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Free dining for 2020 UK bookings announced

So, it is that time of year again. Disney have released details of the free dining offers for UK guests and packages go on sale on 25th April 2019 for stays in 2020.

However there are some differences this time.

Normally the offers are available all for stays all year round except for Easter and Christmas. However, this time they can only be booked for stays up until 3 October 2020. This does unfortunately meant that you cannot get free dining for stays during October half term. This is the first time Disney have done this – we have done October half term on the free dining offer before – and it is not clear exactly why things have changed this time round.

Another big difference is that they have restricted some resorts and room types that can be booked under the offer.

So here are the details.

When can you book?

25th April to 2 July 2019

When can you stay?

1 January 2020 to 29th March 2020 or 13 April 2020 to 3 October 2020

What do you need to book?

Free dining is only available when you book a package. This means booking your accommodation and park tickets together. ‘Package’ does not include flights and you can book these separately at a different time. You also need to book a minimum of 5 nights stay.

What do you get?

This all depends on where you stay. ALL package bookings will get a $200 gift card which you collect from The World of Disney in Disney Springs. The specific dining package depends on your resort level.

Value resorts:

These resorts don’t get one of the dining plans but instead get a ‘free breakfast’ offer. This is slightly confusing though as you don’t have to use it for breakfast. It is basically a quick service meal credit and you can use it at any quick service location at any time during the day. The following resorts are offering this deal.

Disney’s All-Star Resorts, Disney’s Pop Century (excluding pool view rooms), Disney’s Art of Animation (excluding Little Mermaid standard rooms).

Moderate resorts:

These resorts get the quick service dining plan. For the first time Disney have put restrictions on which rooms you can use this for and this might cause problems for some – like us – you book the rooms with a 5th bed at Port Orleans Riverside. The following resorts are offering this deal.

Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort (excluding water view rooms), Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside (excluding standard view and standard view 5th sleeper rooms) and Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter.

Deluxe resorts and Deluxe villa resorts:

These resorts get the Disney dining plan. This also includes room restrictions, along with some resort restrictions. Noticeable exclusions from the offer are the Contemporary and Polynesian resorts. The following resorts are offering this deal.

Deluxe Resorts: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge (excluding pool view rooms), Disney’s Beach Club Resort, Disney’s Boardwalk Inn, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.

Deluxe Villa Resorts: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village, Disney’s Beach Club Villas, Disney’s Boardwalk Villas, The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney’s Old Key West Resort, Disney’s Riviera Resort, Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa and Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge.

 

As always you can pay to upgrade your dining plan – so you can stay at a moderate resort, but pay extra to get the DDP. Do work out the numbers though because sometimes it is cheaper to upgrade the resort instead.

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When should you go to WDW?

This is a question that is often asked – when is the best time of year to go. Unfortunately there is no simple answer, but I shall try and give some general advice here. There are a number of things to take into account.

The weather

This is the big one with Florida. It’s hot! Even in winter time it is in the low to mid 20s – what we would call a nice comfortable summer over here. The downside of all of this is that June-August is VERY hot. It is worth bearing in mind that unlike the UK there is air-con everywhere, and most rides have indoor queues, but despite this it can feel very hot walking around. To add to this you have hurricane season. Only once in recent years has Disney actually closed due to weather (Hurricane Matthew in 2016) but for some people this is a concern.

Crowd levels

Okay, so the bad news here is that there is really no quiet time at Disney anymore. Queues are to be expected all year round, but they can vary. The two busiest times are Christmas and Easter (Spring Break in the US). They are so busy that when free dining is released, those dates are the only ones excluded from the offer – no need to give an incentive. Of course Christmas can be a magical time to be at Disney, but when you can hardly move it’s not so magical. You can also sometimes get park closures at these times where they start restricting entrance to the parks due to the volume of guests. 4th July can also see this happen.

School holiday options

Of course, coming from the UK we like to visit for two weeks or more, which can rule out half-terms unless you are prepared to pull your kids out of school. So, looking at crowd levels/weather and school holidays, when are best.

  • Febuary half term is lovely weather wise, but can clash with President’s weekend (it did in 2017 for example) which leads to a spike in crowd levels. Also quite nice now that the Arts Festival has been introduced at Epcot. Towards the end of February is usually the Princess Half-Marathon which is popular.
  • Easter is busy, as previously mentioned and you won’t get any free dining offers. However the Flower and Garden Festival is running at Epcot (usually March-June) which is lovely. Spring Break is a much shorter period of time compared to our Easter holidays so it is worth checking the dates for the year you are planning on going.
  • May half-term is a popular one for people willing to take their kids out of school. The weather is starting to heat up but it hasn’t hit the real highs of summer. Do be aware that it often covers Memorial Day weekend which sees a spike in crowds.
  • Summer holidays are busy as kids all over the US are off school. If this is the best time for you then try to go the last two weeks of August. Yes it will be hot (and is still in hurricane season) but US schools start to go back mid-August so crowds will die down. If you are lucky you can also catch the early Halloween parties at Magic Kingdom (in 2018 the first one was the 17th August).
  • October half term is one of our favourite times to go. The weather is lovely and the crowds are not too bad. Halloween is in full swing with parties on selected evenings and Halloween/Autumn decor all over Magic Kingdom. Epcot also has the Food and Wine Festival which is very popular with tourists and locals (some people recommend avoiding Epcot at the weekends during this time).
  • Christmas is obviously extra magical at Disney but peak crowds kick in around the 20th December. New Year is also peak crowds – everyone seems to want to watch the Magic Kingdom or Epcot fireworks on 31st December.
Wait times on the MDE app

So how do you decide?

It depends what you want. Is it a quieter park? Is it cooler or hotter weather? Is it one of the festivals at Epcot? Or the magic of the festive season? Only you can answer that but there are things that can help you make your decision. Highly recommended is the WDW Prep School Crowd Calendar. This is published for the year in advance from September to August. Another fun way is to check the MDE app (My Disney Experience) a the time of year you are interested in going to see what the wait times are like. The higher the wait time, the busier it is!

And of course, lots of us like checking the app just to imagine we are there 🙂

Ultimately, the best time to go to Disney is whenever you can! It is just best to be prepared for crowds and heat.

When is your favourite time to go? Let us know below.