Disney World Cancels Free Dining & DDP, EMH, FastPass+ & Restaurant Reservations
Following the big announcement that Walt Disney World will begin the phased reopening of its theme parks in July 2020 and Disney Vacation Club Resorts would open in June 2020, it’s been a roller coaster couple of days for a variety of WDW reservations that have been cancelled or temporarily disappeared.
First, the online booking system closed to new resort, dining, FastPass+, and experience reservations. Then, existing bookings disappeared from My Disney Experience…before reappearing. Next, Walt Disney World removed verbiage from its website that its non-DVC hotels would reopen on June 15, 2020. It was believed that many of these were glitches occurring as Walt Disney World did IT infrastructure updates to prepare for the roll-out of the online advance reservation system.
During the first phase of Walt Disney World’s reopening, this reservation system will require guests to pre-book theme park visits online (if you’re sitting on pins and needles waiting for this, sign up for our free email newsletter as we will send out a notification immediately when the online reservation system for visiting the parks goes live). The new system is going to cause big changes, and now we have official confirmation that Walt Disney World will be cancelling a range of reservations, from FastPass+ to Free Dining…
Beginning May 28, 2020, all dining reservations, experience bookings, Disney Dining Plan, and FastPass+ selections will be automatically cancelled. Guests with existing resort hotel reservations will have priority access to the new park reservation system when it becomes available.
The FastPass+ service will be temporary suspended, and Walt Disney World will use additional queue space to manage capacity at our attractions and maintain physical distancing. Also upon reopening, Extra Magic Hours will be temporarily suspended.
Walt Disney World will reopen dining and experience bookings with more limited capacity closer to when the theme parks reopen. Disney will also shift from a 180-day booking window to a 60-day booking window for dining and experience bookings going forward to allow guests to make their plans closer to their visits.
Additionally, when restaurant and other experience reservations resume, guests who had existing bookings will receive priority access to rebook.
Guests who purchased a Disney Dining Plan and tickets for travel dates between May 28, 2020 and September 26, 2021 will receive an automatic cancellation and refund of their Disney Dining Plan. (That’s not a typo–cancellations of the Disney Dining Plan are being made through next September.)
Guests who booked resort hotel reservations with a Free Dining package for dates between May 28, 2020 and September 26, 2021 will receive an automatic cancellation of their Disney Pining Plan. These guests will be able to rebook their vacation for a later date with a 35% room discount instead.
(UPDATE: Disney has since removed all mentions of the 35% room discount, as well as an end date for cancellations. It’s unclear why the verbiage has changed, and whether the 35% discount will still be offered.)
When Walt Disney World’s theme parks reopen, park attendance will be managed through a new park reservation system. To enter a park, both a park reservation and valid admission for the same park on the same date is required. More details about this new reservation system will be available soon.
At this time, Walt Disney World is temporarily pausing new ticket sales to focus on guests with existing tickets. Existing ticket holders and Annual Passholders will be able to make reservation requests in phases before new tickets are sold; Walt Disney World will be reaching out to these guests soon to provide additional details. New ticket sales will resume after that period of time.
Florida Resident Discover Disney Tickets may be used through September 30, 2020. Guests who have purchased tickets for Disney After Hours, Disney Villains After Hours, Disney Early Morning Magic and Disney H2O Glow Nights through the end of the actual closure period will be automatically refunded.
Unexpired multi-day theme park tickets with unused days, or date-specific theme park tickets with a valid use period beginning March 12, 2020 through the end of the actual closure period will automatically be extended to use any date through December 15, 2020. If you are unable to visit by December 15, 2020, you may apply the value of a wholly unused ticket toward the purchase of a ticket for a future date.
In terms of commentary, the cancellation of the Free Dining bookings for over the next year is the big surprise here, and what’s likely to cause the most outrage. This is far and away Walt Disney World’s most popular promo of the year, and it was recently being offered as a recovery deal to those who rebooked trips during dates that were cancelled.
A lot of Walt Disney World fans put tons of effort, research, and telephone time into securing the Free Disney Dining Plan deal, and we can’t imagine they’ll be completely understanding. Nor do we blame them–this is a big blow that really stinks.
