Disney package got cheaper?

[Lolsmum]

We booked for November 2014 ages ago, back in June. We do have free dining, but I feel like we are paying a good amount of money for that "free" food because the same booking made today without the dining is £850 less! That gives me just £229.60 extra value in food which is part of a rigid plan, meaning we will be buying food we probably would not have paid for OOP.

Can anything be done? This is really bothering me.

 

[wilma-bride]

Unfortunately, you have just discovered why free dining is not really free. I don't think there's anything you can do as you will likely be charged a hefty admin fee if you try to change your package now, resulting in a lower price.

I know there are many fans of free dining here and I am sure that, for some, it does save money. But for those people who wouldn't normally buy the 14-day tickets, wouldn't normally eat on site and don't usually have two meals a day or like to have rigid plans for dining, it just isn't a good deal (in my opinion).

 

[Lolsmum]

We did do free dining last time, and I knew it wasn't a super-amazing deal, but I did not expect Disney to drop the room rates for UK visitors by such a huge amount after ending the free dining deal. There isn't any amazing deal on right now or anything. They've dropped the price of a garden view Beach Club room by about a third since June! I booked early on the claim that the dining was free and room rates would stay roughly the same, not on the basis that room rates would be increased by such a huge percentage to cover "free" dining.

 

[Happy Tappy]

The room rates aren't increased for free dining, that's the standard rack rate.

Every year there's 2 offers:

Free dining at rack rate (offered April to November)

Room discount of 15-35% (offered December to March).

Disney have been doing this for a few years.

In my opinion, the free dining offer is only good for SSR and OKW as they often combine it with 30% off. So you get the full dining plan (not quick service) and a decent discount over the rack rate.

 

[Lolsmum]

On the UK website, Disney is not claiming to have reduced rates right now under the Disney deals. I did check that. They list 8 "deals", two of which (Magical Express and Extras on their packages) are not deals at all.

Looking again, they do mention reduced rates for other times if you click on the May half term deal.

I am strongly dissuaded from booking so early again. Booking over a year in advance during a widely advertised deal should have some actual benefit. We are likely to go relatively frequently as my parents will be moving to about 2 hours away in the next couple of months, but will book later and likely through the US site as their deals seem to require less advance notice.

 

[Elise79]

They are running a room discount promo at the moment upto 40% off.

You usually have to choose what better for your family discount or dining.

As we book OKW we are still way better off as that was discounted along with free dining.

 

[Tony Toon]

Booked 10 days in SSR in July with free dining. Still looking like a good deal.

Mrs TT

 

[JintyB]

We've booked 14 days at SSR resort in August and the cost now without 'free' dining is only £178 less, so ours too still looks like a good deal.

If the OP booked without flights, you could cancel and rebook? You would lose a £50 per person deposit, but might be worth it for you?

 

[wayneg]

Unfortuntely as others have said, thats how Disney operate. You either pay rack rate & get free DDP or you don't get free DDP and get a room discount. The only exception being the OKW\SSR offer with both discount & free DDP.

Only free DDP deal worth taking to me was OKW but even that has got too expensive for us now. We went back to offsite last year and will be offsite both trips this year.

 

[flortlebap]

Ouch.

Just checked our dates for YC - we paid £2,400 for two, YC with FD.

Price is now £1,800.

So we need to get at least £300 of food each to make it worthwhile. I suppose it's still marginally cheaper with FD, but it does feel like a bit of a con...

 

[DLPDreams]

Ouch.

Just checked our dates for YC - we paid £2,400 for two, YC with FD.

Price is now £1,800.

So we need to get at least £300 of food each to make it worthwhile. I suppose it's still marginally cheaper with FD, but it does feel like a bit of a con...

I worry about this as I've read about it so many times. I think though as there are 6 of us going, surely our food bill will be more than that.

Flortle - I guess it depends on where and how you eat on whether free DP works. If you like QS or you don't do many character meals or TS then it doesn't seem worth doing and the room discount is a better offer. I have already made a list of places we would like to eat (albeit as it's so far out this will change) and as it's our first trip there are a fair few character meals and more expensive dining places. I am guessing we'll do one TS a day with a QS 'snack' for lunch/breakfast (I know this is a) too much food for some and b) they don't want to miss park time so prefer to eat quickly). In our case though, I am hoping the free DP (if available) will be worth it.

