Glad that I can put free dining behind me!

msdaisy · Apr 27, 2015

We were fortunate enough to stay at Coronado Springs in 2011 with free dining. It was that weird year that they offered it with a check in date at the end of May. We were traveling with my mom, sister, and brother in law. I had never heard of free dining, but by gosh I checked my kids out of school two days early and off we were!

It was a great trip. My mom worried the entire trip that Disney was going to stick a food bill under our doors one night. Rack rate on the two rooms must have been around $175 or $180 per night, and of course tickets were much less even in 2011.

So, we lived it up. Well other than my mom who was super suspicious of the whole thing. Well let me tell you, free dining became the holy grail. This is very difficult to do with two kids in school. We continued to return to Disney, but we were always chasing that pie in the sky free dining!

Never. Happened. Again.

I spent some time early this morning just pricing out some things before the website became wonky. This is hard to compare apples to apples, because we usually travel in June. But, here is what my apples to oranges comparison is -

Coronado Springs rack rate is about $200 a night now. Plus, people now need park hoppers. So, it looks like we would spend around $6500 for 9 nights for the free dining deal. Now enter Bonnet Creek. I can book it with regular tickets for around $3500 for the same length of time. Sorry Disney, but you just can't have $3000 of my money. I'm fairly certain we could eat like kings for that much money.

So, I declare I give up on my free dining dream!

And, I am happy about it!!

Candleshoe · Apr 27, 2015

msdaisy said:
We were fortunate enough to stay at Coronado Springs in 2011 with free dining. It was that weird year that they offered it with a check in date at the end of May. We were traveling with my mom, sister, and brother in law. I had never heard of free dining, but by gosh I checked my kids out of school two days early and off we were!

It was a great trip. My mom worried the entire trip that Disney was going to stick a food bill under our doors one night. Rack rate on the two rooms must have been around $175 or $180 per night, and of course tickets were much less even in 2011.

So, we lived it up. Well other than my mom who was super suspicious of the whole thing. Well let me tell you, free dining became the holy grail. This is very difficult to do with two kids in school. We continued to return to Disney, but we were always chasing that pie in the sky free dining!

Never. Happened. Again.

I spent some time early this morning just pricing out some things before the website became wonky. This is hard to compare apples to apples, because we usually travel in June. But, here is what my apples to oranges comparison is -

Coronado Springs rack rate is about $200 a night now. Plus, people now need park hoppers. So, it looks like we would spend around $6500 for 9 nights for the free dining deal. Now enter Bonnet Creek. I can book it with regular tickets for around $3500 for the same length of time. Sorry Disney, but you just can't have $3000 of my money. I'm fairly certain we could eat like kings for that much money.

So, I declare I give up on my free dining dream!

And, I am happy about it!!

Not to mention for ~$300 you upgrade ONE of your tickets to an AP, add on a Tables in Wonderland card and have your own 'DIY Dining Plan'.

I probably am not going to do it this year only because so much is blocked out in June for me. This is our first June trip and I've never experience TIW blockout dates.

Still, a little time and an excel sheet and it's easy to make budget decisions. I understand the allure of the dining plan: pre-paid "everything"... except it's NOT pre-paid everything with gratiuties In fact only the Quick Service is pre-paid everything.

angeleigh · Apr 27, 2015

The first time we booked free dining was in 2007 I believe. We only had to buy one day tickets and our free dining included appetizers and tips. Alot has changed since then. This year we were fortunate enough to book the bounce back when we were there last August so we didn't have to purchase the park hopper or water park options. I'm not sure we will do free dining again.

squeegee · Apr 27, 2015

Candleshoe said:
Not to mention for ~$300 you upgrade ONE of your tickets to an AP, add on a Tables in Wonderland card and have your own 'DIY Dining Plan'.

I probably am not going to do it this year only because so much is blocked out in June for me. This is our first June trip and I've never experience TIW blockout dates.

