Rumor has it that Disney is going to offer free dining again from the middle of August through the middle of September. They have offered it the past 2 years during this time, and in 2005 we were lucky enough to be able to take advantage of it. What this means, is that as long as you stay on Disney property during the times it is offered, and purchase at least a 1 day park ticket per person, you will get free dining for your entire stay at the hotel. If you wanted to get this at any other time it’s about $39.00 per adult, per day.
The Disney Dining Plan includes 1 counter service meal (includes entrée, side, drink, and dessert), a snack (water, chips, or different types of frozen desserts), and dinner (appetizer, entrée, side, drink, and dessert) for each person. We brought pop-tarts for breakfast…and believe me, all of this food was more than enough! Tipping is also included in your dining plan, so you really don’t need to use any cash on your trip at all, except for souvenirs.
Here is how we used our dining on our last trip, which had free dining…September 14th - 21st, 2005:
On the first day, when we first arrived, we wanted to check out how the free dining worked. We had lunch at the food court of our hotel, the All Stars - Movies Resort. We were very excited to find out we each got a lunch, drink, and dessert. Our meals were decent (it was the food court after all), but we couldn’t believe our desserts! They told us that since we were on the plan, we could have any dessert we wanted, so we each got a cookie sandwich. 2 full size chocolate chip cookies, with 3 scoops of ice cream in the middle! It was huge, and neither of us finished it, but it was fun! (See above for a picture of that dessert. It was SO good!)
Here were the restaurants where we ate the rest of our meals. I am only going to mention the sit down meals, and not the counter service. They were all great though, and most of our sit down meals would have cost us at least $100.00 per meal had we not had the dining plan…and that was just dinner!
- Dinner at Mexico at the San Angel Inn - Very nice, and romantic. The food was ok.
- Dinner at Wolfgang Pucks - We ate SO much, and still brought a dessert home with us! The meal was amazing, and would have cost over $100. Our meal also came with entertainment; we ate outside next to a small lake, and there were two ducks who obviously knew what a great restaurant it was, so they kept walking around hoping we’d feed them. They didn’t budge from the area the entire time. Who knew there were gourmet ducks?
- Lunch at Tony’s Town Square. It was a good meal overall.
- Canada’s Le Cellier Steakhouse. Our meal came to $118 (thank goodness food was included!) We had gotten a great lobster and filet minion dinner, as well as a great piece of steak. The rest of our meal was wonderful as well.
- Dinner at Japan’s Teppenyaki restaurant. It was another great meal! I know I sound like I’m repeating myself, but almost all of our meals were really wonderful.
- Dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater, which was cute. The food was only ok, but it was an interesting restaurant.
- Dinner at the Contemporary Hotel where we had dinner at the Concourse Steakhouse, which was another good meal.
If they offer free dining, we will be one of the first to take them up on it. I can honestly say that because of the free dining, it was one of the most stress free, and relaxing vacations we have ever taken. We didn’t have to think about money at all, got to do and eat as we pleased, and it was just great. Plus, if you wait until after Labor Day to go, most people are back in school, so there are no lines! When we went, we only had to wait in line ONCE - for Soarin’. Everything else we just walked right on. It was amazing! So I am one person who is hoping that this rumor comes true…and believe me, if it does, I’ll be booking a trip!
