When is meal plan free for disney world

The Disney Dining Plan is accepted at virtually all the food locations throughout the resort and you can use them in whatever combination you like. You can use two meal credits on one day, one credit on another day, and use all of your snack credits, all at once, on the last day of your trip, so the credits are completely flexible. Once you arrive at Disney World almost everything can already be paid for and you can tune out and relax for the duration of your trip. You can book an entire vacation with the Disney Dining Plan , prepay the entire trip in installments, and have the peace of mind that the hotel, tickets and meals are all paid for when you arrive at your hotel.

But like everything in life, there is always the fine print, there are lots of little details to keep in mind that will determine if the Disney dining plan is worth it to you and your family. First of all, I get asked all the time who can get the Disney Dining Plan and the answer is relatively simple… anyone staying at a Disney branded resort from deluxe resorts like the Polynesian to value hotels like Pop Century, they all offer it.

However, this means that select hotels on Disney property run by third-party companies do not participate in the Disney Dining Plan. If you book a package with hotel and tickets and exclude the dining plan you can add it later on but it has to be before your trip. But you probably already knew that if you are a passholder. As a passholder myself I booked room only reservations at Disney all the time. Finally, the third big question you may be asking is what do dining plans at Disney actually give you in terms of the amount of food.

Well, this is where things get a little bit more complicated. Understand that no matter which dining plan you choose, the number of credits you receive is all based on the number of nights you stay at the hotel. Additionally, all of the dining plans also come with a refillable mug that can be used at the quick service locations at all of the hotels. The different types of credits you get are all based on which plan you choose and there are a total of three. The entry-level plan is called the Disney quick service dining plan , and this plan will give each member of your party 2 quick service meal credits and 2 snack credits per night of your stay.

The next option is the standard Disney Dining Plan. This is the most popular option and this will give each member of your group one quick service meal credit, one table service meal credit, and two snacks per night of your stay.

Remember, a child counts as anyone between the ages of 3 and 9. Finally, the granddaddy plan is called the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan. This higher-end option will give each member in the group 2 snacks per night but offer 3 meal credits per night.

The kicker here is that the 3 meal credits can be used interchangeably between quick-service locations and table service locations, so it offers a lot more flexibility.

You can choose any of the three plans no matter which hotel you stay at. You can choose to save money on the hotel and stay at a value resort and splurge on food and get the deluxe dining plan. When you see this offered it usually means that the hotel you are staying with may limit you to only a specific level of the dining plan.

Before we get into some of the great ways to use snack credits and meal credits on the plan, let me highlight some changes to the Disney Dining Plan in recent years. Some of the changes in recent years might sway your mind into purchasing the dining plan, even if you never considered it before, for example, the inclusion of alcoholic beverages.

First, we have changes to snacks. In previous years guests were given one snack credit per night of their stay; this was true across the board in all of the plans. But in Disney changed that and removed desserts from all the quick service meal credits to give guests an additional snack credit. This is why now everyone gets two snack credits per night.

Quick-service meal credits now include one entree and one beverage, but those of you with a sweet tooth should remember the dessert is still included with the table service meal credits. The second major change to the dining plan happened last year.

In the past, all the meal credits, meaning both quick-service and table-service entitled guests to a non-alcoholic beverage. So if you wanted to enjoy a glass of wine you had to pay extra for that. In reality and if the Dining Plan does make a comeback you will be looking at booking a Disney World Vacation Package to qualify for free dining. There are four types of Dining plan:. Plus, with all the above you get a refillable mug to use at your resort.

If you stay at a moderate or Deluxe resort you will be offered the Standard Disney Dining Plan the second option on the above list. In the past you could pay the extra to upgrade to the other plans.

You can read our Disney Dining Plan Tips here. At the time of writing Disney World was still operating to limited capacity. To bring the Dining Plan back Disney will need to open a lot more of their restaurants that are currently closed. For the Dining Plan to work effectively for both Disney and Disney World Guests there needs to be enough restaurants open to offer good value to guests.

Disney also needs to be able to offer the free Dining Plan to enough people. This will make the offer financially viable for Disney. There are a lot of guests that know how to use the Dining Plan efficiently. Use snack credits for low value items such as a bottle of water or a piece of fruit — a win for Disney. Eat lower value meal options at table service restaurants — another win for Disney.

Of course, if come Walt Disney World Resort is back to being able to operate at full capacity then we could see Free Dining Plan Offers made available. During previous times of financial struggles for people all over the world such as the recession Disney increased special offers to bring guests back during low demand periods. This has certainly also been a tactic in recent years too with the Dining Plan being offered for free to encourage guests to visit during quieter times of the year.

Again, this tactic could very easily be used to encourage guests back to Disney World in The only worry that I can think of is that when things return to normal after the current global health crisis is that there is a built-up demand from guests eager to get back to Disney World at any cost. If limited capacity operations are to continue at Disney World, then there are a few possible scenarios. My prediction would be the second option and that the Dining Plan would be used to bring people to Disney World as part of a vacation package and ensure that the resort is as busy as it can be even at limited capacity.

Booking was available through February 26 for most nights from May 25 — August 28, This deal had to be booked by July 2, , for arrivals between January 1 — March 29, and April 19 — October 3, You must have a minimum 4-day stay and purchase a minimum 4-day Park Hopper or Park Hopper Plus ticket.

The bounceback offer is available to anyone staying onsite at a Walt Disney World Resort Hotel — all you do to get it is dial x from your hotel room phone and ask for the bounceback offer! To take advantage of a Free Dining offer , guests must book their travel dates during specified windows of time. In the past, the general timeframe during which Free Dining has been offered has been late Summer and early Fall, and during mid-Winter after the holidays have wrapped up.

Generally, guests must book a minimum hotel stay in a Disney resort. During recent offers, the minimum stay has been 3 nights. Room and ticket purchases are required for each person in your party. Note that you can upgrade to the Standard or Deluxe Dining Plans by paying the difference in cost per night. You can upgrade to the Deluxe Dining Plan by paying the difference in cost per night.

The Free Dining offer normally cannot be combined with other discount offers such as discounts on room rates. To learn more about the Free Dining Offer visit this page. They may be able to update your vacation package. Because of the restrictions on the Free Dining offer, the answer to this question is…probably.