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Disney Things

5 Disney Things You Should Know This Week – April 8, 2016

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Each Friday, I provide 5 Disney things all Disney fans should know from this past week, just in case you missed them. Here are the super important Disney news items for this week:

Rivers of Light delayed

rivers of light

Something happened this week at Disney that NEVER happens, an attraction that was given a grand opening date will not open on time. Rivers of Light, the new night time water show in Disney’s Animal Kingdom was scheduled to open on April 22, 2016 along with a bunch of other new night time entertainment in the park. This week, Disney postponed opening, and did not give a new date. In fact, they said:

While we’d hoped to debut these offerings on April 22, unfortunately, they will not open as planned on that date as we give the team more time to bring these innovative experiences to life in a way we know will exceed our guests’ expectations.

We’ll share more information about timing on the Disney Parks Blog by mid- to late May.

So, it does not look like we will see Rivers of Light until Summer. No indication of why the show is delayed was given.

Disney Early Morning Magic – Fantasyland

early morning magic

This week, Walt Disney World announced a brand new Breakfast event in Fantasyland, Disney Early Morning Magic. In addition to a continental breakfast, guest will be given access to three rides in Fantasyland before the park opens, so you would assume you will be able to ride these three rides basically non-stop until day guests start arriving:

  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
  • Peter Pan’s Flight

The cost for Disney Early Morning Magic – Fantasyland is $69 for adult and $59 for children, and do not include access to the Magic Kingdom, you must also have a park pass to get you into the park. Disney Early Morning Magic is a separately ticketed event taking place on select Tuesdays and Saturdays from 7:45 AM to 10:00 AM. Reservations are available today.

2016 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party dates announced

very merry christmas party

The annual Holiday event in the Magic Kingdom, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party will take place again this year, and today, dates were announced. While tickets are not yet on sale, at least we know the dates and can start planning our Disney vacations!

Here are the dates for the 2016 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

  • November 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 18, 27 and 29
  • December 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18 and 22

Tickets are not available for purchase at this time. The last few years, tickets for both Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party have gone on sale May 1, so expect to be able to purchase tickets for 2016 sometime around May 1, 2016.

Sense of Africa Tour

sense of africa

Do you or your kids love animals. You may want to consider a new tour offered by Walt Disney World, the Sense of Africa Tour. Located at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, the tour features breakfast at Boma, and then you get a backstage tour of the animal care areas, including interactions with many of the Animal Kingdom animals. The cost of the Sense of Africa tour is $249 per person.

Ample Hills Creamery Opening

boardwalk

I love the Boardwalk area at Walt Disney World, no better place to relax after the parks have closed. The good news is that a new ice cream parlor is opening soon on the Boardwalk, Ample Hills Creamery. Ample Hills Creamery, a Brooklyn-based company known for their creative approach to all things ice cream, will open its first location outside of New York City.

The new creamery will be located on Disney’s BoardWalk, overlooking Crescent Lake—a short walk from Epcot and a relaxing boat ride from Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Guests will be able to peek into the promenade-facing kitchen windows, where ice cream and mix-ins will be handcrafted the old-fashioned way.

Inside, guests can sample as many flavors as they’d like, including signature creations like Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, Coffee Toffee Coffee, Malty Salty Pretzel Punch, Cotton Candy, and more. They’re even working on a special one-of-a-kind flavor developed exclusively for Walt Disney World Resort.

Did I miss any Disney news this week that should have been included?

2016 Disney Free Dining

2016 Disney Free Dining – My Predictions

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Yesterday, I wrote an article entitled Is Disney Free Dining the best Disney Discount? To save you a little time, the answer is “not always, but for most people, it is by a long shot”. To follow that up, I thought I would provide what I am expecting to see as far as the 2016 Disney Free Dining discount.

Please understand: I know nothing at all about Disney’s plans, no one does other than  few people inside of Disney. I do not have any source, leak or any other information, so please take my predictions as just an educated guess. This is not in any way news or information you should use to plan your vacation. Please wait until the actual discount is released before booking flights and other non-refundable portions of your Disney vacation.

Do you expect to see 2016 Disney Free Dining?

Yes, definitely, but for September dates only (more on that below). Please note, at some point, Disney is going to stop this madness and no longer offer Free Dining. Just try to book a restaurant right now for September, you can’t. Plus, many resort rooms are already booked up at full rate, so eventually, Disney is just going to assume they no longer need to release a discount for September since everything is booked up, and will stop. I don’t think that is this year though, maybe in 2017.

When do you expect to see 2016 Disney Free Dining released?

Let’s look at some clues:

  • 2015 Disney Free Dining was released on Monday, April 27, 2015
  • 2014 Disney Free Dining was released to Disney VISA cardholders on Friday, May 2, 2014 and then released to everyone on Wednesday, May 7, 2014
  • The current 2016 Walt Disney World Summer discount is currently available, and will be available to book through June 10, 2016.

