Disney Free Dining gone by 2020

[1GoldenSun]

And I saw very few torch and pitchfork posts from people today as compared to past years so I think people are coming to terms with the promo’s demise.

Hahahahaha! The torches and pitchforks are all being used in the paid resort parking and room check threads.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I think the hatred comes from the DINING PLAN itself. On its own, it costs too much for what you get. (For MOST, the cost of the dining plan is not really saving money, it is just letting you pre-pay for your dining for the convenience of not whipping out your wallet, but sacrificing flexibility). Personally, I feel if you are pre-paying for something, you should get a bit of deal. The dining plan is the opposite.

What I think what most people don't calculate in the free dining calculation is this. Sure .. getting free dining probably saves you money over a RO discount and then buying the dining plan yourself. But I feel most people would save even more if they got the room only discount, and then just paid for dining out of pocket. "Most" people probably will spend less money on out-of-pocket dining expenses than just paying for the dining plan. There are days you just aren't hungry, there are days you don't want a $45+ table service meal, there are days you don't want a $5 snack. Etc.

So, yes, .. there are a lot of families that free dining (or the dining plan itself) makes sense. But the hate isn't really for "free dining" . .but hate over the dining plan itself.

I get that completely, and honestly when we were running numbers this year, the DDP was about $100 more for us (if we were paying OOP) if we didnt get deserts or mugs, we just didnt really have a need for those. In fact the only reason we ended up getting the DDP was because for us, the discount for the free dining vs the room only discount was greater.

 

[Roxyfire]

For anyone interested, and i wont share it in the open forum, i'll be glad to send the link to your inbox, but there is a website that has a tool that will calculate the estimated cost of a restaurant on Disney property and will show you if the DDP makes sense for you or not. It'll break down how much it costs to pay out of pocket and what it would cost per dining plan option.

We were going to go with OOP this time, but after doing the research, it made sense for us to purchase the DDP.

As if free dining is worth it vs the room discount. It depends on where you stay, but its always been a better deal for us. I just booked free dining for early august, and against the room discount we already had booked, it saved us around $400 for a family of 4. I dont get the hatred for free dining, its a really good value for some people.

if it's the distripplanner calculator I think a lot of people know about it. Personally I think unless you fall into a few certain categories you're fooling yourself if you think it's a financial savings. (Edit here, I mean the collective you, not you personally! I don't know you or your family so I don't want to make a personal judgement or cause offense!)

Just doing some basic math on one room at a value, with upgraded free dining. It clearly shows the actual discount per night drops tremendously once all the required addons start hitting. Funny enough, parking fees do quite a number too but of course they aren't required. I wanted to add it in because there are people who drive and don't fly. But there's also a contingent who fly and also rent a car. But it's probably only going to adversely effect that group who fly and rent a car. I didn't even do a rough calculation of a moderate with an upgraded dining plan, that would show someone going into the negatives real fast with your traditional family of four.

 

[Disneylover99]

if it's the distripplanner calculator I think a lot of people know about it. Personally I think unless you fall into a few certain categories you're fooling yourself if you think it's a financial savings. (Edit here, I mean the collective you, not you personally! I don't know you or your family so I don't want to make a personal judgement or cause offense!)

Just doing some basic math on one room at a value, with upgraded free dining. It clearly shows the actual discount per night drops tremendously once all the required addons start hitting. Funny enough, parking fees do quite a number too but of course they aren't required. I wanted to add it in because there are people who drive and don't fly. But there's also a contingent who fly and also rent a car. But it's probably only going to adversely effect that group who fly and rent a car. I didn't even do a rough calculation of a moderate with an upgraded dining plan, that would show someone going into the negatives real fast with your traditional family of four.

I think the whole paying for the upgrade from quick service to table service is what many people don't do the math on.

If you're a family of four Disney adults, it will cost you almost $100 per day to upgrade to TS. Why pay that? Take that $100 and buy a few apps to share or grab a large pizza at Via Napoli to share if you really want a TS per day. Or get a TS every other day. You'll save money, have some flexibility at TS restaurants, and still have extra quick service credits to use. Best of both worlds!

 

[Roxyfire]

I think the whole paying for the upgrade from quick service to table service is what many people don't do the math on.