The silver lining here is that 35% off room-only discount being offered as an alternative. As we’ve long stressed, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, which is to say that you always need to do the math on Free Dining.
For most parties, a room-only discount on a Deluxe Resort was superior to Free Dining. That usually was not the case on the lower tiers, as the room-only discounts were lower for Value and Moderate Resorts. Getting 35% off those less expensive rooms could bridge that gap–many parties may even come out ahead with the hotel deal. Still, not everyone will be so lucky.
The most likely explanation for the cancellation of Free Dining is significantly reduced dining capacity. We covered this in our last post about a potential second wave of Free Dining (which now seems highly unlikely…at best).
Walt Disney World will reopen with less than half of its normal dining capacity, and that’s assuming that all resort restaurants, Disney Springs locations, buffets, and character meals reopen. It’s likely many of those locations will not reopen or will do so in a modified form, leaving Walt Disney World with 35-40% of its normal dining capacity.
In such a scenario, Free Dining would be difficult to navigate. This announcement goes a step further than that, suggesting Walt Disney World will temporarily suspend even paid forms of the Disney Dining Plan for the next year-plus.
The other big development here is the cancellation of FastPass+ reservations. This isn’t nearly as much of a huge surprise. About a month ago, Walt Disney World started seriously limiting the daily allotment of FastPasses, which didn’t make a ton of sense given that heavy use of virtual queues was already rumored at that point.
Even then, it was safe to assume the options were leaning even more heavily on FastPass+ or moving to a Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance-style virtual queue and boarding pass style system. From a social distancing perspective, the latter offers advantages in being able to dynamically make adjustments and pulse guests through queues at a better-managed rate. Based on tonight’s announcement, it would seem that this approach won out.
One downside to this is it all but eliminates the benefits of staying at on-site Walt Disney World hotels, aside from transportation and proximity to the parks. As we covered in “Is Walt Disney World’s On-Site Advantage Disappearing?” this has been a gradual erosion.
Now, without Extra Magic Hours, the Disney Dining Plan, or priority booking windows, there’s even less of a point to paying a significant premium to stay in a Disney resort. Unless you really value the transportation, theme, or location. (Or, unless Walt Disney World starts releasing some really good discounts to lure guests back!)
If you’re looking for an upside to all of this, it’s probably easier to see one if you didn’t take advantage of the Free Dining deal or aren’t a fan of the Disney Dining Plan.
In our view, the main advantage is the return of spontaneity in the Walt Disney World park-going experience. We’ve long decried the degree to which planning is necessary, noting repeatedly that we aren’t spreadsheet or binder people. (See our Being Spontaneous at Walt Disney World post.)
We far prefer the Disneyland approach, and all of these changes are basically making Walt Disney World more closely align with that. What we love about this is that it doesn’t require knowing where you want to eat 6 months in advance or planning your day down to the minute. It allows making day-of decisions without being shut-out of marquee or popular experiences.
With that said, it still offers plenty of room for planning strategy and using various tips & tricks to see and do more than the average guest. Essentially, it’s a new approach to master–and one that requires far less homework and months-in-advance planning. We suspect that once the initial shock of the change wears off, many Walt Disney World fans will likewise come to prefer the temporary, Disneyland-style strategy.
These are just some of our initial takeaways from these announcements. As we said when the park reopening plans and dates were announced, it’s likely that there’s a lot more to come, and that policies will continue to be tweaked. While we’ve stressed patience and flexibility throughout this, we also understand that this is frustrating for many of you who have poured considerable time, energy, and emotion into the planning process. We wish there were some reassuring words we could offer here, but the reality is that ‘certainty’ in vacation planning is going to be in short supply for the coming weeks or months.
