2026 Free Dining at Disney World Dates, Predictions & Info

ByTom Bricker
2700 Comments

The Free Disney Dining Plan is a popular Walt Disney World vacation package discount. This covers 2026 dates, deal rules & requirements, predictions & rumors for future dates, and answers to questions including whether Free Dining is “worth it.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the Disney Dining Plan (DDP), we’d direct you to our comprehensive Guide to the 2026 Disney Dining Plan. That covers the basics, what the DDP includes, how it’s changed since returning last year, and more. It also breaks down the value of the Disney Dining Plan and whether the paid version is worth the money, and much more.

The bad news is that Free Dining is no longer available to book for this year. The good news is that it did return, and with the most dates in about a decade, which bodes very well for next year! If you want to be notified immediately when 2026 Free Dining discounts are released, sign up here for our FREE Walt Disney World newsletter.

We’ve consistently notified our subscribers when Free Dining and other Walt Disney World deals are going to drop. Either in advance of their release or on the day they go live at ~7 a.m., which typically gives you a 2+ hour head start on Disney’s official announcement. That may not seem like much, but it makes a huge difference when booking–it means that you won’t have to wait on hold for hours on the phone or in a long virtual queue online.

In the last several months, Walt Disney World has released over a dozen different discounts. There are even targeted deals available through late 2026. This is a huge change as compared to 2021-2022, when many dates didn’t have discounts at all due to revenge travel and guest spending being so strong. That coupled with capacity is why the Disney Dining Plan took so long to return in the first place. Those are both non-factors now, and things are more or less back to 2019 norms.

This is all relevant to the return of Free Dining in 2026 because the deal is not offered out of corporate benevolence, but as an aggressive move to help boost resort occupancy numbers. That wasn’t necessary for the last couple of years due to pent-up demand. However, that has changed significantly, and now Walt Disney World is pulling several “levers” to try to incentivize demand.

As always, we’d recommend requesting a FREE no obligation quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner and having those travel agents book for you. They’ll assist you with the planning process, help you choose the most economical dates, best add-ons, etc.

Equally as important, they’ll help you with discount comparison shopping. There are a ton of different discounts currently available for Walt Disney World in 2026, and many of these deals are better than Free Dining for many–if not most–guests.

That just scratches the surface of what will be released throughout the year, just what’s already available. It’s likely there will be 3-4 more discounts released in the first week of January 2026, including Free Dining–but more on that below. Pointing being, what you see now isn’t everything that’ll be available for your travel dates.

On that note, here are some predictions about 2026 Free Dining at Walt Disney World…

2026 Free Dining Forecast & Rumors

We want to start with blunt words of warning: it’s difficult to make 2026 Free Dining predictions.

The reason for that is simple, which is that the biggest change with the 2026 Disney Dining Plan is that Kids Eat FREE All Year in 2026 at Walt Disney World. Throughout all of 2026, guests staying at one of Walt Disney World’s more than 25 on-site Disney-owned resort hotels will get a FREE Disney Dining Plan for their kids (ages 3 to 9 at the time of travel) when purchasing a Disney Dining Plan as part of their package for the other members of their party (ages 10 and up at the time of travel).

The Free Disney Dining Plan included in this special offer depends on the Disney Dining Plan the adults in the party purchase. The Disney Dining Plan is included for kids ages 3-9 when purchasing a regular Disney Dining Plan for guests ages 10 and older in the party. The Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan is included for kids ages 3-9 when purchasing a Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan for Guests ages 10 and older in the party.

The Kids Free Dining Plan at Walt Disney World deal can be combined with other select special offers, meaning you may still be eligible to take advantage of other deals released for 2026. Already, we’ve seen all 2026 room-only discounts eligible to stack with the Kids Free Dining Plan offer, from bouncebacks to general public discounts. Even DVC point rental is eligible for the Kids Free Dining Plan!

However, because the Kids Free Dining Plan is the baseline for 2026 and not a special promotion, it’s difficult to see how Free Dining fits into the picture. Maybe it’ll simply be offered like normal without any changes, in which case, Free Dining will be a worse deal for many guests since they’d be better off taking the Kids Free Dining Plan plus a room discount and paying for their own food.

Alternatively, there will either be changes to Free Dining to make it more attractive to families (and competitive with other promos) or it’ll be abandoned entirely as a special offer. I’m skeptical that Walt Disney World will ditch Free Dining, as it’s own of their most recognizable discounts of the year–few phrases are more powerful marketing than “free food.”

