Free Dining Recovery Deal for Disney World
Ready for some good news?! Free Dining is once again available at Walt Disney World, but there’s a catch: it’s as a summer recovery vacation package for guests who have had to cancel their trips during the months during the closure. (Updated May 11, 2020.)
In our Will Walt Disney World Offer Huge Discounts After Reopening? post, we address two common reader questions: “will Walt Disney World offer deals when the parks & resorts reopen?” and “will WDW raise prices to make up for lost revenue during the closure?”
This new Walt Disney World discount should start to answer that. Even if you’re not eligible to take advantage of the summer recovery dine package, this bodes well for a second wave of the Free Disney Dining Plan Discount for fall and winter travel dates–or potentially even a “reissued release” of the first batch of Free Dining dates. We’ll cover the promo details and offer some speculation here…
May 11, 2020 Update: Over the weekend, Walt Disney World pushed back the booking window until July 1, 2020. We covered this change at length here. There were a lot of changes and cancellations as part of that, so some news got lost in the shuffle.
One such detail was the early ending of the Summer Recovery Free Dining package, as discussed in more detail below in this post. The deal was cut short, and is thus no longer available for booking–it’s also not available for rebooking or modifications.
This means that if you previously took advantage of the Free Dining summer recovery offer and booked June travel dates, you now would not be able to change your travel dates to July and retain Free Dining. (However, some readers in the comments have reported success at doing this over the phone. Best of luck–please report back if you try this and it works for you.)
This might come as a surprise, given that we’ve continually stressed that Walt Disney World will likely be offering more aggressive discounts to lure guests back once the parks and resorts reopen. We maintain that this is likely to be the case, especially later this fall and in 2021, as travel will likely slump for over a year. The economic recovery could take a while, as could assuaging fears that it’s safe to travel.
However, things may be different in the short term. In our Will Walt Disney World Offer 2020 Free Dining Again? we noted that capacity restrictions at restaurants may be a limiting factor on the extent to which Free Dining can be offered. The same may be true with resort limitations. (It’s probably not with regard to the parks–even if the parks are operating at 25% capacity, that still would allow all resort guests to access the parks, even if the hotels are near capacity.)
Right now, cutting the promo short could be a matter of Walt Disney World leadership not having a full or clear picture of what modified operations will look like once the parks and resorts do reopen. It’s likely they do not want to tie their own hands by committing to a discount that (more or less) requires restaurants to operate at a certain capacity. In other words, we’re still expecting more discounts, but Walt Disney World itself is likely in “wait and see” mode before releasing anything else.
For those curious (or who missed it before), below are the full details of Walt Disney World summer recovery dine package. To reiterate, this is no longer being offered, and we’re just keeping it here for posterity…
Here are the official details on the Walt Disney World summer recovery dine package, from the “Resort Rooms & Packages” section of the DisneyWorld.com travel advisory page:
Eligible Guests can take advantage of a vacation package offer that includes accommodations at a select Disney Resort hotel, park admission and a Disney dining plan–valid for arrivals most nights June 1, 2020 through September 30, 2020 when you book through May 31, 2020.
This offer is valid only for Guests who booked a vacation package or room reservation to stay at a Disney Resort hotel during the dates Walt Disney World Resort is closed. Offer not valid for reservations cancelled before March 1, 2020.
Note that if you’re eligible for the Walt Disney World summer recovery dine package, you should receive an email directly from Disney. However, these don’t always go out, get caught in spam filters, etc. Calling Walt Disney World (this deal can only be booked over the phone) or having your Authorized Disney Vacation Planner do it for you should yield success.
Again, we cannot emphasize enough that this Free Dining deal is only available to guests who have had their trips cancelled by Disney, or proactively cancelled. New bookings are not eligible at this time. There are no exceptions to that. (In other words: don’t bother calling and clogging up the phone lines if you’re not eligible!)
This is the same Free Dining offer that was available earlier this year and is not the infamous “Free Dining Lite” or “Half-Free Dining” as I’ve come to call Walt Disney World’s other marketing gimmicks that trade on the name recognition of the Free Dining offer.