One thing we will stress is being kind to Cast Members if you call to voice your frustrations, rebook, or cancel your vacation. The phone reps with whom you interact have literally zero say over Walt Disney World’s policies, and you’re not going to change anything or magically get Free Dining back by being rude to them. It’s one thing to calmly voice your displeasure, it’s another entirely to verbally berate or take your frustrations out on someone who did not cause the problem. If that doesn’t convince you to be nice, remember: you catch more flies with honey than vinegar…
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
Do you have a reservation that has been cancelled as a result of the policy changes? What do you think about Walt Disney World cancelling Free Dining for 2020 and instead offering a 35% off room discount? Upset that your plans continue to change? Optimistic that things will be “back to normal” at Walt Disney World sooner rather than later? A variety of viewpoints are welcomed here, but we will not tolerate insults, arguing, or politically-charged comments. Additionally, please do not debate the efficacy of health safety policies—all such comments (for, against, otherwise) will be deleted. Those arguments are played out and isn’t the appropriate forum for that. (Saying you will or will not visit in light of certain measures is fine.)
We are booked at wilderness campground, so basically, since we are losing the dining plan and fast passes, will we still get priority booking if we keep our tickets and cancel staying on property?
I haven’t seen any change to our reservation. Our is booked for September. I don’t know if it will affect us since we rescheduled this trip from last year. We shall see. If they do cancel our trip then it tells me that we will have to rebook for another time. I was already leaning that way. We usually book during Food & Wine so I am wondering if that will be cancelled or cut short as well. It understand Disney being causes. And I do applaud them for working on opening the parks. We all have to either work with it or not. Do I want to wear a mask? No but hey I have to do it for work. So what is the difference. I live in Jersey and right now the humidity is UGH! So I know. So we will keep and eye out for emails and any changes to my app. I will see Disney again. If not this year then next.
“IF” Disney offers 35% off rooms, I “HOPE” it will be open till Next Sept 2021. I would rebook. Do we use the dining? Sure we do. We like to try new places. This just means now we would have to add in the cost of WHERE we eat. No more high end. The issue I am having is the loss of hopper. I don’t like to be stuck with just one park for the whole day. We usually have reservations at one park and hop to another. This is going to be a pain. But hey, Disney is trying. I am grateful for that.
I said it at the time – the free dining offer made no sense, given the likely re-opening restrictions. Good example of marketing department not communicating with operations people.
I try my best to be understanding because no one knows how to deal with a pandemic. We were originally booked for May with a short trip that we obviously had to move. We then moved it to end of August/Early September and were thrilled to secure our free dining plan. Between our cheap room for 6 at All Star Music and the free dining plan, we were going to save a ton of money and decided to extend our trip. Now we’re going to have to make it shorter or cancel because we just cannot afford it. 35% off of a 250 USD a night room is peanuts compared to free dining for 6 people. They should not have offered it in the first place. It’s a cruel thing to take away that makes me feel funny about Disney (and I love Disney and go basically annually). Maybe we can rebook at a nicer hotel to use that discount? We cannot move our dates though. If we cannot go when we are scheduled, we cannot go until the end of the next school year. It’s just really disheartening considering the amount of planning I put into this vacation. Twice. I don’t want to change things again. It’s tiring. I’m also sad because this was supposed to be our grad trip. And now we don’t even get to graduate. I’m trying to be understanding because Disney is doing it’s best, but this is an absolute nightmare.
Obviously, it’s a big discount to “take away.” For those staying in deluxe hotels, 35% could potentially be much better than free dining. But large families in value rooms — no comparison.
I can’t blame them for taking away free dining, but it was totally naive and stupid to offer it in the first place. It didn’t take a genius to see that dining would not be “normal” upon re-opening.
I feel like the reservation / marketing people were just told: We need to encourage people to re-book, what’s the most popular discount? No thought as to the practicality of free dining in the “new normal”
I wonder what this means for Park Hoppers and MNSSHP and MVMCP…we re-booked our scheduled trip to October to take advantage of the Halloween Party since our Villains After Hours Party we had booked would no longer be occurring. And had park hoppers and the Dining Plan paid for already too. We haven’t decided if we are going to cancel all together yet…taking a wait and see approach still for the time being. But definitely disappointed that it will look as different as it appears it will be. Lots to ponder, for sure!
We had September booking at CBR with free dining and have flights booked too. Like most of you, I imagine. The free dining was WHY we booked. Had some pretty sweet dining reservations set too…bummer. I think we will cancel unless they allow us to apply to 35% off our current room, which I doubt. While it’s disappointing, there is worse news we could have received.
