Nothing gets people more motivated to book their vacation than the release of the ever popular free dining offer at Disney World. As a travel agent with Pixie Vacations the number one question I get asked is when free dining will be coming out. First off let me tell you secret…we travel agents have no clue as to when Disney will release certain offers. All we can do is use past information to try to guess when an offer will be released. That being said I am going to give it a guess.
On March 7 the current room and ticket discount for February and March that is out will expire for booking. On March 31 the same offer will expire for April, May, and June bookings. Last year free dining was released for Disney Visa Card Holders on March 1 and then released to the public on March 5. This free dining package was available for stays August 25, 2012- September 29, 2012. It is quite possible that this could happen again at some point in March.
As a Disney visa card holder I have not yet been given any information on a free dining offer, but I would not expect this until the package was officially released. I am hoping that they will release it as the current room discount offer expires. I also have one other clue that leads me to think that free dining may be released soon for August and September stays. In October 2012 I stayed at The Beach Club and booked a September 2013 stay that includes free dining as part of a bounce back offer. Bounce back offers are exclusive offers that can only be booked while you are at Walt Disney World. Details of these offers are usually left on heavy paper pocket watch shaped flyers in your room. The package I booked was exclusively for travel dates between August and the end of September 2013. I am hoping this is no random coincidence and that I was simply given an early booking window as a reward for being a 2012 resort guest who had traveled in the fall.
This information is of course all of my own opinion and has no bearing on the actual plans that the mouse has in store. Disney has been saying for a while now that we are going to see fewer discounts and fewer free dining dates. I for one, hope that is not the case!
If free dining is released in the future keep in mind that just because the word free is involved it does not mean it is the best offer. Sometimes a room only discount with tickets and dining added on will come out cheaper than free dining at certain resorts for certain party sizes. Always check all your options. In the mean time if you want to be alerted when free dining is released and get at least a $25 free gift card on top of it when you book a package including free dining with me, just send an email with “Free Dining” in the subject line to Jess@Pixievacations.com and you will be notified when this offer is out!
Here’s hoping for free dining!
Jess is an agent with Pixie Vacations. Want to add even more free stuff onto your next Disney Vacation Package? You can email her Jess@PixieVacations.com and you could get a $25-100 gift card as part of your next booking with her! Feel free to check out her blog and facebook page as well!
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Like the article! I think it is important, as you have done here, to state that free dining is not always as they say “free “. Sometimes the price of the room is higher when you are getting the “free” dining. So then the question becomes, are you really getting anything for free.
My family of three personally likes the ease of the dining plan but we have come to realize that we could also take the money that we pay for the dining package and use the cash to pay for the dining ourselves at the time of the meal. There are many ways to budget and pay for your meals, the trick is figuring out what works for your family at the time.
I think that as Disney has said, we will be seeing less free dining and other discounts. They have successfully, over the last few years, attracted more visitors and I think that most of those visitors will return again and again, discounts or not. When you see the discounts being rolled out again, you will know that they need more visitors.
Oh, OK. Well I will be able to find that out on my own since I have a Disney Visa. Thanks.
This is a blog post. Pixie is a sponsor of chipandco. -Jess
cj…the gift card is from me, an agent of pixie vacations, not from pixie vacations. You get the card when you book a package. Only send info if you want to know when free dining is released. Hope that helps. -Jess
So Is the gift card from Chip and Co or Pixie Vacations? Do you need to actually book a trip or do you get a card just for sending in your information?
Is this an advertisement or a blog post? I’m confused. I love Chip and Co. is Pixie a co-owner? Yay for free dining!