If you're a family of four Disney adults, it will cost you almost $100 per day to upgrade to TS. Why pay that? Take that $100 and buy a few apps to share or grab a large pizza at Via Napoli to share if you really want a TS per day. Or get a TS every other day. You'll save money, have some flexibility at TS restaurants, and still have extra quick service credits to use. Best of both worlds!

Absolutely. I calculated it for a family with one child at 8 years old and one child of 12 years old. The upgraded views also erode that value in a big way too. If you're stuck with a preferred pool view at pop (for example) that's an additional $30 per day. I realize people are paying per night but assuming someone gets their room a little early and stays the whole check-out day, I wanted to be fair to the calculation. Obviously someone will do the very best if they have children under 10, stay at All Stars Standard, and keep the QS plan.

 

[cuteandfluffy626]

I thought about this last time I went to Disney and did the "free dining." I don't like being restricted on when I can go to WDW because of it, not to mention the cost come out in other ways anyways. So, I think its one of those things that new Disney people get hooked on and within a couple trips realize what they like to eat and what they spend money on.

Last time I did it was actually last September cuz me and DBF are poor. At the end of that trip, we realized that not only do we prefer the Quick Service options cuz we were always on the move, but that in the long run it was too much food for us (and I LOOOOOVE eating). Not to mention, it would be better an less stressful to just go without a dining plan.

 

[Disneymom1126]

I think the hatred comes from the DINING PLAN itself. On its own, it costs too much for what you get. (For MOST, the cost of the dining plan is not really saving money, it is just letting you pre-pay for your dining for the convenience of not whipping out your wallet, but sacrificing flexibility). Personally, I feel if you are pre-paying for something, you should get a bit of deal. The dining plan is the opposite.

What I think what most people don't calculate in the free dining calculation is this. Sure .. getting free dining probably saves you money over a RO discount and then buying the dining plan yourself. But I feel most people would save even more if they got the room only discount, and then just paid for dining out of pocket. "Most" people probably will spend less money on out-of-pocket dining expenses than just paying for the dining plan. There are days you just aren't hungry, there are days you don't want a $45+ table service meal, there are days you don't want a $5 snack. Etc.

So, yes, .. there are a lot of families that free dining (or the dining plan itself) makes sense. But the hate isn't really for "free dining" . .but hate over the dining plan itself.

This is key to me. If we are on the dining plan we end up with so much wasted food. For example, if we eat at a buffet or a table service restaurant once a day, we often don't need a full meal later in the day - maybe just a decent snack or split a quick service meal between the two of us. Then you also have 2 snacks per day so end up using them to buy frivolous things that we wouldn't buy otherwise. When we just eat what we want to eat and plan a few table service meals at places we'd like to eat/pay out of pocket...we ended up saving about $200. We'll save even more this year because my daughter just turned 10 and will still eat from the kid's menu outside of buffets where she has to pay the adult price (we probably just won't do any to be honest). Our next 7 day trip planned in November, the dining plan would be $1,056 to buy the dining plan for the two of us. I figured the cost of what we would pay eating mostly quick service, 4 table service meals, and a snack a piece per day and it came to about $470. Upgrading to park hoppers and paying full price for our room will be more than $470. Now, if someone wants to do a character meal every day, desserts at every meal, etc. then of course it will be worth it to do free dining.

 

[Roxyfire]

This is key to me. If we are on the dining plan we end up with so much wasted food. For example, if we eat at a buffet or a table service restaurant once a day, we often don't need a full meal later in the day - maybe just a decent snack or split a quick service meal between the two of us. Then you also have 2 snacks per day so end up using them to buy frivolous things that we wouldn't buy otherwise. When we just eat what we want to eat and plan a few table service meals at places we'd like to eat/pay out of pocket...we ended up saving about $200. We'll save even more this year because my daughter just turned 10 and will still eat from the kid's menu outside of buffets where she has to pay the adult price (we probably just won't do any to be honest). Our next 7 day trip planned in November, the dining plan would be $1,056 to buy the dining plan for the two of us. I figured the cost of what we would pay eating mostly quick service, 4 table service meals, and a snack a piece per day and it came to about $470. Upgrading to park hoppers and paying full price for our room will be more than $470. Now, if someone wants to do a character meal every day, desserts at every meal, etc. then of course it will be worth it to do free dining.

