Free Disney Dining Plan Facts & Myths | 03/27/17

[@AandEGirlPower]

Thank you for your honesty, at the end of the day there is no substitute for honesty.

[@samwinston1542]

In the 90's it was called "Fun and Food" plan. They issued you a coupon book for lunch and dinner coupons, and 'fun' coupons. The "Fun" portion of those coupons were great values, like able to rent a pontoon boat for Epcot fireworks, or parasailing on bay lake..horseback riding..etc. Naturally they stopped that bit pretty quick.

[@danielknott7447]

This is really different to the uk. We get free dining offered in various formats for every resort and from January to November (excluding Easter) uk travel agents are already taking bookings for next year with free dining and it hasn't been announced.

[@brigittehp1589]

I have noticed over the years, Disney has much better offers for the UK than the US ...you even get a toll free number to call Disnez, which we don't! It used to be UK travelers had a maximum of 21 days as opposed to 14 for the US! Is it still?? We often meet happy UK travelers at WDW. One lady had even won her trip from a little contest on the radio, here the radio gives concert tickets for one night at best! Enjoy your privileges while you can!!

[@danielknott7447]

We can still buy 21 day park tickets which are about £10 more than a 14 day ticket for us and the 14 is about £10-£15 more than a 7 day ticket. I am taking my girlfriend to WDW this year, I haven't been since i was a teenager almost 20 years ago, I think then it was just hopper passes that you got for like 4 days or thats what we had and then waterparks on top but now the uk seems to get really good offers. this will be our first time using the dining plan. The ticket price was increased massively this year then reduced to less than the year before. I believe 14 day tickets this year for uk was £299 which is around 360 dollars with the bad pound to dollar rate at the moment.

[@raideress]

Costs Aussies a lot too, but we get Jack :)

[@bswift1991]

The deals seems better but by the time you factor in the extra costs for flights (and from what I can tell we actually pay more for the same rooms at each resort... weird) it actually works out about the same as the US prices. But yes we do have free dining pretty much thrown is as standard in UK packages (but again the overall cost of the holiday seems significantly more than one booked in the US so I think it's just a sneaky tactic to make us think we're getting something for nothing) That being said we do seems to get free dining applied to basically any resort from moderate and above at almost any time of year aside from peak season, but I do think that is genuinely just to get more people from the UK to book because it's a steep price increase when you're looking at around 600 pounds ($780) per person just for flights.

[@bswift1991]

Also "free dining" usually requires an upgrade from either a value resort to moderate (for the quick service dining plan) or from a moderate to a deluxe (for table service dining plan) but when you factor in what seems to be a genuine rate hike for the rooms for booking from the UK I'm not sure how much value for money you're really getting.

[@janetovens756]

For the UK the dining offer usually comes out in April and it will also have with it a free $200 gift card, as the promotion progresses this drops to $100 then will drop off, offer usually finishes end July. The dining offer will be for the next year excluding Easter. So probably from next week, dining for 2019 will start. And depending on what type of resort you stay in will determine what free dining type you will get.

[@shawnsprague7401]

Tracey thanks for getting us FD ... make sure you book with "Dreams Unlimited Travel"

[@bugsaysmeep]

I feel like the biggest things people need to have with regards to Free Dining are patience and flexibility. Which I know can be difficult, but try. Thanks for the info!

[@coffeesunsetluver]

Great info and glad this has been talked about. I see this all day as a travel agent. Very helpful info and tips. Thanks for sharing this.

[@tdadp]

I found that free dining is not worth losing the room only rate especially when it 40 % to 30 % off the room .. I miss the tips included with dining plan .

[@asiaj.]

I agree there is a craze because like you said ALL the fall dates I looked at couldn't even find a room.

[@DisTravelDuo]

Tracy is great at explaining

[@jeantovern3918]

Agreed. She really is. I enjoy listening to her.

[@sarahdodd7645]

She really knows her stuff in all areas!

[@katherinechrisman5362]

Love listening to her too!

[@boylanroden]

Skip the dining plan. Eat a posh breakfast in your room. If you have a car go to the store and purchase for your family preferences. Or use gardengrocer.com and order your vaca and breakfast needs delivered to your room. Eat your "BIG" meal at lunch and reserve buffets at off times. Carry snacks in, but NOT water. Every counter service will provide ice water upon request. Eating breakfast in the room saves TIME. Don't wanna miss rope drop standing in line for cold eggs.

