Hi Kendall,
Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel and thank you for asking us a question.
The short answer to your question is "yes... and no". From what I understand, all
special offers, including the "Stay Play and Dine" (i.e. Free Dining) promotion, are often limited to a certain number of reservations at each Walt Disney World Resort Hotel regardless of whether you booked your vacation by yourself or whether you used an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. If you already have a Magic Your Way Vacation Package booked, you will have to cancel it and re-book it with a Resort that offers the Free Dining promotion. You may get lucky and be able to get a package that is identical to the one you had initially booked, but there is a chance that you may not. In that case, you'll have to choose a different room type/Resort if you want to take advantage of the special offer, or you'll have to stick with your original package (and cost).
The advantage of booking your vacation through an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner is that they’re usually among the first to know when a new promotion is about to be released. They’ll save you the leg work of trying to keep up-to-date with any special offers and whether or not they’ll actually be able to save you money (not every special offer is right for every family). BUT, the same there is no guarantee that they’ll be able to do so, especially with a popular offer like the Free Dining promotion. That being said, I believe that you’d definitely be stacking the odds in your favour by going with an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, so I would highly recommend doing so!
Please don’t hesitate to come back and see us if you have any other questions about your upcoming vacation.
Have a Magical Day,
Lynne