This means that Value and Moderate Resort guests receive the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan, while Deluxe and Deluxe Villa guests receive the standard Disney Dining Plan. Beyond that, it follows all of the normal “rules” of Free Dining, which is to say that you’re required to purchase non-discounted tickets and pay full price for the hotel.
There are also length of stay requirements and some room exclusions–all of which is spelled out in the promotion specifics that you’ll receive via email (the normal “rules” are covered in full detail here, along with comprehensive analysis and Free Dining tips).
Walt Disney World offering this discount isn’t a huge surprise. It will leave guests feeling better about having to cancel, especially after many have had to deal with long waits on hold and some reported difficulties in receiving a refund.
Moreover, this is also almost certainly a better discount than anyone with a Spring Break or Easter trip had booked. Conversely, some guests with bookings for May might find this to be a worse deal than what they’d previously booked. As always with Free Dining, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” It’s essential to do the math.
From Walt Disney World’s perspective, it’s an even savvier move. Disney will need to find a way to fill hotel rooms and get occupancy to a respectable number once the parks & resorts resume operations. No matter what your perspective on whether or not the parks will be packed when Walt Disney World reopens, it’s safe to assume that the resorts will not be busy in at least the first month or two after the parks reopen.
A lot of guests will cancel preemptively, meaning bookings will be getting lighter for June through September 2020. Beyond that, most people cannot book a vacation on a moment’s notice for only a few days or even a few weeks later. That’s presumably the turnaround time between the announcement that the parks are reopening and the date of said reopening, whenever that may be.
When the parks do reopen, they’ll be heavily dependent–at least initially–on locals and nearby Annual Passholders. By and large, this is not the demographic that’s booking hotel stays.
Free Dining will help buoy bookings for June through September 2020, which are months that will presumably otherwise be fairly light on hotel reservations. This is a big part of why we’re expecting a slew of additional deals to be released once Disney has a more certain idea of when the parks and hotels will likely be able to resume operations.
Don’t be too upset if you’re ineligible to book Free Dining for June through September 2020 right now. It would be more surprising to us if this discount is not reissued to the general public in the near future. Beyond that, we’d expect aggressive room only discounts and aggressive offers for Annual Passholders and Florida residents.
Even then, we still wouldn’t be surprised to see some resorts consolidated, like Port Orleans or Art of Animation/Pop Century. Given the likelihood that convention business will be slow to recover, a delayed reopening of Coronado Springs Resort also seems possible. (All of this is totally uninformed speculation on my part.)
Walt Disney World has significantly increased its hotel room inventory in the last decade. That was great when business was booming and people were willing to pay a significant premium for on-site accommodations. It remains to be seen whether that’ll be a liability going forward. (I already wrote ~2,000 words on the topic in Will Walt Disney World Offer Huge Discounts After Reopening? My answer to the titular question was an emphatic yes–so now you know where I stand on that.)
One thing that should be emphasized is that this does not mean the Walt Disney World parks & resorts will reopen on or before June 1, 2020. It’s a signal that Disney has that intent, but it’s not conclusive. As we’ve noted in several other posts about the current situation, so much remains to be seen between now and then. Even with this deal, the parks could reopen earlier or later than June.
Rather, this should be viewed as Walt Disney World acknowledging the above–that having vacation packages and resort reservations booked is a necessary prerequisite for operating the parks and resorts. If hotel occupancy numbers aren’t at a certain level, it’s not practicable to operate them. In order to hit said number, Disney needs to start accepting reservations for future travel dates…even if those end up having to be cancelled as travel dates draw nearer.
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
Have you been able to book this Walt Disney World summer recovery dine package? Was it the full Free Dining or Free Dining Lite? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Thanks Tom for all your hard work! when you mentioned the possibility of consolidation of some resorts like Pop & aoa and Port Orleans, In what capacity? Staff? Transportation? Just curious
I imagine he means combining all the reservations to one of the two sister resorts. Like if Port Orleans French Quarter is only 40% booked and Riverside 40%, moving all of the French Quarter reservations over to Riverside and only opening that property to start (or moving everything over to French Quarter and keeping Riverside closed).