I hadn't realised that only OKW & SSR offer room discounts as well as free dining. The issue being with these two places (from my limited understanding which may be incorrect), is that these aren't normally offered in the first wave of new releases as they are DVC resorts. As I'd like to be an early booker - it leaves me in a quandary about what to do - take a deluxe hotel with room discount and no DP or wait out and hope one of those places comes available with discount and free DP.

 

[wayneg]

Ouch.

Just checked our dates for YC - we paid £2,400 for two, YC with FD.

Price is now £1,800.

So we need to get at least £300 of food each to make it worthwhile. I suppose it's still marginally cheaper with FD, but it does feel like a bit of a con...

The free dining deals are probably still slightly better than paying OOP if you are a family who eat 100% in Disney but any family like ours that prefer to eat outside Disney then they are doing a great job of tying you into their product thinking you are getting something free when you are really paying for it.
When we first did free DDP at OKW about 6 years ago we paid £80/nt, then it was a genuine offer, now at over double that cost they have sucked many into their system believing they are getting something they are not.

Another problem, ontop of the "free" food they have increased menu prices ridiculously in recent years, meaning you can now pay very high tips, especially if a family of 6 or more being tied at 18%. My last dislike about free DDP is the cost of alcohol onsite, I don't drink a great deal thankfully but a beer is $7-8 (plus 18% tip) offsite the same beer is around $2-3.

We all know staying & dining in Disney is not cheap but I think they are taking the Mickey.

 

[micksn]

I booked OKW early and am still pleased with the deal. Particularly as our flights are now £200 more each. We will also be getting the 200 dollar gift card. We don't hire a car so having all our meals in disney works for us on the dining plan.

 

[micksn]

DLP Dreams, we booked OKW in June through Disney so were able to take advantage of early booking. I do Know that Complete Orlando released it a bit later, however their discount over disney was much less than previous years. It is expensive, but I still think it is the best onsite deal you can get if you want to do character meals and eat in disney restaurants. It's also a lovely relaxing resort and the rooms are big. Happy planning!

 

[Elise79]

I worry about this as I've read about it so many times. I think though as there are 6 of us going, surely our food bill will be more than that.

Flortle - I guess it depends on where and how you eat on whether free DP works. If you like QS or you don't do many character meals or TS then it doesn't seem worth doing and the room discount is a better offer. I have already made a list of places we would like to eat (albeit as it's so far out this will change) and as it's our first trip there are a fair few character meals and more expensive dining places. I am guessing we'll do one TS a day with a QS 'snack' for lunch/breakfast (I know this is a) too much food for some and b) they don't want to miss park time so prefer to eat quickly). In our case though, I am hoping the free DP (if available) will be worth it.

I hadn't realised that only OKW & SSR offer room discounts as well as free dining. The issue being with these two places (from my limited understanding which may be incorrect), is that these aren't normally offered in the first wave of new releases as they are DVC resorts. As I'd like to be an early booker - it leaves me in a quandary about what to do - take a deluxe hotel with room discount and no DP or wait out and hope one of those places comes available with discount and free DP.

The first wave of discounts in previous years had no room discount offers except at OKW/SSR and that was in addition to the free dining offered at all resorts.

Last year CO didn't have OKW/SSR at the start but Disney did.

 

[duffdo]

I have booked early and got free DDP twice now. In October/November I took advantage of free DDP, $200 and a big discount at SSR after booking in May 2012! I don't regret it, but don't think I will be doing it again. We spent just over £5k for the two of us in a studio with 21 day ultimates and regular dine, flying VA direct from Manchester! Yes, the hotel was way way way better than a value but the dining was just far too much food and having so many ADRs (we had 18 at the 180 day mark!) It just became tiresome.

I kept an eye on the cost of the food this time
around and I reckon next time we will be paying out of pocket for food and staying in a value/moderate. I have narrowed our must do TS down to: Cali Grill; Ohana and Chef Mickeys breakfast. Also, Fantasmic dining package at Mama Melrose is good call! We can still eat well if we pick our QS carefully -POR food court is excellent, Yak and Yeti cafe in DAK, ABC in DHS, Pecos Bills/Cosmic Rays in MK and our favourite QS of all, The Land in EPCOT (try the pork chop!) I reckon by doing this we could save a ton of money......

.....In the long term, We are considering a resale DVC (around 120 points) at one of the cheaper DVC resorts, probably SSR, I think if we did this and maybe added to it as needed, it would be the cheapest long term way to continue going to WDW