Assuming that Free Dining does return in 2026, it’s likely to be released in multiple waves once again.

The first will likely be announced in late December of this year, and bookable starting in early January 2026. Eligible travel dates will likely span from around Memorial Day through August 2026 (prior to the start of the off-season), with possible blockouts during peak weeks. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if Independence Day is not blocked out, as that has become less and less busy over the years.

Finally, the first wave of 2026 Free Dining will likely be bookable for roughly one month. This won’t be noted up front–it’ll just quietly disappear from the available offers page. It’s also likely that this first wave of Free Dining will not be targeted, but instead, available for the general public to book. These are hardly bold predictions–this is based purely on past precedent.

To address this, Walt Disney World has been releasing more discounts. They’re doing it out of necessity. This is something we’ve documented, and we’ve repeatedly pointed out that they’re pulling from the 2019 playbook for discounts. That 2019 playbook included Free Dining.

Following this first wave, we fully expect a second wave of Free Dining for dates that are later in 2026. This is likely to become bookable between mid-March and April 2026.

The main reason Walt Disney World would not release discounts all at once for May through December 2026 relates to resort occupancy numbers. The company is really good at projecting hotel bookings, but it’s just like a weather forecast–more accurate as dates draw nearer and less accurate further into the future. Walt Disney World only wants to offer discounts as necessary to fill hotel rooms, so they release discounts in phases.

The most reliable set of second wave dates for Free Dining are usually in August to late September. Those dates are the slowest of the year at Walt Disney World, and have been the most common and consistent for Free Dining. Expect a second wave of Free Dining to encompass these dates during Fall 2026.

The second wave of Free Dining also might include portions of October, minus holiday weeks and fall break.

A scattering of November and/or December dates could be available again, and there’s likely to be a stretch in December after (but not including) the first week and running until as late as December 23, 2026.

One wrinkle with subsequent waves is that they could offer different guest eligibility. It’s possible for the second wave of Free Dining to be targeted towards only Disney+ subscribers or Disney Visa Cardholders, and have a few ‘borderline’ weeks when occupancy is reasonably high (e.g. select dates in October through December). Then a week or two later, the general public wave of Free Dining could be released that doesn’t include all of these dates.

Obviously, this is only a prediction–the actual dates and details of future waves of 2026 Free Dining could vary a little or lot, and it’s entirely possible that nothing is released at all! But we highly doubt it.

Again, we want to emphasize that this is not a rumor–it’s simply us analyzing resort bookings and past precedent on discounts, and making an educated guess. August and September usually have the best discounts of the year since demand is lowest, and we’d expect that to be true again in 2026 especially as Universal’s Epic Universe continues to make the marketplace more competitive and nothing new is opening at Walt Disney World. October through December are usually busier, hence the potential targeting of Free Dining during those dates.

Disney also likes high levels of per guest spending numbers, and no other special offer helps achieve these high per caps like Free Dining. Despite “free” being in the name, it’s an advantageous promo from Disney’s perspective because it locks guests into full-price hotels and tickets. It also keeps guests on-site for the most part, since they have “free” meals at Walt Disney World. No other discount accomplishes all of these important goals for the company.

Either way, will be closely monitoring the 2026 Free Dining situation, keeping our ears open for more news about a return of Free Dining. Should something–anything–be released or rumored, we’ll send you an alert if you sign up for our FREE Walt Disney World newsletter.

We’ve consistently notified email subscribers when Free Dining and other deals on the day they go live at ~6 or 7 a.m., which is a 2+ hour head start on Disney’s official announcement at 9 am. That makes a huge difference when booking Free Dining–you won’t have to wait on hold for hours on the phone.

Free Dining FAQ

Free Dining is Walt Disney World’s most complicated promotion, and can be a huge headache to book. Between limited availability and navigating a seas of rules and restrictions, it’s easy to make mistakes. This section of the post covers the rules, terms and conditions, and policies that generally govern the Free Dining promotion.

We always recommend that Walt Disney World first-timers (or regulars who just don’t want to deal with the hassle) request a FREE quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, an Authorized Disney Travel Planner. Most legit travel agents do not charge for booking Walt Disney World vacations (and you don’t pay a premium for them–Disney pays them commission), so that’s really the easiest way to go.

With this special offer, Walt Disney World guests booking vacation packages with non-discounted resort hotels and park tickets receive the DDP for each member of their party for no additional charge. For obvious reasons (who doesn’t love free food?!), the promotion is incredibly popular and some resorts that offer free dining tend to sell out quickly.