Preach it! I think for someone nervous about the cost of food, it might almost always be better to put that money on a gift card or stashed in a savings account until arriving. Not just a general amount, put that dining plan money 100% somewhere else where that person can control it, even if it is a Disney gift card. That value will not go away on checkout day. Then they can certainly still get snacks, and drinks, have dessert, and go to buffets. Most likely, if they don't want to get one of those things on a particular day, they're already ahead. I'm even worse in that I go in and calculate every single meal I think we might eat, tax and tip included and plan that as my budget. I do use a more generic number for snacks ($6 per item) which is overkill on most things. But if I've saved more, there's nothing wrong with that. I can use that to adjust over to something else or save for the next time. It's very easy, keeps me in control of the money.

 

[tlmadden73]

Preach it! I think for someone nervous about the cost of food, it might almost always be better to put that money on a gift card or stashed in a savings account until arriving. Not just a general amount, put that dining plan money 100% somewhere else where that person can control it, even if it is a Disney gift card. That value will not go away on checkout day. Then they can certainly still get snacks, and drinks, have dessert, and go to buffets. Most likely, if they don't want to get one of those things on a particular day, they're already ahead. I'm even worse in that I go in and calculate every single meal I think we might eat, tax and tip included and plan that as my budget. I do use a more generic number for snacks ($6 per item) which is overkill on most things. But if I've saved more, there's nothing wrong with that. I can use that to adjust over to something else or save for the next time. It's very easy, keeps me in control of the money.

Right .. I think the "hate" comes from this:

The Disney Dining Plan isn't a guest service. It simply is a money-making venture. But it's not even an experience or service (like a dessert party). It is essentially a way to "dupe" customers who don't want to do math into spending more than they would on their own (even if they ate a lot). Just like a "service plan" for your car or any other "pre-pay" schemes, you spend a lot of money up front on something you may not fully use and probably would have spent less controlling the money on your own.

To me, it feels "scummy" - very car dealership-esque or timeshare-esque. Market it to sound good, bundle it with the price of your vacation package, but be locked into a heavy cost that they fully expect most people to not use to its fullest extent.

So the "hate" is just people who want to educate people in showing that the Dining Plan (when paid for) is not a good deal. And even when it is free, you'd maybe save more money with a room only discount and just buying meals out of pocket.

Now -- when they give it away for free ... it is WAY more appealing, but even that is stacked with restrictions.

 

[Roxyfire]

Right .. I think the "hate" comes from this:

The Disney Dining Plan isn't a guest service. It simply is a money-making venture. But it's not even an experience or service (like a dessert party). It is essentially a way to "dupe" customers who don't want to do math into spending more than they would on their own (even if they ate a lot). Just like a "service plan" for your car or any other "pre-pay" schemes, you spend a lot of money up front on something you may not fully use and probably would have spent less controlling the money on your own.

To me, it feels "scummy" - very car dealership-esque or timeshare-esque. Market it to sound good, bundle it with the price of your vacation package, but be locked into a heavy cost that they fully expect most people to not use to its fullest extent.

So the "hate" is just people who want to educate people in showing that the Dining Plan (when paid for) is not a good deal. And even when it is free, you'd maybe save more money with a room only discount and just buying meals out of pocket.

Now -- when they give it away for free ... it is WAY more appealing, but even that is stacked with restrictions.

Definitely, it's a buyer beware scenario. You make a good observation, the dining plan remains an emotional issue (don't want to think about the prices) but they don't see the price per day per person, they see it on the whole in their package. With all the free dining restrictions in place, it is incredibly easy for people to spend far more than they expected.

 

[Disneymom1126]

Preach it! I think for someone nervous about the cost of food, it might almost always be better to put that money on a gift card or stashed in a savings account until arriving. Not just a general amount, put that dining plan money 100% somewhere else where that person can control it, even if it is a Disney gift card. That value will not go away on checkout day. Then they can certainly still get snacks, and drinks, have dessert, and go to buffets. Most likely, if they don't want to get one of those things on a particular day, they're already ahead. I'm even worse in that I go in and calculate every single meal I think we might eat, tax and tip included and plan that as my budget. I do use a more generic number for snacks ($6 per item) which is overkill on most things. But if I've saved more, there's nothing wrong with that. I can use that to adjust over to something else or save for the next time. It's very easy, keeps me in control of the money.

