Category — e. What to Budget for Walt Disney World

DISNEY WORLD FREE DINING IS OUT

As expected, Disney World released today free dining for the general public.

The Free Dining offer covers the following arrival dates:

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

Those getting the deal for a value resort get the Quick Service Dining Plan for free. Those at moderates or deluxes get the regular Disney Dining Plan for free. For more details, see this.

Excluded from the offer are All-Star Movies and the Little Mermaid standard rooms at Art of Animation among the values, Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside at the moderates, campsites at Fort Wilderness, and the Villas at the Grand Floridian.

A room-only deal was released at the same time.

My friends at Destinations in Florida can help you with this or any other deal!

Call them at 877-918-8941 or request a price online. Mention yourfirstvisit.net for a FREE Phone Call with Mickey!

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Disney Visa released a complex room rate deal for two periods, 8/16 to 8/28 at the values and moderates, and 8/29 through 10/3 at all resorts.  (Book through 8/8.)

As near as I can figure, here’s the savings it offers:

Value Resorts 8/16 through 10/3

• 15% off All-Star Movies (not available 8/16 to 8/28)
• 20% off: Family Suites at Art of Animation (10% 8/16 to 8/28)
• 20% off: All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, and Pop Century (15% 8/16 to 8/28)
• Excluded: Little Mermaid Rooms at Art of Animation

Moderate Resorts 8/16 through 10/3

• 25% off: Coronado Springs, Caribbean Beach, Port Orleans Resort – Riverside and the Cabins at Fort Wilderness (20% 8/16 to 8/28)
• 20% off: Port Orleans French Quarter (not available 8/16 to 8/28)

Deluxe Resorts 8/29 through 10/3

• 20% off: Contemporary Resort, Beach Club Resort and Animal Kingdom Lodge savanna view
• 30% off: Animal Kingdom Lodge (other views) Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, Grand Floridian, BoardWalk Inn and Yacht Club

DVC Resorts 8/29 through 10/3

• 20% off: Beach Club Villas, Villas at Animal Kingdom Lodge and Villas at the Wilderness Lodge
• 30% off: Saratoga Springs, Disney’s Old Key West BoardWalk Villas
• Excluded: Villas at the Grand Floridian, Bay Lake Tower

The percentage discounts are pretty low, so most families will do better with Free Dining. For a table of nightly free dining savings by family size and age, see this.

To figure your savings, look up the rates of your target room and dates here, and multiply by the relevant percentage.  That’s what you save per night with the room-only discount. Compare it to your free dining savings, and pick the bigger!

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After a remarkable 24 hours, Disney released today free dining for Disney Visa holders. The offer that will come out Wednesday May 7 for the general public should be near-identical.

The Visa free dining offer covers the following arrival dates:

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

Those getting the deal for a value resort get the Quick Service Dining Plan for free. Those at moderates or deluxes get the regular Disney Dining Plan for free. For more details, see this.

Excluded from the offer are All-Star Movies and the Little Mermaid standard rooms at Art of Animation among the values, Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside at the moderates, campsites at Fort Wilderness, and the Villas at the Grand Floridian.

My friends at Destinations in Florida can help you with this or any other deal!

Call them at 877-918-8941 or request a price online. Mention yourfirstvisit.net for a FREE Phone Call with Mickey!

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD FREE DINING

As I posted yesterday, the current forecast is that Free Dining will come out for Disney Visa holders on May 1, and for the general public on May 7–not May 5.

But this is a forecast, not carved in stone.  To keep up with what actually happens–in case, for example, it does come out May 5!–I suggest doing two things:

• First, sign up for email notification about free dining from my friends at Destinations in Florida.  Click this link, fill out the form, reply to the confirmatory email, and you are set!
• Second, check this thread (click “last page”) every morning.  If things happens sooner than expected, you’ll find out quickly there–any news will show up right after 7a eastern.

Word is that the Brazilian deal will include the following eligible arrival dates, and thus so too might the general public deal:

• 8/31 to 10/03
• 10/26 to 11/1
• 11/9 to 11/20 and
• 12/12 to 12/23

Treat these as forecasts, too.  General public offers are often hairier than Brazilian ones. The US offer may be the same; it may be only for the late August-early October dates; it may be for all these basic date blocks, but with slightly different start or end dates; or it may be something entirely different.

For the best FAQ on free dining you’ll ever read, see this.

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Two different sources have told me that while September Free Dining will open for Disney Visa on May 21, Free Dining offers will open to the general public on May 7, not May 5 as many–including me!–have forecast.

See this for more!

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Update: or maybe May 7?

My buddy Joe Black is now forecasting that Free Dining for September 2014 will open to the general public for booking on Monday May 5.

(For the full scoop on free dining, see this.)

This is still just a forecast, and may be wrong.  But Joe thinks that Free Dining will open then, will likely open a bit earlier for Disney Visa cardholders, will have eligible arrival dates from late August into September, and may extend well into September. As usual, certain resorts and room types will be excluded.

Joe also think that there will be additional free dining for later in 2014, to be announced mid-summer. This last bit is a reversal of predictions that he and I co-authored late last year…and no one would be happier to be wrong!

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