Dining or Room Only

[disneyfreak71]

Now that the rates are out, I am sure some people who were hoping for free dining are taking the great rates for the room only instead.

My question is this, for those of you that did this, will you still be dining at the same spots OOP as you would if you had the dining plan? I have booked the DDP and had my restaurants all lined up but I think a room only deal might be better but i cannot see myself paying OOP for CRT, Narcossees, etc.

Anyone else?

 

[brighteyes]

Well I would not pay OOP for TS restaurants wtih a room only DP simply because I don't want to be tied to ADRs again. It would have been cheaper for me to do that last trip as my DS who was 13 at the time was very picky. I just didn't want to carry around all that cash and thought that my cost for my meals might make up for his cheaper children's choice. He usually liked the children's menu better at the TS. We also did a few buffets.

I am looking at either paying room only discount and paying OOP for the QSDP or getting the package at the value with the QSDP. That's if I decide to go... I really want to go... can u tell?

I don't think I answered your question but if you are looking at doing TS like Narcoose's etc. I think the DP would be worth it. Question is, is it cheaper to do a package with FD or pay room only discount and pay OOP for the DP.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

The free dining normally helps us because we have a big family to feed (3 kids). But if I didn't take advantage of it, I seriously doubt we'd pay out of pocket or eat at more than 1 table-service restaurant for the week.

 

[snykymom]

I am going to the same TS restaurants as if I had had the dining plan. I simply don't like the plan - I don't think it saves me anything because I "have to" order things I don't necessarily want (like extra desserts) to "get my money's worth" and still have to pay OOP for things I do want (like appetizers). I don't like being tied to ADRs because I have TS credits; I book ADRs and if for some reason we don't want to keep them, I can cancel them (yes, I do cancel to give other people the possibility of getting in) without worrying that I am "wasting" money, and we go somewhere else. I like being able to get a meal in one place and dessert in another.

I love the flexibility I have without the dining plan; because of the way we eat, I may or may not save money. But I've "prepaid" myself for my "dining plan" and I've always found myself coming in under budget!

 

[sullins5]

Just FYI...I had a room only ressie with a CRT and Chef Mickeys ressie..then the DV fd came out, so I called and changed it. Then the room only discount came out. When I figured my discount for 6nites, CBR only, added undercover tourist ticket prices for 5MYW basic tickets and the 2 ADR, it was 200. cheaper. However, because of the free dining, I am still getting 6 snacks, 6 counters, and was able to book 2 more ADR's. So for us, 2 adults and a 10yr old (which counts as an adult), we figure it still saved us monies.
Because of the free dining, we were able to do more of the tb service than we would have. So for us, with the math, it was a better deal!

Have fun no matter what you do!!!

CBR for 25th Anniversary Oct 6-12!

 

[dazednconfused]

We're in the midst of deciding if FD or a room discount is better for us. The difference isn't as great as I thought it'd be. Last year, we had a great deal... $500 off! This year, the amount is smaller. So, I'm waiting for our TA at Dreams Unlimited to advise us. See where we stand and all that. Decisions!

 

[Not so Dumbo]

We went with the room discount and are paying for the dining pkg. So yes, we will be at the same restaurants.

 

[Chokky]

We went with the room discount and are paying for the dining pkg. So yes, we will be at the same restaurants.

Hi Dumbo,
So when you say you went with the room only discount and paid for the dining package does that mean you also had to buy at least 1 ticket for each member of your party in order to be able to buy the Dining Package?

 

[Mndisneygirl]

We are doing a room discount (military) and were able to add the DDP without having to buy tickets (which we're also getting military). We are still going to do the ADRs that we hope to get. After doing the math, free dining was more expensive than that deal for us (2 adults, 2 kids) staying at BLT.

 

[clanmcculloch]

The only reason we're going to book as many TS restaurants as we are is because of the DDP. We're more QS and snack types of people ourselves, but free dining is so much better of a deal for us than anything other deal we've found.

 

[shoes99]

Hi Dumbo,
So when you say you went with the room only discount and paid for the dining package does that mean you also had to buy at least 1 ticket for each member of your party in order to be able to buy the Dining Package?

If you go with the Room Only Annual Passholder discount, you don't have to buy park tickets, you can just add and pay for the dining plan of your choice and it then becomes a package (without tickets).

 

[TheRatPack]

We were going to upgrade to the regular FD plan instead of the QS....but we decided we'd just pay OOP for our TS meals and try out the QS plan this year. Once we sat down and pulled out our passporters from previous FD years, we realized that we were eating at a lot of TS that we don't really care for....but since it was 'free' and we had to use the credits we were making all these ADR's, even if the food was just okay.

I was surprised really that after looking through all the places we have sat down to eat, we could only come up with 3-4 places that we'd actually pay to go back and eat at.....but we're still glad for all those TS credits from previous years, it's helped us find the places we enjoy most and so this year we feel comfortable paying OOP for those few TS meals and eating on the QS plan.

 

[VAN]

We (my DH and self) are staying at a value, so the FD is less expensive for us. We were down there in March doing mostly non-Disney stuff (but taking advantage of the 4+3 deal) and would spend about $75 on an evening meal every night. Of course, I think we got better food and that also included tips and drinks.

At any rate, for us being only 2 and staying at a value it is more cost effective to stay with FD this trip.

If for some reason we did not have FD - yeah, there is no way I would go to as many TS restaurants. A good value to pay OOP would be (in my opinion) 'Ohana, Biergarten and maybe some of the places that serve sandwiches (Primetime, etc).

Agree with another poster that we would never ordinarily order dessert, but would rather have a salad and/or other appetizer with our meal.

At any rate, if you are only 2 and staying at a Mod or Deluxe, it probably is less expensive to take the room discount. At a value, not so much.

I enjoy having the DDP; however, find that we spend a lot of time trying to "get our monies" worth and also eating a lot of food when we aren't really hungry (e.g. eating an early lunch/CS so we are hungry for our dinner TS).

No right or wrong, you just have to crunch the numbers. We do not, however, go to Disney for the cuisine.

 

[sabrecmc]

We do the AP room-only. No dining. It just doesn't add up for us, most of the time. I have a TiW card, so get a discount on food. We often split meals. We share one dessert. We just can't eat what the dining plan seems to want us to eat. Plus, I like my adult beverages. I'd rather spend money on a drink or glass or wine than be stuck with a snack credit. Blah.

 

[Disneyfanatic108]

To Chokky, This is the husband of dumbo. We went with 5 nights at CSR on a room discount, purchased our 9 day tickets and purchased the dinning plan for the 5 nights of our stay to make a package.. That made the first part of our stay. We are then moving over to the Poly for 4 nights on a room discount without the dinning. We really only end up with haveing to purchase food for 3 days.

 

[Chokky]

Thanks for explaining that!
I have a scratch pad full of all my various options to find out what is the best deal for my family for our trip in December.
Chokky