Guests booking the Free Dining promotion for Value or Moderate Resorts will receive the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan, with guests staying at Deluxe or Deluxe Villa Resorts receiving the standard Disney Dining Plan.

There are some room exclusions for the Free Dining promo: 3-bedroom villas, campsites, Cabins at Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Wilderness Lodge, Bungalows at Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, and Little Mermaid Rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.

These resorts and room tiers are all not eligible for Free Dining. Additionally, room inventory is limited across all resorts. In practice, this means that when you go to book, a particular category (standard view, garden view, etc.) may not be available for your travel dates–or your travel dates may not be available at a specific resort at all.

To take advantage of Free Dining, there’s also the requirement that guests purchase tickets that include either a minimum 4-day Park Hopper or the Park Hopper Plus option. Additionally, a 4-night minimum stay is required with a maximum stay of fourteen nights.

This means you can’t purchase discounted Walt Disney World tickets from an authorized reseller, which we normally highly recommend in our Walt Disney World trip planning advice. This is something to keep in mind when doing the math to determine if “Free Dining” is a good value for you.

When it comes to Free Dining, doing the math is incredibly important. Other discounts (such as a room-only discount) might be better for your family. Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch; you have forfeit an alternate discount to qualify for Free Dining. We break down some of the math in our “Is Free Dining Worth It?” post.

If you have already booked a vacation package with an arrival date that qualifies for Free Dining, we recommend using the “modify reservation” link in your booking to apply the promotion to your package. This is the quickest and easiest way to apply the promotion.

You might see other advice that recommends calling to book Free Dining. This is outdated. If you call Walt Disney World’s reservation line, you will likely wait on hold for an hour (or hours) until you’re able to speak to an agent. Booking or modifying your reservation online is far quicker and easier.

Even if the online system crashes (which has happened) or moves slowly due to all the traffic, it’s easier to just keep trying online. Unfortunately, booking online isn’t always possible and technical errors do happen…so you might have to call and wait on hold.

If you are wondering which hotel to book for the Free Dining promotion, check out our new Best Walt Disney World Hotels for Free Dining post. It gives our preferred option for each resort tier. Oh, and don’t forget to make some ADRs for the best and most popular Walt Disney World restaurants.

With this Free Dining offer, Value and Moderate Resort guests receive the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan during the promotion. Guests at Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts receive the standard Disney Dining Plan.

We highly recommend making Advance Dining Reservations as soon as possible. Yes, even before Free Dining is offered, if you can. Everyone gobbles up the good ADRs quickly for Free Dining dates, so if you don’t book early, you will be stuck eating counter service or unpopular restaurants for the duration of your trip.

To answer some other common questions: yes, you must purchase tickets with the offer even if you already have them (or an Annual Pass). No, bookings made with Disney Vacation Club points are not eligible for the offer. No, you cannot “stack” this offer with a percentage-off room discount (at least not in the U.S.). For those wondering about other Walt Disney World discounts, check out our Current Walt Disney World Discount Offers post for what’s presently available.

For details about which tier of the Disney Dining Plan includes or for recommendations about which restaurants to book to maximize your use of the DDP, please see our comprehensive Disney Dining Plan Overview Page.

Note that the Free Disney Dining Plan promotion is always based upon arrival dates. For example, if Free Dining runs June 27 to June 28 and you arrive on June 28 and stay until July 5, you are eligible for Free Dining–even though it’s blocked out for July 5 arrivals. (You didn’t arrive on July 5 in that scenario–you arrived in June.)

However, if it’s offered those same dates and you arrive on June 26 and stay for the same dates, you are not eligible for Free Dining, even though more of your stay falls during an “eligible” period than the first example’s. The work-around for this is doing a split stay, with the ineligible arrival nights part of one vacation and a second vacation starting at the first valid “arrival” date and continuing thereafter. Again, arrival dates are what matters with Free Dining.

In the section below, we have historical Free Dining dates for the last few years. The rest of what follows is historical information about the Free Disney Dining Plan promotion…

Historical Information

The following is not pertinent to current bookings, but we have found that readers find it useful to have details about past Free Dining promos when planning for the future and what to expect. Note that the dates are pretty consistent from year to year, with slight shifts for holidays, weekends, and special events, or other things that may be excluded from the Free Disney Dining Plan promotion.