Exactly that. After 9/11, Port Orleans French Quarter closed for (at least) several months and its reservations were relocated to other Moderate Resorts.
Hello, Do you think that Disney cruise line will offer discounts after the corona apocalypse?
We aren’t eligible because we bought our tickets through AAA. I can still use my tickets at a later date, but I can’t get the free dining. We’re outside the 90-day AAA refund window for tickets. I’m trying to stay positive because before I called AAA this morning, I was afraid that I might lose the $$ for the tickets!
All I can tell you is that I bought my tickets through a third part company. I paid $2000 for 4 5 day park hoppers valued at $2200 (this was through Getaway Today). I called Disney to rebook my May 2 vacation for the end of September. They initially said that, in order to qualify for free dining, I had to get a refund from the third party and repurchase tickets via a vacation package with Disney. My tickets were refundable with Getaway only for a sizable fee. Disney instead refunded me the full value of my tickets ($2200, and I only paid $2000, so a $200 profit) in gift cards that I can use toward my stay. Booked the new deal with free dining. I would get someone on the phone at Disney and ask if they can do the same for you.
I did a chat on the Disney website after hearing about the free dining – have a trip set for 4/13 that we have yet to modify/cancel. I was told I would not be contacted by Disney regarding this offer.
No, Disney will not contact you. Your reservation will automatically be cancelled. Did you use a Disney Travel Professional to book your vacation? Many people don’t know we exist or feel it’s easier to book their own vacation, but this is a perfect example of how we could help. Not only would we cancel, but re-book your vacation and made sure you received the free dining offer. There were other people that had made comments here that they weren’t receiving refunds or discounts and I feel so bad because if they had booked with someone like me, we could’ve helped them. And I would be the one to wait on the phone or on a slow computer for hours and hours! Not you! lol
Disney is now notifying guest of their options. Keep checking your email!! I would be happy to assist you if you need anything!!
Was on hold for 2.5 hours on Sunday. Orig. vacation planned for April 10-14 was modified to July 6-12. Kept same resort and dining plan was applied. VERY long wait, but happy I stuck it out. Now keeping fingers crossed that all works out….
Wow, that sucks. So those of us who made a reservation before all of this and still plan on going get nothing. Thanks Disney.
What have you lost? If you’re able to go on your trip as planned, why should Disney give you anything? The offer is for those who had to cancel their trip. We won’t get anything, because we never book a package.
The reason it sucks is we have been attempting to get every discount Disney offers that we qualify for since we booked in Nov and every discount we are told they don’t have anything available for our room type. We even called for the Sun and Fun about an hour after it became available and we were told they didn’t have any rooms. It seems that Disney is extremely particular or stingy with their discounts. It also seems the more money you spend on a vacation that it works against you when it comes to availability of discounts.
I am seeing plenty of availability with the Sun and Fun discount from June 1 on through August right now, even over July 4 holiday. Yes, some specific room types are excluded – “Offer excludes the following room types: campsites, 3-bedroom villas, Cabins at Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows,” as they always are. Look for yourself, you can even modify your reservation unless a travel agent booked it for you. You might have to change your view level, like from standard to garden view, or something. But there’s plenty of discounted rooms this summer.
I just went on there yesterday after you told me about it and it shows no availability for our room type.
Check that last post. I went on again to see if anything changed and I can book the discount for a premium(with a view) 2 bedroom suite. (We have the regular 2 bedroom suite,
no view) We could take this offer however, it’s a more expensive room than we currently have the discount basically translates into us paying more with no savings.
Does this offer extend to Shades of Green cancelled reservations? We had a trip planned for April 4-11. Shades of Green closed and cancelled our reservation and refunded our deposit. We’d be willing to reschedule to a Disney property for this offer.
I waited on hold for 2 hours yesterday and they would not add the dining onto my July trip. We had originally scheduled a 3 night 2 day package starting March 16. We found out the parks were closed right before we left to travel to Orlando, so had to go anyway and stay at the resort. Of course could not use our tickets, as parks were closed. So we rescheduled for July and are staying at another Disney resort and will use our tickets at that time. Customer Service WOULD NOT give us the dining plan because they said we “completed our March stay”. I could not believe this and am completely disgusted with Disney at this point. Also disgusted with myself for spending 2 grand to stay at their resort and to eat in their restaurants even though parks were closed. You’d think they’d be grateful that I didn’t cancel. What a joke!!
