Walt Disney World-Fall Free Dining and Fall Room-Only Discounts Now Available!

You heard that right, the Fall promotions have now been released!  Here's the information...be sure to contact me if you'd like a free quote or to book your trip.  You can fill out the quote form on my website, contact me on Facebook (be sure to "like" my page while you're there!) or use the contact me tab at the top of the page here.

Fall Free Dining has been released at Walt Disney World:

Get a free dining plan when you purchase a non-discounted 6-night/7-day Magic Your Way package (includes room and theme park tickets) at select Disney Resort hotels. This offer can be booked through September 15, 2013 and is valid for arrivals most nights:

September 29 to October 2, 2013
October 18 to November 2, 2013
November 11 to November 23, 2013
December 12 to December 22, 2013

The number of rooms allocated for this offer is limited. Tickets are valid for one theme park per day and must be used within 14 days of first use.

Offer excludes:

Campsites
3-Bedroom Villas
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter
The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

Don't need a dining plan while at WDW? Fall room-only discounts have been released too!

Save up to 30% on stays at select Disney Resort hotels, valid for stays most nights:
Sept 29 thru Nov 9, 2013—book by Sept 15, 2013
Nov 10 thru Nov 22, 2013* and Nov 30 through Dec 23, 2013—book by Nov 3, 2013
* In addition to the dates above, this offer is also valid for stays Nov 23 to Nov 25, 2013 at Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts.
** Offer valid at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – Family Suites for stays the following nights: Sept 29 to Oct 5, 2013, Oct 20 to Nov 2, 2013, Nov 10 to Nov 22, 2013 and Dec 15 to Dec 23, 2013.

Value Resorts-save 15%
Moderate Resorts-save 20%
Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts-save 30%

Note: Additional per adult charges may apply if more than 2 adults per room at Disney Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts. No group rates or other discounts apply. Advance reservations required. Moderate and Deluxe Resort suites may be available at a lower discount; please call for information. Offer excludes campsites, 3-bedroom villas and The Little Mermaid Standard Rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort and The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

Will you be taking advantage of free dining this Fall?

Tuesday Tip-The Disney Dining Plan and ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations)

Have you heard these before?  “I don’t need reservations for dining, I have the dining plan” or “You don’t need reservations for table service restaurants, you can always just walk up and get seated”?  Yup, I hear these quite a lot actually.  The reality?  The total opposite is quite often true.

Do you have the Dining Plan?  Make sure you get to use your credits!

First-what’s the difference between Quick Service and Table Service restaurants?  Think of it like this...Quick Service is like a fast food restaurant-you place your order, pick it up at a counter, then seat yourself and clean up after yourself.  Table service is like a casual dining restaurant-a host seats you, you have a server that takes your order, brings your food and clears your table.  Quick Service is just that-meant to be fast to get you in and get you back out again as speedily as possible.  Table service allows you time to sit back and relax, allowing you to dine at a more leisurely pace.

The very nature of Table Service (taking longer to have your meal than Quick Service) means there are less available seatings for these types of restaurants.  And with thousands of guests on the dining plan...and thousands more who aren’t but still want to eat at WDW’s yummy and very popular Tables Service locations, making Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs) has gone from a “just in case” idea to a necessity.  Especially when those Free Dining promotions are running!

Character meals get booked up pretty quickly-make your ADR early!

Here’s your tip...you can make your ADRs up to 180 days in advance of your visit.  The most popular restaurants and prime meal times will fill up quickly like Be Our Guest, Le Cellier and any character meals, so if eating at a particular restaurant or during a particular time of day is important to you, be ready to go online (6am disneyworld.com/dining) or call in (7am 407-WDW-DINE) to make your reservations.  There are a handful of restaurants that don’t take ADRs such as the ESPN Club, Big River Grille & Brewing Works, Kouzzina by Cat Cora and Beaches & Cream Soda Shop...but for the most part, if it’s a Table Service restaurant at WDW, you should be able to make an ADR.

Some Table Service locations don't take ADRs-be sure to plan ahead

After all, you don’t want to let those Table Service credits go to waste, right? While you could use a Table Service credit for a Quick Service meal if there was absolutely no Table Service restaurant available, you’d be wasting the value of that Table Service meal.  So, do a little pre-vacation planning to choose where and when you’d like to spend those Table Service credits and be sure to make those ADRs as soon as the 180 day point hits.

