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.)
Has anyone else’s reservations NOT been canceled yet? We have several dinner reservations for mid October. We got an email last night around 1015pm central time saying they’ve been canceled… but they’re still showing on both the website and the app.
Josh, To clarify, did the email you got last night say that reservations in general were being canceled, or did is specifically say that your reservations (for mid Oct) had been cancelled? I ask because it seems a lot of people see this cancellation of activities / dining extending through the end of the year but in more carefully reading Disney’s release, you can see they’re ONLY CANCELING THOSE THINGS IN THE SHORT TERM, THROUGH SEPT 26. For those that have bookings between now and 9/26, those are cancelled. For reservations booked 9/27 and onwards, those are being left in place. Certainly, they could be cancelled later but, for now, your mid October reservations *should* be fine.
Ours dining reservations for mid oct have not been canceled yet, nor have received an email saying they have been canceled. Just wondering how the priority reservation system will work for those of us who have already made reservations and are having them canceled.
What was posted last night was 26 September 2021, not short term at all.
Troy, the email says “Unfortunately, these new measures have required us to cancel any dining reservations and experience reservations you may have made”. It also goes on to say “you’ll also be provided with early access to book new dining and experiences. And we’ll be contacting you shortly regarding that process as well”. No dates were given for anywhere in the email. What I have seen from Disney says they are canceling these reservations through the end of the year.
My dining reservations for August have not been cancelled yet.
The email that we received from Disney advised to the contrary… that this is applicable through Sept 26, 2020, not 2021 as some sites (wdwnt.com, and brighter) are reporting. Email also indicated that reservations beyond that date will be left in place since they are not impacted by the short term suspension of booking plans/activities. This is all developing tho and there certainly are rumors out there. Hopefully in the days and weeks to come, the real facts can come out and allow us all to make better decisions on how to manage our plans, and look forward to a return to the parks.
The September 2021 date was posted to FB by Disney Parks last night. I did not make it up.
Troy and brighter- I find it interesting each of you even see a date anywhere. Everything I see on Disney’s site(s) simply say they are canceling ALL dining reservations with no date listed.
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2020/05/an-update-on-walt-disney-world-resort-reservations/
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/travel-information/
We’re reserved for the week before thanksgiving, and still have all our reservations showing. We’re just sitting here cringing waiting for the inevitable …. or maybe we’ll get lucky?
Update – one of our reservations was canceled: breakfast at Trattoria al Forno.
Seeing these changes go all the way to next September is shocking. I understand that this doesn’t mean things won’t be back to basically normal by then, but still a shock. Been pre-planning a trip for June 2021 waiting for the packages to be released. Do you think all this possibly delays the release of packages for next year as Disney waits to see just how normal things may be by then? In my mind things would be back to normal, or at least a new sense of normal post-covid, by then but seeing that Sep. 2021 has suddenly worried me about that.
What happens to people that have resort stays but had not yet bought tickets? Are they just screwed? I don’t have a trip planned but we normally wait until very close to our FP day to buy tickets as they are nonrefundable.
I have a trip planned for the week of July 26, 2020 for my honeymoon and now I am worried that it won’t happen. I have spent hours talking to people, planning and researching to make this trip awesome, but now I am just frustrated and disappointed.
Any ideas what alternatives they will offer?
Thinking about canceling hotel room and just keep the tickets for the week since we can’t go in early or have fast passes. Just doesn’t make sense for us to stay onsite if we don’t have to at this point.
I agree with you. The transportation is what keeps us returning to on-site properties. I fully expect them bus system will be terrible now. If they make you social distance, lines will be long and it will take forever to get anywhere.
If you can’t get into the parks early, you will be stuck in long lines with everyone including non-Disney resort people.
I have been going at Christmas for over 30 years. I can’t even believe what a less than good experience I will be having since I will have to wear a Mask, social distancing, stand in lines, get no real fast pass and maybe not eat at my fav restaurants.
I guess with time I can make my decision to go or cancel. Good luck with your wedding!
Gosh, I think everyone gets why Disney is doing this, but it sure isn’t earning them any warm fuzzy Disney magic feelings with their fan base. I wonder how long it will take Disney to regain all that inherent trust people had in Disney being magical? We are on the fence about our December vacation that we moved from this week. It’s tempting to think the crowds will be low so we should go and who knows if Disney will EVER be back to the “old” way we loved. Lots to think about and thankfully I feel like have time on our side. In 7 months SO much can change… 7 months ago there was NO pandemic. And totally random, but I’ll be super curious in 10 years how/if colleges use this period of Disney’s history to look at “what not to do” in their Marketing 101 classes. Offering free dining for those affected by the initial closure and then it being revoked… bad move Disney, bad move. But of course I could be wrong… maybe it’s not as bad as it seems and Disney will recover the magic and good will quickly.
