Dining Questions

[Samantha/NC]

We plan to go back in 2008-we plan to stay on site and use the dining plan. Is it as good as it seems? Also I know that the free dining is not offerred all of the time, but for those of you that have it-is it really free?

 

[Gabkatt]

It's really free! When we booked our trip w/free dinning they said the promotion must be booked by June 4th and was only good till Sept. 30th. I think they were trying to promote the slower times of the year.

 

[zipuzee]

We just got back, used the dining plan and paid for it. It is well worth it and it paid for itself twice over.

 

[Plantlady]

We paid for the dining plan, and it was worth it. We ate very well. We probably would of skipped all table service meals, if we weren't on the dining plan, so we were thrilled to go to them.

We paid roughly 100 per day for the dining plan. Each night, our table service meal cost more than $100. At Coral Reef, I remember it cost $178. So, we came out ahead.

 

[Eeyore Excitement]

It's very free!
Unless you get a snack that isn't included, or a lunch, or.. yeah. You can google it.

And I'm also almost positive it's wonderful!!

 

[bicker]

Sorry to bring the thread back to Earth, but it isn't really free. In order to qualify for free dining, you have to book your hotel room at rack rate (the highest rate for the room), during the heart of hurricane season. Even then, it is capacity limited, and has other restrictions: You have to purchase admission as part of the package, which might be annoying if you already have admission from a previous visit.

Regardless, it is a good deal.

 

[HaleyB]

We plan to go back in 2008-we plan to stay on site and use the dining plan. Is it as good as it seems? Also I know that the free dining is not offerred all of the time, but for those of you that have it-is it really free?

Disney often offers discounts of one sort or another. The dining plan free is one they have offered two years in a row for Aug/Sept travel. There is bound to be some sort of offer at this time of year because it is very slow.

The free dining promotion works out to a great for our family. We will stay at Pop Century for 9 nights, have 9 day basic park tickets, and dining. Our total is $1619. To buy the DDP it would cost our family $1160 for 9 nights. Of course we might not have added it on, but we would have spent at least $900 on food. That is a pretty nice discount, even if the room rate is a rake rate. Discounts are a zero sum game. The details of what part of the package is discounted don't really matter so much as the bottom line. Each family will have their own numbers.

We have a whole board on the DDP and Disney Dining in general.

 

[Tjaleks]

Sorry to bring the thread back to Earth, but it isn't really free. In order to qualify for free dining, you have to book your hotel room at rack rate (the highest rate for the room), during the heart of hurricane season. Even then, it is capacity limited, and has other restrictions: You have to purchase admission as part of the package, which might be annoying if you already have admission from a previous visit.

Regardless, it is a good deal.

I agree it is a good deal regardless, especially if you are staying at a value resort. We already had our trip booked via AAA (a package with dining) and when this promo can out we ended up saving right at $300 over the AAA rate.

 

[gaelic grace]

We paid for our dining plan and it was still worth it. Our table service alone was more than what we paid daily for the plan. It was also nice to know in advance that everything was paid for.