Disney World Free Dining for the General Public to Come Out in Early August?
By Dave Shute
FREE DINING AT DISNEY WORLD FOR THE REST OF 2013
Crack insider the “Mysterious J” emailed me last night to let me know that a free dining deal for the rest of 2013 at Disney World for visits booked from Europe and South America will come out on August 1st.
This deal will have book-by dates of November 15, and will cover arrival dates of
- September 29 to October 2, 2013
- October 18 to November 2, 2013
- November 11 to November 23, 2013
- December 12 to December 22, 2013
At or near the same time, a room rate deal will come out as well.
The “Mysterious J” has given me the heads up on such items weeks before they appear before, and has never yet been wrong.
Moreover, what typically happens is that these deals come out outside the US first, and then soon get released for the North American general public.
So this news bodes really, really well for general public free dining to come out in early August as well!
I’ve been frankly skeptical about such a deal and am oh so glad that it appears that my forecasts of no more general public free dining in 2013 might be wrong!!!
70 comments
Do the dates usually stay the same? We were hoping for the November 30-December 4 dates to be included.
This just made my day! 🙂
Woohoo!!! Thanks so much for the info, been impatiently waiting for news and was starting to get really discouraged about our October trip.
I’m in the same situation as John, I already booked for November 30th to December 9th hoping to get free dining, based on previous years dates. I hope that they will add those dates! I also have a trip booked at the end of September and I’m waiting to see what happens with November free dining so I can cancel one of them (November / December is my first choice). I have to pay the September trip on August 7th so the clock is ticking… fingers crossed!!!
Also hoping early December is added as we are going 12/1-12/7. With a family of 5 it sure would help. Disney isn’t priced well for families over 4 people so I’m keeping my fingers crossed! This is my kids first trip to Disney – I can’t wait!!!
Thanks for the heads up! Any idea why oct 5-12 is blacked out? REALLY hoping for some kind of discount. We may have to downgrade our resort or dining package …. It’s our first trip, excited either way.
Pop Warner is December 6-14 this year. That may be why the discount days are different.
http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/events/cheer/cheer-pop-warner/
We are headed there during the Oct dates, fingers crossed this actually happens!!! I made all my ADR’s just in case. This will be our first trip as a mom and dad…they kids have NO IDEA…not telling them until we are at the airport.
Why just Europe and South America ?
Ok, this might be a dumb question…I am also booked in Early Dec. I did not choose the dining plan as my girl just turned 10 so it makes no sense for her to pay as a adult. I will just pay out of pocket and she will order off kids menu at the places we go to. With that being said, if a free dining plan was offered now for our travel dates, would Disney actually let me change my reservation to add it?
One of the reasons we booked the early December dates was that it was projected to have lower crowds. Since free dining is not offered during the November 30-December 4 time frame, do you think this would indicate that crowds would be higher than anticipated?
” will just pay out of pocket and she will order off kids menu at the places we go to. With that being said, if a free dining plan was offered now for our travel dates, would Disney actually let me change my reservation to add it?” Jay is and when it is announced yes. BUT their may be ticket/room length requirements involved too..
We are booked for Dec. 7-13th. Is there any way that we will be able to get free dining or a room discount if they come out? I know that pop warner is around that time so will that completely eliminate our chances of any kind of discount??
Why do they have blackout dates in early October? We are booked for October 5th. Should I consider changing my date to November or take my chances and hope for the best?
Thanks Dave for the info. For the record, I wouldn’t consider your forecast wrong; you did say that if certain factors came in to play, then free dining could be a possibility. And if you still want to consider yourself wrong, wouldn’t this be a good thing to be “wrong” about??? Thank you for this awesome site!
We currently have a vacation booked sept 28- oct 6 based on the info you provided since we are not arriving on sept 29 we will not be able to take advantage of this is that correct? I am waiting on the military discounts to be released also. But if I am figuring correctly this would be better. We already have the room and dining booked for 3 adults 2 kids
Hi, any news on oct6-13th? Im goin for my 30th bday (the 11th) and was told by 3 diff. travel agencies I would get free dining, they were 99% positive, im so confused on y they are blackin out those dates, since its a slower time frame. PleaSe respond if you know anything? thanks!! 🙂
Bridgette, Dawn, etc.: I’m excited too! But this is still just a “might” happen, not a “will” happen!
John, Steven’s Pelletier, Paula, Carrie, Lori, Kel etc.: I can’t fully explain why Disney includes or excludes certain dates. In theory, it’ll exclude dates when it projects enough demand or willingness to pay that it can meet its goals without discounts (thus Pop Warner week and the fall break weeks of early October being out, as they have been out in past years)—or simply because the restaurants are already booked up from prior pin code releases (this is what I’m guessing happened to the week after Thanksgiving). But there’s no clear way to tie these “logical” factors to its behavior. Dates have been changed/added in the past either due to errors by Disney (it honored the wrong dates too, if booked before the errors were corrected) or to encourage more bookings on other dates. But don’t count on it…
Brandi: All that was reported to me is the Europe/South American discount. That’s why free dining might come out for the US. We won’t know for sure til early August…
John: Neither the availability of dining, nor of rooms in the WDW resorts, is a crowd calendar. Crowds come because masses of kids are out of school. They aren’t then, so don’t worry. See also this (about a different period, but they key points are still valid): https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/05/26/the-impact-of-fall-free-dining-on-walt-disney-world-crowds/
Jay: As Autumn noted, if your resort and dates are eligible, you can flip in to the deal by calling Disney, but will face a minimum ticket buy
Tiffany: I wouldn’t give up on a room rate discount being available your dates, but I wouldn’t count on it…
Danelle: if you split your booking into two, with one being on an eligible arrival date, you can do free dining. This may increase your ticket expenses tho…
Caralee: you are very kind, and yes, I would LOVE to see this deal come true!
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If you have already booked for these dates Disney will NOT just automatically change you to the free dining deal. A travel agent WILL do that for you if you have booked with one, but if you booked with Disney you will have to call and make the change. The deal always says “only a certain number of rooms available with this offer” so you may have to change to a different room category or even a different resort. The phone lines will be crazy, be prepared to call as soon as they open and be on hold a long time.
These dates are a little different from what we have been seeing people get with PIN codes. It MAY be that they have already gotten plenty of bookings for 11/30-12/4 and therefore don’t need to include those dates. That is one reason why the “I will go ahead and book and then switch to free dining when it comes out” mentality may backfire at times.
But, I guess we will know for sure soon enough!
Thanks, Lacee!
In general, any date that always has enough bookings for any reason at all will be blacked out. Even small holidays and events like Pop Warner will give them plenty of reason NOT to have to offer any special deals.
It seems strange to me that the dates that are included would potentially include all of Thanksgiving week and all of Christmas week. I am happy for those of you who can use it!
John, I think that’s weird too…
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