I still cannot get my head around the idea that the virtual queue when you get into the park will help with social distancing vs fastpasses booked ahead of time. It was INSANE going to Animal Kingdom before rope drop to get on FOP. We have done it multiple times but have also tried to get fastpasses. Our friends who were with us were happy to sleep in and come later since we had fastpasses — hum spreading out the crowds. If you don’t open the park until 10am and say the only way to ride FOP is to be in the park before 10am and start hitting that App well you are asking for crowds outside the gate waiting to get in.
I agree with you. I read that Disney is planning on using the Fastpass queues (in addition to the existing standby queues) as additional standby queues for better social distancing.
If they make virtual queue reservations available to ticket holders outside of the parks (i.e. inside their WDW hotel rooms), that solves your problem. The fact that guests had to be inside of Hollywood Studios to try and get on RoR always seemed extremely shortsighted to me.
I’ve been visiting Disney since 1999 – the paper fastpass dash days when you could walk up and get a same-day dining reservation at virtually any restaurant, including character meals. Although I spent 30 days across 5 trips there last year alone, this year was to be our dream trip – the one where we brought all of my husband’s siblings and their children (22 in all) on their very first trip. I scored free dining back in January for our July 5-12 trip. Seeing as how we were doing it big for their first time there, the free dining plan saved us over $10,000 – 4 times as much as we would have saved with room discounts. To say I’m sad is an understatement. I had the perfect reservations for all of them – breakfast at Be our guest, followed by 6 little girls with princess makeovers and then dinner inside Cinderella Castle. Also, do you know how hard it is to get reservations for 22 at Ohana, Cinderella Royal Table, Be Our Guest, Sci-Fi, Akershus, Tusker House, and Biergarten? Not to mention 22 fastpass for Flight of Passage at the same time
But at the end of the day, there are bigger problems in the world right now. Will this trip of a lifetime ever happen? Who knows. Do I think some of this is a little overkill? Uh, yeah. But complaining isn’t going to get me very far, and we’re never all going to agree.
And also, I’m with Tom. I much prefer the Disneyland spontaneous MaxPass model over the hyper-planned Disney World experience. I hate seeing unknowing and disappointed guests get turned away from the fastpass line because they don’t know how it works, while a cast member explains that they can try to make a fastpass at a kiosk or on the app (while we all know there’s almost no way they are scoring a fastpass for that ride the same day). I also kind of hate knowing how every moment of a Disney trip will play out before I ever travel because it’s all so planned and there’s no room for any error. That’s not magical. Give me a day wondering around without looking at the clock so I can slow down and get lost in the magic. But maybe I’m old school.
This is a great outlook on things and I love that you posted it. Hats off to you Allison!
Well said. Many folks are disappointed…that is a very full boat …. cancelled weddings, Graduations, proms, funerals, anniversaries, big family soirées – truly once in a lifetime Events. This pandemic is inconvenient in a world filled with conveniences We are all used to.
Hopefully we can all return to the parks and smile again, and this will be a distant memory. As bad as we may have it, someone is always worse off – think of those Delightful Cast Members who are unemployed and do not know when they are returning to work, if they even will be in the next month or two.
If you’re putting off your trip, think of it as letting Disney add some extra pixie dust before you return, get out your old pictures and relive your trips, listen to the park soundtrack and put on that vintage Mickey t-shirt.
I agree. We’ve been going since 1989 every year from the U.K so have seen many changes to the entire area. We only moved from private villa to Disney accommodation 5 years ago and it was because of free dining that we continued. My daughter who has cognitive and mobility impairments is a Disney addict and even she, however upset, sees the wider implications. She is 30 in June so it was “her’ holiday even though we are going in Sept. We too had everything booked, obviously it’s what my daughter enjoys and I let her sort it, and it was spot on. Personally after all these years and having an ingrained idea of what our WDW holiday ‘should be like’ , I can only foresee disappointment. But again as you rightly say, there are bigger problems for many many people. I too don’t see a step back from having to plan and create spreadsheets for a holiday as a bad thing.
I just got off chat with Disney and they would not honor the 35% and said they are doing no additional discounts at this time (I was booked December 9th-16th 2020 with a bounceback free dining plan) They did confirm that the dining plan would be cancelled though.
