entrance. He said the initial guy I spoke with had been required to follow-up because of what I said to him, and that he could have gotten in trouble for booking a reservation for someone who wasn't eligible. I asked what made me ineligible when I had reserved and paid for my stay just like anyone else. The terminology on the brochure says it is for 'Guests of select Walt Disney World Resort hotels', but he said that the bounceback offers were only for those guests physically onsite, booking and paying for a stay wasn't enough.

I'm really disappointed because it's not feasible to swing by Orlando from Texas just for a night or two in Aug. Last year we did visit during the dates that the FD bounceback was offered, but it was towards the end of the offer, and the dates/resorts we wanted were gone. Hopefully there will be availability when the public offer comes out in April, but by then I'm sure room and ticket prices will have gone up again. Or maybe I'll get a PIN code (yeah right, 15 years and still hasn't happened :confused3).

Of course, I didn't think to look any of this up on the disboards until AFTER I had already tried it :crutches:. So, for anyone else interested, here is my data point!
 
I inadvertently tested a question which was raised a few pages ago. I booked a throwaway room (campsite) for the purpose of booking the FD bounceback for Dec 2019. I didn't realize this was not allowed. When I book a reservation, I do so for a combination of benefits that come with the cost, and sometimes the benefits I want don't include actually sleeping in the room. As long as you pay in full and don't try to scam anyone by cancelling or trying to get out of paying, I didn't think it mattered. Apparently Disney is on the lookout for people who book a room for the purpose of booking a future stay bounceback and has decided that particular benefit requires you to actually step foot in the room. The initial guy I spoke with was friendly and chatted about my one-night stay asking if I booked it solely to book the bounceback offer, saying he had heard that from lots of others. I laughed and replied with a 'might have' or something similarly non-committal (while I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, I also didn't want to put him in an awkward position if he had been told otherwise). He asked which resort we were looking at and how many day tickets. I told him this stay would be the first of our next round of annual passes after a year break. He suggested banking tickets for future use by AP holders. He checked availability then put me on hold a while. When he came back, he said it was available but I would have to call back after our current stay was activated. I said 'so after the 3pm check-in', he said yes or even tomorrow.

About an hour later I got our room assignment via text, had already done online check-in, so no problems there. I called back a couple hours later and got the same guy. He put me on hold a couple times, then transferred me to guest services who said that I was not eligible to book the bounce-back because I had not actually gone to the resort. They checked with the front gate and no one on the reservation had scanned entrance. He said the initial guy I spoke with had been required to follow-up because of what I said to him, and that he could have gotten in trouble for booking a reservation for someone who wasn't eligible. I asked what made me ineligible when I had reserved and paid for my stay just like anyone else. The terminology on the brochure says it is for 'Guests of select Walt Disney World Resort hotels', but he said that the bounceback offers were only for those guests physically onsite, booking and paying for a stay wasn't enough.

I'm really disappointed because it's not feasible to swing by Orlando from Texas just for a night or two in Aug. Last year we did visit during the dates that the FD bounceback was offered, but it was towards the end of the offer, and the dates/resorts we wanted were gone. Hopefully there will be availability when the public offer comes out in April, but by then I'm sure room and ticket prices will have gone up again. Or maybe I'll get a PIN code (yeah right, 15 years and still hasn't happened :confused3).

Of course, I didn't think to look any of this up on the disboards until AFTER I had already tried it :crutches:. So, for anyone else interested, here is my data point!


Thank you for honestly reporting your experience. I am sorry you are disappointed. However, I am really happy to hear that Disney is refusing the offer to those trying to scam the system. The offer has always been for guests AT the resort, to entice them to come BACK. Hence the name, bounceback. With the onset of on line check in & skip the front desk, of course there are always people trying to take advantage of loop holes. If you are not actaually there, you shouldn’t qualify for a come BACK offer. That’s is not fair to guests actually at the resort, who may not get the resorts or dates they want to book because things are being booked up by people cheating the system. I would much rather see Disney verify that you are actually on site & eligible than cancel the whole program because of customer abuse. My opinion only of course.
 


I'm in the camp that am glad they check to ensure guests have arrived on site before allowing a BB to be booked. A Disney trip is a big expense for all and as we know availability for these offers appears to be getting less and less. People booking throw away rooms for the purpose of booking a BB offer was taking away availability from those who actually took the money to get to Disney somehow in order to be eligible to book the BB.

You mention you were not aware that this was not allowed and I believe that. I'm just thankful those that are aware that this is not allowed, are being stopped from taking away inventory from others who truly qualify for a BB offer.

