Walt Disney World has announced that the 2025 Free Dining Plan discount will return select travel dates starting in summer. There are still a lot of unknowns, but we now have a list of qualifying resort hotels and which tier of the DDP each will receive. This post shares those details, plus our answers & commentary to questions & complaints about DVC & AP eligibility, as well as common issues with resort and room type availability.
The first thing to know is that 2025 Free Dining is available to anyone. So long as you purchase a qualifying package at an eligible resort in a non-excluded room type with availability, you’re golden. Got all of that? In case not, we break down what all of that language means following the list of resorts. But the bottom line is that people are not excluded from the 2025 Free Dining promo–exclusions apply to certain resort and room combos.
Unlike the 2024 incarnation of the offer, the 2025 Free Dining deal is for the general public. That means you. This year, Free Dining was offered in two different waves to Disney+ subscribers and Disney Visa cardholders, but never the general public. So this is a big difference, and a return to 2019 normal when Free Dining was a wider release (for most dates).
Full details of the Free Dining deal will be released bright and early on the morning of January 2, 2025. It’s our expectation that it will follow the normal “rules” of Free Dining, consistent with the versions of the special offer released this year. See our Guide to 2025 Free Dining at Walt Disney World for just about everything you need to know.
When it comes to room exclusions, we’re expecting the standard ones: 3-bedroom villas, campsites, Cabins at Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Wilderness Lodge, Bungalows at Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, and Little Mermaid Rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. With this being a general public offer, we wouldn’t be surprised to see more exclusions in 2025. (Note: all of this is speculative and unconfirmed by Disney.)
Turning to official details, you can get a Disney Dining Plan with the purchase of a non-discounted 3-night, 3-day (at minimum) Walt Disney Travel Company package that includes a room at a select Walt Disney World Resort hotel and a ticket with a Park Hopper option.
There’s more that we’ve been able to confirm subsequent to yesterday’s announcement. Also official is that Value and Moderate Resort guests will receive the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan (QSDDP), while Deluxe and Deluxe Villa/DVC Resorts receive the standard Disney Dining Plan (DDP). This was pretty much a given and consistent with this year, 2019, and several years prior. But it’s still nice to know Disney isn’t trying to pull a fast one on fans and offering the lesser DDP to the top tiers of resorts. (We would’ve happily taken a change restoring the standard DDP to Moderate Resorts, but alas.)
Finally, here’s a confirmed list of eligible resorts for the 2025 Free Dining at Walt Disney World special offer:
Value Resorts
- Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
Moderate Resorts
- Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort & Gran Destino Tower
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
Deluxe Resorts
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Disney’s Beach Club Resort
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
Deluxe Villas/DVC Resorts
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort (Disney Vacation Club)
- Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village
- Disney’s Beach Club Villas
- Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
- Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Let’s start with the last category, which is Deluxe Villas or Disney Vacation Club Resorts. One of the most common questions (or rather, complaints) we receive about Free Dining is whether it’s available to DVC Members/why don’t they get Free Dining?
They can! So long as DVC Members purchase a vacation package that falls within the parameters of the promotion, they do qualify to book this special offer. Same goes for Annual Passholders, Florida residents, members of D23, Hell’s Angels, and so forth–anyone is eligible. The 2025 Free Dining promo is available to the general public.
However, it seems like those wondering this are actually asking: Why can’t I get free food with no strings attached? The answer to that is that no one gets Free Dining with no strings attached. There is no such thing as a free lunch. If Disney was just giving away food, flinging hot dogs into the crowd, of course it would be a fantastic thing. (So long as you loved hot dogs and didn’t get hit in the eye.)
The big mistake many fans make is taking “free” at face value and assuming that this is some kind of charitable endeavor. C’mon, this is Disney! After all we’ve been through in the last few years, you’ve gotta know in your heart that’s not true.
When Disney offers deals, it’s out of necessity and because the company stands something to gain–not just to do something “nice” for fans. Walt Disney World is a savvy and sophisticated business—they are going to maximize profits to the greatest degree feasible. What is gained by handing out hot dogs all willy nilly?
Free Dining requires the purchase of full-priced Park Hopper tickets and rack rate room. What Disney gains from that is committing guests to purchasing a package, and a pricey one at that. The food isn’t free, it’s part of a package that locks-in guest spending at a far higher dollar amount than a room-only rate.
This is why Free Dining is not a good deal for a lot of people in the first place! It means forgoing an alternative discount on accommodations. It also requires people to purchase things they may not want or need, such as Park Hopper tickets or alcohol (as part of the DDP), even for “Disney Adults” who aren’t of drinking age.