This is exactly what I did when we payed out of pocket. I estimated the cost based on where we planned to eat and added a little extra, "just in case" and then put that on a gift card. We had about $50 left at the end of the week that I used to buy myself a souvenir (my daughter saves throughout the year and she gets a gift card for her to use, but I never plan on souvenirs for myself). Even with that it was cheaper than the dining plan and I got a bracelet out of the deal lol

 

[MNtwinsplus1mom]

I agree that it's likely to end soon, too, but will say it was a fantastic deal for our family of 5 on 3 trips, staying at POR. This was before they added the park hopper requirement, back in '09, '11, & '14. I did the math in advance and we loved the deal. For families like us in that resort category we couldn't do better. Plus, it encouraged us to try restaurants and character meals that this budget-conscious mom wouldn't have bothered with if I looked at the pricetag. My boys loved it.

Recently it's just quick service at moderates I realize, and that wouldn't be the same value.

We'll deal with the change. Last trip we paid for dining bc it was springtime & survived! I understand Disney's a business and they won't offer it if it's not needed.

 

[Doug M]

We crunched the numbers and DDP saves us a TON of money. And that is excluding alcohol because i wasn't sure which restaurants offered them and whether they would be drinks DH or I would choose. If we were traveling as a couple, DDP would cost us more than OOP would, but only by about $20. But if you figure in our girls, who are both Disney Dining kids, that switches to saving us several hundred dollars. Yes, we tend to order expensive items, and we tend to visit expensive restaurants. We like seafood and so do our kids, and we also like character dining options, and buffets. So that makes it that we are saving a VERY significant amount of money on our girls' food, particularly since they can order adult meals from CS places.

I dont know why, but there is this school of thought out there that DDP is always more expensive than OOP, and people are just too lazy to crunch the numbers and figure it out. But thats definitely not the case if you dine the way we do, and if you have kids and they like to eat. My girls are competitive athletes and those kids can EAT. I think more than anything, it depends on your traveling party as to whether it is a money saver or not.

That is definitely true, if you do a lot of character dining or generally eat expensive meals you do come out ahead. Most people likely do not do that and come out behind. Point is everyone should price it both ways before buying. I know some people buy the DDP just so they know ahead of time the price of their vacation which is of course fine.

As a few others mentioned, best is to price about what you would expect to normally eat and throw a bit on top, then price what a RO discount plus your food would cost (taking into account Park Hoppers if you would or would not buy) and then the costs with rack rate without your food costs. Don't compare to DDP vs RO because that isnt the real comparison, that is the price they set for the prepaid food option. Our family doesn't feel like eating at table service 7 days out of 7 during hot times of year, and don't want to drop 1.5 to 2 hours daily either. We definitely dont eat 3 full meals a day or want that plus all the snacks. Just make sure you do actual comparisons when comparing discounts.

 

[Devil13]

Right .. I think the "hate" comes from this:

The Disney Dining Plan isn't a guest service. It simply is a money-making venture. But it's not even an experience or service (like a dessert party). It is essentially a way to "dupe" customers who don't want to do math into spending more than they would on their own (even if they ate a lot). Just like a "service plan" for your car or any other "pre-pay" schemes, you spend a lot of money up front on something you may not fully use and probably would have spent less controlling the money on your own.

To me, it feels "scummy" - very car dealership-esque or timeshare-esque. Market it to sound good, bundle it with the price of your vacation package, but be locked into a heavy cost that they fully expect most people to not use to its fullest extent.

So the "hate" is just people who want to educate people in showing that the Dining Plan (when paid for) is not a good deal. And even when it is free, you'd maybe save more money with a room only discount and just buying meals out of pocket.

Now -- when they give it away for free ... it is WAY more appealing, but even that is stacked with restrictions.

So, essentially, every insurance policy or buffet on earth?

I think it's a little demeaning to assume people in here aren't taking the time to "do the math" when planning their vacations. I fact, I think that most people in here actually ARE doing the math and they come out ahead with free dining. That's why they do it. That's why it's popular. That's why people are up all night to try and get it. That's why the most recent version of the 2018 free dining thread is up over 150 pages.

Again, it doesn't work for everyone but it does work for plenty of people who are doing the math.