Still, a little time and an excel sheet and it's easy to make budget decisions. I understand the allure of the dining plan: pre-paid "everything"... except it's NOT pre-paid everything with gratiuties In fact only the Quick Service is pre-paid everything.

Can can you tell me more about the process of upgrading one of the tickets and getting the TIW card? Am considering doing this for our December trip, but I want to be more certain that it will be a benefit before I shell out an extra $400 or so. I keep hearing that AP room discounts aren't a sure thing?

msdaisy · Apr 27, 2015

I think the TIW would work in our advantage if we were doing more sit down meals. I think we may only do 3 or 4. I do think this would be the way to go if we were going to go all out. My family seems to enjoy doing the quick service then a snack as a dessert later on. But, that is a great idea. I might work out our dining plans to see what the break even point is for it to pay for itself.

leebee · Apr 27, 2015

It didn't take me too long to do the math :teacher:

and come to the same conclusion. Free dining isn't even close to free anymore. Even if I wanted to spend the money and stay onsite, having to buy a PH or WP add-on really jacks up the cost of the vacation, over and above having to pay rack rate. I can do this all significantly cheaper by staying offsite in a suite or villa, renting a small car, and getting tickets through UT. That will leave us PLENTY of money for one TS, one QS, and one snack per day, per person (I'll pass on another mug ::yes::

). Because the site got really wonky really quickly, I couldn't get actual costs, but I didn't really need them. I'm happy to skip "free" dining and save money!

msdaisy · Apr 27, 2015

leebee said:
It didn't take me too long to do the math and come to the same conclusion. Free dining isn't even close to free anymore. Even if I wanted to spend the money and stay onsite, having to buy a PH or WP add-on really jacks up the cost of the vacation, over and above having to pay rack rate. I can do this all significantly cheaper by staying offsite in a suite or villa, renting a small car, and getting tickets through UT. That will leave us PLENTY of money for one TS, one QS, and one snack per day, per person (I'll pass on another mug ). Because the site got really wonky really quickly, I couldn't get actual costs, but I didn't really need them. I'm happy to skip "free" dining and save money!

Earlier, I told my sister that someone should give Disney a heads up that I do have a calculator and that I WILL use it!

Don't get me wrong. If you were staying on property with park hoppers with or without free ding, then I am happy for you. It just doesn't make sense for us now. We always travel with 6, and the 2 or 3 bedroom villa is so nice for space.

lauradis · Apr 27, 2015

Op that's not really fair to compare On-site/ to Off- site prices. Totally Different animal.

Now Dinning plan worth it is an individual question.

I'm a big fan of Deluxe dinning, Love to get it when its "freeish", but we don't use it to save money. we us it for the experience of trying 3-4 apps, 3-4 entrees, 3-4 desserts in a family style eating way, mostly at signatures.

msdaisy · Apr 27, 2015

I think it's so fair to compare appes to oranges that I'm going to do it again. $3000 in Disney's pocket is bad and $3000 in my pocket is good.

Everyone has to be happy, so everyone just has to crunch the numbers to see what works for them. As for me and my house, I will no longer be chasing free dining.

Candleshoe · Apr 27, 2015

squeegee said:
Can can you tell me more about the process of upgrading one of the tickets and getting the TIW card? Am considering doing this for our December trip, but I want to be more certain that it will be a benefit before I shell out an extra $400 or so. I keep hearing that AP room discounts aren't a sure thing?

Sure!
$125 for Florida Residents
$100 for Annual / Seasonal Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members
I always purchase it at DTD where I upgrade my AP.
Here's all the details including the blackout dates and the restaurants. http://tablesinwonderland.com/
This trip if I'd purchased the 2nd showing of HDDR that would have paid for it.
You get 20% discount, with a mandatory 18% gratuity added. (No matter how many are in your party,
don't let my 8-people confuse you down there.)

