You should know these things before booking that FREE dining plan for your upcoming Disney World vacation.

The Disney Dining Plan at Disney World gives you credits to redeem for meals and snacks while on your vacation. While this is an add-on for Disney World hotel guests, there are certain times when hotel guests can get it for FREE while booking a package. But before you run off and book one, there are a few things we want to tell you first!

1. You Can Only Travel During Certain Dates

You will want to be open to traveling to Disney World during the dates they offer free dining plans. Right now, the current free dining promotion began on March 27th, and you’re 4-night stay will need to be during the following dates.

• June 29th to September 30th, 2025
• October 20th to November 1st, 2025
• December 6th to December 22nd, 2025

These are usually offered around popular times of the year to travel. If you were planning on coming to Disney World during Thanksgiving or Christmas, you will need to change your dates if you want that perk.

2. Remember What Your Typical Disney Habits Are

Even though something free on a Disney trip can be exciting, you want to remember what your Disney eating habits actually are. For example, if you are someone who loves to snack throughout your Disney day so that you can try a lot of things, then the dining plan won’t really work for you.

Also, if you are someone who loves table service restaurants and being able to sit down multiple meals a day to enjoy a break, then the plans might not work for you. Even with the standard dining plan, you only get one table service credit per day. It’s good to remember what you would typically do and then see if there’s a plan that fits that best for you. If not, you could be spending a lot more money.

6 Times Disney’s FREE Dining Plan Is A Bad Deal

3. There are Sometimes Better Deals

If you want free dining, you must purchase a non-discounted vacation package. That means no hotel discounts! There are certain times when your hotel discount could be a greater savings than the free dining — especially if you don’t feel like the dining plan will fit with your needs on your trip.

For example, Disney just announced a NEW hotel discount exclusively for Disney+ members. The offer is valid on 2-night stays or longer for most nights between June 29th and July 31st, and you can get hotel rooms as low as $99 a night! You might want to crunch some numbers.

Read More About $99 Disney Hotel Rooms for Disney+ Members

4. The FREE Plan Depends On Your Hotel Choice

If there is a certain free plan you would like, you’ll want to know before booking your hotel. Deluxe Resorts will get the standard dining plan for free, while the Moderate and Value Resorts can get the quick service plan for free. This means you’ll need to pay more in hotel costs to grab the plan with free table service meals.

5. Tips Are NOT Included

With any dining plan, free or not, you will need to pay tips on table service meals. That’s right — tips are not included in the plan, so you will need to be prepared to tip those awesome Cast Members who are your wait staff.

6. You’ll Still Need To Buy Items

You do get a lot of food with the dining plans, however, it is only enough credits for 2 meals a day. You get 2 meal credits and a snack credit with the plans, so you will likely need to pay for an extra meal per day and maybe even more snacks.

If you are going to EPCOT for a festival during your trip, there are many items at the outdoor kitchens that are snack credits, but if you have a long list of ones you want to try, you might have to pay more when you run out of snack credits.

You’ll want to act fast to grab this deal — dates will start booking up. If you need help booking your vacation package, you don’t have to do it alone. Get in touch with our friends at Small World Vacations. Their travel agents specialize in Disney World vacations, and they can help book your trip and get this deal, as well as others. Best of all? Their services are completely free.

We hope this helps you when planning your Disney World vacation. Be sure to follow us at DFB for more helpful tips.

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