I just got through this morning after about 2.5 hours on hold. We rebooked for August, originally we were checking in on April 29th for ten nights. We got the free dining package however the savings for us are minimal – about $500. This is for a family of four. We had to forego our Canadian tickets b/c they can’t be used with the free dining promotion. Also not happy with the fact that nothing can be modified online and payments cannot be made online either, have to call in for everything. I prefer doing everything online myself, so much faster and easier. Can’t feel fully excited either since the whole thing could need to be cancelled and rescheduled again depending on the state of the world in August!
Just a little update to my own post… it looks like some of the online functionality has returned to my MDE account. I can now make online payments for this rescheduled trip, so happy about that!
For those who like split stays, those are hard to do with free dining unless you don’t mind paying more- approx $900 more in our case, due to the fact that you need at least 2 park tickets per person linked to each resort reservation. We decided to forego the split stay, originally booked, for this reason.
My last post went under someone else’s reply when I thought I made sure it didn’t! :
So I just called and because I did a room-only reservation for my trip and purchased the park tickets separately, I don’t qualify. I even read the CM the website that said “vacation package OR room reservation” which to me means exactly that, either we did a package or not and it didn’t matter. We did it that way because we were supposed to go on a Carnival cruise for Spring break and I decided a month or so ago to add 2 nights at Disney so I just did the hotel to have one and was going to sort out tickets after because I knew they were non-refundable and wanted to be sure. The CM said she would have to book it as a vacation package with NEW park tickets (more $ for me) then cancel my room booking and that the tickets I previously bought I could use until Dec. 15th 2020 (providing I didn’t use them for the newly booked July trip). Then the hotel room type I have is no longer available for my dates, so to switch from a Sun & Fun promo price for an ordinarily cheaper room type to a more expensive room type I don’t need (5th sleeper @ CBR) at regular price didn’t seem worth it to me PLUS extra park tickets for the QS dining plan. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen people today in FB groups say they just had to pay the different between their room-only promo price and the regular rack rate to get the free dining plan. Seems like it depends on what CM you speak to?
No, it’s a package offer. You can get it with a room-only qualifying reservation, but it will have to be changed to a package with the purchase of 2 base tickets per person. The numbers have to work out for each party’s scenario, just like any other free dining offer – it’s not always deal over the room-only discount for everyone. In our case, with 2 teeanagers, it’s definitely a better deal. Plus, a big difference here from past free dining offers is that this one only requires 2 base day tickets per person, where typically it’s been 4 park hopper tickets. We were calling @ 7am today, got thru in about 25 min. & the cast member was soooo very helpful.
Unfortunately they wont let you combine deals, the fun in the sun room and free dining. The CMs are usually wonderful at running both deals to see which will save you the most money.
We bought park tickets before the price increase this January, and the new offer with free dining is hundreds of dollars more than what we paid for a package with tickets and DDP, and that is despite lower hotel rates for the same resort/room category in August under the sun and fun offer than during out May trip. This is not compensation for a cancelled booking; its a trick to get you to pay more after they realized that a lot of people can and will use tickets grandfathered in at the old prices until Dec. 15 under their previously announced cancellation policy. I suspect they are also trying to convert people from room only to package to lock people in at 30 days out instead of 5.
Shame on disney–they should not be marketing something worse as a special offer yo compensate the people they left hanging.
I was not able to book FPs or modify ADRs for our end of May trip because they locked the FP booking system down for May. That is not right–if they are going to cancel, cancel–don’t leave the reservation uncancelled and then take away our ability to plan it.
@MomOfTwins they just tried to get me to convert to a vacation package for the DDP offer! And I can’t move my tickets to July after canceling our April trip because their system is down for that since they are converting those tickets to flexible and I’m wondering if it will be ready in time for my 90-day window to book fastpasses for the new trip on April 2nd!
We moved our trip to August but we don’t really want the free dining because we are only doing 3 park days with no hoppers (plus we have one AP).