For what it is worth, I have reservations from 12/12 through 12/17 with the Deluxe DDP and they have not been canceled or modified as of now 1:35 PM Eastern on 5/29. I even made a payment which they gladly took. Any chance you’re mistaken? Let us know. As always thanks for the updates.
The information in this post comes directly from WDW website. Feel free to reconfirm everything here at https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/travel-information/
What surprises me about all this is the amount of importance people put on a vacation. Especially during a global pandemic. A Disney vacation is not necessary to sustain life, it is an escape from our daily lives. Disney is doing what is necessary in order to reopen. Some requirements are state required, others most likely are required by their legal team.
You can get angry with Disney as much as you want, they’re going to do what they’re going to do, and like it or lump it, that’s the story. The disappointment that comes with the cancellation of a vacation makes no one happy. However, there are worse things in life. Keeping ones perspective on that note is important.
While the changes Disney is implementing are necessary, I don’t know of a two year old anywhere who would keep a face mask on, whether in Florida’s heat and humidity or not. If you think you can’t go along with Disney’s new rules, then you shouldn’t go. It’s as simple as that. I’m pretty sure Disney will be okay with the reduced capacity, and also with guests who will abide by the new rules.
People spend weeks and thousands of dollars planning these vacations. They spend months getting excited. Disney is a huge memory makes and a pretty important part of people’s lives. Many of us go yearly and it is the only vacation we take. Kids who are too young to understand what is going on, who only know that they can’t go meet beloved characters, will be crushed.
For many people, me included, our trips to Disney after this awful year have been the only thing getting us through. I think we all understand the greater issue at hand in the world, but that doesn’t make our situations any less devastating on a personal level. Please don’t knock our disappointment and try to provide “perspective.” At this point, it is counter-productive and you will only incite arguments.
Katie, the last thing I want to do is incite arguments. I understand fully what this feels like as I’ve been going to Disney since 1973. Been there every year, and in the past fifteen years, twice a year. (Been a Disney fanatic since I first discovered Cinderella in my Little Golden Book). My April trip was canceled and the November trip may also be canceled. So I too am disappointed.
When my children were small, as a single parent, I cut corners for the entire year, so we could do a Disney Trip. Sometimes worked an extra job. Sometimes we couldn’t go. The day before I was to leave for my trip in October, 2018, one of my sons unexpectedly passed away. Since the funeral was a week away, my family convinced me to go. My family, friends, Disney cast members and the staff at the hotel were wonderful during what was ultimately the most difficult time of my life. While it didn’t take away the pain, it was the best medicine I could have had. So I do understand the importance of Disney in one’s life. But in the end, it still is just a vacation, especially when compared to a pandemic. There will be other vacations.
When it’s one of the very last thing in your life that has not been cancelled or lost (like friends to Covid, both childrens graduations, weddings, college, etc.) and the only thing you can look forward to that may help ease some of the pain and sadness, yes, it’s a big deal. We all need to survive this and get a little happiness back. When you’ve scraped and saved to make the Disney investment and it’s not easy. It’s a big deal. Now I’m on the verge of cancelling and who knows when to reschedule?
Barbara, pandemic or merely a knee jerk reaction due to liberal “the sky is falling!” Carryings on? ….I did just what you suggested and cancelled my trip. I didn’t like the idea of wearing a mask in sweltering Florida heat, and all the changes in fast passes, social distancing, restaurants. The final straw was having my free dining plans cancelled because it was better financially for WDW
I too have a history traveling to WDW. Every Christmas for 30+ years and frequently once in summer for water parks. I know it’s “just a vacation” and what I call a “first world problem” but I am still disappointed and I and everyone else who feels disappointed have a right to feel that way. Disney is trying to make as money as they can and still providing what they THINK is gonna be a great vacation for clients. They will learn soon enough that the restrictions,, no matter who
Imposed them, won’t draw big crowds.
Barbara, I am a nurse practitioner and I am on the front lines of the pandemic every day. I have had patients die that I have known and cared for. We all understand that there is a global pandemic out there. We all feel it. However, when I am wearing my mask, gloves, and PPE and feel depressed….my Disney Magic and upcoming vacation helped get me through. My children, who have been in quarantine for over 3 months, have been looking forward to some special magic in their lives. Yes, is this small in the realm of the global pandemic but it was something uplifting to help us get through.
I agree with what you’re saying here and am disagreement with the other comment responding to this.