I have a trip planned the week of August 1st that included free dining. I was actually scheduled to make my 60 day fast pass + on Tuesday, 6/2. So — no fast pass plus for my trip correct? And since I already had a trip booked at a Disney hotel with tickets, I will have priority of what parks to visit on what days. Also, park hopper is eliminated? I haven’t seen that anywhere, but that was a requirement for free dining. I am not a fan of Star Wars and hence haven’t used the virtual cues, so that is the plan for the major attractions .
Also – the 35% discount only applies IF we don’t go in August ?
Help??
So, do we know if they will be offering the resort discounts for those that haven’t already booked their vacation and had it canceled, or is this promotion strictly for guests that have had their reservations canceled? TIA!
I just think it is a great scam to cancel the free dininig when they offered it to you in exchange for NOT canceling. They are playing with my money and my time.
The canceling of the dinning plan was a shock…at least to me… i understand with limitations they will not want guests to have left over table service credits they are unable to use due to limited capacity. But to cancel even quick service dinning really shocked me. Perhaps they will be coming up with new alternate dinning plans ” ie snack only plan or limited quick service ect..? who knows. That would be nice.. if i do say so myself…it makes a lot of our trips easier and it makes payment easy and contact less with mobile ordering as well. Its an adjustment but I still think there will be enough magic at Disney.. especially by the time I go in December. i look forward to see how Disney navigates this further as time passes.
I too like to be more spontaneous on my visits, hopping between parks as a last minute choice when an opportunity opens. I’m afraid park hopping will be unavailable now considering the new requirement for pre-booking park visits. I’m just glad I was able to enjoy so many WDW vacations my way while I could.
Will WDW make any provision for park hopping? As an AP we used the park hopping mostly for dining at EPCOT after visiting other parks during our typically ten day visits. We are taking a wait and see what accommodations are made for AP and park hopper ticket holders.
Have been to Disney 14 times in the last 10 years and had a trip planned for May this year that was cancelled. When we go we usually spend at least $8,000-$10,000 for our family of 5. Sorry but at that rate we won’t be going back anytime soon until they work out all the uncertainty. We all understand that things are now changed in the world but we will choose to spend much less on other vacation spots in the foreseeable future. Will definitely miss the “old” Disney
Was holding out hope for my 8/30-9/3 but canceling my free dining, my dining reservations altogether after I painstakingly mapped them out, park hopper, no fast pass, no fireworks, wearing face masks in Florida heat/humidity. 35% discount on a room doesn’t come close to what we would be losing. I’m so disappointed. I understand the virus screwed everything up and I love my Disney but financially not worth the expense for less than half the experience.
Surprised they mention canceling all experiences yet not addressing things like the Halloween (MSSHP) party tickets which were on sale before the shut down.
i would bet that’s coming later. i cant see how they can hold the parties.
We are booked 9/23-9/26 with paid for deluxe dining plan. Right now my reservations still show in my Disney experience app.
My question – should we try to postpone to a later date? A big part our “adult only” trip is eating at all the nice restaurants
Also does this mean no more park hopping?
You sure are right!- I’m not being very understanding! I booked my free dining on a bounce back last August. And 35% off room discount?!? What a slap in the face. That would equal about $50 a day off my room at Pop. What family of four can eat at Disney for $50? You can’t.
So it doesn’t say…but sounds like Park Hoppers are out right now due to the reservation process. It was one of my favorite things because I could freely move around. I understand it and hope they bring it back.
The dining, while not always a deal for me, made my vacation easier and worry free. Hopefully that returns in some form as well.
All in all, I would still go back. Hopefully the feelings and excitement you get won’t be gone too.
food is super expensive but, not wanting to leave the part all day, the dining plan is the best option – we definitely will NOT be going to disney until i can get the plan & make dining reservation – the entire point of the reservation is to NOT wait in ‘line’ for food after ‘fighting’ crowds all day —-
Disney is doing the right thing in these trying times. I feel going into a much less crowded park could be a great thing.