Last year, there was no early booking window for Disney Visa cardholders, but there was an expanded date range (see below). The two years before, Disney Visa cardholders did have an early booking window. Exact dates are listed below. Most years, the general public is able to book Free Dining packages 5 days after Disney Visa cardholders can book.

In years past, Free Dining has been announced in late April, with booking opening first for Disney Visa credit card holders and the general public a few days later. The last couple of years, there was no early window for Disney Visa cardholders.

Here are the Walt Disney World Free Dining dates that were available from 2013-2025 for historical reference…

2025 Free Dining Dates:

  • May 27 through June 26 (first wave)
  • July 7 through August 6 (first wave)
  • June 29 to September 30 (second wave)
  • October 20 to November 1 (second wave)
  • December 6 to December 22 (second wave)

2024 Free Dining Dates:

  • July 1 to September 30 (Disney+ Subscribers)
  • July 1 to July 31 (Disney Visa)
  • September 1 to September 7 (Disney Visa)
  • December 9 to December 21 (Disney Visa)

2020 Free Dining Dates (Cancelled):

  • June 27 through June 28
  • July 5 through July 7
  • August 29 through September 8

2019 Free Dining Dates:

  • July 5 – September 30*
  • September 1 through September 18**
  • November 17 through November 27**
  • December 8 through December 23**

*First and second wave of Free Dining
**Third wave of Free Dining

2018 Free Dining Dates:

  • August 20* — September 29
  • November 24 — 27
  • December 7 — 23

*Disney Visa Cardholders could book for arrival dates beginning August 2.

2017 Free Dining Dates:

  • August 21* – September 30
  • November 14 – 20
  • November 25 – 27
  • December 8 – 23

*Disney Visa Cardholders could book for arrival dates beginning August 13.

2016 Free Dining Dates:

  • August 23* through October 1
  • November 15 through 21
  • November 26 through 28
  • December 10 through 21

*Disney Visa Cardholders could book for arrival dates beginning August 14.

2015 Free Dining Dates:

  • August 28 through October 2
  • October 25 through October 31
  • November 8 through November 19
  • December 15 through December 21

2014 Free Dining Dates:

  • August 31 – October 3
  • October 26 – November 1
  • November 9 – November 20
  • December 12 – December 23

2013 Free Dining Dates

  • September 2 to September 25
  • September 29 to October 2
  • October 18 to November 2
  • November 11 to November 23
  • December 12 to December 22

Other Free Dining Posts & Resources

If you plan on getting the Disney Dining Plan check out these other Walt Disney World posts:

Want more dining tips? Check out our 101 Delicious Walt Disney World Dining Tips. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. Planning other aspects of a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. 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 think Free Dining will be released again in January 2026? Or will a rising tide lift all ships and result in Walt Disney World not “needing” to get that aggressive with deals thanks to Epic Universe? Are you a fan of the “free” dining promotion? Have any tips for free dining rookies? If you’ve booked Free Dining, what did you think about your experience with the deal? If you were unable to get it, where/when were you unsuccessful? Let us know what you think of the promotion and whether you’re planning on taking advantage of it in the comments!

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2,700 Comments

  1. We booked our hotel at Coronado Springs and Park Hopper tickets ahead of time. I finally got through to a cast member after calling 60 times to get connected and 2 hours on hold. There was/is still opening for the offer for our dates apparently. She had my reservation change all ready and DROPPED THE CALL on her end. I got forwarded to the standard Disney survey. Lesson learned: Get the 7 digit cast number first thing when you finally get someone.

    Reply

    1. Further update: We were able to break apart our trip into Sept 22-26 at Coronado Springs (our preferred location) with 6 day park hoppers and 4 days of free dining, and 1 night Sept 26 at POR room only. There are certainly still free dining offers open, just be willing to work with your dates, your hotels, or even both.

  3. What number is everyone calling to get into a phone que?? My fiance and I have been calling multiple times an hour since 7:45 am EST and have not even been able to get into a wait. Busy signals and circuits busy errors all day. We booked ahead of time for our honeymoon at Beach Club for half of the trip and Coronado for the other half in late September. I’m really hoping we will be able to get through. 🙁

    Reply

    1. Consider booking a new trip online and cancelling existing reservation. I went that route and had no issues and it took all of 10 minutes.

