2019 Disney World Free Dining for UK!
2019 Walt Disney World Free Dining is now available…for United Kingdom residents! (Sorry, for those of you sitting on pins and needles about the likely release of 2018 Free Dining for U.S. residents next week.) In this post, we share dates and details about this promotion, and whether the discount might make sense for you.
If you’re an American and are excited to read about this promotion because it might offer some insight or clues into the future of Free Dining for us…don’t. Not only does this have absolutely zero connection to the U.S. Free Dining promo, but reading the details of this will likely make you bitter with envy. (Don’t say we didn’t warn you!)
First, the details of the 2019 Free Disney Dining Plan discount for UK residents. You’re eligible for this promotion if you book a full-price Walt Disney World hotel and ticket package for a minimum of 5 nights for travel dates January 1 through April 7, 2019 and April 26 through November 30, 2019 (Deluxe Villas through September 16, 2019 only). You must book the Free Dining promo by November 6, 2018.
Guests staying at Value Resorts receive free breakfast, which should actually be a generic quick service credit that you could–and should–use for a different meal. Moderate Resort guests receive the Quick Service Dining Plan. Deluxe and Villa Resorts receive the standard Disney Dining Plan. Unless I missed something, it looks like every resort is available for this promotion, with the only notable exclusion being the Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation.
Guests booking the promotion also receive a $200 Disney gift card and Memory Maker for unlimited PhotoPass downloads. They are also eligible to purchase Disney’s 14-Day Ultimate Ticket for the price of a 7-Day Ticket, which also includes an exclusive Toy Story Land MagicBand. (This is ticket is not sold in the U.S., which may be why it sounds unfamiliar to some of you.)
Another “bonus,” albeit it not one tied directly to this promotion, is that the nightly parking fees recently announced for Walt Disney World hotels will not apply to visitors from the UK and Ireland through December 31, 2019. (We’re guessing this is a matter of notice required by law in the UK, but we will be keeping a close eye on it; perhaps Disney is considering walking back its parking fees after backlash?)
Aside from a slight shift in the blockout period, which varies every year and is based upon the Easter holiday (you could fairly reliably predict when this same promo will be offered in 2020 by simply adjusting for Easter 2020), this 2019 Free Dining promo for United Kingdom residents is nearly identical to the 2018 offer.
Now, if you’re an American Disney fan eyeing this mouthwatering offer, wondering why we don’t get something this nice, there are a few explanations. All of these explanations stem from something we always stress on this blog when discussing discounts: Disney never offers promotions out of corporate benevolence. Discounts exist to incentivize people to fill hotel rooms. (Walt Disney World is a hotel business that also operates some theme parks.)
In the case of doing more to attract “holidaymakers” from the United Kingdom, the rationale here is two or three-fold. First, that long flight over the Atlantic means UK visitors need a greater incentive to head to Florida instead of, say, Disneyland Paris. Second, despite the pound having rebounded a bit this year, it’s still not exactly strong versus the dollar right now.
Finally, UK guests are generally some of Disney’s biggest whales (I mean that in the flattering way, no implications about dining habits intended!). These visitors come for two or more weeks–hence the 14-day ticket–and drop a lot of money on Walt Disney World vacations.
The average length of stay for guests from the United Kingdom is significantly longer than the 5-day average for Americans, so Disney does what it can to entice these lucrative guests to come to Walt Disney World. If you’re a Floridian, you might consider thanking UK visitors for your lack of state income taxes. 😉
As we’ve noted in the past, these longer trips are in large part due to Europeans having double the number of paid vacation days per year than Americans. Additionally, the United States is the only advanced economy in the world without statutory paid holidays. Americans don’t even use all of the vacation time they have, with 662 million unused days in 2016 costing the U.S. economy $236 billion. So much for the dangers of ever-increasing leisure, Mr. Steinbeck!
If lengthy vacations were commonplace in the United States, you can bet Walt Disney World would try to attract domestic guests with comparable promotions. (Before you reply in the comments that you do visit Walt Disney World for vacations of that duration–you’re a fan who just read all the way to the end of a blog post about a promotion that is not applicable to you. They’ve already got you.)
That’s about it in terms of the 2019 Free Disney Dining Plan promo for UK guests. If you’re among the 5.1% of this blog’s visitors who can take advantage of this deal, hopefully this info is useful. Deals for the United Kingdom are not exactly our wheelhouse, so if you’re a European who can offer any insight into how this offer stacks up to other promotions targeted at your region, we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you think about the 2019 Free Dining discount for United Kingdom residents? Wish we got offers like this in the United States, or do you prefer getting the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan at the Value Resorts? Share any questions or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
Hi Can you tell me when free dining would be released for 2020 holidays
Value resort breakfasts ,, ( uk resident)
The specials offers are now out for those from the UK, booked yesterday, free dining, 14 days for 7 on tickets & $200 dollars each to spend in park.