However, there are no AP hotel discounts past July 9. They did extend the Sun and Fun but NOT the AP one. Any ideas on that? just keep waiting?
I noticed that as well. We did take advantage of the free dining offer even tho we’re AP because it’s only 1000 more, even with the extension of our passes they’ll expire July 10th if they open June 1st. We can use the tickets towards upgrading again to AP as well, and last time we did that they let us book under the AP rate even tho we had a package because we upgraded. So either we will get the AP rate for sept once we upgrade again and still have free dining or we’ll just use the tickets value towards our passes to upgrade again and either way we’re making out. I do hope they extend the regular AP rates past July 9th since we make up the most people who will be going right away, and those that can just go at a very short notice
Accidentally submitted this as a reply to someone’s comment the first time.
Hmm we rescheduled our spring break trip to the last week of October and I was bummed that we wouldn’t qualify for this unless we moved the trip sooner. Now I’m wondering if we should hold out and see if they extend the dates. But then I’m worried all the value hotels would be full if they didn’t extend it and we decide to move to September…but then if we dont have to pay for food we can pay for a pricier hotel… so many factors and decisions to make!!
I was so excited at first. I saw free dining. However it cant be combined with fun and sun offer. So for one adult one child its not even a deal. I would be paying more. We are last week in may. I booked a second round of dining in june but those dates are completely booked at carribean beach. Every style of room booked in mid june even without the sun and fun discount.
I’ve been trying to call for about 15 minutes and getting “all circuits are busy.”
I’d recommend waiting a few days for the initial rush to subside. This offer likely has tons of availability, and there are reports of 4+ hour wait times on hold if you do manage to get through (and thus not get the “all circuits are busy” message).
So I just saw on one of the DVC and Disney info sites that DVC members who made reservations using points qualify for this offer, HOWEVER the NEW RESERVATION HAS TO BE BOOKED AS A CASH RESERVATION and all of the other qualifications still apply (cash price for room, has to be a package with tickets, etc.).
Thanks for the heads up! Sounds like they’re basically coding this as a bounceback offer, in that case.
Do you think this offer applies to DVC members? We had our trip for March cancelled by the closures and have rebooked for August. Do you think if we call they will add dining onto our reservation?
My original travel dates were April 17th – 22nd, I’d already rescheduled to Sept of this year in mid-March. Never received an email (even checked my spam folder) but called this morning and they were quickly able to add the free dining promo to my package.
We have 4 rooms booked for 5/29-6/3. I just tried to change them to 6/1-6/5 and the cast member could find no availability at any of the All Star resorts for those dates. We kept our original dates and just praying that they open by then!
June 1st is not a guaranteed opening. Could you look a bit later to find the resort you want?
Our trip isn’t until August, and was actually booked as a Free Dining Bounceback, so not directly affected by this, just curious: any anecdotal evidence of availability on this offer? Typically the Free Dining offers have very limited availability (well beyond the room limitations listed in the fine print – have found many resorts to have no standard room availability, etc.). I’m just curious if that’s the case now, or because it’s strictly for recovery for guests who have had to cancel – if they’re not limiting its availability for those guests. Would just be interesting to know if they’re using it as a true recovery tool or if they’re sticking to their usual “Hey, look at this great discount (but good luck getting it when and where you want it).” Not meant as a whining complaint about those times – I understand why they’ve done it that way – they want the buzz around the discounts but really have not had the need to truly release those in a widespread manner (although I’ve wished they’d just be more honest about the room limitations when they do release those kinds of deals – although everything may be different going forward).
Well when I called the first night the availability was pretty high. We stay at the grand and they had regular rooms available. I was unsure if I wanted to modify our May trip to September so I didn’t book. Called back the next day and actually added nights on and grand standard room was still available. Honestly was shocked. I think they’re just adding the free dining on for anyone who qualifies and not limiting availability. If they limited it I think they’d have a lot less people Rebooking
I was supposed to go 3/23 and rebooked to May 8. Would I be eligible for this offer if I rebooked not cancelled?
I was! My original dates were April and had already moved to Sept. They applied the free dining easily for me.