  4. I have two Disney Vacations planned both which MAGICALLY feel in the free dinning dates and it saved me a BUNCH of money. Here is how it went this morning…
    Trip 1 (September 3-8) Caribbean Beach Resort (***only had to purchase 4 day park hopper still got the free dinning) When learning of the free dining dates this morning. I immediately tried to call Disney, got a busy signal for an hour. Then tried to update online got to check out said I needed to call…at this point all that was left was King Size Bed rooms (saving me only $80 with the upgrade.) Before going to lunch I checked everything was gone at Caribbean. Finally at lunch I got through at and waited 1 hr 40 mins on the phone. While on the phone and after lunch more rooms including standard rooms had become available. After being on the phone for 1 hour 35 mins it successfully went through and changed!!! Thus voiding most of my need for calling. So all and all upgraded to park hopper and to middle of the road dinning plan save 298.46.

    Trip 2 (December 17-23) All Star Movies….Obviously this resort was excluded, so for the $455 we were about to save we switched to Pop Century. After failing to get through on the phone lines…we just booked a whole another package ($200 deposit) and cancelled our existing package. We upgraded to park hopper and saved $455.00

    So my experience is if your willing to be persistent you will eventually get through and just be prepared to be on hold for 90+ minutes, try modifying online, or just book a whole new reservations. In the instance of the CBR (I believe they possibly released more rooms) so keep checking back and you may get lucky!

    Reply

  5. I have learned SO much from your blog and it has paid off in spades. We’re taking the kids for the first time this fall. My wife thinks I’m mildly obsessed, but it’s worth every minute reading everything I can to get things right. We have a Cabin at Ft. Wilderness, tickets with Park Hopper, a golf cart booked, and every ADR we wanted. To top it off, Chrissy Davidson at Be Our Guest Vacations got us Free Dining early this morning. She is a saint.

    Next up is FastPass+ selections, but I have most of the summer to figure that out (and buy MNSSHP tickets).

    Thank you Tom and team!

    Reply

  6. Thanks Tom for all the info provided. I was able to book free dining for 11/15 -11/20 online at 3:00AM PT. Since we are coming in on the 13th, I booked a room only reservation. For my free dining, I purchased an 8 day park hopper ticket. Has anyone had experience or trouble with using their tickets a few days early? Disney supposedly says it’s not in their policy, but I know this is supposedly common practice. I’m just worried I won’t be able to use my tickets from the 13th-15th.

    Thanks.

    Reply

    1. I have the same question.. disney agent confirmed that we can start using before checkin into resort

    2. You can start using them, for the most I believe they expire 14 days after the first use

  7. I was on the phone dialing Disney right at 7:00 am EST and only had a 15 minute hold time. Was able to book free dining for a Sept 18-30 stay at Old Key West. thank you Tom for all the Rumor updates and staying on top of the info.

    Reply

  8. Hey everyone! Just wondering how many people here were able to successfully book Port Orleans Riverside with free dining. What dates did you get and how much for your package?

    I was up early checking dates all over September, but couldn’t find anything besides checking in September 5th. Also, as I continued to check dates, I found the original openings had gone up in price. I’m not sure if that’s due to Disney raising prices or just cheaper options of rooms selling out. Anyone else have better luck?

    Reply

    1. WE are booked in POR (have been since last year, September) but have been unable to secure any free dining. I booked through a travel agent this time, and both myself and the agent spent all morning looking for opening for free dining. In short – there is very little out there. POR had VERY limited rooms this year (meaning – barely any) and they were gone immediately. The sense we both had based on our searches is that Disney restricted the “free dining rooms” this time around to only the most expensive rooms at the moderate resorts. Example – at CB, only the pirate rooms qualify for dining. At Coronado, only preferred rooms or king suites qualify.

      Certainly, this is much more limited and restrictive than in years past. I was able to apply the room discount to my room, but i had to upgrade to a garden view in order to receive it (standard rooms are excluded.)

      All in all it was an utter fiasco.

    2. Thanks for your reply Chris.

      Just wondering, was this room only discount the “Back-to-School Savings” discount? If so, how much did the discount save you?

      It’s weird for me, but with the “Back-to-School Savings” discount, my package is $1500 more than my original booking without any discounts at all.

    3. I was able to book 8/23-28 at Riverside with Free Dining online through Disney Visa promotion. Did the Visa promotion run out, because I don’t see it on the “special offers” page anymore?

    4. Do you mind me asking how much your package cost with the Visa promo? Was it for 4 adults?

      I am wondering if the Disney Visa is a better option to try next time. Thanks!

    6. I only received an email with the free dining promo from Chase Disney Visa late morning on day of promotion release. I never saw it on their special/limited time offer page! Wish they did a better job letting customers know if their card perks.

