Hey guys! Guess what?! Disney Worlds’ free dining plan promo has started and its come way early this year! We usually see this offer around April but this year its now, yep… Right now!
With Disney Worlds’ free dining plan promo, enjoy a FREE dining plan when you purchase a non-discounted 5-night/6-day vacation package, that includes a room at a select Disney Resort hotel and a ticket with Park Hopper option.
Right now, book through January 16, 2020 for arrivals most nights:
June 27 through 28, July 5 through 7, and August 29 through September 8, 2020.
I’ve pulled a chart from the Disney World website so you can see what resorts are included in this year’s free dining plan promo.
| Select Disney Deluxe Villa Resort Hotels | FREE Disney Dining Plan |
| Valid for arrivals most nights 6/27/20 – 6/28/20, 7/5/20 – 7/7/20 and 8/29/20 – 9/8/20 | |
| Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort | |
| 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 Riviera Resort | |
| Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa | |
| Select Disney Deluxe Resort Hotels | FREE Disney Dining Plan |
| Valid for arrivals most nights 6/27/20 – 6/28/20, 7/5/20 – 7/7/20 and 8/29/20 – 9/8/20 | |
| 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 Moderate Resort Hotels | FREE Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan |
| Valid for arrivals most nights 6/27/20 – 6/28/20, 7/5/20 – 7/7/20 and 8/29/20 – 9/8/20 | |
| Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort | |
| Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort | |
| Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter | |
| Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside | |
| The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort | |
| Select Disney Value Resort Hotels | FREE Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan |
| Valid for arrivals most nights 6/27/20 – 6/28/20, 7/5/20 – 7/7/20 and 8/29/20 – 9/8/20 | |
| Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – Family Suites only | |
| Disney’s All-Star Music Resort | |
| Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort | |
| Disney’s Pop Century Resort |
What you may be wondering right now, is Disney World free dining plan worth it?
Well yes and no! Here are my pros and cons to this deal.
PROS:
- The dining plan is extremely convenient. Not only does it allow your vacation to seem all-inclusive, but it also makes it easier when trying to stay on budget. You won’t need to worry about setting money aside for food or telling your kids,\ no not this time when they ask for their favorite snacks.
- Disney
Worlds free dining plan is indeed free with this package and is still cheaper than purchasing everything separately no matter which way you run the numbers, I will show you at the end of this post.
- You won’t feel bad about eating somewhere new and trying new and exciting food! Epcot has restaurants from all over the world, some are familiar and some aren’t. I encourage everyone to try something completely new in this park.
CONS:
- As I mentioned before, they usually do these deals when its summertime
. And summer in Florida is not only hot but extremely humid! The summer season has now become the off-season because of how hot it can get, people are now starting to stay away during the summertime .
- You can possibly save more money by traveling during a not so crowded month and packing your meals and snacks in with you. I have put together a full list of the best snacks to pack into the park with you. And several other money-saving tips including ways to save on meals and even a list of grocery stores nearby that deliver straight to your resort!
- Not all Disney Resorts are included.
- There is a minimum stay required, although this usually isn’t a big deal because the majority of us will be staying 5 or 6 nights anyways.
- You cant combine with any other discounts or promo deals- No DVC points, pass holder discounts or room discounts.
- Disney generally offers free dining only during the off-season when they are trying to fill up the resorts, which generally lead to overcrowding.
- And you are not able to purchase the dining plan if you do not go through Disney directly for your resort stay and purchase tickets through them. Not only for this deal but for all dining plans.
What is the free Dining Plan?
Disney breaks their dining plans into 3 dining tiers. Each tier is priced differently depending on how much food you want and what type of restaurants you plan on eating. But if you travel to Disney World during the Free dining promotion, then its completely free!
Depending on the size of your group and how many days you’re staying, you could potentially save some major money by eating for free.
What the dining tiers look like:
The Quick Service Dining Plan– you will receive a free refillable drink mug for use only at the resorts, 2 quick service meals, and 2 snacks per person.
The Disney Dining Plus Plan– you will receive a refillable drink mug for use only at the resorts, 1 quick service meal, 1 table service meal with dessert and 2 snacks per person.
The Deluxe Disney Dining Plan– you will receive a refillable drink mug for use only at the resorts, allows you 3 meals which can include quick service or table service meals and 2 snacks.
