4/3 vs. Free Dining?

[Crazy4Disney06]

Which is a better deal? We are a family of 2 adults and one soon to be 8 year old. We have gone all out (for our budget anyhow) in 2007 because we paid for my mother and nephew to go with us, and in 2008 with a land/sea package. This year due to budget we are going to DLR, however I am dying to return "home." I would so love another trip next year, however I know we will need to reduce our budget that we are used to spending for a WDW vacation. What would be the better value........the 4/3 deal or free dining......assuming one or both are even offered in 2010. Our travel party would consists of 2 adults, one child age 8 staying at a value resort, base tickets and the dining plan.

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

We are also 2 adults and 1 child. For us the 4/3 was a better deal because we were staying at the Poly and the 3 nights there we got for free would've cost us more than the DDP for 7 nights.

I'm not so great with numbers but I'm thinking that free dining would be a better deal in your case because 7 nights of free dining costs more than 3 nights rack rate at a value.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

Thank you, if I remember doing the math correctly last year, I figured out that Free dining was a slightly better deal for us. I would like to budget about $2000 total for our trip next year including flights instead of the $5000 or so we spent in 2007 and 2008.

 

[Cindermommy]

Have you considered staying club level (or concierge) using the 4/3 deal? Then you get breakfast (continental) and a light "dinner" between 4 p.m.-7p.m. (including wine, cheese, soup, bread, sometimes pasta, ribs, uncrustables, etc.), then snacks/dessert again around 9-10-ish (including alcoholic beverages). They have snacks at lunch, but nothing substantial. We have found this option to be a much better deal for us than free dining because we are fairly light eaters.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

Have you considered staying club level (or concierge) using the 4/3 deal? Then you get breakfast (continental) and a light "dinner" between 4 p.m.-7p.m. (including wine, cheese, soup, bread, sometimes pasta, ribs, uncrustables, etc.), then snacks/dessert again around 9-10-ish (including alcoholic beverages). They have snacks at lunch, but nothing substantial. We have found this option to be a much better deal for us than free dining because we are fairly light eaters.

Thank you for the suggestion, however pricing out 4 nights club level with base tickets for the three of us is still near $3000. Add airfare to that and I am near $4000. That is about $2000 more then I am trying to spend.

 

[Minniekins]

Did anybody do the 4/3 deal earlier this year, having two adults, at a moderate, with base tickets? How about with another day, so staying a total of 8 nights? Are tickets included? I thought they were for some reason but I guess that doesn't make sense. They did give a $200 gift card, right? Seems like that might be a good deal with the gift card. Did they offer a choice at that time in Jan of either 4/3 or free dining? I think free dining saves us about $670 for 8 nights. Not sure what rack rate is off the top of my head for Jan. Idk, 4/3 (or 5/3) sounds like a good deal at first, but I'm not sure if it's really any different than paying rack rate with free dining.

 

[CarolAnnB]

Did anybody do the 4/3 deal earlier this year, having two adults, at a moderate, with base tickets? How about with another day, so staying a total of 8 nights? Are tickets included? I thought they were for some reason but I guess that doesn't make sense. They did give a $200 gift card, right? Seems like that might be a good deal with the gift card. Did they offer a choice at that time in Jan of either 4/3 or free dining? I think free dining saves us about $670 for 8 nights. Not sure what rack rate is off the top of my head for Jan. Idk, 4/3 (or 5/3) sounds like a good deal at first, but I'm not sure if it's really any different than paying rack rate with free dining.

I did the 4/3 at CSR with myself, DH, DD16 and DD11, with the 7 days base tickets for 1,862 total, inc. tax. I went in June, I think the gift card was for if you stayed by March, so no gc for me. I thought it was a great deal. There was no free dining option at that time. I looked at adding the dining plan but we ended up being 4 adults so it was pretty expensive and we did not really plan to sit down to a big meal every night - it was way too hot then. I am hoping for the 4/3 repeat this summer, although we would try Pop this time.

 

[SarahD]

We went in January with the 4/3 deal and the $200 gift card. We have two kids - they were 6 and 9 - and stayed at Pop. We added dining and our total was $1792.22. We want to go again in February and I'll have to do the math. Our oldest is now 10 and on the adult plan. Cheapest, of course, is staying off property. We have some family that might want to go with us and I found a six bedroom house for $1053.67. Now THAT'S a good deal. Just don't know if I can give up the extra magic hours. We used them a lot. But if there's nothing GREAT from Disney, it'll be off property or not at all.

I talked to a CM the other day on the phone and asked about when specials might be coming out. She said it's September now, so it might be any day, but I didn't get the feeling that she had any inside track at all. She probably has no idea it's typically late October/early November.

 

[akayek31]

We used the 4/3 in May. It was me and my 16 yo ds and 12 yo dd. We stayed at Pop of 1200. We did not do the dining plan. I hope it comes out next year so I can use it in June.