We all have our own opinions, and I’m just as disappointed as everyone. I have already had a Disney trip cancelled from April and we’re likely going to cancel our November trip as this doesn’t sounds like something I want to spend thousands of dollars on.
For me, Disney is an escape to a life that can be stressful and it is also the thing that I most look forward to all year and the place that when- once I’m there, I’m sooo happy and forget everything else that may be ailing me.
But I’m also in the camp about perspective after having recent health scares and the prospect of all of the much worse things that could be happening right now. I think Disney is doing what Disney needs to do to keep their staff and the rest of us safe. Does it suck and do we all wish it were different? Yeah. But this is out of our control and perspective does, indeed, matter here. At this point, I do feel lucky that I’ve been to Disney, and have experienced it so much to be mesmerized by all that it is- so many don’t have that privilege. I hope there will be a better day, but until that time, I’m going to stand grateful that Disney all it can to get back to that when the time comes.
@ Barbara – while a Disney vacation may be frivolous to you, there are thousands of people who work at Disney who rely on those frivolous vacationers to come to the parks and spend money, so that they can afford food and housing. Sure there are stimulus payments, but what happens when those run out? Cast Members need people to vacation at Disney, or else they will be out of a job.
What looks like “first world problems” rarely is once you start looking at the people involved instead of your own biases.
Kinsley, I do not consider a Disney vacation frivolous. Not at the prices they charge. Did my comment sound like I did because I think I said just the opposite. I spoke about the amount of importance people put on a vacation during this time of uncertainty. We are in the midst of a pandemic.
As for cast members, not all are ready or willing to return to their jobs. Many are afraid that some guests will ignore the rules and regulations and put them (cast members) at more risk. Guests have been known to be extremely rude to cast members, even during the best of times. They think Disney will give them something for free as a consolation prize.
No disrespect intended for anyone disappointed by the cancellation of their vacation or changes Disney is making, but if you think Disney World is going back to the old normal, I’d say think again. Same as post-9/11. There will be a new normal and we will have to adjust. Their game, their ball, their rules.
Bravo, Katie … well said! You speak for many of us. I guess some people just don’t understand the amount of time and investment of resources in planning a WDW vacation. Or the intensity of disappointment, especially when children are involved. Of course, there will always be those worse off than people who can’t have the dream vacation they’ve spent months planning. That’s life.
I understand the reasons behind their decision but we all still need to eat, why cancel our paid dining plans? I will still spend the money and not having the plan is more of a headache for us. I’m really worried about park hopping with all the reservations to go in and then for the rides. We used to hop 2 to 3 times per day and I feel like that wont be possible now. I am completely heartbroken but had a felling we would not be going this year, this just sealed the cancellation.
They do not yet know what restaurants will be open, and don’t want guests with Dining Plans complaining if they don’t get the restaurant availability they want. I think it makes total sense.
I agree with you on the park hopping. We’ve always bought the park hopper option and loved it Unless someone is going first trip to WDW, I can’t imagine not park hopping.
Because the state of Florida has rules for restaurant capacity and configuration and they likely had more reservations than capacity. Also, Disney doesn’t know what state rules/CDC recommendations will be in the future for restaurant capacity, so they can’t forecast how many reservations to make available.
Tom,
I don’t understand why they would cancel the Quick Service Dining Plan because guests will need to buy food at these locations anyway. Right? I understand that table service locations will be more of a challenge for Disney because buffets probably will be a closed for now, and many of the tables will have to be left open. But Quick Service can be always be a to-go option. Tom, do you agree that Disney should NOT cancel the Quick Service Dining plans?
Diann
Wow what a humongous disappointment! I am sure everybody is feeling the effects of this so I am preaching to the choir, but I felt the need to comment on this.
I have a family of six (four kids, two adults) two of my children are considered adults. Losing the free dining plan for our trip in July and subsequently any reservations after is a huge hit.
35% sure sounds great but it doesn’t save me nearly as much money as the dining plan. With the discount on rooms I might be able to save $1000.00 if we go an expensive hotel. But the free dining was saving us 3x’s as much.
Disney is just trying to recoup its losses and that is fair but for someone from a middle class family of six, the dining plan was the ONLY way we could really financially do a Disney Vacation. We are very disappointed with Disney and makes us not even sure if we want to continue going down like we have in the past.
