Free Dining or stay off property?

[kkmcan]

I'm trying to put together a 4 night trip before our cruise Dec. 16th- 20th. We want the most economical way to go so would that be free dining at all stars or off property and eat on a budget?

Can anyone help me?

I don't know anything about off property hotels. Which ones to check? And how much is parking since we'll need that?

TIA!

 

[TJA]

I am not a big fan of staying offsite. You will be stuck driving to parks each day and paying for parking. Personally, we love staying onsite, parking the car, and enjoying everything disney has to offer. I like being transported to the parks and not worrying about driving or parking. And free dining is a great offer too!

 

[LindyN]

You can go broke saving money if you are off property.
Plus you have to eat anyways.

Might as well have a vacation and stay with Mickey.

 

[beth_cam]

There are some pretty good codes out. It won't add up to the same as free dining. But if you eat economically you might come out ahead. it would be 74/night. That's about $30 per night savings from the price you pay to get 'free' dining. But I don't know if you could eat for enough less than that 30/day to make a difference.

 

[marcielm]

I'm trying to put together a 4 night trip before our cruise Dec. 16th- 20th. We want the most economical way to go so would that be free dining at all stars or off property and eat on a budget?

Can anyone help me?

I don't know anything about off property hotels. Which ones to check? And how much is parking since we'll need that?

TIA!

Parking is $12 per day. I agree with others that you can do the all stars with free dining for cheaper than staying off & paying for meals & parking.

 

[kkmcan]

Thats kind of what I thought. Thanks! Onsite it is.

 

[raven69david]

Yeah book now with the free dining and secure your hotel. Then, if/when the general public code comes out simply apply it to your reservation. You will then most likely lose free dining but save a pretty good amount of money. You can then eat whatever/whenever you want without having to prepay for food you may not otherwise consume. I've been there enough to know that free dining isn't free, but if you have a large family and enjoy prepaying then by all means go for it.

I'm getting AKL for $129.00 a night vs paying rack rate of $240.00 (with free dining) a night which is a $111.00 savings per night. In addition I would have to buy a 1 day MYW ticket at $79.00 for each person in my party. So for my family, free dining is not a good deal - for others, it may be. I use my KTTW to charge all expenses to my room that way I can see how much we spend each trip. Our food bill for all 3 of us comes out to about $250.00 to $350.00 depending on how many character meals we have. This is for a stay of about 7 days. My wife and I usually share plates as we are not big eaters, but the portions are enough to fill two people so we are always full by the end of our meal(s). For larger appetites free dining is definetly a better option.

So, you do the math and see if paying rack rate and getting meals for free (don't forget you need to purchase a 1 day ticket too) is worth it to you and your family. When staying at a Value, this is the most economical route to go. Since you're only going for 4 days then I'd go w/o the free dining offer so you don't have to buy a MYW ticket. Of course, you can always use it for a future visit to WDW and/or upgrade to more days when you do visit again.

Either way, you'll be at WDW and then go on DCL for an awesome trip.

 

[swald91]

Definitely better to stay on site!! We never even rent a car anymore! I know that the value resorts have great room prices & with the FD I think it's worth it. We never stay off property anymore-no reason to!