Disney’s Kids Eat Free Dining Promotion is BACK
If you are planning a Disney trip, now is time to consider making reservations as Walt Disney is once again offering up their very popular Kids Eat Free Dining Promotion.
This limited-time promotion allows kids ages 3-9 to eat free from the children’s menu when you book a 3-night/3-day Magic Your Way package that includes a room at a select Disney Resort hotel, theme park tickets and a dining plan.
To take advantage of this FREE Dining offer, purchase a non-discounted Walt Disney World Resort and Ticket Package at select hotels from May 28th through August 30th, 2018.
*This offer excludes the following room types: suites, 2-bedroom villas, 3-bedroom villas, The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Cabins at Disney’s Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, The Little Mermaid Standard Rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and Treehouse villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa.
Add some fun to the days/weeks leading up to your Disney trip! Head over here to print a free Countdown to Disney image (use cardstock paper if you have it on hand!). Then just cut the sides of the paper to fit into an 8×10 photo frame. Each day, use a white board marker and write on the glass frame to indicate the number of days left in your countdown.
AND, be sure to check out these FREE Disney character autograph pages designed especially for Hip2Save readers to print. They can be used to make a fun autograph book to take along with you on your Disney vacation or for scrapbooking your favorite Disney photo memories!
(Thanks, Mandy!)
Be warned WDW RESORTS starting today are charging for parking
Really? We’re going in May. Ugh!
If your trip was booked before today you dont have to pay parking.
We were actually at WDW this last weekend and this question was asked at Guest Services, Disney Springs. The guests were told yes, even if it was already booked, you have to pay parking. So budget the money just incase either or was incorrect information
That castmembers provided the wrong information. People who booked before today do not have to pay for parking.
So many exclusions but still a good deal
Any suggestions for those staying off the property? We are going to Orlando next month but will use a timeshare close to Disney. It is confusing how to best get discount tickets and Fastpass and plan a Disney visit when not staying at a DIsney resort. It seems like we will not be eligible for the meal plans. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.
Fastpasses can be reserved on the Disney app. There are tons of places to eat off property, far cheaper. To cut back on lunch if you are on property, you can bring a soft cooler with an ice pack and rent a locker. So much cheaper…
I mean, if you are in a park on property for the day (lets say Magic Kingdom) you can bring a cooler with food and drinks. A small locker is $9 plus $5 deposit.
You can still book your fast passes 30 days ahead. We have purchased tickets through Undercover Tourist and have always had good customer service. They will mail you the ticket cards and then you register them on my Disney experience. The App is wonderful to use and book fast passes….even when you are at the parks! Have fun!!!
I have always stayed offsite and nothing about it was hard or confusing. Just relax and let the magic happen.
We will be there next week March 28, 2018 through March 31, 2018. This will be interesting. My husband, 9 y/o daughter and myself have never been at WDW and this will be our first time. I have read all the tips, spoke with different people and have absorbed everything. I will see how this would even help us…thank you HIP2SAVE team!!
Yay for your first trip! Hope you all have an awesome time. If you have room for 1 more tip, it’s not to over plan!
If your military wait to buy the photo pass at the front desk – it’s way cheaper $75 I think but it covers the length of your stay and includes all of Disney’s parks. So we racked up over 200 photos in our 4 day stay.
It is so very expensive to stay on the property. Try Air BNB!
Yes! Effective today. Cost per day depends on if you are staying in a value, moderate, or deluxe hotel. Make sure to check the WDW parking section of their websites. It is ridiculous to pay 3-4 times what other area hotels pay (value to high end off property hotels) AND now have to pay them parking on top of already outrageous rates for hotels. I can stay at a gorgeous, high end, 2 acres under glass atrium hotel on a flash sale rate that is the same price as a dumpy cheap WDW value resort, and now with the parking added, the value resort costs more than the high end hotel just off property. This past weekend we stayed at a luxurious “Autograph Collection” hotel (Category 7) for $142/night! At this point, you are better to stay off property and uber if you don’t have a car.