Quick tips from a pro:
- There are signatures restaurants located within the parks and resorts. These restaurants, I can tell you are some of the best I’ve ever had. BUT they do require 2 table service meals and they are very pricey. IF you choose to try a signature restaurant and use 2 table credits, simply snack or pay out of pocket for a cheap meal the next day.
- Disney allows you to use as many credits as you want a day. So technically, you could use all of your snack credits in one day or all of your table credits in one day. I wouldn’t recommend it, but you can. It also does not matter who in your group uses what credits. All of your credits are in one huge bucket for everyone in your family to use.
- Something to keep in mind, Disney does base your credits on how many nights you stay, not how many days you are there and a plan must be purchased per person staying in your room.
- When you are staying at a Disney resort, you are able to book your dining reservations up to 6 months before you arrive. A lot of these restaurants book up very quickly. This does give you a slight advantage compared to those staying off property, I think they can start booking up to 3 months in advance.
- If you can not get the reservation you want, keep checking back! I wanted to eat at the Beauty And The Beast Castle so bad for breakfast it hurt! When I made my resort reservations and tried to make my breakfast reservations, there were not any breakfast times available until after the park opened.
I wanted to be done with breakfast by rope drop so I could be first in line for all of the rides! Anyway, I kept checking back literally every day, and then a week before we left BOOM! There’s my reservation time that I wanted! Patience is key if you are late for the reservation train!
- Alcoholic drinks and specialty drinks have been added to the new dining plan, some restrictions apply.
How much does the Disney dining plan cost outside the dining promo?
I have tried to estimate this as closely as possible:
Quick Service Dining Plan- $26.00/per night for kids 3-9 and $55.00/night per adult 10 and older. Disney
Dining Plus Plan- $35.50/per night for kids 3-9 and $77.00/night per adult 10 and older.
Deluxe Dining Plan- $47.50/per night for kids 3-9 and $118.99/night per adult 10 and older.
Can my dining plan be upgraded?
YES!!! Just give Disney a call and they can upgrade you to the next dining tier, you will just need to pay the difference between the meal plans.
Who does this plan benefit the most?
Honestly, families of 3 or more because there are more mouths to feed!
Okay so let’s break this down to make sure you know what you are getting:
I have gone ahead and listed the current cost of your stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and broke it down with each family size. Now keep in mind, value, moderate and deluxe resorts differ greatly in price!
I choose the deluxe to go off of so you can see what kind of saving you can get while staying in a deluxe tier resort.
Animal Kingdom Lodge staying 6/27-7/2 with a Savanna View, 2 queen beds and a
$4628.72 for 2 adults with the Dining plan or you can upgrade to the Deluxe Dining Plan $5038.64
$5211.06 for 2 adults, 1 child or to upgrade $5705.97
$5793.40 for 2 adults, 2 children or upgrade $6373.30
$6010.06 for 3 adults, 1 child or upgrade $6709.93
$6226.72 for 4 adults or upgrade $7046.56
Okay for the sake of keeping this short we are going to go off of 4 adults because for me I now have 2 teens who eat way more than what a kids meal can offer!
SAME room with discount tickets through Undercover tourist and no dining plan:
For just the room $3818.25 + discount tickets $2221.64= $6039.89 WITHOUT FOOD! So for me, paying $200 for food with a family of 4 adults would be totally worth it!
SAME room without a Disney package of any kind, so no discounts at all:
For 4 adults $7786.76 with the dining plan, so again this would actually save me a TON of money. However, I wouldn’t go off of this because Disney always offers so kind of deal. You just need to stay patient until the next deal comes.
SAME room with the up to 20% discount that Disney is currently offering right now too:
For 4 adults $6047.80 for room and tickets, or $7607.84 for room, tickets and dining.
SAME room with discount tickets through Undercover tourist and no dining plan:
For just the room $3757.06 + discount tickets $2221.64= $5978.70 WITHOUT FOOD!
So as you can see, with a deluxe resort plan which includes the dining plan, every way I run it… It’s cheaper for my family of 2 adults and 2 teens!
Is it worth it for you and your family?
Well, that’s for you to decide! You may want to sit down and ask yourself:
Are we big eaters?
Do we want to try new foods?
Do we have a strict budget?
Does this plan stick to our budget or will it put us over?
These are some things you really need to think about. For me, convenience is everything when traveling with kids. My only problem is I do not do well in the heat, so traveling during the hottest times of the year is just simply out of the question for us!
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