Ease my mind, WDW pros?

[grainsmommy]

I was super proud of my Disney "budget" since we got the military park hopper tickets and found a condo for only 299/week. We made ADR's for each evening and that is where I splurged, but I decided to add it all up to know what to take and it looks like between food and tip we are looking at $700 for 5 dinners and a brunch? I'm okay with that,but I have been second guessing myself wondering if staying on property with free dining would have been less expensive? It's too late now, but I'm going to plan another trip for after DH gets home from Afghanistan.

Thank you

 

[davedmaine]

I was super proud of my Disney "budget" since we got the military park hopper tickets and found a condo for only 299/week. We made ADR's for each evening and that is where I splurged, but I decided to add it all up to know what to take and it looks like between food and tip we are looking at $700 for 5 dinners and a brunch? I'm okay with that,but I have been second guessing myself wondering if staying on property with free dining would have been less expensive? It's too late now, but I'm going to plan another trip for after DH gets home from Afghanistan.

Thank you

If you stayed on property with free dining you would have spent A LOT more, believe me. Free dining is for suckers and will not save anyone money. Don't second-guess yourself.

 

[bumbershoot]

Why not do the math? Free dining saves money for many people. It doesn't for others. Look at how you eat, look at the dining plan, and price out a FD trip for your dates. If the plan lets you eat how you want to eat then its just price you are looking at.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

If you stayed on property with free dining you would have spent A LOT more, believe me. Free dining is for suckers and will not save anyone money. Don't second-guess yourself.

That's pretty insulting, isn't it???? I have a family of four, all considered Disney "adults" and free dining is a huge savings for us. We like to stay on site, for th convenience factor and so we don't have to rent a car or pay for parking/gas, etc.

If we got a RO discount it might save us 20-25% off a rack rate. At a mod, that's about $40 or $50 a night. Please explain how I could possibly feed my family of four for that at Disney. Then tell me how I'm a "sucker" for taking advantage of this great deal. I hear people say this and yet no one has done the math for me to explain how I'm throwing money away. It's always just, "It's not a good deal," but no explanation why not.

Everyone's situation is different--some save with one discount, some with another, some by staying offsite. But to make a blanket statement like that is ridiculous. Each family needs to do some research, some math, and see what works best for them.

 

[grainsmommy]

That's pretty insulting, isn't it???? I have a family of four, all considered Disney "adults" and free dining is a huge savings for us. We like to stay on site, for th convenience factor and so we don't have to rent a car or pay for parking/gas, etc. If we got a RO discount it might save us 20-25% off a rack rate. At a mod, that's about $40 or $50 a night. Please explain how I could possibly feed my family of four for that at Disney. Then tell me how I'm a "sucker" for taking advantage of this great deal. I hear people say this and yet no one has done the math for me to explain how I'm throwing money away. It's always just, "It's not a good deal," but no explanation why not. Everyone's situation is different--some save with one discount, some with another, some by staying offsite. But to make a blanket statement like that is ridiculous. Each family needs to do some research, some math, and see what works best for them.

Ultimately this is why I was asking. I have tried to price out a trip on the site, but since we are living "on the road" for this season in our lives, Internet can be spotty and frustrating on my phone. I've seen people be so excited about free dining and I knew it would be expensive for that week, but I've never spent 1k (after we factor in breakfasts, lunches and snacks) on food in just a week, so I wondered.

So, it seems as if the way we worked it will be the best deal for us while our littles are under 9, but as we grow it might be better to look at some free dining scenarios.

Again, I realize it's a silly question, but life is so hectic right now and I'm buying things as we have cash instead of all at once, and I've seen so many people here who are amazing at doing the comparisons I thought I would ask

 

[bjgonzo]

My hubby is AD and we are using the tickets and staying on property using the military discount. For us, the military discount is the much better deal then free dining. To get free dining, we would have to buy a 2 day park ticket and no room discount. I have messed around with the numbers a bunch of times and I just can't get free dining to be a better deal.

Edited to add that we are buying the DDP because that is a good deal for us and the meals we are planning.

 

[Happyjen27]

There are DDP calculators available to help you determine this.

I've gone to the trouble of going to allears dot net and looking at all the menus, guessing what we would eat and adding it up. Once I did that, I looked at the DDP and checked those prices.

In the end, for how we eat, the DDP is never a good savings for us. It can be for some families though. I'm going to be in Disney for a week with my family, and dining will be about 1000. The DDP would be just a tiny amount more than that, however, my estimates include me ordering appetizers instead of getting stuck with dessert every time. Also includes the opportunity for my kids to order adult entrees instead of getting stuck with nuggestpizzaburgers all the time.

