Anyone here hoping for FD when it drops (soon?)

I ventured over to the resorts and restaurant boards today and noticed it's highly anticipated that Free Dining will be announced soon. Since I'm not planning a trip I haven't been paying close attention to the deals lately (or lack of?? lol).

Any of you trying to snag it as soon as it comes out? Or do you figure you're better off with your Canadian resident discount tickets (or free airmiles tickets) and room only? Or off site? Sheesh, Disney math can be so stressful!!

We had free dining our first two trips and it was fabulous, but the value just doesn't seem to be there as much with only the QS at Values and Mods, and having to pay full price for the tickets with park hopper (which we never use). Plus we like to be less scheduled and cannot eat as much as the plan gives you.

Although with our dollar being so low, free dining could really help keep your trip within budget.

Anyways, for those of you that the Disney math works out best for you to get the Free Dining Promo, and you're travelling during those times - I hope you're able to snag that coveted ressie when they come out. Good luck!

 

Nope, I'll take a room discount over free dining any day of the week.

 

Me too, free doing is full rack rate room pricing ...rather have the discount

 

I should add, full disclosure we did free dining our most recent trip. We were there from December 23 till January 3 and had annual passes. We definitely didn't feel like we ate 'for free' but the convenience of not having to think about peak pricing was a factor for us, plus we were able to get it for our entire trip because we checked in on the last day of the offer. It was our experiment for if we'd ever seek out the 'deal' in the future and we decided we absolutely would not. It didn't work for us.

 

I’ve done it many many times ...and like you, just doesn’t make sense.
I don’t like the restrictiveness of it and don’t find the value to be there.

 

We are using Canadian discount tickets and renting DVC points this year. While we have done FD in the past with our family of 5 it doesn't make as much sense now that they took the regular dining plan away from the mods. I like not having to worry about dining costs but we always end up running around our last day trying to use up a ton of left over snack credits. It also drove me crazy last year my DD couldn't get an orange juice as her drink at QS. I am looking forward to more freedom this year in what we can order. I will be putting money on Disney gift cards instead to use for dining.

 

I just planned our first trip, family of 5, 2 adults, 3 kids. We purchased the DP with 1QS and 1TS. I did it this way thinking that it would make our first trip easier. We booked our TS meals at the parks for lunch, so the girls could meet characters. Doing the math, I am skeptical about the cost and when we go in the future we will try eating OOP. Our kids eat very little and DH and I could probably split most meals (portion sizes look pretty big). But, no regrets.

 

Is there a benefit to using Disney Gift Cards? Or, is it just better than carrying cash?

 

Partly we just don't want to carry so much cash and partly we want to have gift cards set aside specifically just for dining. I plan to take the same amount we we would pay for the dining plan and put that amount on gift cards. We have used the dining plan the last 3 years and so I now have an idea of how we eat at Disney. My little 2 don't eat very much and my oldest can't usually finish Disney portions either. I think it will be helpful for you to get it for your first trip because that's one thing you won't have to worry about. After this trip you will have a better idea how your family eats at disney.

 

This is a great strategy! I might adopt it for the future, even if it is just for special TS ressies that are so crazy expensive for one meal. It is hard to swallow (pardon the pun) spending $160 USD/$200 Cnd for Biergarten or whatever.

 

That's what we did last time too. Having the microwave and toaster in the room really helped keep food costs down and saved time with quick breakfasts in room and snacks.

 

I agree it doesn't seem as bad when you pay for an expensive meal with a gift card, LOL.

 

This is our first time renting DVC so we are excited about eating some breakfasts in the room. I hate all the rushing between making it to our FP and dining reservations it was just getting to hectic. We are still going to do some TS but not every single day. We also want to try a couple of TS restaurants that were considered bad use of a credit on the dining plan like The Plaza and sharing a pizza at Via Napoli. We will do 1 or 2 character meals and some buffets like Boma but I want to relax more this time.

 

I booked the free dining bounce back when we were there last September. It usually make more sense for us as a discount as we are a family of four who like to try the different restaurants and usually stay at value resorts.

We got free dining and $75/night gift card for our stay at Caribbean Beach in 2017.

 

I'm looking for FD for a friend of mine, family of four, staying at a value resort in mid-December for a week. They will certainly get more value out of the free dining rather than a room-only discount.

 

They must be at the DP sweet-spot with both of their kids. Right now it makes perfect sense! They will more than likely be doing lots of character dining and that will pay for itself easily

**Edited to correct the Duck's sleep-deprived math

 

That sweet spot you refer to Donald is when the kids are paying FD adult prices and you still want to do buffets. We have friends that are 4 "adults" and stay for 14 nights. That would be approx $4200 to pay for the dining plan out of pocket. Hard press to get a room discount ov more than $1000 for length of stay. They find it very cost efficient this way, and they dont have to worry about who is eating what or running out of snacks. First snack last year the receipt said they had , you still have 110 snack credits,. Go dolewhips.

 

EXCELLENT catch there, I've been up for a very long time and knew what i meant but couldn't get it into words

And for us it would be "go french pastries & huge ice cream sandwiches"

 

No. I compared CDN discount tickets, room discounts and free dining. No matter how I slice it, the cdn ticket discount is the biggest savings. Factor into that that rumors suggest that 1) hoppers will be required and 2) it will only be QS DDP at value/moderate. I would have to forego the CDN ticket savings, pay rack rate for the room and tickets-- and upgrade to hoppers and also now pay the parking rate for the resort (we booked before they brought in this charge. modifying our reservation would basically mean booking a new reservation and therefore paying for parking now), we would actually lose money to get the "free dining". I've looked at it from every possible angle and the cdn ticket discount came out ahead every time.

 

This may not change your mind about which discount to go with, but if you modify your reservation and keep the same reservation #, you won't have to pay the parking fees. If you aren't able to modify your res. to get free dining, and have to book a whole new res, then you would have to pay the parking fees.