Travel Dates: September 2 – 25, 2013
Walt Disney World has announced it’s annual Disney Free Dining! This is the exact same deal that was released to Disney VISA cardholders a few days ago, but the Disney VISA card requirement is now gone, anyone can get this great deal.
Please note that in order to qualify for the free dining offer, your must check in during one of the available dates above. Your stay can extend past September 25, 2013, and you will still receive the free dining for your entire stay. You may not check in before September 2 and qualify. Availability is extremely limited, and not all resorts may be available.
- Guests staying at a Walt Disney World value resort will receive the Quick Service Dining Plan for free. Guests will be able to upgrade to either the Disney Dining plan or the Deluxe Disney Dining plan by paying the price difference. To upgrade to the Disney Dining Plan, the increased cost will be $19.00 per adult per night of your stay, and $2.84 per child. To upgrade to the Disney Deluxe Dining plan, guests will pay $63.39 per adult and $12.52 per child per night of your stay.
- Guests staying at a Disney World Moderate, Deluxe or Deluxe Disney Villa resort will receive the Disney Dining Plan included for free. Disney World guests at moderate, deluxe and villa resorts will also be able to book the “Free Dining”, and upgrade to the Disney Deluxe Dining for the normal price difference, which is $44.38 for adults and $19.68 for children three to nine per night of your stay.
Availability is extremely limited, and this offer must be booked by July 31, 2013. It appears that all suites, campsites and 3 bedroom villas have been excluded from this offer, as are the Little Mermaid rooms at the new Art of Animation Resort. All other Disney resorts, including value resorts are included in the offer.
Requirements
- Three night minimum stay
- Fourteen night maximum stay per reservation
- Minimum 2 day basic park pass per person included in the package
For more information on the 2013 Disney Dining Plans, what is included and what is not included, we have a great page you can check out: 2013 Disney Dining Plans
To book this special Disney World “Free Dining” vacation package, please contact our great sponsor Mouseketrips.
Suzanne says
May 9, 2013 at 8:33 amDo you know when the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is this year ???
Keith says
May 9, 2013 at 8:47 amSuzanne – September 27 – November 11, 2013
Jennifer says
May 9, 2013 at 2:05 pmI am going to Disney from 9/22/13 to 9/28/13…. We are staying at Disney’s Art of Animation(Family Suite). I called my travel agent to have her update our dinning(The regular Dining Plan) and she told me that there are no openings for that week for me to get the free dining with the upgrade rate of 19.00 per adult and 2.84 per child… Can you tell me why? This offer just came out today….
Keith says
May 9, 2013 at 2:11 pmJennifer – All discounts are based on availability. At this point, and I just checked, the family suites are completely sold out, nothing is available for your dates, so she can’t switch it, there isn’t anything to switch it to.
Consider looking at alternatives. My guess is a cabin at Fort Wilderness is going to be about the same price, but you will get free dining.
brad hamilton says
May 13, 2013 at 7:53 amtypically the family suite are not included in free dining offers. Disney feel that its to much of a discount to offer it for 6 people in a room. This is despite the fact that 2 reg room can cost less than a suite room…. I’m not sure i understand their rationale.
Keith says
May 13, 2013 at 8:32 amBrad – The family suites at both Art of Animation and All-Star Music ARE included in the discount.
Karen V says
May 10, 2013 at 5:05 pmJust wondering, if I get a PIN code for free dining AFTER I book a Moderate resort ( Port Orleans – riverside) from August 25-Sept 1 and take advantage of the late summer offer of 25% off , can my booking be adjusted to switch to the free dining offer instead. Would I need to discuss this with my travel agent?
Keith says
May 13, 2013 at 8:31 amKaren – Yes, as long as there is availability at your resort with the new discount, you can switch to a better deal as many times as you want if one comes along.
Donna says
May 16, 2013 at 7:51 amHi Keith, At the end of March, I booked a Royal Room at the Port Orleans Riverside for September and was lucky enough to add on the free dining plan when it was released to Disney visa card holders the other week. At the time, we booked standard view room but now decided to upgrade to a pool view room and pay the upgrade difference. I called Disney and she said she wasn’t showing any rooms available apart from standard even though online is showing river view and also pool view are available – the only unavailable is garden view. Is this because we have the free dining plan? I presumed that because we already had a room reserved, that we would be able to switch to another view – are the special offers broken down within resorts themselves to types of “view” too? The CM I spoke with wasn’t sure if that was the reason but said to keep calling back to see if one became available??
Thanks!
Keith says
May 16, 2013 at 10:34 amDonna – When Disney releases a discount, they do not discount every room. They basically look at a resort and each room type on a nightly basis, and discount a certain number of each room type. So, take Riverside for example. If there are 200 garden view rooms (just a round number, not the real one), they may discount 100 of them most nights. Other nights, maybe only 50. Once those discounted rooms are gone, it doesn’t matter what is available at full rate.
I would keep checking back to see if anything opens up, you never know.
