FREE Dining at Walt Disney World

One of the questions I am asked most often about planning a trip to the World is, “How can I save money on a Walt  Disney World vacation?”  While there are many tricks to saving money both before and during your Walt Disney World vacation, one of the main ways to save is to book a special package. From time to time I stop by WaltDisneyWorld.com to check out the Special Offers section under Tickets and Packages.

Right now Disney is offering their free dining package, one of the most popular deals of the year.  The recently announced New Memories Vacation Package includes a FREE dining plan when you book your 5 night/6 day vacation at select Disney Resort hotels for arrivals most nights between August 28th and September 24th of this year.  The package includes room, theme park tickets and a 20-page Disney’s PhotoPass® Photo Book to preserve and share your family memories.  You must book by August 27th and the vacation package has limited availability.  To learn more visit the Walt Disney World New Memories Vacation Package page.

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7 Comments

  • Kathleen Marler

    Just a note from a Floridian.

    Although this is a great deal, 3rd week of August to the 3rd week of September is the PEAK of hurricane season for Florida. That means that if Florida is going to get a hurricane 80% of the time it will be during late August/early September. BUT, Disney has their own backup generators. We’ve gone to Disney twice during a hurricane because we know there will always be power (Floridians get rooms a 50% discount).

    • Amy

      Hi Kathleen, great point! Certainly Disney offers its best deals during the least popular times to visit as a way to drive traffic to the resort properties, so in this case it’s a combination of weather and back to school. However, as someone who has traveled to Walt Disney World almost exclusively at off-peak times, I’ve found that the temperamental weather is an easy trade for shorter lines and better deals. I do love to save a buck or two! 🙂

  • Free Dining can be such a great money-saver for families, especially larger ones with older children!! I dream of being able to upgrade to the Deluxe Dining Plan and going crazy at the Signature restaurants one day! It will still be a few years, though, before FD is a money-saver for our family.

    • Amy

      We loved the dining plan when Noah was 2.5 because he got a plate for free at the buffets. We had reservations for a buffet every night of the trip! 🙂

  • Free dining can be a good deal – especially if you like to eat, or you want the incredible convenience of using pre-paid points on your room key card. However, think about whether you will eat all the food you are buying. If you have credits left over at the end, it will eat into (no pun intended) or erase your savings.

    • Amy

      Yes, it was a great value for us on our first trip when we hit tons of character meals, but we did not use the dining plan since then. We’re headed back for our anniversary later this summer and got the Deluxe Dining Plan. We’re ready to eat our way around the World 🙂

  • We used the deluxe dining plan and ate at the most amazing places and used our snacks for amazing treats like the handmade caramels at the Werther’s shop at Germany in the world showcase at Epcot! I would do it all again even though we couldn’t eat it all we tried things we’d of never tried otherwise! Well worth it for us and our fancy tastes! 😀 The quick service meals were boring to us. So we kept it all table service after a few quick service tries.