[@donaldlewis567]

Free dining is not Free - glad they brought that up. Usually cheaper to get the room discount than the free dining. It will work for some, just do the math before you go to make sure you are getting the best deal.

[@brigittehp1589]

Good discussion. We have enjoyed free dining since 2008 and already then I was reading about people complaining about cutbacks on the free dining offer. 2008-2009 trips, the value resorts included the table dining. Glad we did it then when the kids were small, but table dining took a lot of time… But very glad we got to do Hoop-Dee-Doo and Cinderella’s table dining once in our life!! We have always taken free dining offers with value resorts and this year we are getting 1 less snack credit compared to 2016. Desserts are no longer included in the dining package, but you get 2 snack credits per night of stay. Free dining is not guaranteed, but since our 2008 trip, it has reoccurred every year in the fall. But every year, it seems there is something less offered from the previous year and as mentioned in the video, Disney increases it's minimum requirements…

[@KIMxKEITH]

My agent with you guys is Lisa and she's been very nice about answering my questions.

[@Nightwing9337]

I've read people saying that their entire vacation was ruined because they didn't get free dining. If a family feels as if free dining is binding to their vacation then they can't afford to go.

[@raideress]

thats not true, for us we have 5 kids and have to fly from Australia, we can afford to pay for the DDP, BUT it saved us $2000 and thats a lot of money to play with

[@smith9808]

Raideress same here, I have 4 kids here in UK. Free dining is a god send always have left over quick services by the end of it also. All I have to do is cover the tip not a meal for 6 and tip. Going next May for the very same reason. If WDW stop this, I stop going!

[@raideress]

Smith hope you get free dining, , we got it, i used a dining calculator and worked out it saved us about $3400 australian even with dining upgrade and adding park hopper

[@johng689]

Thanks for explaining how it works.

[@craigrogers3864]

Thanks guys

[@masblas3379]

I haven't used Dreams Unlimited yet, but I fully believe they will help me get the best bang for my buck when I'm ready to set up my trip.

[@dsnynrd]

masblas3379 I agree! I'm hoping we will have enough saved to go to Disney again next year and I definitely will book through Dreams Unlimited!

[@raideress]

i studied my bum off, previous dates and resorts, and arrival dates, went after Pop century, but had a back up plan, i needed two rooms in Dec for 7 people, got it but had to shift to the All star Music resort, but for a saving of more than $2000 aussie dollars i can deal with that, im so happy :)

[@MyLady22]

This is our first trip to Disney World this year and I felt that it was fairly easy to get free dinning. Yes it gets sold fast and yes it wasn't available for the resort that I originally wanted but it's easy to switch it to a different one. One thing that I'm doing is sharing the dinning plan. My family of 4 in one room is sharing with another group of 4 in a different room. I got the free dinning and upgraded to deluxe. I spoke to 4 different Cast Members and 3 out of the 4 said it was possible to share. The free dinning only saved me $300. Instead of paying $1,700 for deluxe dinning for my family of 4 I am paying $1,400 and I'm feeding 8 people for 6 days so I think that's a deal especially if we did all dinners as table service meals.

[@MrStevenastley]

Whilst this information might be correct for US residents/guests, it is not the same for U.K. Guests. The window for Free Dining is offered, almost year round and the savings are considerably greater when pricing against the US equivalent

[@mickeyspal4749]

What is the difference between booking with Dreams as opposed to booking with AAA or Disney, also can we book with Dreams if we are DVC members?

[@judibickford5306]

I know that Mary Tesh (our Dreams Unlimited agent) can't say Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo and Free Dining appears but John is right she will do her best. And that's why my husband chose Dreams Unlimited to handle our Fifteenth Anniversary trip to Walt Disney World. We will use Dreams Unlimited for our Disney travel needs from now on!

[@quitsskydiver519]

Thanks for the update guys. I agree, 'free' dining has created a frenzy. i have a good friend that before anything else wants to know if free dining is available. Won't hear anything else. If it's not available for them then, like Nightwing9337 posted, they consider the whole thing ruined. Also, Kevin Klose, I'd have a word with Ryno about how whenever he cut to you your eyes looked like they had two red dots over them. I know it was just a reflection on your glasses, but it looked like you were in a scene from a scary movie.