Donna says
May 16, 2013 at 11:02 amGot it! thanks. Is there any way for me to check online once I’ve logged into my profile/reservation or do I need to actually call in and speak with someone?
Thanks Keith.
Keith says
May 16, 2013 at 11:13 amDonna – You can check online, but make sure you are looking at your exact dates, resort and with the free dining included, or availability will differ.
http://bookwdw.reservations.disney.go.com/ibcwdw/en_US/specialOfferDetails?name=Promo&promotionCode=fy13q4dine&market=fy13q4dine
On that page, there is a “check availability” button on the right, use that one.
Jill says
May 25, 2013 at 8:35 amAfter frantically checking my email every single day, I finally called to see if there was a free dining pin associated with my account. There WAS! 🙂 Give Disney a call to see if you have a pin. So excited!
Keith says
May 25, 2013 at 8:44 amJill – Yah! Definitely worth calling if you haven’t seen anything, worth the few minutes to see if they do have something for you or not. Also a good opportunity to make sure that all of your info is up to date with Disney.
BJ says
May 29, 2013 at 7:28 amIf I have free dining can I also use another discount?
Keith says
May 29, 2013 at 11:49 amBJ – Nope. Regardless of discount, Disney only ever lets you use one at a time. If there are multiple offers for your travel dates, you just pick the best one for your family and go with it.
BJ says
May 29, 2013 at 12:15 pmThanks!!
Lauren says
June 6, 2013 at 9:09 pmGot a free dining offer for sept in the mail…can’t find the paper now…is there a general code or is it specific for each customer…is there anyway I can call and get another?
Keith says
June 7, 2013 at 12:06 amLauren – most September dates are available to everyone with this free dining offer, no PIN needed.
Felicia says
June 28, 2013 at 9:32 amWe are coming in Sept 2 thru the 9th and staying at Old key west. How do I find out if i can get the disney dining package for free??????
Keith says
June 28, 2013 at 9:34 amFelicia – You will need to contact your travel agent or Disney directly, basically whoever booked your trip for you. If you booked a package that includes your hotel room and park passes, you should qualify. If you are staying on DVC points, or booked through a reseller like Southwest Vacations, you will not.
Sherri says
July 10, 2013 at 1:21 pmAny idea if Disney will offer free dining for the last week or two of August 2013?
Keith says
July 10, 2013 at 1:42 pmSherri – They will not. There will not be any additional dates added to the free dining. They may add later Fall dates, but not the end of August. The PIN code that has been sent out the last month or so did include late August, that is your best bet:
http://www.mousemisers.com/2013/fall-free-disney-dining-pin-code/
michele p says
July 11, 2013 at 10:13 pmSherri- I completely understand how you feel. We went last year the end of August when they did offer free dining the last week. We planned on doing the same thing this year but the only way is through the pin code. My kids are crushed. We lost half our house in Sandy & could really use this vacation and free dining would make it possible and more affordable. Two of my friends got it but not me….feeling a bit down but grateful our hose and lives are on the mend.
Michele p
Amy says
July 12, 2013 at 9:41 amDoes anyone know if they offered the free dining plan this past February? We went in February of 2012 and it was such a great deal with the dining. Planning another trip for 2014 and I know that there isn’t a guarentee but do they typically do free dining in January and/or February?
Keith says
July 12, 2013 at 11:06 amAmy – There was no free dining in early 2013. 2012 was the only year that Disney offered Free Dining outside of Fall dates. It is very doubtful we will see it again for Spring dates, but you never know, Disney has a knack of doing strange things.
Jenny says
July 13, 2013 at 8:03 pmAny idea when the fall offers will be out? Are you still thinking there will be no free dining for the fall?
Keith says
July 15, 2013 at 10:00 amJenny – Not really sure on a date. Disney likes to have one offer expire before offering the next one. The current deals expire the end of July. However, if they do decide to extend free dining, that will probably be done before the end of the month. Either way, should be out in the next few weeks.
At this point, we are pessimistic on free dining being released for Fall dates. Disney has been sending out PIN codes for limited Fall dates for some time now, we just don’t see them turning around and offering the same deal to everyone, they just don’t do that.
Cat says
July 23, 2013 at 6:07 pmWas wondering if the rumor is correct that the military 3 day special will be extended at Disneyland?
Keith says
July 24, 2013 at 10:28 pmCat – Not a rumor, it was extended through September 2014 a few days ago:
http://www.mousemisers.com/2013/2013-and-2014-disney-military-discounts/
Cat says
July 24, 2013 at 10:38 pmThanks.. I actually was sent the link a couple of hours ago. It went up $4, but I can live with that! (esp. since Disneyland has raised admission and pass prices more than once)
Family of 6 will be there in Oct. No concern about the number of passes, we all have military I.D. cards. We are now looking to see if we can afford a little nicer hotel this trip, as we had set aside $1000 for tix 🙂 (Of course, gas was about 45 cents less a gallon when we set that aside!)