Disney has moved away from offering Disney VISA cardholders first shot at discounts, we haven’t seen that in some time, so I do not think we will see that happen this year. I do expect Free Dining to be announced on a Monday, similar to 2015, though Monday, April 25 is too early and they will push it into the first week of May, similar to 2013 and 2014.

My prediction for when to expect to see 2016 Disney Free Dining released: May 2, 2016

What travel dates do you see 2016 Disney Free Dining available?

This is a tough one. For 2015, Walt Disney World made very few resorts and rooms available for the dates after October 2, if you didn’t book in the first few hours on the first day, you couldn’t find a Value or Moderate resort at all. After a few days of booking, most of the Deluxe resort were gone too. Many people blasted Disney for releasing a discount but not making anything available. I don’t see Disney making this mistake again. While they may release free dining for dates after the end of September, it will probably be in a later discount once the dust settles on Fall bookings, so I don’t see them being included in the original discount.

The current Summer discount runs through August 25, so I would expect to see Disney Free Dining to start on August 26, 2016.

In 2015, the first block of dates ran from August 28 – Friday, October 2, 2015. Again, I see it ending on a Friday again for 2016, which would mean September 30 or October 7, 2016. October is a very busy month for Disney with the Food and Wine Festival and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, so I don’t see Disney going into October. Historically, they have gone into October in 2014 and 2015, but only a few days.

Please note, with Disney Free Dining, you qualify for Free Dining for your entire stay, up to 14 nights, as long as you check in on one of the available travel dates. So in 2015, you could check in on October 2 and stay for up to 14 nights with Free Dining for your entire stay, if you could find anything available.

My prediction for 2016 Disney Free Dining travel dates: August 26 – September 30, 2016

Do you expect to see any Disney Resort excluded from 2016 Disney Free Dining?

Absolutely. In 2015, Disney excluded quite a few resorts, some where quite a surprise:

Suites at the Walt Disney World® Resort’s Deluxe resorts, the Little Mermaid rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Disney’s Port Orleans – French Quarter Resort, Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort, Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney’s Polynesian Villas and Bungalows, Campgrounds and 3 bedroom villas have been excluded from this offer.

In addition to the regular exclusions we see all the time, All-Star Movies and French Quarter were both completely excluded, leaving just 3 moderate resorts and 3 1/2 value resorts to choose from.

The French Quarter exclusion does not surprise me, as it seems to be excluded from more and more discounts. The Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation are excluded from EVERYTHING. The All-Star Movies exclusion however was a surprise, as we have seen it excluded from some discounts in the past, but it has been a while.

My prediction for 2016 Disney Free Dining resort exclusions: The exact same list as 2015, though it would not surprise me if they opted to include All-Star Movies for some or all of the dates

Do you see any requirement changes to qualify for 2016 Disney Free Dining?

Absolutely. In 2015, Walt Disney World required a minimum 3 night stay and a minimum 2 day park pass package in order to receive Free Dining. Do not be surprised if this is increased to a longer stay and longer park passes as Disney tries to reduce the number of people that qualify for free dining, or make those who want to travel during the Free Dining discount to spend more money in order to qualify.

My prediction for 2016 Disney Free Dining requirements: Disney will require a minimum 4 night stay and a minimum 3 day park pass package

Will the 2016 Disney Free Dining discount change this year?

For the last several years, guests staying at a Walt Disney World Value resort received the Disney Quick-Service discount for free, with the option to pay the difference to upgrade to one of the other Disney Dining plans. If you stayed in a Walt Disney World Moderate, Deluxe or Deluxe Villa resort, you received the Disney Dining Plan for free, again, with the option to pay the difference and upgrade to a more expensive plan. For 2016, rather than reducing the number of resorts and rooms available, Disney could change the discount so that in order to get the Disney Dining Plan included for free you have to stay at a Deluxe or Deluxe Villa resort, while Value and Moderate stays only get you the Quick-Service plan. In 2015, it was nearly impossible to find a moderate resort for our clients for most dates. For many guests, it is cheaper for them to stay at a Moderate resort and get the Disney Dining Plan for free than it is to stay at a Value Resort and upgrade to the Disney Dining Plan or at least in the ballpark, so they opt for the Moderate Resort. That, with the fact that French Quarter is excluded, put tremendous pressure on the Moderate Resorts, which sold out almost immediately for most nights.

My prediction for 2016 Disney Free Dining changes: Disney will include the Quick-Service Dining Plan for Value and Moderate Resort stays, and the Disney Dining Plan at Deluxe and Deluxe Villa stays

How should I prepare for 2016 Disney Free Dining?

At Mouseketrips, we have always stressed booking your vacation as early as possible, there really isn’t any reason to wait. With that said, you need to remain flexible in order to take advantage of discounts. Don’t book flights or anything non-refundable until the discount is released and your reservation is set. I have had many clients assume their dates were ok for Free Dining, and miss out by one or two days, costing them thousands in lost discounts or airline change fees.

