Free Dining is available - but it might not be what you want to hear!

supersnoop · Apr 27, 2015

Marionnette said:
This is where I find the math gets convoluted.

You see it as a $240/night savings because that's what the dining plans cost. I think the comparison makes more sense when you look at what the family would normally spend on room + tickets + eating the way they prefer and then compare that number to what they have to spend on a *free* dining package for the same dates.

Let's assume you could eat for half that ($120/day). And let's assume you could get a 20% discount on the room, which is typical of a moderate resort. You'd have to be paying $500/night for the discount to be a better deal than "free" dining.

Two people staying at a deluxe? Sure, the discount is better. But five people at a value? Free dining wins by a landslide.

Marionnette · Apr 27, 2015

supersnoop said:
Let's assume you could eat for half that ($120/day). And let's assume you could get a 20% discount on the room, which is typical of a moderate resort. You'd have to be paying $500/night for the discount to be a better deal than "free" dining.

Two people staying at a deluxe? Sure, the discount is better. But five people at a value? Free dining wins by a landslide.

Five people won't fit in a regular Value Resort room unless one of those people is under the age of 3, in which case the 3 year-old doesn't qualify for *free* dining.

snvanvl · Apr 27, 2015

We have 2 adults and 5 kids 16,15,13,11,10. We booked 2 standard rooms at CBR. If we calculate each person eating $30 a day x 11 it would cost us $2310 for food. A 20% discount for 11 nights at CBR for 2 rooms would be $840. So the free dining discount is a huge savings for us.

dpswift · Apr 28, 2015

Marionnette said:
This is where I find the math gets convoluted.

You see it as a $240/night savings because that's what the dining plans cost. I think the comparison makes more sense when you look at what the family would normally spend on room + tickets + eating the way they prefer and then compare that number to what they have to spend on a *free* dining package for the same dates.

Even with an AP discount and TIW if I buy it there is no way I could feed myself. a 22 year old boy(he is paying his way) and a 13 year old boy for $75 a day which is about what the discount would be. I would also have the savings from my ticket, however even that would not cover what we get with the FD.

NY Pirate Princess · Apr 28, 2015

I am only watching deals to get a sense of what we might get for spring of 2016. I agree with PP that it is frustrating to see Disney Visa holders get no jump on this deal. It also happened for the Spring deals of 2015. With the poor reward rate and the constantly shrinking perks, I will be ditching my Disney Visa for sure after the 2016 trip.

Back to topic, I actually did the math for our last trip, picking out food for each of us at each restaurant and adding tax. Without dealing with the snack credits we really did come out ahead buying the plan. Now that we've had our fair share of table service and are cutting back on the character dining dramatically (daughter less interested due to age and we find the food subpar) I can't see a time where we would return to the dining plan. A delivery from Garden Grocer and a couple of carefully planned ADR's and the rest will be counter service.

Marionnette · Apr 28, 2015

snvanvl said:
We have 2 adults and 5 kids 16,15,13,11,10. We booked 2 standard rooms at CBR. If we calculate each person eating $30 a day x 11 it would cost us $2310 for food. A 20% discount for 11 nights at CBR for 2 rooms would be $840. So the free dining discount is a huge savings for us.

dpswift said:
Even with an AP discount and TIW if I buy it there is no way I could feed myself. a 22 year old boy(he is paying his way) and a 13 year old boy for $75 a day which is about what the discount would be. I would also have the savings from my ticket, however even that would not cover what we get with the FD.

I think you're confusing my statement about "convoluted math" with a declaration that *free* dining does not save some families money over doing a room discount.

What I was trying to say, and it seems to be getting lost on those who want to defend *free* dining, is that your true savings are much less than the nightly cost of the dining plan X the number of people in the room X the number of nights that you're staying. Disney hangs the moniker "free" on something and people jump on it without doing all of the math like you have.

dpswift · Apr 28, 2015

Marionnette said:
I think you're confusing my statement about "convoluted math" with a declaration that *free* dining does not save some families money over doing a room discount.

What I was trying to say, and it seems to be getting lost on those who want to defend *free* dining, is that your true savings are much less than the nightly cost of the dining plan X the number of people in the room X the number of nights that you're staying. Disney hangs the moniker "free" on something and people jump on it without doing all of the math like you have.