And, I'm coming at this from personal experience too. Last year I had to cancel our Disney trip less than 24 hours before the trip due to Irma. This would have been our 7th FD BB in a row. It started with a 1 night room only reservation that was fully paid for followed by a 7 night FD package booked the year before. I called a number of times and begged (yup) to be allowed to book a FD BB due to the unusual circumstances but was disallowed.

It was tough to hear but I'm glad Disney is fair to all in spite of the varying circumstances.
 
I inadvertently tested a question which was raised a few pages ago. I booked a throwaway room (campsite) for the purpose of booking the FD bounceback for Dec 2019. I didn't realize this was not allowed. When I book a reservation, I do so for a combination of benefits that come with the cost, and sometimes the benefits I want don't include actually sleeping in the room. As long as you pay in full and don't try to scam anyone by cancelling or trying to get out of paying, I didn't think it mattered. Apparently Disney is on the lookout for people who book a room for the purpose of booking a future stay bounceback and has decided that particular benefit requires you to actually step foot in the room. The initial guy I spoke with was friendly and chatted about my one-night stay asking if I booked it solely to book the bounceback offer, saying he had heard that from lots of others. I laughed and replied with a 'might have' or something similarly non-committal (while I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, I also didn't want to put him in an awkward position if he had been told otherwise). He asked which resort we were looking at and how many day tickets. I told him this stay would be the first of our next round of annual passes after a year break. He suggested banking tickets for future use by AP holders. He checked availability then put me on hold a while. When he came back, he said it was available but I would have to call back after our current stay was activated. I said 'so after the 3pm check-in', he said yes or even tomorrow.

About an hour later I got our room assignment via text, had already done online check-in, so no problems there. I called back a couple hours later and got the same guy. He put me on hold a couple times, then transferred me to guest services who said that I was not eligible to book the bounce-back because I had not actually gone to the resort. They checked with the front gate and no one on the reservation had scanned entrance. He said the initial guy I spoke with had been required to follow-up because of what I said to him, and that he could have gotten in trouble for booking a reservation for someone who wasn't eligible. I asked what made me ineligible when I had reserved and paid for my stay just like anyone else. The terminology on the brochure says it is for 'Guests of select Walt Disney World Resort hotels', but he said that the bounceback offers were only for those guests physically onsite, booking and paying for a stay wasn't enough.

I'm really disappointed because it's not feasible to swing by Orlando from Texas just for a night or two in Aug. Last year we did visit during the dates that the FD bounceback was offered, but it was towards the end of the offer, and the dates/resorts we wanted were gone. Hopefully there will be availability when the public offer comes out in April, but by then I'm sure room and ticket prices will have gone up again. Or maybe I'll get a PIN code (yeah right, 15 years and still hasn't happened :confused3).

Of course, I didn't think to look any of this up on the disboards until AFTER I had already tried it :crutches:. So, for anyone else interested, here is my data point!

:charac2:
 
Honestly, what I find most frustrating is that this is not an offer available to ALL guests who stay at Disney Resorts, but only those who can travel during certain months. In the past few years, we have stayed on site in November, December, January, March, May, and July, none of which have ever been eligible for the free-dining bounceback. 15% off value rooms just can't compare to free QS for 7 Disney adults! We went once the last weekend of September, but by that point the cheapest rooms for our future travel dates were PoR Royal Guest River View. I wish they would rotate offers so that guests traveling other times of the year could have a chance. Unless this is primarily an incentive to fill up rooms in August, which might have lead one to think that booking a room would be sufficient. :rolleyes1

Regardless, we actually enjoyed our virtual vacation. I love getting that text that my room is ready, and knowing for that night we had a place at WDW, reserved just for us. We pulled it up on the map and looked at where it was in relation to the other places we had stayed and talked about past trips. We wore our Disney shirts and and played on MDE, looking at ride wait times and bus times and at 9:15 thought about the times we have watched Happily Ever After and Wishes before that. Yeah, most would consider it a waste of money, but it cost less than taking our family to the movies! It was a great way to finish off the summer since we didn't have the vacation time or money for a real trip. If only it could have culminated with the booking of our next trip as something to look forward to. Instead, we'll be stalking for the public offer in April.
 
If you’re booking for 7 Disney adults have you priced out flying to WDW and staying 1 night at a value resort to book the FD BB? The one restriction is you would need to find s location that can fit your group in 1 room/cabin, whatever since you would be the only person going. Worth looking into and booking a true bounce back rather that trying to get around the system.

