The second wave of Free Dining for the general public and room-only deals for the summer through the holidays will be available at Walt Disney World’s website tomorrow ( March 27, 2025 ). This stock dates and details, plus what’s also unknown about the special offers and educated guesses we can create to fill in the data’ gaps ‘ based on past law. These are just a few of the many special offers that have been made available for 2025 Walt Disney World trips so far, including discounts for Citizens, Annual Passholders, and Disney Visa users. See All Present Walt Disney World Discounts for 2025 for additional special offers that are now available for vacation times between now and the end of July ( as well as some other qualified provides after that ). However, that list is actually not so huge right now, as a few discounts have been abruptly and quickly pulled from the Walt Disney World specific offers page. Later in this post, we discuss what’s going on, but the level of including it here is so holiday managers know they need to plug something in sooner rather than later. Walt Disney World is attempting to encourage more and earlier reservations, which it appears to be doing with one of the future discounts. Beginning on March 27, 2025, Walt Disney World guests will be able to receive a Free Disney Dining Plan when purchasing a 4-night, 4-day Walt Disney Travel Company package that includes a place at a particular Walt Disney World Resort resort and a garden solution with a Park Hopper option. According to Walt Disney World, this offer will be valid for visits on select dates from June 29 through December 22, 2025. My guess is that the” select dates” will be the same as those that were announced last week as part of the Disney Visa 2025 Free Dining Deal. That agreement, which expires on March 26, was touted as early access to the general public version of Free Dining. Still, it is possible that some date ranges won’t be included or will have filled up already. We’ll see: ). On March 27, 2025, full details will be made public. As always, we will have full analysis as soon as the special offer goes live. Beyond that, we anticipate that this will adhere to all the accepted “rules” of free dining. ( See our in-depth Guide to Walt Disney World’s 2025 Free Dining, as well, because the long lines of predictions are no longer relevant now that Walt Disney World has announced the deal is coming. ) The most notable “rule” of Free Dining is that Value and Moderate Resort guests receive the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan ( QSDDP ), while Deluxe and Deluxe Villa guests receive the standard Disney Dining Plan ( DDP ). Although Deluxe Resorts are significantly more expensive, they also cost a ton more on average. Guest at lower tier resorts used to be able to pay the difference to switch from the QSDDP to the DDP. Beyond that, expect the same terms and conditions as the first wave of 2025 Free Dining, or last week’s second wave for Disney Visa cardholders ( save for maybe some different dates ). Table service restaurants may have limited or no availability when purchasing a package ( a common issue with Free Dining in the past has been the lack of ADRs for those who arrived without making a reservation in advance ). Any other discount or promotion cannot be combined with Free Dining. Disney Dining Plans exclude gratuities, which will need to be paid out of pocket at table service restaurants. Children’s menus must be ordered from a menu for children, if available, between 3 and 9 years old. There are only a few packages that will be offered as a result of this offer. Everyone in the same room must be on the same package. The first Free Dining offer did not include the following room types: Campsites, 3-Bedroom Grand Villas, Cabins at Copper Creek Villas &, Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, Bungalows and 2-Bedroom Penthouses at Disney’s Polynesian Villas &, Deluxe Rooms at Disney’s Beach Club Resort, and Suites at Disney Deluxe Resort hotels. Walt Disney World also stated in today’s tease that starting March 27, 2025, guests can” Save up to 30 % on select Disney Resort hotel rooms when you stay longer for visits beginning August 1 through October 11, 2025.” Special deals on rooms are also available for Florida Residents and Annual Passholders “.This isn’t a huge surprise, as there are currently room-only discounts available through July 31, 2025. While we were firmly convinced that a room-only rate would follow Free Dining, we were unsure whether it would be a stay-long and save more money. Given that the information is currently available and that a portion of the upcoming dates has already been made public ( before it was prematurely pulled ) as part of the January special offer release, we had to assume the latter. When it comes to discount tiers for the room-only rate, we can look back to 2025’s first stay longer and save deal for likely rates: 30 % off most Deluxe Resorts
25 % off most Moderates, plus Poly, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and All Star Sports.
Camping, Caribbean Beach, and 20 % off most Value Resorts
I wouldn’t count on an exact repeat of these rates. This can change a lot from discount to discount, which is exactly what we saw last year when Walt Disney World performed this exact same thing. As it turned out, the earlier discount was withdrawn rather than the subsequent re-release. With Walt Disney World also offering the 50 % Off Kids Tickets and 3-Parks Magic Ticket for most of these same dates, they might be less inclined to offer more aggressive room discounts. Additionally, there is the issue of making Free Dining appear more appealing because they’d like to draw people in for it. On the other hand, there is growing economic uncertainty and the Wildcard of Epic Universe, so perhaps this is the time for more bold deals. Again, I suppose we shall see tomorrow! This also brings us back to Walt Disney World’s premature cancellation of discounts. The” stay longer and save more” discount above is still in effect, but it is not as good for August and September as it was in the past. Those dates were quietly pulled a month or so ago, so only the travel dates between now and July 31, 2025 remain. ( Usually, it happens the other way: earlier travel dates are taken out before later ones. ) Walt Disney World used to offer discounts that had a “book by” date pre-marked up front. In the last year-plus, they’ve gotten away from that practice. Sometimes they’ve removed them early ( with notice ), and other times booking is open-ended and the discounts just disappear. We believe Walt Disney World has been playing with the way they’ve been offering discounts, trying to entice planners to book early with good deals while also creating a false sense of urgency. In several cases, they’ve circled back with additional discounts even after those offers have ended in order to fill unsold rooms and hit occupancy targets. Similar to the Disney Vault, but with discounts. It’s wise to encourage obsessive Walt Disney World vacation planners, but it’s less effective with casual visitors who might only visit Disney World.com once, receive no discounts for their dates, and reserve vacations elsewhere. We’ll be closely monitoring the 2025 Walt Disney World discount situation, keeping our ears open for more news about other special offers. If you sign up for our FREE Walt Disney World newsletter, we’ll send you an alert if anything new is announced or rumored for upcoming travel dates. If you’re already overwhelmed, you might just need someone else to do the work for you. Free Dining is Walt Disney World’s most complicated promotion, and can be a huge headache to book. It’s simple to get frustrated, have issues, or be unsuccessful in obtaining a reservation due to limited availability and having to navigate a sea of regulations and restrictions. To accomplish this, we always advise using a travel agent for Walt Disney World first-timers or regulars who simply don’t want to deal with the hassle. ( Click here to request a free quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, an Authorized Disney Travel Planner that we recommend. ) The most reliable travel agencies don’t charge for Walt Disney World vacation bookings ( and you don’t have to pay a premium to use them; Disney pays them commission, so they’re free to you ), so that’s really the simplest way to go. However, you must do that right away if you want to use that method for Free Dining. Don’t expect to request a quote on the morning of March 27 and receive an immediate response–you need to get your ducks in a row now. planning a trip to Walt Disney World? On our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page, learn more about lodging options. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. Read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post to learn how to save money on purchasing new tickets or decide which kind to purchase. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post examines some clever travel items. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. The best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide, which contains all the necessary information. Are you excited that annual passholders, Florida residents, and the general public will receive room-only discounts? Planning on booking those or the second wave of Free Dining for the general public? What do you think about the 2025 Free Dining and Room-Only discounts? Do you agree or disagree with our analysis? Any questions? Please leave your comments below with your thoughts or questions about your experiences. It’s both interesting to us and helpful to other readers.