I do agree with this. If it were DH and me going a room discount would win hands down.

stayathomehero · Apr 28, 2015

I think that it depends on your party size, which level resort, and length of stay. For us, free dining was a home run.

Forgive my lengthy voodoo math:

Family of three. Mod + Park Hopper, 8 day ticket/7 night. We were going with this plan anyway, so, granted, park hopper add doesn't affect us personally.

Below is the price within $100. The first is my free dining price. The second is my calculation of what it would be for a moderate room only discount of 25% with the same tickets. If it would only 20%, it would be $50 more.

Free Dining: ~$2700
RO +8/7PH: ~$2300

It's a $400 difference to eat out for a week. I'm sure it could be done, but $50 a day for two meals + snack for a family of three would be a bit difficult to do, especially if I didn't want to leave the parks during the day.

Imagine that we applied a 20% discount, and paid for the dining plan. It would be $3,193. Almost a $500 difference.

Again, it's a case by case basis.

stitchfan75 · Apr 28, 2015

We are saving about $300 over our original CBR package. In September we booked Nov. 12th-21st at CBR, standard room, 8 day PH, no dining plan (by the way, this was my biggest mistake...don't bother booking early). The package came to ~$3400 RR.
Round one of Free Dining we booked AK Standard view, 8 day PH, free dining. This increased our cost to $4500 :crazy2:

Round two of Free Dining finally got us a deal...POP Standard, 8 day PH, free dining, ~$2600 + dining upgrade...$3100.

Honestly for us it's more about convenience. My husband is a penny pincher and our vacation would be a constant tally of how much we've spent and how much is left. This makes it almost all inclusive, all I have to worry about is souvenirs and tipping. To me that's priceless.

dpswift · Apr 28, 2015

stitchfan75 said:
We are saving about $300 over our original CBR package. In September we booked Nov. 12th-21st at CBR, standard room, 8 day PH, no dining plan (by the way, this was my biggest mistake...don't bother booking early). The package came to ~$3400 RR.
Round one of Free Dining we booked AK Standard view, 8 day PH, free dining. This increased our cost to $4500
Round two of Free Dining finally got us a deal...POP Standard, 8 day PH, free dining, ~$2600 + dining upgrade...$3100.

Honestly for us it's more about convenience. My husband is a penny pincher and our vacation would be a constant tally of how much we've spent and how much is left. This makes it almost all inclusive, all I have to worry about is souvenirs and tipping. To me that's priceless.

I have the same temperment about money as your DH. This is another reason FD works best for us. It is a bonus that it is cheaper this time. DH and I are going for a few days next month to drop DD off for the CP. I am already trying to figure where I can cut my food expense to make up for his meals.

bbarba · Apr 28, 2015

Free dining is not offered for our trip, but we look at dining costs in depth. For us, we bring sandwiches, fruit, etc. for lunch. While it saves us money, the real benefit is we eat when we are hungry, with no waiting in line. This goes a long way in eliminating meltdowns (both child & adult). (We have done this when we have the DDP also).

What is the relevance to FD? Our lunch cost is the same at home as it is at WDW. When I calculate the benefit of DDP or even FD, this goes in. We don't save anything on FD and actually can spend more on DDP, since we tend to do more breakfasts. Just goes to show everyone needs to determine if it really is a value for their trip.

The savings in frustration for us is HUGE, when we can eliminate a meltdown or two!!!

hsmamato2 · Apr 28, 2015

FD can be a savings.... but it all depends on your family size,and your hotel,and the way you want to eat on vacation. Last time I got FD was a few years back, we had 4 disney 'adults' in the room at POFQ and it was a great deal for all that food,and room included.( I think it was a 2 day ticket buy, and the room was less than 200 a night) But we haven't eaten that much TS since...and I don't really miss it. I would do it again if it saved me $$$ but it really doesn't anymore, not for what we like. I prefer to find deals in other ways.

jesusluvsu2005 · Apr 28, 2015

pktbMouse said:
I just dont get what all the fuss is about for FD...the room rate discount adds up to be the same in most all cases...its just nuts. Do people really think they are getting something for free??