The FD offer is for dates where Disney is trying to fill the most rooms thus FD is offered. They don’t have as much challenge at other times filling rooms so a room discount is sufficient.
 
Thank you for honestly reporting your experience. I am sorry you are disappointed. However, I am really happy to hear that Disney is refusing the offer to those trying to scam the system. The offer has always been for guests AT the resort, to entice them to come BACK. Hence the name, bounceback. With the onset of on line check in & skip the front desk, of course there are always people trying to take advantage of loop holes. If you are not actaually there, you shouldn’t qualify for a come BACK offer. That’s is not fair to guests actually at the resort, who may not get the resorts or dates they want to book because things are being booked up by people cheating the system. I would much rather see Disney verify that you are actually on site & eligible than cancel the whole program because of customer abuse. My opinion only of course.

I completely agree and will add I am happy to see this enforced as I am active on the Camping board and know there are lots of people who are unable to book sold out campsites and would actual camp there. Maybe some availability will free up if campsite bookings are now only for people intending to use them.
 
I inadvertently tested a question which was raised a few pages ago. I booked a throwaway room (campsite) for the purpose of booking the FD bounceback for Dec 2019.
My understanding is that campsites aren't allowed to book a bounceback offer, so even if you were physically at your campsite, this still would not have worked. We stayed at a campsite a few years ago and I asked about it in person when I checked in and was told that campsites aren't eligible for the bounceback offer.
 
it also isn't feasible for us to swing by fla from chicago to book BB offers. or for any of the other numerous people who live in the 49 states that aren't fla. I have the opposite "problem" we are just 2 adults and we don't eat as much as we did in our youth so the room discount is a better deal for us. and it seems like every time we go it is the "free" dining offer. so we usually wait till the room only discounts come out for the general public (or disney visa).
disney doesn't have to give out "pixie dust" but they often do.. and sure enough when people hear about it they get upset that they didn't get it. same thing with discounts,
disney doesn't have to offer discounts. they do so to fill rooms. it's not just the cost of the room they are looking for. they want those people in that "room" to go to the parks, spend money, etc. not all discounts work for all people. that doesn't make it "unfair".
DVC is a discount if you plan on taking many trips over many years. we looked into it a few times. for various reasons, it wouldn't work for us. but we do rent dvc points (which a group of 7 adults should look into) many dvc members were upset that they couldn't get "free" dining. they already got their discount in the form of room discounts at deluxe resorts over many years. ( well, they CAN get free dining, but would have to "pay" for it with the rack room rates and hopper tickets. which is why I call it "free" ;) )
AP is a form of discount. but when we chose to be AP holders, it pretty much screwed up "free" dining for us once they added so many hopper tickets as a parameter.
so you pick and choose the discounts disney offers.. which ever ones work for you.
people used to book dinner reservations they didn't plan on using, just to have them "in case". it was unfair to those people actually wanted to use that time slot, so disney put a stop to that practice. in the same way, it is unfair for someone to take a room or campsite out of the inventory that other people want to actually use.
I hope the PP can find a discount that works for them. for 7 adults, I would rent a 2 BR dvc villa or 2 dvc studios. ( at the boardwalk! SO much for adults to do there.. espn club, brewery, deuling pianos, karaokee at the swan) then with either a kitchen or a kitchenette they could save some $ on eating.
 
I booked 4 nights for next December that fall within the required stay for the bb. Do you think it's possible I wont be able to convert that trip to the bb offer once we are there in October to legally book it? I understand those rooms would need to be available for the bb when we arrive. I honestly booked it to get the deposit out of the way so I wouldn't have to pay the deposit once we get there to book it. Would my deposit then be transfered over to take the place of the deposit for the bb? Am I explaining my question properly? We plan on bring our adult daughter and her boyfriend and they are really excited for a December trip!

Also, I have an AP that I will activate on Oct 2 of this year. It'll expire on Oct 1 2019. If I want to renew that AP in December of 2019, can I apply the credit for our package tickets to that renewal? Since i willl have fast passes booked 60 days out i will have booked them with no problem using the package tickets. Will I be able to do this?
 
I booked 4 nights for next December that fall within the required stay for the bb. Do you think it's possible I wont be able to convert that trip to the bb offer once we are there in October to legally book it? I understand those rooms would need to be available for the bb when we arrive. I honestly booked it to get the deposit out of the way so I wouldn't have to pay the deposit once we get there to book it. Would my deposit then be transfered over to take the place of the deposit for the bb? Am I explaining my question properly? We plan on bring our adult daughter and her boyfriend and they are really excited for a December trip!

