It may only be a couple days into the New Year, but the Free Dining promotion has already been announced for dates in 2020.
Free Dining is popular for one reason…free food!
Whether you’ve been looking forward to this promotion since you started thinking about booking a trip or you’re just now learning about this promotion, here are the details for Free Dining for Summer 2020.
How To Score Free Dining in 2020
Why is Free Dining so popular?
Well, for starters, it’s free food! But, for some Guests, the Free Dining Promotion is the only way they can afford a Disney vacation at all.
Take my family, for example.
My 2 boys are now teenagers. This means that I need to pay the adult pricing for both of my boys.
Quick Service meals can easily cost us $20 a piece. And Table Service meals can run upwards of $40+ per person, especially when you’re planning to do character dining and/or buffets.
Of course, there are ways we could save money. We could share meals to cut costs or we could bring food into the Parks. But, since we’re not able to get to the Parks as much as we’d like, we want to enjoy as much of the delicious Disney food as we can.
So, the Free Dining promotion works perfectly for us. In fact, we can save a whopping $1319.92 on the same exact Disney Package we would normally purchase.
Who qualifies for Free Dining?
For this promotion, your Disney Package must include the following:
- minimum of 4 nights at a select Walt Disney World Resort
- minimum of 4-Day Park Hopper Tickets
| Resort Category | Dining Plan offered |
| Select Disney Deluxe Villa Resort Hotels | FREE Disney Dining Plan |
| Valid for arrivals most nights 6/27/20 – 6/28/20, 7/5/20 – 7/7/20 and 8/29/20 – 9/8/20 ~Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort ~Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge ~Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge ~Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House ~Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village ~Beach Club Villas ~BoardWalk Villas ~Old Key West Resort ~Polynesian Villas & Bungalows ~Riviera Resort ~Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa | |
| Select Disney Deluxe Resort Hotels | FREE Disney Dining Plan |
| Valid for arrivals most nights 6/27/20 – 6/28/20, 7/5/20 – 7/7/20 and 8/29/20 – 9/8/20 ~Animal Kingdom Lodge ~Beach Club Resort ~BoardWalk Inn ~Contemporary Resort ~Grand Floridian Resort & Spa ~Polynesian Village Resort ~Wilderness Lodge ~Yacht Club Resort | |
| Select Disney Moderate Resort Hotels | FREE Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan |
| Valid for arrivals most nights 6/27/20 – 6/28/20, 7/5/20 – 7/7/20 and 8/29/20 – 9/8/20 ~Caribbean Beach Resort ~Coronado Springs Resort ~Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter ~Port Orleans Resort – Riverside ~The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort | |
| Select Disney Value Resort Hotels | FREE Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan |
| Valid for arrivals most nights 6/27/20 – 6/28/20, 7/5/20 – 7/7/20 and 8/29/20 – 9/8/20 ~Art of Animation Resort – Family Suites only ~All-Star Music Resort ~All-Star Sports Resort ~Pop Century Resort |
I know what you’re thinking, “But, there’s less than 5 days between some of those dates! How can I still qualify for Free Dining?”
The good news is that as long as your check-in dates falls within one of these dates, your entire trip will include Free Dining.
Can I get the Disney Dining Plan if I stay at a Value or Moderate Resort?
Yes, upgrades are allowed. You will just pay the difference between the Disney Dining Plan or Deluxe Dining Plan and the Quick Service Dining Plan.
Who doesn’t qualify for Free Dining?
Unfortunately, just like every promotion, there are some exclusions.
| The Following Resorts are excluded from the Promotion |
| ~All-Star Movies ~Fort Wilderness Campsites ~Little Mermaid Rooms at Art of Animation ~Wilderness Lodge Cabins ~Polynesian Resort Bungalows ~All 3-bedroom Villas |
Can you save more money on other promotions?
There are many different factors that need to be taken into consideration. A couple of these factors include the number of people in your traveling party and the Resort you stay in.
Since we are a family of 4 who stays in Value Resorts, Free Dining is the best deal for us. Free Dining saves us 28%, whereas a Room Discount at a Value Resort never gives you more than 15% off the rack rate.
However, if my husband and I went away without the boys, and we splurged on a room at the Polynesian, a Room Discount would most likely be a better promotion. Room Discounts at Deluxe Resorts can get as high as 35% off rack rate. So, we definitely wouldn’t save as much with Free Dining.
The best way to determine which promotion will save you more money is to do the math. Only one promotion can be added to your Disney Package. So, if a better deal comes out, just change the promotion. Easy peasy…
Booking Window
You have to book your Disney Package by January 16, 2020, so don’t delay!
Disney has a limited number of rooms set aside for each promotion. So, once these rooms are gone, they’re gone.