[@modeltrainstipsandtutorials]

Just booked 21 days for September 2018 with Virgin from the UK and have free dining included - have also paid a little extra to upgrade from the basic plan to the mid plan to include one table service meal a day and also paid a small supplement to get 21 day park tickets. Seems like you guys really have problems getting this.

[@DonnaDyble]

I found this confusing & then realised that you must be talking about booking from the USA/Canada. The promotions ran in the UK seem much easier than this. eg - we can book in advance of the release date(6th April) here in the uk at the moment. We get free ddp, 14 day hopper for price of 7 day, free memory maker, free airport transfers, free 1 yr disney life & free $200 gift card. I think thats everything but the dates available on this offer are vast. Check out the Disney UK website. All resorts & rooms are included from value to deluxe villas. It seems the UK get much better deals than USA. Do you ever do videos discussing UK deals as i think your videos are great?

[@seanlee1952]

They never really talk too much about the UK deals, what a lot of people don't realize is that when our dining promotion begins we also get a room discount, more so for the values and next to nothing for the deluxes but approximately 25% off Saratoga and Old Key West. It's still pricey but we don't know how lucky we have it! haha

[@NYBwilk]

When we book through AAA they always set us up for free dining , and it's usually the same weeks every year

[@victoriaathens8251]

How did you go through AAA? My parents have them and called, and they told them to go online and do it themselves.

[@ClaudiaSteichen]

The week of April 23 I suggest you call and start modifying trust me!

[@Hambone571]

What a crock of crap...Disney is corporate greed. My wife and I go to WDW every year for 7-10 days., 25 years in a row. 30 years total. TO MAKE THIS SIMPLE, We book in February for August vacation.A couple years ago, Was arriving on a Friday for 10 days, booked, paid for, locked in. 2 days later, get Disney ad mailer offering "free dining" beginning on the Saturday when we arrive on Friday. Called, spoke to,them about getting in on this as we come every year, arriving on Friday for 10 days, can we get this offer. Told "No, it starts on Saturday." Told to,cancel and rebook beginning Saturday for 10" days. Also told airline flight would cost extra $700 for the one day " change" in flights. Said it wasn't an option, paying $700 more for flight change. I asked for manager, told same thing, No free dining for you as you get here Friday afternoon, offer starts on Saturday. I said let me get this straight, I and my wife came 25 yrs in a row, 30'yrs over all, spent approx $80,000+ and can't get a free can of soda, but the family of 4 coming now for a few days get free dining. I was told, yes sir, sorry but it starts Saturday, not the Friday you,get here. I explained I didn't ask or expect free dining Friday, just beginning Saturday on. Told Sorry, can't help you....

[@Ambeee1]

I just booked my trip for July of this year (2018) and the value resorts are offering free dining, and standard rooms do qualify! It’s just myself and my daughter and we are staying 5 nights and doing 4 day 1 park tickets. I must have gotten lucky!

[@Brightstars19]

this sounds no different from people matress or flight running for elite status with hotel and airlines because the allure of free upgrades or other perks. and are often bitter or disappointed in the end.

[@scotttice9246]

save you some time watching this video, you aren't getting free dining

[@YankeeCountess]

THIS. They were just constantly repeating themselves! I wanted to scream, "I GET IT! MOVE ON!"

[@YankeeCountess]

I found this entire episode really repetitive--ok, I get it, you can't guarantee free dining, but I never really felt what WAS "free dining"--free meals at certain restaurants? Free "dining plan" upgrades? I was hoping about hearing the specifics of "free dining" and the varieties of the free dining plans, rather than the constant repeat of "book your vacation now, don't wait around for when Disney promotes this whole thing"--so no, I did not think this was very informational. If anything, it was very disappointing

[@MountainIce007]

Wow, that lady looks like some kind of alien. Like slime that has come to life.

[@King.of.wishful.thinking]

Sorry guys didn't think this presentation was very good 20 minutes of repeating yourself to get the message across to travellers that free dining is not a given.

[@YankeeCountess]

20 minutes of a message that they could have easily said in 5 minutes but felt they had to repeat over and over like we're idiots

[@Massondave]

Well that's 20 minutes from my life I will never get back, I'd of been better off having a 20 minute snooze than listening to 3 grown adults repeat themselves over and over. Come on guys tell everyone what they want to know... is Disney dining worth it or not simple question surely a simple answer. Example... if Disney dining is £2000 extra for two adults for two weeks... would I spend more than £2000 on food if I didn't take the dining plan.. simple question simple answer