When is 30% off better?

[Ronferr80]

Like everyone else stated I think it depends on your habits. Free dining seems to be better for my family but we book ALOT of character meals!! I tend to lean towards the 30% room discount if your not dining that way.

 

[AngiTN]

Something else to factor in when comparing costs to DP or OOP, the cost of tips. I have found that, unless you are eating at fixed price buffets, the cost of the meal on the DP is more than what I typically order when paying OOP. I rarely order desert and may just want an appetizer for a meal. A lower cost meal equals a lower cost for the tip. Add together enough meals like that and you really start to see a savings since some of those tips can be more than a typical meal out away from Disney.

 

[kiford]

Free dining would never be better for us because we don't eat the way the dining plan expects so we'd always end up having to spend additional. We took the 30% off the room because of that. Everyone vacations differently so you have to look at your own specific situation to figure out what works better. There's no one single, universal answer to that question.

 

[DG24]

Personally, for us I can not figure out when it would ever be a better deal even when we have 40% off deluxe because we are military. We save over $3000 at a moderate with FD, and we are saving over $2000 at a deluxe. When I figure the 40% off the same room, then add military discount Stars and Stripes ticket because we stay 10 days or more so we don't do the really cheap tickets, but do the military Stars and Stripes, which saves us about $50, then I only have to pay $300 to upgrade my ticket to a DL wdw ap. I then add in the food, we usually find it is a good deal for us as a family. FD always comes out a lot cheaper, so I don't know how people say they ever save with the 30% off. It may be because we are a family of five, which means one more free person and this year we are having her eat as an adult, even though she is still 9, she eats more like an adult not in amount but what is served, she is not a hamburger hot dog kid, she is sushi, veal, lamb, spinish, asparagus, type of kid, so she will waste a lot I'm sure, but she won't be limited to the small kids meal section. It could also be that we stay so long, 11 or 12 days usually because we come from washington. Anyway, that is what I find with our family, and I try hard to figure out the best price, and for us it is FD, this is the first year we actually will get it.

 

[SleepingUgly]

I've worked the numbers backwards and forwards multiple times, b/c I keep reading that if you stay in a Deluxe, the room-only discount works out better for you. However, FD works out better for us, probably b/c we have scheduled three character meals, including dinner at CRT. Even if we use the dining plan for just the five TS credits and the five snack credits, we still come out @ $100 ahead of room-only discount at AKL, discounted tix through Undercover Tourist (with Mousesaver Newsletter link), and paying for those TS meals and snacks OOP. And that doesn't include the five QS credits yet either.

So I agree with a previous poster - If you are going with a family and are booking character meals, then FD is probably a better deal for you.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

The number and ages of people in the party also has a lot to do with it. Two people staying deluxe are probably not going to benefit from FD. Room only will undoubtedly be better for them. But if you have four people at a Deluxe, all considered adults, then it's really an individual call based on how and where you plan on eating.

As long as everyone realizes it's very individualized and really runs the numbers for their family, there's no one right answer. Just REALLY irks me when people come on and say, "Free Dining is a rip off. Don't you realize you're getting taken by paying rack rates? Blah, blah, blah" Believe me, for my family of 4, with two teenagers, staying moderate and getting FD is a GREAT deal!