The good news?  Disney has released a new limited time offer featuring free dining for Disney Visa Cardholders.  The not-as-good news?  It is an EXTREMELY limited promotion, and features a very short travel window.  However, if you are a Disney Visa Cardmember, and you are available to travel August 1 – 21, 2019, you might want to JUMP on this new free dining promotion.

A couple of things to be aware of: Any time Disney offers a big promotion, they are offering it to stimulate travel to the parks during a certain period.  This USUALLY means projected park attendance and resort reservation bookings are lower than Disney wants them to be for that time period.  While this doesn’t necessarily mean light crowds, it most likely means LIGHTER crowds.  Of course, if tons of people take advantage of the promotion, crowds could be CRAZY by the dates of travel.  But generally speaking, Disney offers promotions for periods where they are projecting attendance to be down.

This particular travel window closes before Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on August 29, 2019.  However, there are still a lot of great reasons to visit Disney World this year.  Click here to check out my top five reasons to visit Disney World in 2019.

Free Dining for Disney Cardmembers

You can get free dining when you purchase a four-night/five-day Walt Disney resort and theme park ticket package that includes the Park Hopper option.  If you book your package at a Value or Moderate resort, you will receive the Quick Service Dining Plan.  If you book your package for a Deluxe or Deluxe Villa resort, you will receive the regular Dining Plan.

You MUST book your vacation by June 16, 2019 to take advantage of this offer.

Your vacation must begin between August 1 and August 21, 2019.

You MUST book your vacation using your Disney Visa card.

Theme park tickets purchased with this package are valid for admission beginning the day of check-in, and must be used within a limited period of time, depending on length of stay and ticket.

Here are the resorts that are eligible for this promotion, along with which Dining Plan you would get if you booked your vacation at that resort.

Select Disney Value Resort Hotels – FREE Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan

• Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
• Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
• Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – Family Suites Only
• Disney’s Pop Century Resort

Select Disney Moderate Resort Hotels – FREE Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan

• The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
• Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
• Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside

Select Disney Deluxe Resort Hotels – FREE Disney Dining Plan

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
• Disney’s Beach Club Resort
• Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
• Disney’s Contemporary Resort
• Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
• Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

Select Disney Deluxe Villa Resort Hotels – FREE Disney Dining Plan

• Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village
• Disney’s Beach Club Villas
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort
• Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa

Quick Service Dining Plan vs. Dining Plan

If you book your package at a Value or Moderate Resort hotel, you will receive the Quick Service Dining Plan for free with your package.  The Quick Service Dining Plan includes two quick service meals and two snacks per person in your room, for each night of your stay.  Several beverage options are available–including non-alcoholic specialty beverages and beer, wine and cocktails for those guests who are 21 or older.

If you book your package at a Deluxe or Deluxe Villa Resort, you will receive the Disney Dining plan with your package for free.  The Disney Dining Plan includes one quick service meal, one table service meal and two snacks per person in your room, for each night of your stay.  You can use table service credits for Character Dining and other special dining experiences.  Several beverage options are available–including non-alcoholic specialty beverages and beer, wine and cocktails for those guests who are 21 or older.

The Fine Print

This offer cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion.

An additional charge may apply if you have more than two adults per room (any one over the age of 9) in a Disney Value, Moderate, Deluxe, or Deluxe Villa Resorts.

This offer excludes the following room types:  3 bedroom villas, campsites, Cabins at Copper Creed Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, Bungalows at Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, and The Little Mermaid Standard Rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.

Children ages 3 -9 MUST order from the Children’s Menu, if there is a Children’s Menu available.

Everyone in the same room must be on the same package.

Must use a valid Disney Visa Card or a Disney Rewards Redemption Card to pay the deposit.  The Disney Visa Cardmember must stay in the room.

Availability at table service restaurants is not guaranteed.  Advance reservations are recommended and availability is not guaranteed.

Gratuities are not included.

Food For Thought

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 table service (sit down) restaurants for most meals? Or, do you eat primarily quick service meals? Do you do many character meals? What about sharing 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.

I Can Help Make Planning Your Trip Easier!

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.

I don’t just love planning Disney vacations, I am obsessed with making every vacation the best it can possibly be.  Planning a great Disney vacation takes time and energy and PLANNING.  For a lot of busy people, that sounds like too much work.  If that’s you, let me do it for you!  Email me today to learn more.

To get more information, please reach out today: brooke@disneycastledreaming.com.

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke