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.)
Just received my email mail from Disney saying that we will have access to a reservation system before anyone else can purchase tickets as we already have hopper plus as part of our package for September. Again, not a bad thing! Limited capacity, less lines on rides , not a bad thing, in fact it will probably be one of the best vacations we have had!
I sure hope you’re right, but have reservations since park capacity is reduced but also ride capacity is reduced. It may be a wash.
Can I ask when your trip is scheduled? It seems I never receive emails updating me about our plans (and I have called to make sure they have the correct email and checked to make sure they don’t go to my junk folder). Our reservations were in May and we rebooked for August so I’m wondering if they just haven’t sent emails out for August reservations.
@Angela
My email came this morning. I’m a DVC member with an AP arriving July 25.
I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate your blog in this crazy time! Thank you!! I have often said to people there is not such thing as free anything like free dining at Disney… but people go gaga over it. The room deal will be nice deal when we have to move trips a 3rd time 🙂
My family and I have annual passes and we were originally planning a trip in early August, but we’ve decided to cancel that trip because of all the craziness. I still am planning and hope to take a trip over Christmas break. We’re staying at the doubletree suites over Christmas because that good neighbor hotel has access to extra magic hours and 60 days in advance fast passes. My question for you Tom is how many of these new regulations do you think will still be in place at that time? Will I be able to make fast passes 60 days in advance for Christmas break? Will there be extra magic hours? Will I need to make reservations to enter the park? Will I need to wear a mask? Obviously, no one knows for sure, but I was wondering what your thoughts are. I’m less than seven months away from Christmas break.
Thanks!
I always subscribe to the old adage if you don’t have anything good to say don’t say anything at all. But I think I may have finally had it. My husband I love the dining plan whether we get a free one or pay for it. It takes the guess work out of how much your meals are going to cost for the day. I guess it’s a mind thing because we would never ever walk into some of these restaurants and think it’s a good deal to pay over $130 for two to dine at a so-so restaurant (and eat chicken and pork entrees), We are older now and like to take a yearly trip to DW . Part of the enjoyment for us is sitting down at an air conditioned restaurant and enjoying a rest and a meal. We aren’t running around with kids and happy with eating a quick meal so we can go, go, go any longer. Our approach is more leisurely now. Planning those meals in advance and then clustering our fast passes around that time frame left us free to enjoy a water park for the first part of the day. Our trip was set for September and booked months ago along with our airfare. Between face masks in 100 degree heat and all incentives to visit gone I can’t imagine ever going back again. Who willingly wants to pay an extraordinary amount of money for what Disney is proposing? I think I would feel different if I lived in Florida and could take a day or two trip. I wish we were young enough to say maybe in a few years we will go back.
Dawn, I agree!
Hmmm. I had a package with free dining booked for Aug 30-Sep 4. It’s still showing up on the My Disney Experience app…I haven’t had any official e-mails from Disney World. But we will likely cancel and reschedule. The free dining plan is the only reason we would go in the blast furnace that is September. Without it, we’ll rebook for a hopefully cooler time of year. It is what it is.
We have both a WDW holiday stay booked (on property) and a November Merrytime cruise that we’re doing B2B. The time at WDW is the least of our concerns. We’ll miss having the MVMCP but that cruise… that cruise, is something we’ve definitely poured our hearts, planning and bank account into and it’d be really hard to get bumped or have to give-in and cancel that long awaited trip. As it stands tho, our November sailing is still well over 90% capacity and new people are booking as fast as others cancel. No way is that ship sailing with over 50% capacity… so the million dollar question is… how will Disney whittle down the passenger list?
Anyone with inside cabins will probably go first since that will allow revenue stream from highest profit generating cabins.
Michael, I agree that cutting the inside cabins would be likely, but that only accounts for 12% of the rooms on the Fantasy. I suspect they may offer an additional cruise credit to guests, hoping to get them to voluntarily postpone their trip. As with all things Disney at the moment, time will tell.
Ok someone help me to understand. If we have a resort reservation with a paid dining plan that is set for August (which was originally Moved from March) it will be cancelled along with our paid dining plans? If so It’s going to suck if we have to rebook and can’t get the dates and experience that we have booked now; I don’t know what’s going to happen. we pushed it as far as we could before my husband goes tdy for a while and next year when he comes back he is set to deploy so I don’t know when we’ll be able to do this.
Disney has advised that those with existing reservations will be “given priority in rebooking”. Not sure what that means, exactly, but it seems likely that they will reach first reach out to those who had experiences cancelled and give them the option to rebokk (first come, first serve maybe?) before they push out availability to other guests who did not have that particular activity/experience originally booked.