As for those who cannot abide by the rules such as wearing a mask and social distancing then simply stay home and don’t put your fellow humans at risk.
As of today my free dining bounce back offer is still showing for December. We have until November to cancel for refund so will see if fireworks, parades, etc change by then
Do people honestly expect a discount on dining when the entire corporation has been shut down for months??? I’m currently on vacation in South Carolina where the restaurants we frequent had early bird specials or discounts. Since reopening those are gone and we certainly understand this decision. Restaurants are the hardest hit and have smallest profit margin. Most cities offered carry out to bring in some revenue, Disney wasn’t in the position to do that so got $0 They were paying health insurance on CMs who weren’t working. They’re billions in the hole. So yea gripe about no free dining. Own a business sometime and go without so your employees are taken care of . I’m certainly hopeful we pull out of this nosedive the economy is currently in but people have to be patient. We personally are canceling all plans for September visit and cruise as disappointing as that is.
I had a “paid for” dining plan that’s now being cancelled. It was never about “free “ dining for us, but the “all-inclusive” style Disney experience.
Mimi Get real we’re all pulling for our economy to return.Disney offered free dining to entice people back into the park.Do you think they weren’t making any profit. The right thing for Disney to have done would have been to extend the offer they promised for a later date.You don’t need to own a business to understand that when an offer is made you should stand by what you say.
I agree, Mimi. Also, consider that none of the College Program or International Program cast members will even be there to work until next year at the earliest. So none of the standard employees who served guests their meals at the table. Even the Culinary Program CMs are probably gone. How can Disney offer free dining if they don’t even have anyone to prepare or serve the meals? Epcot could be seriously affected without the International CMs who normally work in the restaurants. It could even affect Food & Wine with way fewer CMs to operate the outdoor kitchens.
Sure, you were offered free dining as a compensation for your trip being cancelled because of the virus. But even Disney wasn’t planning on the virus shutting down their business for so long. The free dining was a punt for sure based on reopening very soon after the shutdown. Now shutting down dining plans, free dining, reservations, FPs being cancelled are the newest punt to see how they can reopen, get guests into the parks and hotels without stressing operations so that they have to close it back down. Everyone is disappointed, but it’s not the same as it was back in January when we had our last trip (we had one scheduled in May that was scrapped) and our next trip is scheduled for Oct for F&W. We live about three hours away so we don’t have to worry about Magical Express or flights. We can cancel our DVC stays since our UY is Sept and we have all year to use those points.
Be thankful you haven’t lost any of your family to the virus. If you did, I’m sorry for your loss. But things will get better and we’ll all look back at this as an historic event, just like the Spanish Flu or 9/11 and think, “Wow, we survived that”.
Wondering if it would have been more logical to just cancel all reservations and not re-open until they were able to be mask free and provide access to all amenities and provide full entertainment? This appears to be a logistical nightmare. :/ Furthermore, unless steep discounts are offered, I don’t foresee many patrons wanting to spend thousands of dollars to visit the ghost town version of Disney World??
I agree–doesn’t sound like much fun. Might work for people who live in Florida who can go frequently and don’t need to get the full Disney experience during their visits.
If I was an Orlando-area local, sans kids, and young(er), I’d take advantage of Disney’s incremental reopening and temporary regulations. Visiting a ghost town version of WDW world sounds great! It would be a historically unique experience, and at the same time helping Disney and everyone else figure out how to get life back open. It’s a balancing act for sure, and not for everyone.
For those who have already taken part of Disney Springs’ reopening, and who have stayed positive and helpful in adhering to the current guiltiness, Thank You!! Every ounce of cooperation, patience and respect for CM’s is moving things forward.
I’m excited to visit ghost town Disney – it’s one of my favorite things about Early Morning Magic. But we live 6 hours away and drive down with our kids any chance we get… I think you’re right, if people live further and don’t have AP’s it would be hard. We don’t mind masks. And I don’t care what we eat as long as I don’t have to cook it hahaaaa
I am not sure that Disney could afford to stay closed. Parks are a significant revenue stream for them.
And by now we know what to do to stay safe.