Also, I have an AP that I will activate on Oct 2 of this year. It'll expire on Oct 1 2019. If I want to renew that AP in December of 2019, can I apply the credit for our package tickets to that renewal? Since i willl have fast passes booked 60 days out i will have booked them with no problem using the package tickets. Will I be able to do this?
Sorry, I'm not able to answer the second set of questions but can the first ones.

In order to book a BB they will need to book an entirely new reservation for you based on availability at the time you call. You will be charged a new $200 deposit and be given a new confirmation number.

You will then need to cancel your original booking and a credit will be issued back to your credit card.

The 2 reservations will have no link whatsoever even though you may book the exact same details for both.

I will attempt to answer the second question but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. When you arrive for your Dec 2019 stay, they should be able to credit the price of your tickets booked for the Dec 2019 FD pkg towards your new AP purchase.

Something you may wish to look in to though is what is the cost of booking an entire new Annual Pass vs. renewing an AP? Is it more worthwhile to renew your current AP in October of 2019 rather than letting it expire and purchasing an entire new one in December. Is there any financial advantage over renewing vs. purchasing new? This would make a difference in your eligibility for FD but depending if there is a room discount for APs it might make a difference.

So many scenarios to consider!
 
Sorry, I'm not able to answer the second set of questions but can the first ones.

In order to book a BB they will need to book an entirely new reservation for you based on availability at the time you call. You will be charged a new $200 deposit and be given a new confirmation number.

You will then need to cancel your original booking and a credit will be issued back to your credit card.

The 2 reservations will have no link whatsoever even though you may book the exact same details for both.

I will attempt to answer the second question but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. When you arrive for your Dec 2019 stay, they should be able to credit the price of your tickets booked for the Dec 2019 FD pkg towards your new AP purchase.

Something you may wish to look in to though is what is the cost of booking an entire new Annual Pass vs. renewing an AP? Is it more worthwhile to renew your current AP in October of 2019 rather than letting it expire and purchasing an entire new one in December. Is there any financial advantage over renewing vs. purchasing new? This would make a difference in your eligibility for FD but depending if there is a room discount for APs it might make a difference.

So many scenarios to consider!
Got it. Basically it was silly to book the dec 2019 room in the first place. Ugh!

And also silly since this is my first year with AP, I had no idea it may be cheaper to renew as opposed to start all over. Lots to consider and a lot to learn!
 
Not silly, I've done the exact same thing you have when I wanted to guarantee that I got a room at the resort of my choice.

I'm not sure what the cost is to renew your pass but I just went on the site and noticed there is an option to 'renew now'. Once you have activated your AP you can hopefully find out the cost to renew vs the cost to purchase new. There might even be someone who can answer the question for you now.

Disney is always a numbers game and it's a matter of trying out a bunch of scenarios to see what works best for you.

I had always heard that if you go to the parks more than 'x' number of times it is always worth purchasing an annual pass. Well, ran the numbers myself and found out that isn't always the case. Even though we're going to the parks for 9 days this December and another 8 days next September, it is $400 cheaper for me to pay for the 2 passes with PH and take advantage of FD at Pop for both stays as opposed to upgrading us to Annual Passes. Took a lot of number crunching but glad I took the time to do so.
 
Something you may wish to look in to though is what is the cost of booking an entire new Annual Pass vs. renewing an AP? Is it more worthwhile to renew your current AP in October of 2019 rather than letting it expire and purchasing an entire new one in December. Is there any financial advantage over renewing vs. purchasing new? This would make a difference in your eligibility for FD but depending if there is a room discount for APs it might make a difference.

So many scenarios to consider!

I don't know how often ksromack intends to visit wdw, but we would always get 3 trips out of one annual pass by visiting 2X per year. say, late spring, sept. early spring. 3 trips within 365 days. then start all over the following fall. I looked into renewal, but I would lose a lot of months. example: if my AP expired end of april and I renewed it then it would cover my fall trip and my spring trip the next year. only 2 trips instead of 3. I woul dhave an AP for the months between that april and sept in which I had no intention (or ability) to visit. make sense? ah! but then you have to consider the ability to make FP ahead of time. I have purchased 8- 10 day tickets, then upgraded them to an AP uponn arrival. (if I wait till arrival onthe first trip of the AP "year" I won't have tickets yet with which to make FP 60 days out.) .. it can all make your head spin
 

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