Free Disney dining sounds almost too good to be to true, but we swear it isn’t! Since there are very few things you can actually get for free in Disney, and free food can be a very tempting reason to book your trip, the lure of the free dining plan promotion is a strong one. Depending on the time of your trip, length of stay, ad a few other factors, you could be eligible for the Disney dining plan for free. Your entire family could get free Dole whips, free churros, and even that awesome refillable resort mug – free.
But what’s the catch? How can your family score free Disney dining and get so lucky? Well, this article will break down everything you need to know about the free Disney dining promotion, how to be eligible for it, and as well we will include some predictions for later in 2020 as well. We will prove that free Disney dining does exist, and you’ll be ready for it!
What is Free Disney Dining?
The free Disney dining plan promotion has historically shown up a few times a year, and is an offer that allows select guests staying at Disney World hotels take advantage of the Disney dining plan for free. It’s offered for select dates, at select hotels, and is for guests booking non-discounted rooms and getting Park Hopper tickets.
2020 Disney World Dates
The first round of dates offered this year for the free Disney dining promotion showed up on January 2nd, and you had to book by January 16th. These dates are for arrival on June 27 – June 28, July 5 – July 7, and August 29 – September 8.
Now even though the date has passed to book these dates for free Disney dining, don’t worry! We are pretty sure they will release more dates sometime in April and later on in the year, and historically these dates have been during late Fall and during the Holiday season – November and December. We will be updating this article whenever they do release the next wave of dates and you’ll be in the know and able to book for the next round of the free dining plan!
How to Be Eligible for Free Dining at Disney
The free Disney dining plan promotion can be a great one to take advantage of, but you will have to fall into a few special groups in order to be eligible. First and foremost, you will have to book your trip during the window that opens up – typically Disney gives about a two week window after the day they announce the free dining promotion. Your arrival date for your trip must also fall on one of the specified arrival dates.
One of the other eligibility requirements is that this offer cannot be combined with any other offer – so, in other words, you have to book a non-discounted hotel room with a non-discounted park ticket. Only select hotels are chosen to offer it, and the room selection will also be fairly limited. Sometimes they exclude certain size rooms, or views, or even suites.
The minimum stay for these rooms will be 4 nights, and the maximum is 14 nights. And when it comes to the ticket options, everyone in your group must have Park Hopper tickets and the minimum is a 4 day ticket. Since you can’t combine this with any other offer and you have to bundle your room and ticket, this is one of those times you won’t be able to buy park tickets from an authorized reseller for a discount.
Both Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members are eligible to take advantage of the free Disney dining promotion as well. The minimum and maximum night stay is applicable to both. Annual Passholders have to make sure they book one of the select hotels and time frames. DVC will have to do the same, and will not be able to use any of their points towards this stay.
Is the Free Disney Dining Plan Worth It?
This is a pretty loaded question. The free Disney dining plan is a great promotion, but knowing whether it’s worth it or not depends on a lot of different factors.
First, calculate whether the free dining discount outweighs your family taking advantage of other possible discounts. If it comes out cheaper to pay for your food out of pocket but take advantage of a 25% Summer discount, that may be the smarter choice in the long run. A non-discounted room can get pretty pricey, and the cost of food may have to offset it by a lot to make sense.
Also check for discounted tickets from AAA, warehouse clubs, or authorized resellers. They could save you more money than the free dining plan as well. To help calculate how much food may cost your family in Disney versus the cost of the dining plan, Check this out and make your life a little easier!
How flexible are your dates? If you only have one week that would work for everyone in your group, and it doesn’t fall during the promotion, then it’s not worth it. Go when you are able to go and don’t stress about free dining. Going to Disney is so exciting, and you can always look for other deals to take advantage of when you have a strict time frame of when your family can go.
Also, are you willing to go with whatever is available? Your favorite hotel may not be included in the discount, or the room size might not be the right fit for your family. For example, if you’re a party of two but the available room is a family suite, you’re going to be paying A LOT for a too big room just to get free dining at Disney.