I have a trip planned for 6/27-7/6 which I will now have to change. I was hoping I’d be able to rebook for august but now that is not even an option! I’m upset about losing free dining (especially since it was only quick service). I don’t see why canceling the quick service dining will change anything. People still need to eat. But now I’m not even able to rebook? Any insight as to when they will allow people like me to rebook? I’m on 30 days timeline now to figure out what to do before I have to cancel completely. And if I do have to cancel do I lose the right to the 35% off room? So many questions and uncertainties!
the 35% room discount doesn’t exist….check disney website. it was removed from the verbage
The discount was never in the website verbiage. That was sent to travel agents in an email from disney
We have a trip booked for November 2020.
Do you think they’ll have any discounts, I’m guessing the meal plan will not be one of them.
Discounts and promotions have been suspended.
Will you be able to park hop? We are staying at the Yacht Club in August and have most of our dinner plans scheduled for Epcot even though we will be attending other parks during the day.
Really good question. We are staying at the Boardwalk in August with the same dining emphasis. Bought Park Hoppers but may not be necessary. Big expense there.
Where is your DDP cancelled until September 2021 coming from because the Disney website and the email I received says nothing of the sort. Can you please provide a factual basis for this claim?
The original Disney Blog post stated through September 2021. It was up for a short time and then Disney revised the wording to ‘through this year’. But don’t expect Disney Dining Plans back in 2021 either. Also, my understanding is that people that travel from the U.K. are able to book full packages BEFORE guests in the US and I think UK guests will see their 2021 reservations affected. Since guests in the US haven’t been able to book packages for 2021 yet, we won’t know until 2021 is opened up.
Cassie –
The comment about the UK booking before US is not true either. I was able to book for 2021 as well as multiple others. Reservations were only paused in the past 2 days so they can concentrate on those who are currently booked. It is outlined on the website.
Jolyth, you do not have a package booked for 2021. You have a room reservation. They usually (in years past…who knows this year) release packages for the following year in June. You can book your room 500 days in advance but you cannot book a package with tickets (and dining plan) until the packages are released.
I cannot believe they cancelled the free quick dining plans. This makes ZERO sense. Quick service is essentially take out. 35% should automatically be added to anyone who had this. We should not have to completely change our vacation for a future date to receive this deal. Most people who make reservations for a Disney Vacation make them months in advance, plan things months in advance with work and their own finances, with family. Most of us start buying things for our trip months in advance. Now at the drop of a hat you are stripping away our dining plan which adds over $1000 dollars for a family our size that we did not have planned. To act as if this vacation that people have spent months planning, getting the time approved off of work, and buying and prepping for this can just be changed at the drop of a hat and moved back like it’s no big deal is a garbage take for Disney. I am so disappointed that at this point Disney has lost it’s magic for me. I lived for years without it. We’ve been regularly for the past few. Maybe it’s time to say goodbye. I can plan at least 3 different vacations for the price of the one we had planned in September.
I never liked fast passes anyway.
I think it’s too much for what we paid last year for passes though. I guess they are going to change their strategy to get locals to come back? Currently they offer gifts to passholders for going to festivals multiple times.
My dad used to take us in the 1990s and we stayed at Beach Club (what would be club level now). Crowds were almost non existent because we went in January, discounts were huge and the room upgrade was free with Amex rewards. I could go back to that. Park tickets back then were about $45 a day per person. I’d do that in a heartbeat. The last few price increases have been hard to swallow.
I’m hoping enough people stay home that Disney has to court us back. Deep room discounts, low crowds, cheap day tickets. I don’t know that we will see that. It’s really weird to me that Disney is cancelling so much and offering such superficial deals (prices on hotel rooms have risen more than 35% the last few years). Maybe they will offer locals a deep discount on resort only vacations, if pools were open I could see taking that up (if the discount was large enough).
I remember those good old days too. I also remember buying ten day park hopper non expiring tix at AAA office and receiving a water park admission for every 3 days you put on your ticket. Crazy deals. No more.
It’s all about money and the Magic has gone out of it with these restrictions, three price increases on tickets a year and It seems more and more the on site benefits are disappearing. Maybe I will go back to the three bedroom condo just outside Majic Kingdom. It would be nice to each have our own bedroom and not squish into a small resort room with no privacy, cook most of our own meals instead of expensive theme park food and to drive our own vehicle to the parks instead of waiting forever for those WDW buses.
Staying in a Disney resort – I would hope would guarantee that you would get into a park each day of your stay. Otherwise Disney would have to do something about guess staying onside unable to get into a park
I have 2 weeks booked for the end of Sept 2020. I worry about impact of this new park reservation system and not getting into a park. No guarantee to those who have an on-site hotel worries me.
By Spetember I would expect capacity to be up to 50-70% and wouldn’t think it would be much of an issue.