Does the room only & free dining discounts come out to be about the same?

[BC]

I did a rough figure and it looks like if I get a 35% room only discount and have to pay for my dining or if I get a free dining discount and have to pay rack rate for my room, I am really coming out about the same. It may be a few dollars difference, but not much. Is that right?

 

[Cmbar]

Well that all depends. What resorts are you booking? If you are booking a Deluxe then the 35% seems to be the better deal. Also, I am not sure if you can book a room only discount and then add dining. So not sure you will get what you want. But if you can and you are staying at a Value or Mod then it may be close in dollars. But again it depends on where you are staying, and how many people in your party. My sister is a family of six so for her free dining was a better deal because they are staying Value. If they wanted to stay Deluxe they would probably save more to use the room discount.

 

[BC]

By paying for my own dining with the room only discount, I meant without the dining plan, just straightout buying whatever we eat. There are 4 adults and we really would like to stay at the Boardwalk, but are considering one of the less expensive Deluxes, such as Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom. I did get a pin discount for the dining plan, but did not receive anything for the room only discount. I know there is a general public discount for the room only but it only goes thru Oct 3rd and our dates are the 3rd-9th. I called reservations and they said the discount would only be good for the 1st night. We spend right much on dining so I guess since that is the only discount I can get for our dates, I will have to go with that. I just was hoping they would extend the room only discount dates.

 

[Minder]

Check out the Free Dining PIN FAQ located in my Signature below.

It answers your question.

 

[KELLY]

We are doing the free dining. But I would perfer a room discount. We would rather eat most meals CS. We usally do a princess breakfest but for us it is alot of food.

 

[Moomduck1]

What we did to decide which offer to use, was to get price quotes from Disney (we called) with both offers. Then we added the price we would pay for tickets to the room only price and subtracted that new total from the package price. We divided that number by the number of people going (do it equally if all adults) and see if you think that you would eat that dollar amount per person on your trip. For us, it usually comes out no. So we go with the room only discount. However, if you want to eat at table service places that cost more, it might work out better for you to use the package plan.

 

[rt2dz]

In deciding which is the better deal, you actually have to figure out what your out of pocket costs for dining are. Then you can add that amount to a discounted room at the resort you choose and compare it to the free dining cost. Free dining savings are the out of pocket dining, not necessarily the bottom line figure. The bottom line figure minus the out of pocket costs are what you are actually saving. So, you could be paying more for the free dining (since you must pay rack rate for the room(s) and tickets) than you pay for just adding in the dining.

I posted this on another thread on the resorts board a couple of days ago:

A lot of people are figuring this out the wrong way. It’s not what the bottom number that seems less, it’s the number that would actually cost you less. It may seem that you are getting a big discount with “free” dining than a discounted room (and for some people that would be the case), but it could be that you are truly paying less with a resort discount.

• Step 1: Go to All Ears and plan your dining just as you would want it. Don’t worry about dining plans etc.
• Step2: Figure out the out of pocket costs using the menu (and prices).
• Step 3: See how it fits all three dining plans. What those dining plans cost and cover, what isn’t covered that you will need to pay for out of pocket (apps, adult beverages, tips). Figure out the cost for each of those dining plan options.
• Step 4: Compare ticket prices from Disney directly v. from a discounted ticket broker.
• Step 5: See what room only discounts are available to you.
• Step 6: Figure out the cost of paying for a discounted room, dining out of pocket and discounted tickets are.
• Step 7: Figure out the cost of paying for each dining plan (including out of pocket expenses) yourself, with the discounted room and discounted tickets.
• Step 8: Add in out of pocket dining expenses to the free dining package (rack rate on the room and tickets).
• Step 9: Compare all the bottom line numbers. The lowest is the one you go with.

The biggest thing is knowing what your out of pocket dining costs are. If you wouldn’t use all your dining plan credits to the max, you aren’t saving that much money. If you eat at two credit TS places, you are using dining credits poorly. If you have unused credits, you are wasting money. If you order meals that cost less than your daily charge, you’re wasting money. You are only saving the cost of your out of pocket expenses (not the cost of the dining plan), and you are paying extra (room and tickets) by saving that.

Some people will save money by going for free dining. Some people won’t. It's different for everybody, but you have to figure out to really know. Now, if you just don't care because it is more convenient to track dining credits, pay for those off your KTTW card, have a separate receipt and payment to track tips, and vacation by your dining plans, then that is another story.

 

[griergirl2]

We just booked a week for my parents at the end of September. They didn't really want to do the table services this time, so were no very interested in the free dining. We priced out the free dining vs. the room only discount with adding the quick service dining plan, and there was only a $2 difference. So I guess it depends what you want, but for them it worked better then to do the room only and add tickets and the quick service dining plan...and yep, you can indeed add dining and whatnot to the room only packages!

 

[aubriee]

It will depend on which level resort you are staying at and also on how many people are in the room. I originally had the bounce back free dining offer for my upcoming Sept/Oct trip. I am traveling solo and staying at CSR. When the AP discount came out, I was able to get 40% off on week nights and 42% off on weekends. For a solo at a moderate the 40% off AP code easily beat free dining. In fact, with the money I saved, I was able to upgrade to the DxDDP and Disney still owed me a little bit of money.

For my upcoming Dec trip I am again at CSR, but my husband and mom are traveling with me. Right now I have used a 40% PIN code for that trip. However, if the Visa free dining offer (or a general offer for free dining) comes out, I'll be switching to it. With three adults in a moderate the free dining easily beats my current 40% PIN code deal.

You just have to run the numbers to see which is the better deal for your situation.

 

[Minder]

We are doing the free dining. But I would perfer a room discount. We would rather eat most meals CS. We usally do a princess breakfest but for us it is alot of food.

You can get a Quick serviice Dining plan which gives you 2 Counter Service meals and 2 snacks per day.