I'm unsure why this offer really bothers people who it doesn't work for. It's OK - Use your room discount. I hope it saves you the most. I'm not going to go into the room discount threads and tell people to do the math because free dining might save them more.

 

[BrookieM2001]

So, essentially, every insurance policy or buffet on earth?

I think it's a little demeaning to assume people in here aren't taking the time to "do the math" when planning their vacations. I fact, I think that most people in here actually ARE doing the math and they come out ahead with free dining. That's why they do it. That's why it's popular. That's why people are up all night to try and get it. That's why the most recent version of the 2018 free dining thread is up over 150 pages.

Again, it doesn't work for everyone but it does work for plenty of people who are doing the math.

I'm unsure why this offer really bothers people who it doesn't work for. It's OK - Use your room discount. I hope it saves you the most. I'm not going to go into the room discount threads and tell people to do the math because free dining might save them more.

Exactly. I dont have an issue with RO discounts. I dont think they are stupid or that only people who dont think very hard use them. I get that mathematically it works best for some. FD works best for others. This time we are traveling on DVC points so neither discount works for us. But we still had to decide whether to pay OOP or buy the DDP and we definitely save using the DDP. Our kids make is very worth it and we enjoy the TS opportunities at WDW. Since we hate the thought of afternoon breaks back at the resort, and we have 3 small children, so we use the TS meals as a reset for the remainder of the night so we can stay until close. I just dont understand the vitriol that gets thrown at DDP, free or not. Nobody is being forced to use it, if it doesn't work for you, dont. Thats cool.

 

[DrFacilier]

This is my first and I do hope we get at least one more year. My family will save about $1298.14 on our 8 day trip due to FD. Yes I did the math and subtracted the $377.86 to upgrade to the DDP. We are staying at POP, doing 3 character meals and 2 dining packages. Even if you insist on subtract the cost of the parkhoppers which we didn’t originally plan on buying (but are going to utilize) we are still saving almost $900. Sounds like a great deal to me. What am I missing?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So, essentially, every insurance policy or buffet on earth?

I think it's a little demeaning to assume people in here aren't taking the time to "do the math" when planning their vacations. I fact, I think that most people in here actually ARE doing the math and they come out ahead with free dining. That's why they do it. That's why it's popular. That's why people are up all night to try and get it. That's why the most recent version of the 2018 free dining thread is up over 150 pages.

Again, it doesn't work for everyone but it does work for plenty of people who are doing the math.

I'm unsure why this offer really bothers people who it doesn't work for. It's OK - Use your room discount. I hope it saves you the most. I'm not going to go into the room discount threads and tell people to do the math because free dining might save them more.

It is an observation over time that I have found from the boards is that generally speaking when someone has created a thread and said "I saved money on the dining plan"..they really haven't.

What they've done is order the higher priced items to maximize, they've gotten the apps and desserts even if they wouldn't have before, they eat at certain places that are considered 'good' value for credits purposes, etc or in other words they've altered their eating habits to match the dining plan. And I've seen a ton of comments about wasting food because they couldn't eat it all. Or the people that go home with bags full of snacks they got to get rid of their snack credits (and all power to the people that actually eat all those snacks).

That is absolutely not to say everyone by any means truly but it is a general observation.

I don't care why someone buys the dining plan so long as they know why. If you buy it for convenience go for it but just know that's the reason.

Usually when it comes to math there are things like tips to include, refillable mugs to consider, would you have eaten at that exact place or ordered that exact entree if you didn't have the dining plan, etc. I say tips because that does impact your overall money spent if you wouldn't have ordered that $48 steak or that app or that dessert, etc. I say refillable mugs because if you wouldn't have bought that to begin with (and they aren't good at the parks anyways). Most times that I ask clarifying questions..they go unanswered or they are not answered with math but rather rationales for why they bought it. Again I don't care why someone buys the dining plan however on a helpful aspect actually giving the full honest details with the full math with everything included is what I try to look for when someone says they saved money on the dining plan.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

The year that we got free dining, it was a better deal for us because the RO offer expired the second day of our trip while FD was good for every day of it. Our first trip I picked a RO offer because I couldn’t get any ADRs for the FD week (booked late). We didn’t need to hop that trip so it was the best deal. Our most recent trip was an October trip and neither a RO or FD was offered for our room, but we paid for the DP when I ran the calculator and felt we would come out ahead at F&W booths. We do a LOT of character meals too, with two littles. But again, we got non-hopper tickets. Our next trip won’t be until 2020 at the earliest, so I’m sure FD will be gone. But I don’t think it’s a bogus deal if you aren’t upgrading things you wouldn’t have anyway or, as in my second trip, there isn’t a better RO offer.