For your next trip, you can always call and ask the people at Disney for help, rather than trying to check it out online. They are more than happy to help, and is probably less frustrating than spotty internet.

 

[Nancyg56]

If you stayed on property with free dining you would have spent A LOT more, believe me. Free dining is for suckers and will not save anyone money. Don't second-guess yourself.

Yikes! Pretty opinionated, aren't you?

OP- as others have pointed out, free dining is not always "free" but depending on the resort you choose and the number and ages of the people in your room, and your family's eating habits, Free Dining can be a better savings than a RO discount. I don't know what restaurants that you chose, so I cannot judge the cost other than to say, it is pretty expensive to eat at TS restaurants in WDW.

I would suggest that you cost the entire trip out, and include parking, additional offsite meals, etc along with the money you already budgeted for meals and your hotel room and tickets. Compare it to a "FD" offer at an onsite resort, and just add in the tips you plan to leave. You may not want to change this trip, but you will be armed with a comparison for the next time.

BTW- Thank you both for your service! Enjoy your trip!

 

[Nancyg56]

For your next trip, you can always call and ask the people at Disney for help, rather than trying to check it out online. They are more than happy to help, and is probably less frustrating than spotty internet.

I always make that call! That way I have a firm cost rather then one that I "think" is correct. They are always happy to help me and will make adjustments if there are more than one offer I want to consider.

 

[grainsmommy]

Thank you all so much! I didn't even consider DDP, so I'm glad I asked . I will definitely call them later. We have food allergies, so I have been in touch and they are so helpful.

I did, admittedly, choose some more expensive meals so we can see characters. My DD5 is also PDD-NOS (mildly autistic) with sensory issues, and what she's most looking forward to is seeing characters. I'm hoping this will help her have an absolutely fabulous time without waiting in lines with huge crowds that will be difficult for her.

I'm so thankful y'all have helped with the question, I am feeling much better about this trip and will be armed to make even better decisions next time.

and thank YOU to the commenter who thanked my husband's service. We are very proud of him and grateful we can take the trip.

 

[bumbershoot]

...and I've seen so many people here who are amazing at doing the comparisons I thought I would ask

The problem is that no one knows how and what you eat except for you.

Many people make the dining plan work for them. We cannot; we just don't eat that way, and a lot of food would go unordered (two desserts a day? not happening for us either because of too-many-calorie reasons OR because of ingredient-issue reasons) or uneaten. We'd take free if the total worked out cheaper than we could get otherwise, but that's unlikely *for us* since we would still probably have to supplement the food we get with the plans.

Spotty internet is no fun for research. Sorry.

 

[tigerbelly]

Could you maybe post which restaurants you have booked? Sounds like you have planned a really thrifty vacation and the dinners will be worth it to you, however I caution you that sometimes the character dinners can be rushed and chaotic. It may be a better option for you to use a disability card for your child who needs it and wait for more personal interactions. That is just my opinion and I'm sure everyone has one!
The one character meal we did a few weeks ago (Chef Mickey) was not our favorite meal nor was it our favorite interaction. We had free dining so we made use of it and in the future we will not do the dining plan.

And just to add.....I also find it insulting when people say free dining is not free. I watched free dining take $1200 off our bill and to me that was worth it! Now that we know how it works we will no longer be doing the DDP. It was too much food for us, but I still consider it a huge savings. We definitely ate like kings and queens!

 

[Gillyrose779]

As long as you are okay staying offsite you really can't beat 299 for a week in a condo- even with having to pay for parking. Even with the dining plan you would be paying more to be onsite.

That being said I think we will always stay onsite- for the extra park hours and ease of transportation from park to park. Also, every Disney Resort is like a park on their own and can't be beat.

 

[grainsmommy]

Could you maybe post which restaurants you have booked? Sounds like you have planned a really thrifty vacation and the dinners will be worth it to you, however I caution you that sometimes the character dinners can be rushed and chaotic. It may be a better option for you to use a disability card for your child who needs it and wait for more personal interactions. That is just my opinion and I'm sure everyone has one! The one character meal we did a few weeks ago (Chef Mickey) was not our favorite meal nor was it our favorite interaction. We had free dining so we made use of it and in the future we will not do the dining plan. And just to add.....I also find it insulting when people say free dining is not free. I watched free dining take $1200 off our bill and to me that was worth it! Now that we know how it works we will no longer be doing the DDP. It was too much food for us, but I still consider it a huge savings. We definitely ate like kings and queens!