What does this mean for character meet and greets?? Does anyone know??
Disney stated character meet and greets suspended for now.
I have reservations 7/12-7/17. The day after the park opens!!! We re-booked those dates after having to cancel plans in April. I’m torn whether or not to go. Do you think my reservation may be canceled by Disney?
So what about park hopper? If reservations to each lark is required are they going to allow park hopping?
Do you know any information on if they plan on cancelling Mickey’s Not So Scary Party? We bought tickets for Sept 18th and I haven’t been able to find anything saying Disney is cancelling that event? I can only assume they are since they are eliminating large crowds, however I can also assume maybe they are going to allow a small capacity.
Never mind. I just read your other article that discusses this and answers my questions.
I was wondering, during the reservation for park entry, will we be able to park hop? If you leave the park can you come back? If you are there for 4 days are you going to be able to reserve all four days if you are staying at a Disney resort?
When I checked MDE this morning (haven’t received any emails from Disney yet), the dates on my boys’ 4-park tickets that I purchased for June 2020 trip were extended through 9/26/21. Our March 2020 trip had gotten rescheduled to June, and I hadn’t called Disney yet to do anything with this round, but the tickets have already been extended. I requested a refund for our March tickets and then decided to switch to the Free Dining recovery deal, but realized I was paying a lot more because I lost the room discount! So I cancelled that reservation and made a regular one with new 4-park tickets for my boys (I’m a passholder). I wonder what significance 9/26/21 holds (right before the 50th anniversary of 10/1 maybe?) and also what date current annual passes will be extended through.
Do you think this is a new permanent thing or once things eventually get back to normal this will all be available again
Hi!
I have a trip from September 19th-26th . I was on the phone with Disney yesterday. We never do dining plans. There is one piece of inaccurate information. The article above says Disney is automatically cancelling Disney dining plans and tickets. That is not correct. They are cancelling dining reservations and fast passes. They are also not taking new reservations so that they can better serve the guests already booked under the new Covid guidelines. That being said, as the parks will be operating with limited capacity, the need for said fast passes and dining reservations will be less. They also indicated they would open those dining reservations 60 days prior to trip rather than 180 days. Unless you get the dining plan for free, and you eat copious amounts of food, the plan itself is essentially not worth the cost anyway. I am thrilled because it will be like being on a private vacation. We have been at peak times when even having fast passes and dining reservations is a hassle. This trip is going to be a dream!
We were supposed to take our 25th anniversary trip to WDW and a cruise this month. We bumped everything to September and our TA called us last night to ask us if we want to cancel since it won’t be the Disney trip we had saved and planned for.
From the Disney website, “As a result of limited capacity, we have made the difficult decision to cancel existing dining reservations and experience bookings, including Disney dining plans included in packages, through the end of the year”.
Yes, dining plans are canceled until the end of the year. Since the only way to acquire a dining plan, is to book a resort stay as part of a package, then effectively they are canceled.
The incessant whining about free dining plans is getting a bit much. I know for some this is a hard pill to swallow but Disney needs to gain revenue and dining plans have a significant discount if used properly. Even more so now that “adult beverages” have been included for those 21 and over. I have several spreadsheets to prove it.
It has been stated over and over on these blogs that masks will be mandatory, and certain requirements will be strictly enforced. If you do not agree please by all means stay home. You are not forced to go to Disney.
As for me as a Florida resident and a Disney Passholder for over 8 years, I am not going to miss the crowds or obnoxious tourists who refuse to follow the rules. The one thing I like about Disney is the way they look beyond race, color, or creed. They only favor one color which is “green.”
They are cancelling the dining plans, it’s on their page. Those with dining plans will be offered a chance for 35% off of a FUTURE booking if they cancel altogether. Not even applying the 35% to the current vacation.
Juan- people are not “whining” they are upset. They planned far in advance and saved for a particular experience. My daughter is scheduled for the end of AUG with free dining. It’s a big deal to have something change like that which you were looking forward to. We love a good distance away so rarely get to have a vacation at Disney.
What if you get to the park & limit met, so u can’t enter but have paid for ticket? Or if Disney only allows certain time slots? I know several people who have cancelled from back in March and keeping bumping ahead. Think gonna be busier than people think and not worth the price tag of a Disney vacation! Just my opinion. Sounds like nightmare to me! Face masks in Sept (HOT), no parades, fireworks etc. I’ll wait til 2021. Good luck!