  • Get your reservations booked now, we would be happy to help you at Mouseketrips
  • Get your dining reservations booked now, most restaurants are already booked up in September
  • Wait to do anything else until your dates are set and discount applied. At Mouseketrips, we will automatically apply any discount for you so you know you get the best rate possible.
  • Any money you pay now is fully refundable up until 30 days before travel, and dining reservations are easy to cancel, so there really isn’t any reason to wait to see if the discount is released. If you had done that in 2015, chances are you either couldn’t find anything, you had to take your 3 or 4th choice on resort or were insanely lucky and found something.

Well, there you go, complete and utter nonsense. Who knows, maybe we won’t see Disney Free Dining at all for 2016, or maybe we will see it for October – December dates again similar to 2015. I could be completely wrong, but then again, I could be completely right.

disney free dining

Is Disney Free Dining the best Disney Discount?

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In 2006, shortly after Walt Disney World released the Disney Dining Plans that we all know and love today, they also unleashed the beast known as “Disney Free Dining”. This discount gives your family one of the Disney dining plans for free with your stay at a Walt Disney World hotel, but only during select dates. In 2006, it was made available for travel dates between August 13 – September 30, 2006, and everyone received the Disney Dining Plan for free regardless of their resort. Recently, the discount has been changed so that guests staying at a Walt Disney World Value Resort receive the Quick-Service Dining Plan for free while guests staying at a Walt Disney World Moderate, Deluxe or Deluxe Villa Resort receive the Disney Dining Plan for free.

For 2015, it was made available for select Fall dates:

  • August 28 – October 2, October 25 – 31, November 8-19 and December 15 – 21, 2015

Many of the dates after October 2 had very few rooms and resorts made available.

While everyone agrees that Free Dining is a fantastic deal, and without a doubt the most watched for and also mis-understood discount of the year, is it the best deal?

Not Always!

The answer really comes down to your travel party and where you are staying on Disney property:

If you normally stay at a Walt Disney World Value or Moderate resort, Disney Free Disney is the best discount of the year, by far. Well, there may be situations that if you travel alone and stay at a moderate resort that some other discount may be equal or slightly better, but that would be very, very few situations.

If your family consists of 2 adults and 2 or more teens, Disney Free Dining is almost always the best discount of the year.

However, if your family likes to stay at the Walt Disney World deluxe resorts, and is only 2 adults, or maybe even 2 adults and 2 young kids, Disney Free Dining is rarely the best discount, and you can almost always find better deals throughout the year.

Let’s look at the math:

2 adults, 1 child staying at the Polynesian Village, theme park view room for 7 nights:

  • Disney Free Dining Savings: $1,052
  • 30% Room discount Savings: $1,566

2 adults staying at the Grand Floridian, garden view room for 5 nights:

  • Disney Free Dining Savings: $637
  • 30% Room discount Savings: $989

2 adults, 3 children staying at the Saratoga Springs, 2-bedroom villa for 10 nights:

  • Disney Free Dining Savings: $1,959
  • 30% Room discount Savings: $2,086

Of course, Disney Free Dining can be a fantastic deal for most families:

2 adults, 2 teens staying at Pop Century, standard room for 7 nights:

  • Disney Free Dining Savings: $1,236
  • 30% Room discount Savings: $271

2 adults, 3 teens staying at Caribbean Beach, standard view room for 10 nights:

  • Disney Free Dining Savings: $3,185
  • 30% Room discount Savings: $643

2 adults, 4 teens staying in a cabin at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort for 5 nights:

  • Disney Free Dining Savings: $1,911
  • 30% Room discount Savings: $538

2 adults staying at All-Star Movies, standard room for 7 nights:

  • Disney Free Dining Savings: $618
  • 30% Room discount Savings: $248

Please note that these prices are just estimates, and are only used as an example for this article.

So, you can see that for most people going to Walt Disney World, the Disney Free Dining deal is the best deal of the year, by far. But for others, it really doesn’t help much as they can get better savings just about anytime.

We have not seen a Disney Free Dining discount for 2016. In 2015, the discount was released on April 27, and if we are to see Disney Free Dining again in 2016, I would expect it to be released around that same time, late April or early May, and I would expect to see it cover similar dates as 2015. However, we will not know if we will see it at all until it is actually released to the public.

Want to keep an eye out for Disney Free Dining?

  • Check out our facbook page, any information we have will be posted there as soon as we have it.
  • Stop by our main website at Mouseketrips, again, any information will be posted there first. We even have a newsletter that you can subscribe to that will email you once a discount is released.
  • Check out this Disney Free Dining website, it features complete information on historical Disney Free Dining release and travel dates. They also have a notification system you can sign up for to get notified as soon as Disney Free Dining is released.

Well, there you go. Feel free to ask any questions about Disney Free Dining that you may have.