I made it so that one of my cells has the formulas visible:

Notice 'AP Upgrade' and True Upgrade cost.
The $257 is what it will cost to upgrade my 10Day MYW to an AP.
True upgrade cost subtracts parking for the length of this trip from that cost. (Not factoring in possible future trips.)
I did 8 days worth of parking because we're on a 10 day trip and I have a 1 day reservation so I'd get 2 days of
parking already. I'm not trying to fool myself into buying the AP

Max cost is the cost of the meal (I figured a sample meal at Be our guest, and should take that off there since I switched to a lunch.)
Max cost + # people that I'm paying for gets me the "Meal" column.
I see I calculated tip at 15% but that was me playing with numbers. This is a personal choice but per guidelines I tip 10-11% at a buffet and 15-17% at a sit down restaurant. More if the restaurant is low cost. (ie: a minimum tip).
The $221 under TIW cost is the "true upgrade cost" of $121 + the $100 of the card.
Meal+Tip = Total (that's oop no TiW)
The TIW Cost takes the Meal and subtracts the 20% discount (meal*20%) and adds back in the Tip (MEAL*18%)
I keep the cost of meals off to the left so that I can pop them in and out of Column C as I play with figures and consider my options.
Blackout dates so my Starwars meals don't get me anything.

Candleshoe · Apr 27, 2015

Let me also add that the Tables in Wonderland card gets you a discount on alcoholic drinks. I don't drink much but my husband likes to, so maybe I will do it just for that since my actual figures are pretty close.

squeegee · Apr 28, 2015

How would I get it activated and such before the trip so that I can get the room discount? Once I find out there are room discounts, that is? Or does it not have to be acitvated first? I'm in texas - a bit too far away to pop over to do it. LOL. and do I but the TIW card there, or before I go?

Marionnette · Apr 28, 2015

squeegee said:
How would I get it activated and such before the trip so that I can get the room discount? Once I find out there are room discounts, that is? Or does it not have to be acitvated first? I'm in texas - a bit too far away to pop over to do it. LOL. and do I but the TIW card there, or before I go?

You don't need to activate your AP in order to make an AP room-only reservation. You may be asked to provide proof at check in by showing your voucher or the actual pass but I'm not sure how this would work with the new "direct to room" feature that allows you to bypass the check in desk completely.

TravelMommy · Apr 28, 2015

Glad you found a "plan" that works for you. We put the dining plan behind us back in 2004/2006, every time I have crunched the numbers for us, it just hasn't worked in our favor.

Candleshoe · Apr 28, 2015

squeegee said:
How would I get it activated and such before the trip so that I can get the room discount? Once I find out there are room discounts, that is? Or does it not have to be acitvated first? I'm in texas - a bit too far away to pop over to do it. LOL. and do I but the TIW card there, or before I go?

I'm in Texas, too

And actually, now that APs are restricted to 7 days of FP+, i started with a 10D myw so I can make my FP reservations. Then I'll upgrade when i get on site and buy the TiW card.

The main reason I won't do it is if by upgrading the last 3 days of FPs were to fall off my reservation.

mistysue · Apr 28, 2015

Not trying to argue that you aren't saving yourself money but that $6500 number HAS to be wrong. Was it charging you for dining? At $200/night for the room it sounds like you were quoted $4700 for your tickets- for 4 people? You should be checking out that price again.

We are doing 13 nights in August with 5 people getting 10 day tickets with hoppers and water parks for $5100 at POR. That is for Garden view so it's not even the lowest category room. Your price was $1400 MORE for 4 nights less. Were you getting two rooms or something?

msdaisy said:
We were fortunate enough to stay at Coronado Springs in 2011 with free dining. It was that weird year that they offered it with a check in date at the end of May. We were traveling with my mom, sister, and brother in law. I had never heard of free dining, but by gosh I checked my kids out of school two days early and off we were!