Indeed they are – I sat in a queue of 7000+ booking online in the early hours last Thursday! For my popular summer dates (we are teachers and have kids) there was nothing by the way of the reasonable moderate deals available, but if like us you have two children over 9 then the QS ‘breakfast’ deal at a value hotel still ‘saves’ you £730 I think it was which after doing the maths worked out the best choice …. This is fine for our family as really hotel just a place to sleep. Roll on July 2020 and FP+…. honestly, I only do this for my kids lol. Also see my tips for maxing the value of the single meal QS credit!
Indeed the ‘free’ value resort breakfast is a QS credit. One trick we used t last summer on this deal was to purchase the resort rapid refill mugs (about $90 for 4) then since a drink is included in your QS meal in your hotel (or any other hotel you choose to drop by) the staff will let you swap in a pastry or similar instead. By saving said pastry for the next morning, we figured you are actually getting your breakfast plus one other meal ‘free’ – so like half board really, plus all the soda / coffee you can drown yourself in with the refill mugs in your hotel albeit with an initial outlay for the mugs. Another obvious thing to do on this deal is to pay out of pocket for any kids meals you order and save the Qs credit for more expensive adult meals. Lastly I’d recommend making a point of heading out to QS restaurants in the more upmarket hotels since the food we found was a WHOLE lot better.
If Ibegin my stay 5 days before the blackouts days for Easter, would I still have gotten the free dining plan? Thanks
Yes you would. If your reservation starts even one day before the black out dates you would get free dining for length of stay
Hello! Sorry to be so dumb but could I just clarify that the Free Dine offer is no longer available please?
I’m UK based and just about to book my first visit for the first 2 weeks of September 🙂 x
Thank you
Hi Ryan
It has for UK customers but there’s a few options…
1-there are free days and nights offers currently on for UK customers
2-If you know how to hide your IP address using a VPN you could log on via the US site (though UK deals tend to be better)
3-Wing it and book late using sites like Priceline. A risky strategy but it might work.
4-Look at renting DVC points instead (Tom has good articles)
Free dining needs to work for your entire party (it does for us as we rarely leave anything on the table) but it doesn’t for most! So it’s not the be all and end all.
Thank you 🙂
Hi tom,
Unfortunately I’ve missed the window to book free dining (I’m a uk resident). Will they offer it again in the near future or is that it (looking to travel for two weeks in August)
Thanks in advance
Ella
Yes I’d love to hear if this offer will be released again for holiday dates in 2019
Historically no. There won’t be a UK free dining offer again for 2019 dates.
When/If it’s offered again it will be for 2020 holidays.
If this follows the pattern of previous years it will be available to book early April ’19 but the Star Wars opening may cause big changes to availability
Hi Tom,
Do you know of any deals for Australians who travel twice as long as the U.K. residents to get to Florida? Thank you kindly. Charmaine
Hi , I am also from Oz and would love this deal, a few years ago I would book this deal though a UK agent and all was fine , they have stopped this now which is a shame.
Just book it straight through the UK website and put the country as Austria. It worked for us last year. Any mail was redirected to us automatically and credit cards were accepted etc. We should get the best deals coming from Oz but we get none!
Hi Charmaine,
How did you go with your deals. I am also looking and would be interested if you found anything. Tempted to do what T said and just book under Austria and claim a blond moment 🙂
Kim
Hi Tom,
Another UK resident here….
We stayed at AKL for 7 days iast December (booked in early February 2017)
We paid for Disney Dining Plan and were given a reduction of one free night accommodation plus other extras.
All things considered we thought we got a great deal.
It may be helpful to show how it worked out pricewise so here’s a breakdown of out final bill.
ANIMAL KINGDOM 14-DEC-17 7 Nights STANDARD QA Standard View Room
1 Accommodation Rental @ £1 , 5 8 2 . 0 0
1 MAGICAL EXTRAS 2017 @ £0 . 0 0
2 MEMORY MAKER ( 10- 99) @ £0 . 0 0
1 The Disney Store online offer @ £0 . 0 0
2 DISNEY’S 14 DAY (14 FOR 7 TKT) ( 10- 99) @ £2 9 9 . 0 0 £5 9 8 . 0 0
1 FREE NIGHT OFFER @ -£4 5 2 . 4 5
2 DISNEY REGULAR DINE PLAN ( 10- 99) @ £2 9 3 . 9 3 £5 8 7 . 8 6
1 EARmail @ £0 . 0 0
1 ** CELEBRATION ** @ £0 . 0 0 Family Reunion!
Total cost….. GBP £2, 315. 41
My parents and I have booked a two week trip next year with Virgin Holidays. Early May at AKL, qualifying for all the offers, apart from the Toy Storyland Magic band as this is only valid until the end of 2018.