 

[SarahD]

I am shocked. I never would have thought it, but free dining is our best option, given the usual choices of specials. I think that's partly because our oldest is now 10. Here are my numbers for standard room at Pop Century, first week in February with 2 adults and kids ages 7 & 10 with quick service DDP:
Rack Rate $2379.24
40% room discount $2103.62
4/3 deal $2089.96
Free dining $1637.52

Even if the 4/3 deal had the $200 gift card, it's still not better than free dining. Without the dining plan, the 4/3 deal is the best at about $1350 - even better if it had the $200 GC, but as you know if you've stayed on property, that dining plan saves you a lot of money you'd spend otherwise to eat. If they don't have free dining or something better than any of these usual deals, we may be looking at staying offsite. I guess now we know why they offer it so much!

 

[reducereuserecycle]

She said it's September now, so it might be any day, but I didn't get the feeling that she had any inside track at all.

the CM i talked to about 2 weeks ago told me to check in Spet. or Oct.....so maybe it will be sooner than later

 

[SarahD]

That would be nice!!!

 

[Minniekins]

I did the 4/3 at CSR with myself, DH, DD16 and DD11, with the 7 days base tickets for 1,862 total, inc. tax. I went in June, I think the gift card was for if you stayed by March, so no gc for me. I thought it was a great deal. There was no free dining option at that time. I looked at adding the dining plan but we ended up being 4 adults so it was pretty expensive and we did not really plan to sit down to a big meal every night - it was way too hot then. I am hoping for the 4/3 repeat this summer, although we would try Pop this time.

Thank you for your info! Makes me wonder if I've figured this wrong now. Last night I tried crunching some numbers but I don't know that they seem right. Here's what I've come up with, does it seem accurate? It seems high, Idk. You have 4 people needing tickets and stayed at a Mod, and seems that mine should be lower, with only 2 people with tickets, though there is one more night. Argh. Can anyone look and help me with mine?

Saturday Jan 2 - Sunday Jan 11th
2 adults(me and DD19)

8 nights at CBR:
The Rack rates are: first night holiday rate 219, 4 nights weekday value rate 149, 3 nights weekend rate(marathon weekend Thu - Sat) 159.
With 8 nights, I figured the room at having to buy the first night at holiday rate 219 and then the rest at the buy 4, get 3 free, so I used the prices of the marathon weekend at 159 for 3 nights of Th, F, and Sa, and 149 for the fourth night, and then the three free nights at the lowest cost of 149. With the different costs of the nights, not sure how they really will figure it out, but figured my cost as the highest possible. (maybe that's the complicated part of the rumor from the podcast of a new but complicated 4/3 deal!).
159 x 3 nights, + 149 night, + 219 holiday night + 12.5 %tax = 950.63

8 tickets with hoppers:
595.60 for 5 tickets with hoppers(3 days free)

If we add the DDP, it's another 640.

Totals I came up with, with taxes included are:
950.63 (for 4/3 and buy 1 more room night)
+ 595.60 (for 5 park hoppers with 3 free)
---------------
1546.23 for room and tickets only
==========
+ 640.00 DDP for two adults
-----------------
2186.23 for room, tickets, dining plan


It seemed so complicated to get there and doesn't make the 4/3 deal with an extra night look so great. So, did I do this right or did I mess it up? It's about the same amount I paid last Nov for a 9 night trip with free dining.

Hope this was okay to put here, I was getting flustered trying to figure it out. Sorry if it wasn't okay to put this here.

 

[SarahD]

Usually I'll jump in and try to help...but that one gives me a headache. Maybe someone with more patience can tell you if you're doing it right!

 

[Minniekins]

Yeah, I know what you mean! I was getting myself so confused! It wouldn't be so hard to figure if they didn't have the different prices each night practically. I have three different nightly prices! Thanks for considering it, it's crazy I tell you, crazy, lol!

 

[ilovediznee2]

I talked to a CM the other day on the phone and asked about when specials might be coming out. She said it's September now, so it might be any day, but I didn't get the feeling that she had any inside track at all. She probably has no idea it's typically late October/early November.

I talked to a CM on Sunday, and she said while it's not "certain" they should be releasing them no later than mid-October...it's not much more help than what you got, but at least it narrows it down by two weeks!!

 

[SarahD]

I talked to a CM on Sunday, and she said while it's not "certain" they should be releasing them no later than mid-October...it's not much more help than what you got, but at least it narrows it down by two weeks!!

I'll take it! It would be great if the deal came out before the ADRs go back to 180 days on October 27th. That way I will have already figured out if we're going to stick with QS or upgrade to the regular DDP.

 

[liftn]

With a $1,000 budget for 7 days, I think that it is going to be tough to do either way.