The last thing to consider if the free dining promotion is right for your family is to know how much your family is actually going to eat. The dining plan includes a lot of food (more on this later), and if you have picky eaters and light eaters in your group, they may not benefit from it.
BUT if you have flexible dates, don’t care where you stay (all the hotels at Disney are awesome Disney hotels after all), and you are ready to eat all the snacks, then this is the promotion for you! You can eat a lot of food and not come out of your pocket ONCE if you know how to use it.
What’s Included in the Free Dining Plan?
Depending on what hotel you are staying at will decide which free Disney dining plan you will receive. If you are staying at a Deluxe or Deluxe Villa you will receive the standard Disney Dining plan. If you are staying at a Moderate or Value resort, then you get the Quick Service dining plan.
The standard Disney Dining Plan includes 1 Quick-Service meal, 1 Table Service meal, 2 snacks per person per day, as well as every person receives a refillable resort mug to use for the length of your stay.
The Quick Service plan includes 2 Quick Service meals, 2 snacks per person per day, as well as the refillable resort mug per person as well.
With either plan, you can upgrade by paying the difference. If you are staying at a Value/Moderate you can upgrade your Quick Service plan to either the Disney Dining plan or the Deluxe plan by paying the difference. And if you are staying at a Deluxe/Deluxe Villa then you can upgrade your plan to the Deluxe plan by paying the difference as well.
Downsides to Getting Free Dining at Disney
Even though getting free food at Disney sounds like a great thing, there can be a few downsides. Like we mentioned earlier, you may pay more in other ways like the hotel room and tickets. The dates are also super limited, and the selection of rooms and hotels are too. Your family will be trapped into arriving only at certain times, as well as you have to stay a specific number of nights to be eligible.
Another downside is that not at all resorts, or sections of resorts, participate. This can make you pay a lot more for the room, like we had mentioned earlier, and it can make you book a room that isn’t the right fit for your family.
Resorts Included in the Free Disney Dining Plan in 2020
These are the Deluxe resorts and Deluxe Villas eligible for the free Disney Dining plan promotion in 2020:
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- 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
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Disney’s Beach Club Resort
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
The free Disney Dining plan promotion does not include any 3 bedroom Villas, the Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, the Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, the Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, or the Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge.
Resorts Included in the Free Quick Service Dining Plan 2020
These are the Moderate and Value resorts included in the free Disney dining promotion in which you will receive the Quick Service dining plan:
- Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – family suites only
The regular room at Art of Animation, otherwise known as the Little Mermaid room, are excluded from the free dining promotion.
2020 Free Disney Dining Plan for Children
If you’re traveling to Disney World in 2020 with children and the regular free Disney dining promotion isn’t the right fit for you, this may be a better option instead! Disney is offering the dining plan for free for children ages 3-9 with arrival dates for most nights from May 25th to August 28th. You must book your trip by February 26th though.
Like the other free dining plan promotion, this must also be a non-discounted stay with Park Hopper tickets, but the other guideline is that the adults on the reservation also have to have a dining plan. All three levels of the dining plan are eligible for this promotion, but everyone on the reservation has to have the same, i.e. if you have the Quick Service plan then your kid will get the Quick Service plan for free. And just like the other free Disney dining, this cannot be combined with any other offers.
The hotels and rooms for this promotion are limited as well, and here’s the list of which hotels are offering the free Disney dining for children in 2020:
- 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
- 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
- Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
- The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – family suites only
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
If the Disney Dining plan is something you can’t live without on your trip, or if it’s something you’ve been wanting to add on for a long time, this could be the perfect promotion for you. While you will pay a little more in some places, dining plan does allow you to eat a lot of food and you can order the most expensive thing off the menu without paying any extra money. This could greatly cut down on food costs for your next Disney World trip, especially if you are traveling with a large group or with children. Free Disney dining can help out a lot, as long as you fall into all the other categories needed to qualify.
We hope this article helps you decide whether the free Disney dining promotion is the right one for you and your family, and will help when it comes to planning your next trip! To help pick the right hotel for your next trip, visit Best Disney Hotels and then you’ll be able to pick the right hotel when it comes time to book that free Disney dining plan!
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