Or not..if you have ever been to the parks on a less than peak season. There are fewer cast members. For an example they may run only one side of space mountain. So lines will still exist imo.
Does anyone know if all the rides/restaurants will be available? It is great if you get in with lower crowds, but not if you cannot experience all the rides or restaurants that you had wanted to get in. We have a trip booked using DVC points rental for end of August and this is our first trip to disney (and potentially only) for our family. Trying to figure out if it is worth holding our reservation or trying to rebook for next year.
Also what about Park Hopper passes? Will this even be an option? How can you park hop if you have to reserve a park for a specific day.
That does change a trip! But it is what it is. We have 07/24 and had some great dining reservations but it’s understandable. How could they pick and choose who gets to keep them and who loses them at lower capacity. Good thing is it really only affects a small window of us with Fastpasses only bookable 60 days out anyway. We are still waiting to see what comes of it as things seem to change daily in this new world. If we have to cancel we’ll get our money back from Disney so they don’t owe us an apology just uncharted territory for us all. I might be taking a bath on my airfare though, so that’s the only kicker if we have to cancel.
Actually, you might be OK with your airfare. They are extending expiration dates on tickets until Dec 2021 and won’t be charging a change fee to re-schedule.
I am a part of a FB planning group for people wanting to go in November 2020. When all of this dropped yesterday most people said they were planning on completely canceling their trip. This is all going to hurt the bottom line badly which is reasonable given that the plans were made not for the consumers but for the company to benefit while the people got screwed.
We will not go until things are much closer to normal. We will take our money to Universal this fall instead.
Not quite such how to process all this yet. We are/were planning our annual visit in December but now I’m not sure. We’ve always loved the Quick Serve dinning plan we get with the Bounce Back booking. But with 35% off a premium resort, saving a couple thousand, or more, this may be the kick we need to head back to the Polynesian Resort or Grand Floridian.
As someone who had the Free Dining Deal for a trip in September, I am bummed. That trip was likely to be cancelled anyway, but now it’s a sure thing, as the Free Dining Deal makes it affordable for my family of 3 adults.
As for the FastPass+ cancellations, I’ve experienced the day-of experience at Disneyland, and I enjoyed it. My gripe with is that I couldn’t just scan my fastpass and enjoy the queue; I had to scan my fastpass and look for another. As for its application to WDW, the attraction to the spontaneity of a Disneyland trip comes from the perspective of it being a locals park. There are many people there who don’t care to go on “all the rides” because they know they’ll be back the following month or year. Additionally, there aren’t many “can’t-miss” experiences at Disneyland (aside from RotR now). Going to WDW and knowing I have a FP to Flight of Passage means I don’t have to worry about when I’m going to squeeze that in.
Additionally, it’s all but set in stone now that when FP does return, it’ll be for a fee (we all know Chapek can’t wait for that to happen). And paying extra by person by day is going to add up quickly. I’ve been one to defend Disney’s price point because I feel I get that value out of it, but the time is quickly approaching when I won’t be able to afford the most modest of Disney vacations (and I am mid-upper middle class; a less well-off family shouldn’t have to save for a decade to go to Disney).
Taking the quick service dining plans makes zero sense. Quick service is not table service and therefore would not be affected by social distancing. You order online and pick up at a window. We are taking five people this year out of our family of 7. Now we will be forced to cancel the trip or come up with over $1000 dollars for food during the seven days we are there. This makes absolutely zero sense on Disney’s part.
I had read somewhere that those with the 4 day Discover Disney FL Resident tickets would have until Sept 30 to use them. Your article says Dec 15, 2020. Can you confirm the FL Resident Discover Disney 4-day ticket holders with unused days will have until Dec 15? Is there an article/link you have that shows this? I know if I were to call the lines are so busy right now. As much as I want to get back to Disney I am unsure of things. I wish they would extend our tickets through next year. It seems unfair to not get any refund since we have used days on the ticket, but not sure what the risk is to show up to use the remaining days this year. Everything is so unknown and it is hard to plan.
Just a bitter FYI – there is no longer any reference to a 35% room discount on the disney website, it has been removed and when I chatted with a CM online today he asked me where I got my information because he did not have any discount listed. I got off the chat and looked for myself and the bit about guests with previous reservation pkgs has been modified with the 35% taken out.
What would really be a spirit-lifter right now is a tentative plan for when things DO and WILL improve, in the next ‘phases’: When (as in what phase) and under what circumstances FP+ would return; EMH, DDP, etc……
I.E.-something to look forward to.