Very exciting news today! Disney launched Free Dining and other offers that might interest you if you are planning a Disney vacation for later this year.
As you may already be aware, Free Dining is a VERY popular Disney vacation discount program that MANY vacationers wait to plan their trips around. This is the earliest that Disney has announced a Free Dining offer in recent memory. In addition, this particular offer includes dates from July 5 – September 30, 2019. It’s pretty unusual for Disney to include ANY portion of the summer in their Free Dining promotions, so this year’s offer is an especially big deal.
In addition to Free Dining, Disney also released some 30% off room discounts for May 28-September 30.
Details: Free Dining
If you purchase a 5 night/6 day Disney World travel package by February 10, 2019 that includes a room at a select Walt Disney World Resort hotel and a ticket with a Park Hopper or Park Hopper Plus option with your planned arrival between July 5 and September 30, 2019, you can get a FREE dining plan added to your package for each guest on the reservation. Note: this promotion is available for reservations with a minimum of 4 nights/4 days. Other package lengths are available.
If your chosen resort is a Disney Deluxe Resort or a Disney Deluxe Villa Resort, you will get the Disney Dining Plan. If you choose a Disney Value Resort or a Disney Moderate Resort, you will get the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan.
Reservations MUST be booked by February 10, 2019, and the number of rooms allocated for this offer are limited. This promotion cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion.
Details: 30% Room Discount
If you book your reservation by March 24, 2019, you can save up to 30% for stays most nights, May 28 – September 30, 2019. If you would like to travel sooner, you can save up to 25% for stays most nights, April 28 – May 27, 2019; those reservations would just need to be booked by the last day of the promotion, May 27. This offer is based on 2 adults per room; the full discount is for the Deluxe resorts; Value and Moderate resorts will have lesser discounts available.
The number of rooms allocated for this promotion is limited. This promotion cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion.
The Fine Print
As with any promotion or discount, there are always exclusions and restrictions. Certain room types, resorts, or restaurants may be excluded from the Free Dining promotion. Similarly, some resorts and room types are excluded from the Room Discount promotion.
More importantly, though, is that not every discount is right for every person or family. It’s important to weigh how YOU visit Disney, what your priorities are, WHEN you visit, and evaluate any and all discounts that might be available to you when you are ready to plan.
One of the advantages of working with an authorized Disney Vacation Planner is that we have access to ALL the available discounts out there at any one time, whether Disney is actively promoting them or not. We can run comparisons for you to determine what you’ll save by booking your trip with one promotion or another. There is no cost to you to work with an authorized Disney Vacation planner to plan your vacation, and often, we have access to discounts or resort information that is not available to the general public. Working with an authorized Disney Vacation Planner will always save you headaches and aggravation, and will usually save you money as well!
In addition, we have the ability to monitor our reservations and as new promotions are released, update those reservations when it will save our customers money. For example, for all my clients that have reservations booked with me for later this year, we’ve already looked at the free dining promotion to see if it makes sense for them–and where it did, we’ve made the changes.
Act Quickly
The response to the Free Dining promotion today was incredible. Disney’s servers crashed around noon, and it took several hours for them to get back to normal. They anticipated high demand, but I don’t think they were quite prepared for how popular this promotion would be when it was announced. Based on the volume of inquiries the system handled today, it would not surprise me if records were set.
The moral of the story is that if you are strongly considering taking advantage of either of these new promotions, or if you at least want to price out a trip using the promotions, I highly recommend you act very quickly. You can reserve any reservation for 48 hours before a deposit is required, so if you’re even 80% sure, I suggest you reach out and get a quote going. I suspect that unless Disney plans to expand the promotion(s), these will sell out and close out very quickly.
What to Consider When You Consider Free Dining
Many Disney vacationers LOVE the Disney Dining Plan. They love being able to budget and essentially “prepay” for the majority of their meals before their trip, and know that they won’t need to spend a whole lot of money on food during their vacation. If you fall into this category, and are already a fan of the Disney Dining Plan or the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan, and are already accustomed to making Advanced Dining Reservations 180 days before your trip, you are likely a good candidate for the Free Dining Promotion.
Conversely, if you tend to order in groceries, and eat a lot of meals in your room, or pack picnic lunches for your family to enjoy at the parks, you are most likely NOT a good candidate for the Free Dining Promotion.
It’s important to think about how your family dines on a Disney vacation. Do you eat in sit down restaurants for most meals? Do you eat primarily quick service meals? Do you do many character meals? Do any members of your family routinely share meals? Does your family like to snack? Are you big Mickey Bar or Popcorn fans? Are you comfortable planning your meals in advance?
While the promotion is called “Free” Dining, it’s also important to recognize that by getting the dining package for “free”, you are paying full price for your room and park tickets. You are saving a LOT of money on meals, so it is a substantial savings in many, many cases–but again, it’s really important to evaluate how YOU and YOUR family vacations.
If you tend to eat more meals in the room, or pack picnic lunches, you likely will get a bigger savings from a room or package discount that does NOT include free dining.
Again, I strongly recommend speaking with an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner like myself to help you identify the best vacation package for your family.
If you have any questions, or would like to get quotes on any packages or vacation dates, please email me at brooke@disneycastledreaming.com. You can also reach me on Facebook or Instagram, also at DisneyCastleDreaming.
Happy Dreaming!
Brooke