Did you know...if you book your trip through me, I’d be glad to help you with those ADRs too!  

Late Summer/Early Fall 2013 WDW Offers: FREE Disney Dining, Late Summer/Early Fall Room Only Discount

Just in time for those of you who have already started thinking about your Late Summer/Early Fall trips, Walt Disney World just released two promotions today.  They are available right now for Disney VISA cardholders (debit or credit) for advanced booking, but both promotions will be released to the general public on May 9th.  Here’s the details:

FREE Dining Offer

“You can treat your family to a special offer: a great Disney vacation complete with meals!  Get a FREE dining plan when you purchase a non-discounted 5-night/6-day Magic Your Way room and ticket package at select Walt Disney World® Resort hotels valid for arrival most nights September 2 - September 25, 2013.”

Guests staying at select Disney Value Resorts will get the Quick Service Dining Plan for free.  The Quick Service plan will get you two Quick Service Meals and one snack per person, per night of your stay.  Staying at select Moderate, Deluxe or Deluxe Villa Resorts and you’ll get the regular Disney Dining Plan for free.  The regular plan includes one Quick Service Meal, one Table Service Meal and one snack per person, per night of your stay plus each person gets one Resort refillable drink mug.

Want a higher dining plan?  You can always upgrade for an additional charge.

Remember, this is part of a package with room and tickets so you only need a deposit of $200 to book it with the final payment due 45 days before your check-in date (and you can make smaller payments along the way if you don’t want one lump payment at the due date).

Late Summer/Early Fall Room-Only Discount Offer

Don’t need the dining plan?  Not to worry, a room-only discount was also released today.  “Be close to the heart of all the magic, from the Theme Parks and entertainment to exciting nightlife, shopping and more. Save up to 30% when you stay at a select Walt Disney World® Resort hotel for stays most nights 8/15 - 9/28/2013.”  Room-only bookings only need a deposit equal to your first night's stay and you pay the balance when you check in...though you can always make smaller payments along the way for this type of booking as well.

Here’s the breakdown:

Value Resorts-Family Suites-save 15%

Art of Animation

Value Resorts-save 20%

All-Star Sports

All-Star Music

Pop Century

Moderate Resorts-save 25%

Coronado Springs

Caribbean Beach

Port Orleans-Riverside

Fort Wilderness Cabins

Deluxe Resorts-save 20%

Polynesian

Grand Floridian

Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts-save 30%

Yacht & Beach Club

BoardWalk Inn

Animal Kingdom Lodge (standard/pool view rooms)

Contemporary (standard/lake view rooms)

Wilderness Lodge

Saratoga Springs 

Old Key West

BoardWalk Villas

The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge

Beach Club Villas

The FREE Dining discount and the Room-Only discount are not available for stays in the 3-bedroom villas, campsites or Art of Animation-Little Mermaid standard rooms; the room-only discount must be booked by 7/31/2013.  Both discounts are available to Disney VISA cardholders for advanced booking thru May 8th, then on May 9th the discounts will be released to the general public.

So, which is the better way to go?  That all depends on how you and your family eat on vacation.  If you’ll use all the meal credits and don’t want to go off property to eat, the FREE Dining offer may work better for you.  If you’re like me and do go off property for some meals or use reward certificates for those on-property restaurants that take them-like Rainforest Cafe (I use my MyPoints to get gift cards here) or House of Blues (they have certificates on restaurant.com from time to time), the room-only offer could be the better option (for more about why I don’t use the Disney Dining Plan, click here).  You’ll need to sit down and figure out the math each way to see what will work better...or just contact me and I can quote your vacation both ways for you.  Don’t worry, there’s no extra charge for my services-and if your package is $2500 or higher, I’ll  even throw in a $25 Disney gift card for your trip.

And don't forget-Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party dates start in September so you can add tickets for the party to your trip as well for a lot of extra fun.

So, which offer would you choose?

