Voice of Travel

The rumor is now confirmed.  Yesterday, Disney started the free Disney dining plan offer.  This is the third year in a row they are offering it at this time. If you want to go to Walt Disney World between August 26th and September 22nd, and stay on Disney property (and purchase at least a 1-day park ticket per person), you can get free dining added to your stay.  You can book this deal until June 24th, or until they have no packages left.

I have mentioned the dining plan in the past, but to review:

Each day you get two full meals, plus a snack. One of the meals is a quick service meal, and the other is a table service meal.  All tips (18%) are also automatically included, and will be given to your server…so dining really will cost nothing in Walt Disney World!

A quick service meal is the type of place where you go up to the counter, order your meal, and bring it to the table yourself. With that meal, you get an entree, dessert, and non-alcoholic beverage.

Your snack includes your choice of popcorn, frozen ice-cream novelty, popsicle or fruit bar, single piece of fruit, single serving bag of snacks, 20oz bottle of soda or water, or a medium fountain soft drink.

Your table service meal includes an appetizer, entree, dessert, and non-alcoholic beverage.

You can also use the plan for some character dining meals, or signature restaurants (although these usually use 2 table service meals).  You can use them in any way you want. At the beginning of your stay you get all of the credits, and you can use them as you like.

For example, if you are staying 4 nights, when you check in you will get 4 quick service meals, 4 snacks, and 4 table service meals for each person staying in the room. So if you want to eat 2 snacks one day, you can, and just not get a snack one of the other days. You can use either the quick service or table service for lunch or dinner.

 

Here are the restaurants that are currently part of the dining plan.

If you were to pay for the dining plan, it would cost $39.00 per day, per adult.  (I don’t remember offhand how much it is per child.)  So you can see, this can add up to be a huge savings!  We did this in September 2005, and loved it so much that yesterday we booked a trip for this September!  Many of our table service meals came out to over $100, and that’s not even counting what the tip would be.   We had some really great meals, and it was just a really relaxing vacation.

Also included in the package are complimentary airport transfers via Disney’s Magical Express, extra time in the theme parks, and complementary guest transportation between the parks and resorts.  You also get a certificate for a free 5 x 7 print from Disney’s Photopass, a free round at either Disney’s Fantasia Gardens or Disney’s Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Courses, a $15.00 certificate for Planet Hollywood and a commemorative luggage tag. 

Also, since this is the time many kids go back to school, it will probably be a lot less crowded then normal.  The last time we did this, there were absolutely no crowds.  We walked right onto 95% of the rides.  The only ride out of our entire stay that we had to wait for was Soarin’ which was very new at the time.  Other then that, there was never a wait, and many rides we were even able to stay on and go on twice in a row if we wanted.

We recommend making reservations for your favorite restaurants ahead of time, as they will get crowded with this plan.  We had reservations last time, and were always seated promptly.  The most we had to wait for a table was 5-10 minutes.

It was a really nice relaxing vacation, as it wasn’t crowded and everything was included!

If you want to book it, there are multiple ways to do so. You can book on Disney’s web site, you can go to your local AAA office, or you can book with any other travel agent (including us). Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, since we did this two years ago.

Over the next few months, we will be posting hints, tips, and other fun things to do at Disney, to help you have an even more amazing trip.  For example, did you know that in Epcot you could make and take home your own little robot?  Or are you wondering what has changed since your last visit?  We will let you know all of that, and more.