Disney Vacation Club members already save 40% or more (in some cases, 70% or more, depending upon when they joined and how they purchased their membership interest) on accommodations. Without question, DVC Members are getting a better deal than Free Dining. For whatever reason, DVC owners seem to think they’re entitled to double-dip on discounts despite having locked-in theirs up-front.
As DVC Members ourselves, we’re sympathetic to a lot of complaints about the program–especially in the last few years. Availability, Member Services, call-center wait times, etc. are all legitimate gripes. This is not one of those valid concerns. When we purchased Disney Vacation Club, we knew it was incumbent upon us to do the math on the purchase assuming alternative discounts.
At the time (during the Great Recession), that meant great deals. DVC still won out. In the years since, we’ve made out like fat cats, especially in 2021-2022 when there were often no alternative deals, hotel prices skyrocketed, and everyone else was paying for parking. Now the tables have turned, general public deals have improved, and DVC owners are complaining.
The next very common question or complaint when it comes to Free Dining concerns resort and room availability. We’re much more receptive to this one.
Over the years, we’ve heard from many people who already have a package booked and are frustrated to find they cannot apply the promo to their existing reservation because there’s “no availability” (even though they have a booking). Or a fan attempts to book a new reservation only to find preferred or more expensive rooms available, despite ample options previously–or without Free Dining.
Walt Disney World only allocates so much room inventory to any special offer. This flows from the same underlying rationale as above: that the company isn’t offering deals to be nice or because it’s the spirit of the season, but rather, necessity. They’ve done internal forecasting and projections based on current bookings, and determined that they can sell X rooms at full price, which means they need to offer Y at a discounted rate.
To illustrate, let’s say that Disney’s Hypothetical Hotel & Spa – A Disney Vacation Club Resort, or DHHS-ADVCR for short, has 1,000 rooms total. Of those, 500 have parking lot or “resort” views; 250 have garden views, and 250 have views overlooking Journey into Imagination in EPCOT.
Since they’re least expensive, bookings are strongest for the parking lot views, so Disney only allocates 50 of those rooms to the promo, whereas they offer 200 garden view rooms and all 250 EPCOT view rooms for dates in June 2025.
Adding yet another wrinkle to this, they might allocate 5/50/200 rooms–or a total of 255 of the DHHS-ADVCR’s total 1,000 rooms–to the special offer in July 2025 since they’re projecting that month will be busier and aren’t sure at this point that a discount will be necessary to fill the rooms.
Those numbers are completely made up, because DHHS-ADVCR doesn’t actually exist (yet). In actuality, WDW diehards would probably pay a pretty penny for that EPCOT view, so perhaps they’re even backwards. But you should get the point–and see the issue–regardless. Despite having the most overall inventory, the resort/standard view room has the fewest as part of the special offer at DHHS-ADVCR.
This is something that happens during Free Dining (or any promo) and with regularity. It is incredibly common for the standard view rooms at Caribbean Beach or Pop Century, for example, to be unavailable the morning the promo drops. So fast, in fact, that I suspect they were never available for some dates to begin with.
This is also why it’s imperative to book ASAP, because even if availability appears “ample” before Free Dining launches…that doesn’t mean what’s allocated to the promo will be! Even if it means waking up early and enduring a virtual queue on DisneyWorld.com or a lengthy hold time on the phone, it can be worth it if you’re trying to book a high-demand, low-supply room type–or dates. Or some combo of the two.
You can take these ‘lessons’ and apply them to just about any room type. Think it’s unfair that the most expensive rooms, like Presidential Suites or Grand Villas, aren’t available? It comes down to supply and demand. There are very few of them and they’ll sell out at full price, so Disney has no incentive to offer deals.
This logic can also be applied to other deals. We recently attempted to book a bounceback offer almost a full year in advance, and found limited availability…at Wilderness Lodge during Christmas. Options were limited not because they’re already booked up at full price, but because Walt Disney World expects they will be and/or doesn’t have a sufficiently confident forecast this far in advance, so they’ve allocated very few rooms to the bounceback.
Still confused after reading this? Even more confused?! If you’re overwhelmed or want someone else to do the homework for you, use a travel agent. Any travel agent! We recommend requesting a FREE no obligation quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner and having them book for you (request a quote BEFORE Jan. 2 for the reasons laid out above!).
They’ll assist you with the planning process, help you choose the most economical dates, best add-ons, etc. Perhaps most importantly, they’ll do the math and determine whether Free Dining is the best deal for you or if you should instead book one of the alternative discounts released on January 2, 2025. Because as explained, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and Free Dining often is not the best special offer!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you think about this list of hotels that are eligible for 2025 Free Dining at Walt Disney World? Hoping you’ll be able to find availability for your preferred resort, room type, and date combo? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