    7. We booked POR Riverside for 8/23-8/30 royal rooms. However, I booked this online at 4am when it went live. We are going to have to split reservations because our flight comes in on the 22nd (originally booked at Movies 22-30). So when we arrive, we are staying at All Star Sports for the day, and then spending the rest of the week at POR. The first night will be a little bit of hassle, but after that it’s smooth sailing and we are very excited!

    8. Hi SmoothSail,

      I did see Royal Rooms available with the free dining promotion, however, when I checked I saw that the prices had skyrocketed past $4k for 4 adults doing 5 nights. Did you experience the same jump in prices?

  9. For those who couldn’t get Free Dining (or even if you could!), I quickly threw together an article detailing why the room-only discount *might* be the better deal, anyway…so all is not lost: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/free-dining-discount-review/

    I know it’s easy to get caught up in the hype of Free Dining, so you might give that a read to double-check whether the room-only discount is better for you.

    Oh, and please excuse any typos or nonsensical comments in there. I’m only going on a couple hours of sleep. 🙂

    Reply

    1. Tom –
      Can we expect more room-only discounts to become available later in the year? I was one of the many that got skunked by the limited number of options to add free dining to our Oct 1 – Oct 9 reservations at CBR. All three of the currently available room discounts at CBR require you to “upgrade” to a pirate room, but after you do the math the discount only gets to you back to the cost of a standard CBR room. Essentially, the current discounts at CBR are simply get the pirate room at the same cost as a standard room. I’m hoping to get a discount on a standard room at some point. Thoughts? And many thanks for all your insights on dining. Disney surprised us all with the VERY limited selections.

    2. Hey Steve – Our family will be there during this time as well. If you see a family of 4 with a 5 year old boy and 3 year old girl with curly blond hair around the pool – don’t hesitate to say HI.
      Have a safe trip
      -Doug

  10. Hi. I would like to join the club in thanking you for this post. Since booking in February, I was aiming for the free dining, originally booking for Oct 30; really wanted to do the Halloween Party! (unable to go before Oct 5). I then saw your blog and anticipated dates, and aimed for 11/27 since Nov 13 (my bday) was an iffy. I’m so glad that I booked Nov 27 at Pop in advance! It was SOO easy switching over to Free Dining at 5:55 am! I also upgraded to regular dining plan for almost $300 more, but that’s a save considering out table services would be over $800 out of pocket! Also will catch Christmas Party. I was unsure what time it would go live online, but now seems around 4am East? Anyways, thanks!

    Reply

    1. You’re welcome–glad it worked out!

      It was around 4 a.m. Eastern, but I don’t think it was 4 a.m. on the dot. I first saw it appear around 4:11 a.m. Seems sort of random…but nothing surprises me anymore about this promo.

    2. Also… I got the Disney Visa in hopes of being one of the first to get Free Dining…and it backfired! lol Still happy that I was able to get it though…and I’ll get $200 gift card back!

    3. I also signed up for the Disney Visa for the very reason of getting early access to the promo, but I didn’t get any advanced notice or access! Bummed. I’m still going to try and use the Back to School promotion, we’ll see!

    4. For future reference how did you change yours online when it wa already booked ? I changed mine via phone.

    5. HI just went to my reservation and clicked “modify”, then to special offers and “change”, and free dining was one of the offers available. Fyi I had no special offer on there previously.

  11. Booked Oct 30th thru Nov 5th at Caribbean back in February with hopes of getting Free Dining based on previous years including these dates. Everything I was told was to book early and “modify” when it becomes available. Also, I got the Disney Visa card because I was told they get first notification and also went through a local AAA travel agent who claimed to be the “Disney rep” at the location. Well, today the Free Dining dates dropped with no advance warning from the Disney Visa Card, no advance warning from the AAA agent, was only able to find rumors online and now my vacation doesn’t fall within the Free Dining dates, which it did for at least the previous 3 years, and when I inquired with my AAA agent about the Room Only Discount, I was told that because I booked in February, which was suggested to me, the Room Only Discount actually comes out more expensive for me because Disney prices have gone up?! I’ve bought the books, ordered the DVDs, been online researching constantly and none of it seemed to matter in the end. Very disgusted with the whole process at the moment and not feeling very “Magical”, I’m happy most people here seemed to get what they were looking for but for anyone booking a future trip to Disney, I hope they learn from my mistakes that it’s impossible to count on any discounts at Disney.