Why I don’t use the Disney Dining Plan

So have you heard about the Disney Dining Plan?  If you are staying at a Disney owned/operated hotel with one of their Vacation Packages (including tickets) OR if you are an Annual Passholder booking either a package or just room only, adding the Disney Dining Plan basically allows you to pre-pay for your meals.  They have a few different plans to choose from ranging from their Quick Service Dining Plan which is just two quick service meals, one snack item and one Resort refillable drink mug per person, to their Platinum Package Plus Dining Plan which has accommodations at  select Disney Deluxe Resort or Deluxe Villa Resort plus the Premium Dining Plan (3 Meals-can be Table Service or Quick Service, 2 snacks plus the refillable mug), a fireworks cruise, reserved seating at Fantasmic!, a select spa treatment and more).  The plan has to be purchased for everyone staying on the reservation.

How much does all this cost?  The simple Quick Service Plan for adults is $37.99 per person, per night--this is in addition to the cost for your vacation package (or room if you are an Annual Passholder doing the room only option).  Pricing goes all the way up to $239.00 per adult per night for the Platinum Package Plus Dining Plan (again, in addition to your regular vacation package).

Now I’m extremely budget-minded (aka CHEAP)...I have to be in order to visit WDW as often as I do.  DH and I do splurge from time to time and go for the moderate resort instead of a value resort...but I have never stayed at a deluxe resort (YET).  I’d rather stay in a less expensive room and be able to stay longer and do more extras (like the behind-the-scenes tours).  Because I watch my money, I am not averse to wandering off-property into the Orlando metro area to eat at a non-Disney (*gasp*) restaurant which as I’m sure you can guess is normally a lot cheaper than eating on-property.  

One of the great things about that is that many of the large chain restaurants (and some of the smaller ones too) offer great rewards programs where you can earn freebies from appetizers/desserts all the way up to a high-end entree or even a whole meal.  There’s also rewards programs like MyPoints where you earn points by reading emails, checking out web sites, shopping online, taking surveys and more...and you can redeem those points for gift cards or even money deposited into your PayPal account (email me at thedisneyworldfiles at gmail dot com if you’d like me to send you a referral invite-it really is a fantastic site!).  

I was just in WDW the first weekend of May for the Expedition Everest Challenge.  I was there from late Friday morning to late Sunday afternoon.  I had a TGI Friday’s certificate for a free steak or ribs entree from their rewards program plus a $25 gift card for Rainforest Cafe that I got from redeeming points on the MyPoints site.  I brought some snacks with me and originally planned on eating breakfast in the room, but wound up having more brunch-like meals instead...mostly due to the fact that Friday and Saturday night were very late nights so Saturday and Sunday mornings I slept late.  How much did I spend out of pocket?  Just over $50 for the whole 3-day weekend.  And that was with two excellent meals (steak at TGI Friday’s and Rainforest Cafe).  If I had added the lowest plan (Quick Service), it would have cost me $75.98 for the plan for the weekend and I would have not had as many meals.  Plus, my roommate would have had to pay for the plan as well since everyone on the room has to have the dining plan.  Another thing-my room rate would have been higher, adding about another $40 to my hotel bill since the room rate would no longer be discounted...so my 3-day weekend trip would have cost me about $65 more if I added on just the Quick Service dining plan.

I try to do this for every trip to WDW.  This means for me...well, the dining plan doesn’t make financial sense.  Granted, I do drive to WDW and so I have a car which makes heading off-property fairly simple (and no, it doesn’t take a long time to get off property-especially when you know the back ways like I’ve learned over these many years).  But even if I didn’t, there’s always the Rainforest Cafe gift cards or PayPal deposits that I can earn from MyPoints...and from time to time some of the restaurants on Disney property have certificates available on Restaurant.com (I was able to score one for the House of Blues at Downtown Disney once...I’ve also seen the restaurants that are in the Swan and Dolphin on there).  Right now, the MyCokeRewards website will let you trade in 750 points for an admission to the House of Blues Gospel Brunch-a buffet brunch with live gospel music on Sundays that normally costs $33.50 per adult!  You can’t beat deals like that!

So the verdict for me personally?  No dining plan.  I may splurge here and there with a character meal once a year, but for now I’m saving as much as I can so I can enjoy being at WDW for more days and try more of the fun extras.  Some day when money is no object, I may try out the dining plan just for the convenience (and the free mug!).  And if I ever win the lottery, count me in for that Platinum Package Plus Dining Plan (read about everything you get here).  For now, my cheap self can’t justify it.

Do you use the Disney Dining Plan?  If you do (and use something other than the basic Quick Service Plan), would you consider lowering your plan to incorporate some of these suggestions to fill out your dining repertoire for your trip?