It does depend greatly on the number in your party and your eating habits. If it were just me and my husband going it might not be such a great deal. But when it's me, my husband, a 15 year old, 12 year old and a 10 year old (all disney adults) and we like to eat table service meals in addition to quick service it far outweighs a room discount. I estimated that to eat at the places we'd like to eat at (and this was cutting off 2 or 3 table services), that it would cost at least $1400 for 8 days/7nights. For us, the food is part of the experience so it's important. Even with paying for the park hoppers (which I love but had planned to forgo in order to save money) which was $340 we still come out ahead. A room discount of say 20% (can't remember if that's the usual discount for the mods or not) would only save us $315. With the dining plan and after park hoppers we are saving over $1060 (after you subtract 340 for park hoppers from my dining estimate earlier) and we get to enjoy even more table service restaurants. It all just depends on each persons situation and hopefully everyone checks the numbers before they determine if it's actually a good deal for them or not.

smokeyblue · Apr 28, 2015

stitchfan75 said:
Honestly for us it's more about convenience. My husband is a penny pincher and our vacation would be a constant tally of how much we've spent and how much is left. This makes it almost all inclusive, all I have to worry about is souvenirs and tipping. To me that's priceless.

This is the case for us. As an adults only party dining is half the fun for us. If we were paying for our meals at the time of purchase, we would make ourselves miserable. The dining plan takes the $$$ out of the decision making process, which makes it more of a vacation and less of a business transaction.

Dacky619 · Apr 28, 2015

smokeyblue said:
This is the case for us. As an adults only party dining is half the fun for us. If we were paying for our meals at the time of purchase, we would make ourselves miserable. The dining plan takes the $$$ out of the decision making process, which makes it more of a vacation and less of a business transaction.

Whenever we had the dining plan the $$$ is all we thought about. We had to get the most value out of the money we had spent. On our 2 week honeymoon, I can't tell you the number of steaks that I had but I know it was in the double digits.

The way we work around it now is by purchasing gift cards ahead of time (usually at a small discount, target/sams/etc...) and using the TIW card. I know not everyone can do that, but it has let us enjoy our meal time. As others have said, each family just needs to figure out what works for them.

scard192 · Apr 28, 2015

For my family of 3 Disney "adults" staying at POP FD is the best discount. RO of 20% ~ $30/day. I can't feed the 3 of us for $30/day. I know it's not "free" but when I look at the numbers it's still the best discount even if I have to pay rack rate.

Happyinwonerland · Apr 28, 2015

scard192 said:
For my family of 3 Disney "adults" staying at POP FD is the best discount. RO of 20% ~ $30/day. I can't feed the 3 of us for $30/day. I know it's not "free" but when I look at the numbers it's still the best discount even if I have to pay rack rate.

But are you really feeding your family all the I meals on the dining plan? Are you accounting for a third meal? Snacks, water, coffee, sodas? Alcohol? Tips for those table service meals?

I don't think I would like the dining plan, because:
1) it dictates what you can eat and where
2) it forces you to eat table service once per day, which is more than we normally would
3) all your meals and drinks are still not covered, so you have to add any out of pocket costs to your perceived value.

momtosam · Apr 28, 2015

Personally I wouldn't go during FD. It is so hard to get good ADRS when everyone is fighting it out over a small period of days.

Misha72683 · Apr 28, 2015

pktbMouse said:
I just dont get what all the fuss is about for FD...the room rate discount adds up to be the same in most all cases...its just nuts. Do people really think they are getting something for free??

It depends on a lot of factors. For our party, buying the DDP would cost us $200 a day. No room discount at a moderate or value (where we would stay) would save us that much. Yes, we could upgrade to a deluxe, but we'd still be paying to eat where as with free dining we're staying in the same class we always intended and we get to eat for free.

Misha72683 · Apr 28, 2015

Marionnette said:
This is where I find the math gets convoluted.

You see it as a $240/night savings because that's what the dining plans cost. I think the comparison makes more sense when you look at what the family would normally spend on room + tickets + eating the way they prefer and then compare that number to what they have to spend on a *free* dining package for the same dates.

We were already planning a value or a moderate and we had already decided on park-hoppers and that we were buying the DDP, so for us free dining meant we didn't have to pay for one part of our already planned trip. No changes or upgrades.

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Free Dining is available - but it might not be what you want to hear!