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FREE DINING AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
Because Disney World has extended its free dining plan offer into some of the period when this site recommends first time family visitors go to Walt Disney World, this page addresses a couple of natural questions that emerge:
- Why do value resort visitors only get the quick service plan?
- If my hotel deal covers only the quick service plan, do I have to pay full price to get the recommended dining plan?
- If a period is excluded from the offer, does that mean it is going to be very crowded?
- Since the week you recommend doesn’t offer free dining, what’s the next best week?
WHY DO VALUE RESORTS GET ONLY THE QUICK-SERVICE DINING PLAN?
In the olden days–a couple of years ago–the dining plan offer gave everyone the same regular Disney Dining Plan. Last year, Disney shifted this so that those reserving Value Resorts such as Pop Century got the Quick-Service Dining Plan instead.
There’s a couple of reasons for this.
- One is that it preserves a value gap between the Value resorts and the Moderate resorts–that is, it makes it easier for people to convince themselves to trade up into a moderate.
- Second, the core difference between the two plans is that the Quick-Service plan does not include any table service meals. Since none of the values has a table service restaurant, not having such meal options causes less confusion–and complaining–at the resort itself.
IF MY DEAL INCLUDES THE QUICK-SERVICE PLAN FOR FREE, DO I HAVE TO PAY FULL PRICE TO GET THE FULL DINING PLAN?
This site’s recommended Disney World itineraries include Walt Disney World’s best loved meals, all table service. As a result, it recommends getting the regular dining plan to save money on these meals.
If you get the quick-service plan for free, you can upgrade to the regular dining plan simply by paying the normal cash difference between the two–on the order of $10 per person per night.
A travel agent can help you with this.
WILL THE BLACKOUT DATES BE CROWDED?
Not necessarily.
The free dining plan is not about getting you into Walt Disney World–it’s about getting you in to Walt Disney World while staying in a Walt Disney World Resort hotel.
This kind of discounting is tricky.
It requires balancing the extra income from attracting people into the hotels who otherwise would have stayed off-site, or not come at all, while not giving too many price breaks to people who would have come and paid standard prices anyway.
Some of the blackout dates are excluded from the deal because plenty of people will be at Walt Disney World then anyway–Thanksgiving Week is the best example of this; another is Jersey Week.
Other dates are blacked out not because of crowds, but because special events–such as Pop Warner Week–lead to enough predictable hotel occupancy that Disney would lose money from discounting these weeks, even though the parks themselves will not be unusually crowded.
WHAT’S THE NEXT BEST WEEK AFTER THE ONE YOU RECOMMEND?
Because it is also Pop Warner Week, the week this site ranks as number one for first time family visitors (see 2010 Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World, Ranked in Order) is excluded from the free offer.
The weeks before and after are ranked #2 and #3, and included in the offer, so they would be the next best choices.
MORE ON WHEN TO GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD
- For when to go to Walt Disney World, see this
- For the next best dates, see this
- For the best and worst times to visit, see this
- For 2010 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
- For the 2010 Week Picker App, see this
- For 2011 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
- For forecasting crowds at Walt Disney World, see this
- For seasonal pricing at Walt Disney World, see this
- For 2010 price seasons, see this
- For projected 2011 price seasons, see this
- For projected 2012 price seasons, see this
- For weather at Walt Disney World, see this
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