Crowds / Free Dining

[Flamingeaux]

When I do my family's math on free dining versus a room discount it is basically a wash. The reason for this is that when I calculate for the room discount I am also figuring that we eat light and share some meals. DD and I don't eat that much so sharing is logical. Given this we generally go with the FD package and don't have to eat light or look at prices.

Also, WDW is addicted to free dining and all their special offers. Granted they have watered it down a lot over the last few years but they still offer it...

PS I also include buying discounted park tickets in my calculations.

 

[123SA]

People see FREE dining and think they are getting FREE dining. Not paying attention to the rack rate deal they have to pay or that they are paying 64.00 pp for hoppers they might not even use. Our family of 4 (3 adults 1 child) free dining at pop was 2600 with 2 day park hoppers. or I could have a room discount of 938. there was nothing free about that deal at all.
when people come on and say they saved over 700 with free dining I have to wonder how.

Well this is what I mean by saving money...I had a trip booked. 2 weeks, 5 people over age 9. I can't change the dates due to work/school/sports schedules. I want dining, I want park hoppers and the water park options. I booked it months ago. Today, I rebooked the same exact trip and the price is $3675 less. To me, that is saving $3675. I was planning to spend that money and now I don't have to. Yes, I know I could book a different trip for less money by dropping the dining, changing to quick service, less days, different resort, no park hoppers, but if the trip is different, that's not saving money on this trip, that's booking a different trip at a different price.

 

[FCDub]

Well this is what I mean by saving money...I had a trip booked. 2 weeks, 5 people over age 9. I can't change the dates due to work/school/sports schedules. I want dining, I want park hoppers and the water park options. I booked it months ago. Today, I rebooked the same exact trip and the price is $3675 less. To me, that is saving $3675. I was planning to spend that money and now I don't have to. Yes, I know I could book a different trip for less money by dropping the dining, changing to quick service, less days, different resort, no park hoppers, but if the trip is different, that's not saving money on this trip, that's booking a different trip at a different price.

Wow! Congrats on saving so much!

 

[jknc]

July also starts Disney’s new fiscal year, correct?

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

In a lot of cases I think Disney gets a lot more good will having free dining then the comparable hotel discounts and they don't cost Disney any more in a lot of cases. People feel like they're really getting something with free dining. They may or may not be but it feels that way which is a big win for Disney.

 

[hakepb]

July also starts Disney’s new fiscal year, correct?

October 1 is the beginning of Disney’s corporate year.

In a lot of cases I think Disney gets a lot more good will having free dining then the comparable hotel discounts and they don't cost Disney any more in a lot of cases. People feel like they're really getting something with free dining. They may or may not be but it feels that way which is a big win for Disney.

I can see it being like fuel points to a store. (People would rather save on gas than groceries)
At Disney, some think food is too overpriced and would rather spend more on the hotel.

 

[Rach3975]

People see FREE dining and think they are getting FREE dining. Not paying attention to the rack rate deal they have to pay or that they are paying 64.00 pp for hoppers they might not even use. Our family of 4 (3 adults 1 child) free dining at pop was 2600 with 2 day park hoppers. or I could have a room discount of 938. there was nothing free about that deal at all.
when people come on and say they saved over 700 with free dining I have to wonder how.

I've never really looked closely at free dining since it's not at the times we go. But with 5 Disney adults staying 5 nights at Values (Family Suites), I think free dining would save us a lot more than a 30% room only discount would, even if we had to upgrade to hoppers.

 

[Nancyg56]

People see FREE dining and think they are getting FREE dining. Not paying attention to the rack rate deal they have to pay or that they are paying 64.00 pp for hoppers they might not even use. Our family of 4 (3 adults 1 child) free dining at pop was 2600 with 2 day park hoppers. or I could have a room discount of 938. there was nothing free about that deal at all.
when people come on and say they saved over 700 with free dining I have to wonder how.

Ummm, not really. I see Free Dining, look at the package and do an apples to apples comparison. Most of the time my dates are kind of set in stone, so if I am going to WDW, I do not have the ability to move them from discount to discount. Rack rate is what it is. I usually buy hoppers. I buy the dining plan. So free dining is indeed free for my family. If there are RO offers I will compare that as well.
This last trip saved us in excess of 4300. Yes, that is our savings because we would have purchased the dining plan for our crew. We costed out every RO discount there was offered, and not one came close to that amount. It is kind iof silly to look at your own family dynamic and then apply it to the rest of us whose dynamic does nto match it and then say we do nto knwo how to compare numbers.
I shop sales at home and I am well aware of how discounts work.