 

[tlmadden73]

So, essentially, every insurance policy or buffet on earth?

I think it's a little demeaning to assume people in here aren't taking the time to "do the math" when planning their vacations. I fact, I think that most people in here actually ARE doing the math and they come out ahead with free dining. That's why they do it. That's why it's popular. That's why people are up all night to try and get it. That's why the most recent version of the 2018 free dining thread is up over 150 pages.

Again, it doesn't work for everyone but it does work for plenty of people who are doing the math.

I'm unsure why this offer really bothers people who it doesn't work for. It's OK - Use your room discount. I hope it saves you the most. I'm not going to go into the room discount threads and tell people to do the math because free dining might save them more.

Buffets and Insurance .. heh . ya . a lot of those are scams .

But, as I stated above -- the 'hate' comes from the hate of the dining plan itself (the paid version). Without a "free" dining promotion, it is practically a scam.

Giving an overpriced item away at a discount (or in this case, free) -- most definitely can be a good deal. (I mean .. Kohl's whole business plan is selling overpriced items "on sale").

My warning was just to not get caught into the hype -- that's all. I am sure there are plenty of people (like yourself) where free dining makes sense over a room discount.

What I (and MacKenzie above) are saying is that people will adjust their habits to make it a good deal, or spend more (by getting hoppers when they wouldn't have, etc.) to get the deal, thus not really making it "free".

There are plenty of people who get "suckered" by deals all the time. Our consumer-driven society is filled with deals/sales that prey on people who don't read the fine print or don't do the math.

 

[Disneymom1126]

It is an observation over time that I have found from the boards is that generally speaking when someone has created a thread and said "I saved money on the dining plan"..they really haven't.

What they've done is order the higher priced items to maximize, they've gotten the apps and desserts even if they wouldn't have before, they eat at certain places that are considered 'good' value for credits purposes, etc or in other words they've altered their eating habits to match the dining plan. And I've seen a ton of comments about wasting food because they couldn't eat it all. Or the people that go home with bags full of snacks they got to get rid of their snack credits (and all power to the people that actually eat all those snacks).

That is absolutely not to say everyone by any means truly but it is a general observation.

I don't care why someone buys the dining plan so long as they know why. If you buy it for convenience go for it but just know that's the reason.

Usually when it comes to math there are things like tips to include, refillable mugs to consider, would you have eaten at that exact place or ordered that exact entree if you didn't have the dining plan, etc. I say tips because that does impact your overall money spent if you wouldn't have ordered that $48 steak or that app or that dessert, etc. I say refillable mugs because if you wouldn't have bought that to begin with (and they aren't good at the parks anyways). Most times that I ask clarifying questions..they go unanswered or they are not answered with math but rather rationales for why they bought it. Again I don't care why someone buys the dining plan however on a helpful aspect actually giving the full honest details with the full math with everything included is what I try to look for when someone says they saved money on the dining plan.

This exactly...I know I was in no way trying to "demean" people or criticize people who use the dining plan or get free dining. I used the dining plan for three trips before I sat down and did the math to see how it would actually work out. What led me to sit down and figure it out was (1) We had so many leftover snacks (and this was when you just got 1 snack a day...now you get 2!), (2) We felt that at times we were eating because we had to use the meal credits, not because we were really all that hungry, and (3) the amount of food we ended up not eating/wasting. To me these message boards are places to share our experiences so people can learn from them. It's why people encourage people to do the math on the RO vs. the free dining - not to criticize, but to try and be helpful. At the end of the day, people should do what is best for them. The dining plan certainly is convenient and it's nice to not have to worry about paying for food (and far less of a sticker shock when you realize how much each individual meal is costing you), it's just not worth hundreds of extra dollars for us.

Also...as to the talk of Disney "doing away" with the free dining promotion...I think they will keep it. In the end, I think they make money from it.