It was a great trip. My mom worried the entire trip that Disney was going to stick a food bill under our doors one night. Rack rate on the two rooms must have been around $175 or $180 per night, and of course tickets were much less even in 2011.

So, we lived it up. Well other than my mom who was super suspicious of the whole thing. Well let me tell you, free dining became the holy grail. This is very difficult to do with two kids in school. We continued to return to Disney, but we were always chasing that pie in the sky free dining!

Never. Happened. Again.

I spent some time early this morning just pricing out some things before the website became wonky. This is hard to compare apples to apples, because we usually travel in June. But, here is what my apples to oranges comparison is -

Coronado Springs rack rate is about $200 a night now. Plus, people now need park hoppers. So, it looks like we would spend around $6500 for 9 nights for the free dining deal. Now enter Bonnet Creek. I can book it with regular tickets for around $3500 for the same length of time. Sorry Disney, but you just can't have $3000 of my money. I'm fairly certain we could eat like kings for that much money.

So, I declare I give up on my free dining dream!

And, I am happy about it!!

Kbee · Apr 28, 2015

I think free dining is great if you were planning on staying onsite (and now, buying parkhoppers or water and more tix) during the dates it is offered anyway. Your food is just one less expense you need to add on now.
If you are trying to get the best deal, at least for the late summer time which is when we go, then I definitely think you can do better than "free" dining. We use a certain TA's end of summer special and make out better. We stay deluxe and last time it was club level and I still spent less than I would had I booked for free dining.

HM · Apr 28, 2015

We stopped doing the dining plan not long after they took off the tips and apps. We did revisit it in March 2012 for Spring Break and downgraded our usual Deluxe resort stay to CSR for the four adults in our family to actually save money. Hasn't been on our radar since. We save much more by eating OOP the way we want and using a room-only discount.

msdaisy · Apr 28, 2015

mistysue said:
Not trying to argue that you aren't saving yourself money but that $6500 number HAS to be wrong. Was it charging you for dining? At $200/night for the room it sounds like you were quoted $4700 for your tickets- for 4 people? You should be checking out that price again.

We are doing 13 nights in August with 5 people getting 10 day tickets with hoppers and water parks for $5100 at POR. That is for Garden view so it's not even the lowest category room. Your price was $1400 MORE for 4 nights less. Were you getting two rooms or something?

This was for two rooms and 6 adults - my family of four and my mom and sister who always tag along.

Gr8t Fan · Apr 28, 2015

msdaisy said:
We were fortunate enough to stay at Coronado Springs in 2011 with free dining. It was that weird year that they offered it with a check in date at the end of May. We were traveling with my mom, sister, and brother in law. I had never heard of free dining, but by gosh I checked my kids out of school two days early and off we were!

........

I spent some time early this morning just pricing out some things before the website became wonky. This is hard to compare apples to apples, because we usually travel in June. But, here is what my apples to oranges comparison is -

Coronado Springs rack rate is about $200 a night now. Plus, people now need park hoppers. So, it looks like we would spend around $6500 for 9 nights for the free dining deal. Now enter Bonnet Creek. I can book it with regular tickets for around $3500 for the same length of time. Sorry Disney, but you just can't have $3000 of my money. I'm fairly certain we could eat like kings for that much money.

So, I declare I give up on my free dining dream!

And, I am happy about it!!

I agree! Each year they have chipped away at the value of FD by requiring more and more $. I remember when the tips and appetizers were included in the plan -- that was a great value. We decided FD wasn't worth it several years ago and haven't looked back. Since then, we've had many great offsite stays (FD was the only reason we'd stayed onsite in the past) at Windsor Hills, WBC, Grand Beach, Cypress Pointe and a few other resorts. We have upcoming trips offsite at Polynesian Isles, Windsor Hills and Sheraton Vistana and couldn't be happier. Every time FD is announced I go to the website and price out a trip and then I close out the tab even happier with the great deals we get staying offsite and using our APs.

Glad that I can put free dining behind me!

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