In my experience, off site hotels can be even more expensive if not booked super far in advance. And because of how busy and how much traffic there is, I would ALWAYS rather stay on site. We are locals and visit often and I would prefer a Value Disney resort to an off-site anything because the magic continues. This is speaking from the kids perspectives and the grown-ups, too. Can’t beat the transportation! And a tip- if you watch closely for a time you are hoping to go, great rates do exist. We’ve stayed at the Contemporary for under $200 a night (that was in Sept., a little known off-season time)
Yes Jennifer L. I’m a resident Passholder of 15 years. The hotels on property are a complete rip off! We normally stay at Gaylord Palms for $159 a night best family hotel and amazing water slides, etc. and this past weekend we stayed at the ultra luxurious and quaint Grand Bohemian in Celebration (Autograph collection Martiott Category 7!) for $142/night! Look them up. They are far cheaper than value resorts and even WDW’s deluxe resorts. We stopped staying on property 10 years ago and the savings from staying at cheaper and better wuality off site hotels has paid for 9 Disney Cruises! Disney’s “discount” off peak rates during peak hurricane season are still far higher than local hotels.
when are they going to do all people get a free dining plan when you stay on site? We thought about doing that last sept but we figured we would wait for the kids to be a year older
Sign up for one of the Disney blogs so you can get info as soon as it’s released. Last year, it was announced some time in April.
We don’t know for sure if they will continue to offer the free dining promotion. It has become more and more limited each year. That being said, September continues to be one of the best bets for any kind of promotion. You can follow my page for discount updates: http://www.mousecounselorleigh.com
We are going this August and have the all free dining plan.
Oh and we have done the all free dining plan before and love it!
Disney obsessed mama here and I have to say we recently stayed at one of the more budget friendly resorts (All Star Sports) for a conference for 4 nights and it was great! Waaaay nicer than I expected. Highly recommend. Our usual home away from home is Fort Wilderness in our pop-up camper- love that place, too. Disney doesn’t have to be super expensive with some planning and know-how!
We have stayed at a few hotels on site and sports was super cool! We stayed there last October. We love staying on the grounds and prefer to with all the perks and free transportation!
Planning a trip this summer. Pleasr help. Where can i get ideas and tips for cheaper stay. Its our first time and we want to stay in the Wdw resort. All inclusive. TiA
If you want the all-inclusive feel you should stay at the resort and add the dining plan onto your reservation. That’s what I suggest to my clients and do myself when I travel. The discounts for summer months was released this morning. Feel free to visit my website if you need any planning assistance: http://www.mousecounselorleigh.com
We stayed at the art of animation and had the dining plan. We used a Disney vacation planner….they are FREE and wonderful!! I wouldn’t stay off site. The convenience of staying at the park is well worth any saving in my opinion!
You can compare what it would cost without the rack rate package plus spending money for dining vs any discounts you can find (there are discounted hotel rates out there too) plus tickets. A lot of people find that even when it is “free”, it is cheaper to go the second route without dining.
This may be helpful to many of you. https://knoxville.citymomsblog.com/stress-free-disney-non-planners-guide/
Hip2save friends – Please help
We are planning to visit Disneyland, Anaheim, CA location for 1 day and Hollywood studios for 1 day. It will be 4 adults and 2 kids under age of 9. Just 3 days of hotel (2 rooms) and tickets to both attractions, car rental and food is touching around $4000…..Any suggestions or tips. Anything big or small is most welcome.
While we are at it, any women’s shoes in reasonable price for all this super-duper walking trip?
PS- We are flying from East coast(NJ) to west coast…..so flight tickets are already big chunk. So I am trying to see if I can save anyway at all.
Thanks in advance
We are in CT and love Frontier airlines out of Providence. Non stop to Miami is as low as $19 each way and Orlando regular rates are only $51 each way. I have no idea how they stay in business. Frontier flies out of Trenton, NJ. Also check other discount airlines like Spirit and Allegiant.
Yes kelly !! Im currently living in orlando and took frontier back home to RI for Thanksgiving. I highly recommend as well. Sign up for their emails. They are SOOOO affordable and the staff is nice, we were on time, etc… not sure how much flight costs vary but if ur travelling with a family its in ur best interest to check them out.
If you haven’t bought tickets already I would forego Hollywood studios and just do the two days between Disneyland and California adecenture Park.