    Reply

    1. Normally, I don’t recommend AAA because I have heard too many stories and think many agents there aren’t truly passionate about Disney (as opposed to *most* other Authorized Disney Vacation Planners, who get into it because they enjoy planning their own vacations and decide to do it professionally, many AAA agents are “assigned” to Disney), but in this case, it sounds like your agent did everything they could.

      If you asked me in February whether I thought your dates would be included, my prediction would have been that they would. It wasn’t only until 2 weeks ago that information leaked to me that they would not. I also would’ve predicted that you’d get an advanced notice from Disney Visa. It wasn’t until last week that information leaked that Disney Visa would not.

      I’m really sorry to hear that you were unable to get the promo–I know that must stink doing all of your homework and *still* getting burned in the end. 🙁

      (I would suggest inquiring again about the room-only rate. Prices have gone up, but if you originally didn’t book a discount, the room-only discount should still be cheaper.)

    2. Thank you Tom for the advice, there was a lot of frustrating rant in there. I know now that next time I should maybe try a different agent to book through. I’m hoping to at least come up with the Mickey’s Not So Scary tickets at least and maybe a discount at some point before our vacation. My wife’s cousin is a Disney employee and claimed she could get us a discount, do you know if that is accurate by any chance?

    3. That is accurate. CM offers come and go, so make sure your wife’s cousin checks The HUB regularly. Some are ‘friends and family’ offers, while the better ones require that the CM actually stay in the room.

    4. Thank you very much Tom, I appreciate it, you’ve helped me feel a little more at ease about my trip. Still have ADRs and Fast Passes to book so we’ll see how that goes lol Do you have any info about when MNSSHP tickets might go on sale? I’m looking to go on Oct 30th.

  12. Success! I think, but thank you for your help! I originally had a preferred room at POR Labor Day weekend. Last night I wigged out and made a new reservation for the following weekend, same resort/room. This morning at 4:30 a.m. CST I was unable to change the dates on the 1st reservation for free dining online, but it would let me open the second reservation. I had to “down-grade” to a river -view room and had to hit the “update cart” button about 12 times. So, not sure if hanging out on the phone would have allowed me to keep my room preference, but I’m still happy with what I have. Kids had better be hungry after all this work!

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  13. At the 180 day mark, we tentatively booked three identical weeks of ADRs starting in late August and running through September. We didn’t want to miss out if our ideal week didn’t fall in the free dining range. I have been stalking the internet looking at rumors and patiently waiting for Disney to officially drop the discount. Luckily, our planning worked out and we were able to book Pop Century starting on the first day of free dining! As soon as my husband and I confirm our dates with our workplaces and make sure we won’t be changing anything, we will be dropping two weeks worth of ADRs including Be Our Guest, Ohana and Crystal Palace pre-opening!! Hopefully some families will be very happy when they find some hard to score ADRs!!!

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    1. By the way, I meant to say: Thank You Tom for all of your hard work keeping us all updated!

    2. you don’t happen to possess an ADR for Ohana on 9/12 – 9/18 do you? 🙂 currently they are all for around 9:45p, unfortunately.

  14. We had a trip already booked at POR for 12/26-1/7. Instead of trying to call in and change our reservation I just booked a new trip at Coronado Springs for 12/21-1/2 and then cancelled our 12/27 trip. Worked like a charm, took all of 15 minutes, and saved us $3100! Took our trip down from $8700 to $5600 (we were paying out of pocket for the dining plan for our original trip). I highly recommend trying this method vs. calling and waiting on hold for hours. Good luck everybody!

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  15. It certainly didn’t go the way I expected.

    Months ago I reserved 2 rooms at Riverside from 9/12 – 9/18 for a party of 9 and had mistakenly assumed I’d just be able to call DW today and modify the reservation. Had I paid better attention, I would’ve known to instead stay up, refresh the page until the offer was available, then manually change my reservations online(which I’m more than willing to do…it’s fun doing crazy stuff like this from time to time).

    Instead I stayed on hold for 2+ hours while at work and was eventually told all moderate resorts were out of dining promotions during my window of stay.

    Luckily, while I was on hold, I booked 3 (yes 3) rooms at Pop Century and upgraded all of them to the standard dining plan. The difference in price from 2 Riverside rooms to 3 Pop Century rooms, with the upgrades to the standard Disney Dining Plan? $350. And we now have two more beds and a third bathroom. 🙂

    I was a little bummed because I’ve never stayed anywhere beyond the value resorts, but my sister is straight pumped about it – her kids have never been to DW and will go crazy over just about everything at the Pop.