We have ADR's for dinner @ 50's Diner, 1900 Park Fare (late breakfast), Chef Mickeys (sad to hear that about your experience!), Garden Grill candlelight processional pkg, Crystal Palace and Akershus.

We are going the 2nd week of Dec, my hope was it would be slower in the parks, but it's Pop Warner week. I have heard the park will be okay, but I'm concerned about dinners now.

 

[grainsmommy]

We went indoor trick-or-treating at a mall and she just told me her favorite part of the whole night was hugging "that bee guy" who was a mascot we saw there. She said this a week later and I didn't even remember what she was talking about for a while, LOL! She was literally just diagnosed this week, so it's all very new to me and we've never been to the parks. I wasn't planning on doing the DAS, but I think it may be in order.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We have ADR's for dinner @ 50's Diner, 1900 Park Fare (late breakfast), Chef Mickeys (sad to hear that about your experience!), Garden Grill candlelight processional pkg, Crystal Palace and Akershus.

We are going the 2nd week of Dec, my hope was it would be slower in the parks, but it's Pop Warner week. I have heard the park will be okay, but I'm concerned about dinners now.

We did Crystal palace, akershus, and chef Mickey on our last trip. By far our favorite was Crystal palace because all the characters were so furry and huggable. We loved the food at akershus and once my son got over being shy he liked they princesses. We ended our trip with chef Mickey and we liked that as well.

Good luck with your free dining decision. To help with your calculations, it's typically $10 apiece each time we get a counter service meal in the parks, and that is only for an entree, we don't order drinks or dessert. Kids meals are slightly cheaper, but a good estimate for our family of three is $30 for each counter service meal in the park. Snacks are roughly $4 apiece, or slight less.

 

[rebeccam31]

I was super proud of my Disney "budget" since we got the military park hopper tickets and found a condo for only 299/week. We made ADR's for each evening and that is where I splurged, but I decided to add it all up to know what to take and it looks like between food and tip we are looking at $700 for 5 dinners and a brunch? I'm okay with that,but I have been second guessing myself wondering if staying on property with free dining would have been less expensive? It's too late now, but I'm going to plan another trip for after DH gets home from Afghanistan.

Thank you

Please check your pm's.

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

To get free dining that means you have to give up your $299 a week condo for a $200 a night mod (if you want free DDP to get the sit down meals) So you take 7 nights times $200 that is $1400 for the room. That covers 2 meals a day so factor in paying out of pocket for breakfast or eating in the room and paying for snacks oop.

If the total to stay onsite with free dining is cheaper than staying off site and paying for your own food then it makes sense.

But in a room you will have no living room and no separate bedrooms like you do in a condo.

We have stayed on site twice and got free QSDP once and got free dining the second time and upgraded the QSDP to DDP.

It saved us money because there are 5 of us and all of us are considered adults by Disney. So the DDP is almost $60 a day per person, so times that by 5 and it saved us $300 a day NOT having to pay for our dining plan.

However we could have eaten paying oop way cheaper than $60 a day per person. We don't ever order dessert in our every day life and only get it when it is free at Disney but we don't need it.

You can have one TS meal and 2 CS meals oop for around $45 a day. That covers all 3 meals and not just 2 like with the dining plan.

However to say that free dining is not really free is just stupid. If my package with tickets and dining cost me $4500 and the free dining promo came out and they applied it to my package and it went down by $1500 then how the heck is that not free? Just because you didn't get a room discount doesn't mean the food you will be eating isn't free. If something is of monetary value and you get it without paying for it, it is free in every sense of the word.

Now we own Wyndham timeshare points and will be staying at Bonnet Creek. We are here now and it is amazing.

 

[disneywalkers]

I have no answers, but I think you're getting an awesome deal on a condo for a week

We are a party of 10 and we go yearly, but 2014 we are going twice. My 40th birthday is in January and we recently sold a house allowing us to go.

We always stay off site. It is so much cheaper since we are a party of 10. I'm paying $600 for a week in a 4 bedroom house with a pool and hot tub (will pay to heat the pool, but that's worth it). Privacy, full kitchen, washer, dryer and no worries about my 6 kids stomping.

But if I did stay on site I would really want to try out the dining plans because I like to eat when on vacation, LOL oh who am I kidding, I like to eat all the time

Have a great trip and a big thank you for your hubby's service in safeguarding our freedom so we can enjoy Disney and every day of our lives!!

 

[grainsmommy]

I am loving reading these responses and having the interaction. I know if there's this much love and helpfulness on a Disney Internet board, our trip is going to be absolutely amazing!

Thank you all so much