 

[recmouse]

Well this is what I mean by saving money...I had a trip booked. 2 weeks, 5 people over age 9. I can't change the dates due to work/school/sports schedules. I want dining, I want park hoppers and the water park options. I booked it months ago. Today, I rebooked the same exact trip and the price is $3675 less. To me, that is saving $3675. I was planning to spend that money and now I don't have to. Yes, I know I could book a different trip for less money by dropping the dining, changing to quick service, less days, different resort, no park hoppers, but if the trip is different, that's not saving money on this trip, that's booking a different trip at a different price.

Good for you! Congrats!

 

[Disfan1968]

People see FREE dining and think they are getting FREE dining. Not paying attention to the rack rate deal they have to pay or that they are paying 64.00 pp for hoppers they might not even use. Our family of 4 (3 adults 1 child) free dining at pop was 2600 with 2 day park hoppers. or I could have a room discount of 938. there was nothing free about that deal at all.
when people come on and say they saved over 700 with free dining I have to wonder how.

We are going and spending two weeks at Pop with a Hopper + Water Parks. We would have bought that ticket anyway. So, with a family of four in one room at Pop who would have bought the upgraded tickets regardless Free Dining is a HUGE discount for us. You'd basically have to give us a 100% room discount to come close to saving us as much money. That being said, if you happen to be just two people going with a basic park ticket, then a good room discount can be more advantageous than Free Dining, especially when you get up into Moderate and especially Deluxe hotel categories. You ALWAYS have to crunch the numbers when considering promotions.

 

[DazzleT]

Free dining is of the most value when staying at the value resorts. For my pop trip, my room cost is less than the dining plan cost (family of 4- all Disney adults). The other room is not quite as good a deal at only 37-47% discount (room rate is different weekdays versus weekends). This is one adult/one kid- almost the worst use of dining plan (yes, this room will be upgraded to the deluxe plan). This discount is really designed to pull in folks that might otherwise stay offsite to save money. It makes you think maybe I could afford that trip- sure it is expensive, but I won’t have to pay for food. This is the whole everyone could go at least once discount- the all American vacation. When you move into the group who are staying in nice enough rooms that the free dining isn’t free, you are no longer dealing with a market that might have stayed offsite or might have gone on a different trip.

 

[love2go2disney2]

We are staying at the Contemporary with free dining, this year. The price is equal if we stayed at the ASM suites and upgrade to DDP. So , we decided to stay at the Contemporary. We are a family of 5. WE are excited,

 

[Scoobie]

I wish we could've done free dining this year! Do it every year, but we always go in Dec. now and not sure if that will be offered again this year (doubt it). FD has always saved us a lot, my family lives for eating out at DW, and always gets the expensive stuff. SO , I'm renting DVC points at AK for Dec. this year - regardless if FD drops more dates. This is one resort we have not stayed at yet, so we're set!

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Because the dining plan is a cash cow for WDW. Whether folks are straight up paying for it, or are getting it as part of a promotion, WDW is still profiting BIG from the dining plans.

 

[Nancyg56]

Because the dining plan is a cash cow for WDW. Whether folks are straight up paying for it, or are getting it as part of a promotion, WDW is still profiting BIG from the dining plans.

Yes. The dining plan equals commitment to WDW. If Disney did not offer dining plans I bet the folks that the plans appeal to might not spend all of their food budget in WDW restaurants. They might even take that leap to yes, I am going there.....stay OFFSITE! Yikes! The plans are more than money makers IMO, they are incentives to keep vacations dollars in WDW coffers, and they work.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Yes. The dining plan equals commitment to WDW. If Disney did not offer dining plans I bet the folks that the plans appeal to might not spend all of their food budget in WDW restaurants. They might even take that leap to yes, I am going there.....stay OFFSITE! Yikes! The plans are more than money makers IMO, they are incentives to keep vacations dollars in WDW coffers, and they work.

^^^^^^^^^^ ALL the yesses!!!

 

[hammie59]

People see FREE dining and think they are getting FREE dining. Not paying attention to the rack rate deal they have to pay or that they are paying 64.00 pp for hoppers they might not even use. Our family of 4 (3 adults 1 child) free dining at pop was 2600 with 2 day park hoppers. or I could have a room discount of 938. there was nothing free about that deal at all.
when people come on and say they saved over 700 with free dining I have to wonder how.

Whether people are truly getting a deal or not depends on their resort level and needs of their family. For us, we only take the FD offer when we’re willing to stay at a value resort since we have to pay rack rate. We don’t upgrade from the free QS plan offered. Both my kids are disney adults, one of which is a teenage boy ($$$ enough said). Ticket wise, we prefer to have park hoppers, so adding them is OK with us. In our case we come out ahead with the FD offer and can relax about the eating portion of our vacation.