Adventure*
Depending on what time of year you are going, the time zone will be in your favor, you’ll be up in the parks before a lot of people, we are used to central time and this was a huge benefit. Also, if you are doing character dining do goofy’s kitchen’s dinner, pricier but well worth it and you’ll be ready to eat dinner before it gets really packed.
Pro Tip: pack lunches and bring/buy reusable water vessels. If you play your cards right, breakfast will be included at your hotel making only one meal per day in the park. This can ease your budget to get churros or ice cream when it’s hot.
We like eating in Toon Town (person pizza’s) then getting soft serve (the swirl looks like the Matterhorn).
Look into the Candy Cane Inn to stay at while in Anaheim. Walking distance from Disneyland! A random guest from CA told us this once while standing in line to start the day at Animal Kingdom! It saved us tons of money, was walking distance from the park, and the bus stop from Santa Monica lands in between the park and the hotel!!!
In my opinion, Hollywood Studios is not worth a full-day. I just got back from my third Disneyland trip. In the last two, we skipped Hollywood Studios and just did Disneyland for a single day. We stayed off-site but close enough to walk over. We brought water bottles and snacks in our bag. We upgraded our tickets for $ 10 each to get max pass which let us book our fastpasses on our phones and made all of the photos that Disney took of us available for free download. I used the app to track wait times and character appearances. That took a huge toll on my battery life, so I brought those little charging bricks and a long cord. I kept it plugged in and just ran the cable out of my bookbag. The Minnie and Friends breakfast is an awesome way to start the day. 15-ish characters like Pooh, Chip and Dale, Minnie, Goofy, Peter Pan, etc. The princesses have their own area in the park to meet them, and we love this breakfast. An all you can eat buffet. We are usually there two hours to get all the signatures. The kids loved it. We like lunch at this bakery on main street. They have great grilled cheese and a delicious turkey sandwich. The laser show is amazing. I brought slippers for the kids feet. Secretly packed them in my bag and by 8 pm they complained their feet hurt and I whipped those out! Have a great time!
Hey fellow Hip2Savers! If anyone has any questions or needs any help with the 3 yes 3 new offers Disney released this morning please feel free to contact me. I am the “Mandy” that alerted Collin to the deal release this morning. I am a travel planner specializing in Disney Travel and have helped plan many fellow Hip2Save followers with their trips.
Mandy@lovethemousetravel.com or
http://www.facebook.com/mandyatlovethemousetravel
We are going to be surprising our kids, 5 year old daughter and 12 year old son, with the news of a WDW vacation planned for June. They have been wanting to go back so I know they will both be excited. Does anyone have any ideas on how we could surprise them? I found a neat riddle, but our 5 year old would never get it. I am having trouble coming up with a good idea that would be appropriate for both their ages. Open to all ideas!!!
If you are driving, you could wait to tell them with clues along your route. My parents did that for me and my brother when we were 5 and 9. We both still remember it to this day. We stopped several times along the way and had surprises to open, the final stop we had new t-shirts to wear into the park. Donald Duck for him, Minnie Mouse for me. Almost 30 years ago and we still have those special memories.
We wrapped up a big box and presented it to the kids (you could do it for end of school or Easter or any day surprise). Inside the box, I had bought helium filled balloons from the dollar store with Disney charaters (Mickey, princesses, etc), as well as autograph books and other little disney themed things for the plane or car ride like markers, coloring books, etc. So when they unwrapped the box and opened it, the balloons flew out and with the other things I had left a big note that said, we’re going to Disney on XX date.
I had a custom puzzle made. I’m going to put the pieces in plastic eggs and hide them around the house on easter. Once they find all the eggs they can empty them and do the puzzle which has their names and says surprise we are going to Disney world! My kids are 6 and 12.
I got the Disney Visa (no yearly fee) and received a gift card for $200 after spending $500. I use it to get points also towards Disney (that can be used for tickets, hotel, this package etc), but it is only like 1% on everyday purchases. The one perk I liked from having the card, though, was a free meet and greet/photo :). I have a referral link if anyone wants to use it:
Earn a $200 Disney Gift Card with the Disney® Visa® Card. No annual fee. I can be rewarded, learn more.
https://www.referyourchasecard.com/200/Y3DUWE127R
Like someone else mentioned, if you will have a car, take the parking fee into consideration when calculating whether the non-discounted room and tickets plus free dining is better than other options.