B. Free Dining Promo
Every year, Disney offers a Free Dining promo. It is one of their most popular offers and it books up very quickly after it is released. This promo usually runs during dates in the Fall and is often released around the end of April. Most people will keep an eye on message boards and blogs to be ready for when they release the promo. Last year, they released the promo around 4 am and I was online at 5 am trying to book and I had to shift around my dates in order to get it. It’s hard to get, but if you are ready for it and online first thing when they release it, you can get it.
When you get the free dining promo, you will not be able to apply any other discounts to your package. Purchasing the free dining plan does require that you buy a package, which will include your hotel and tickets. They have also recently started to add additional requirements, for example last year it was required that your passes be park hoppers. Just pay attention to those details to see if they align with what you want to book
Historical Dates
The dates for free dining are never really known for sure until Disney releases it, but looking at past Free Dining promo dates can possibly give you an idea of what to expect for the coming year. Here are the Free Dining dates that they offered for the last 5 years:
2019 – select dates from 7/5 – 9/30; 11/17 – 11/27; 12/8 – 12/23
2018 – select dates from 8/2 – 9/30; 11/23 – 11/28; 12/6 – 12/23
2017 – select dates from 8/13 – 10/1; 11/14 – 11/20; 11/25 – 11/27; 12/8 – 12/23
2016 – select dates from 8/23 – 10/1; 11/15 – 11/21; 11/26 – 11/28; 12/10 – 12/21
2015 – select dates from 8/28 – 10/2; 10/25 – 10/31; 11/8 – 11/19; 12/15 – 12/21
It’s important to note that your date of arrival is what counts if you can apply the free dining promo. You must be checking in on a date when the promo is available. Even if the rest of your vacation falls outside of the promo dates, you will still be able to apply it to your entire stay as long as you check in during the eligible dates.