    At any rate, big shout out to Tom and all of the fantastic information I’ve gotten from him here – this is the first DW trip I’ve ever had where I’m actually not paying for the dining plan straight up. Also great advice on scoring the ADRs before today – with the exception of Ohana, I was able to book 9 people at every restaurant I wanted us to dine at. See you guys at the next milestone – when I come back and start trying to configure our Fastpass+. 🙂

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    1. That stinks that you had to jump through so many hoops, but I hope your story out there is a lesson to others to be flexible (seriously, at this point, I can’t stress that enough!), because that is so important with limited availability promos.

      Glad the blog helped. Although your comment about FP+ is a grim reminder that once all the Free Dining insanity dies down, my next task is updating those pages to start predicting what’s going to happen with Frozen Ever After, Soarin’ Around the World, and other FP+ options…

  16. I called 5 different phone numbers and could not get through any of them. I WAS able to alter an existing reservation online for Sept 3-10 at the Port Orleans Riverside resort and get the free dining! I’m ecstatic!

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    1. So if I have a current reservation august 20-28th would it not qualify for free dining?

    2. Hi AmberBow, I was trying for Port Orleans as well, but saw prices skyrocket out of my range. May I ask what kind of room you got and how much did you get your package?

      Thank you in advance! 🙂

  17. I waited on hold for almost 3 hours, but finally got it! We had to move from Caribbean Beach to Animal Kingdom, but still saved $555! We can’t wait until November!

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  18. Our travel agent was up at 4 EST trying to change our September reservation at the Polynesian and on the phone at 7. No luck. Which leads me to believe there were very very few rooms at the Polynesian, if any that were not studio Villas, included in the free dining plan.

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    1. There were very few rooms at a lot of the resorts. This is the first I’m hearing that one of those resorts was a Deluxe, though. I’m not totally surprised given that the Poly had more restrictions than other Deluxes, but that’s still disappointing.

    2. She thinks given the removal of all October dates, they may release some rooms at Deluxe resorts later. She could only get us at the Grand Floridian with the deal. For small children, the Poly is just a better fit for their interests. But bummed we couldn’t save a few hundred more on the trip.

    3. I think that’s very unlikely. What could happen, I suppose, is that people who have “hoarded” resort reservations will cancel some of them, which could open up some availability.

      I doubt inventory will be added in the future. From what I have heard, the occupancy rate this fall is higher than normal.

  19. We started calling at 6am central. Got a busy signal or error message until 7:55am. At that point a message said that there was a 2- 2.5 hour hold time. Sat on hold that entire time. When they finally answered we tried to book, checking in on October 1 until October 9. The agent said she couldn’t book the 2nd -9th with free dining because they were blackout dates. My mom explained the whole “as long as the first date is in range” thing. She said people have been telling her that all morning but it will not let her do it. So I do not know if they changed the rules or what. Regardless, we are just staying off property for free at my cousin’s condo, and will pay for our food.

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    1. That’s really disappointing to hear. No, the rules have not changed–that Cast Member was simply mistaken about them. I’m sorry to hear that you had that experience.

      I think it comes as a surprise to a lot of people, but the word of Cast Members is not always the gospel. If anyone else is reading this encounters the same or similar issues, ask to speak to a supervisor.

    2. If I had been the one on the phone, I would have definitely thought it. It was my mom though, because I was at work. Unfortunately, today started our state standardized testing, and I was not allowed to have my phone with me or a computer with internet access. So I was unable to do anything or even know what happened until my class was done testing. After my mom doing all of that craziness for four and a half hours, I was not about to ask her to call back and try again. I do know that there were does not gospel. I used to work at Disney, as a Hostess in the Cinderella’s Royal Table restaurant. It was my college program. The dining reservation people consistently booked people in the wrong place. They would ask for the castle, and they would book them at the Norway Castle. Or they would ask for the palace, and they would book them at Crystal Palace. I mean who doesn’t know what the person must mean when they ask for the castle or Palace at Disney World? Anyway, I know they’re not always correct. I just wish this lady had been confused about it, because we would have gotten the reservations. On the other hand, when I priced out how much we will have to pay approximately for food, we are actually coming out Cheaper by staying at the condo and paying for food instead of staying on property and getting the Dining Plan for free.

  20. so happy got free dining for my dates! I called right at 7AM and only had to wait 45 minutes. Thanks for your help 🙂

    Reply

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