Dvc members paying for free dining

[taurus8012]

Hello DVC Family, after crunching the numbers it seams like its cheaper for me to purchase a room with Free dining ( Family of 4 ) instead of paying for dining. We are staying at BLT from 30th til 5th . Has any member decided to pay for the free dining ?

 

[Bekky2]

What is and is not included in the free dining? Are there certain places you can eat?

 

[chalee94]

What is and is not included in the free dining? Are there certain places you can eat?

here is a thread and forum related to dining. "free" dining requires you to book a package including park tickets and pay for hotel rooms at full price during a slow period. by paying more for the hotel, you get "1 Table Service (TS) credit, 1 Counter Service (CS) credit and 1 Snack credit per night’s stay" for "free."

you are limited to the credits above, meaning that many nicer restaurants count as 2 table service credits, and some restaurants do not participate at all (but most onsite restaurants do).

please hit the dining boards for more detailed information.

(and, as always, you can never stay on points and get "free" dining.)

 

[taurus8012]

Basically you pay rack rate for disney hotel and park tickets and dining plan is included . I chose to stay at ASM (For family of 4) PLUS 1 Day park ticket(my family has DVC AP) FROM AUG 28 (MY ARRIVAL) TIL SEPT6TH (MY DEPART) FOR 992. For Family of 4 I can purchase DP 40X4 A DAY FOR 9 =1440 I SAVE 448 BUCKS

 

[Chuck S]

I doubt it would be cheaper to get a full price room at any DVC Resort with "free" dining than to pay for the DDP and stay on points, you need to compare like accommodations for a true comparison.

Would it be cheaper to stay at a value resort? Most likely. And while I like POP Century fine, and stay there for a night or two occasionally, I would not want to spend an entire extended vacation there, especially with the high occupancy "free" dining crowd trying to maneuver through the food court.

 

[Sandisw]

Basically you pay rack rate for disney hotel and park tickets and dining plan is included . I chose to stay at ASM (For family of 4) PLUS 1 Day park ticket(my family has DVC AP) FROM AUG 28 (MY ARRIVAL) TIL SEPT6TH (MY DEPART) FOR 992. For Family of 4 I can purchase DP 40X4 A DAY FOR 9 =1440 I SAVE 448 BUCKS

That sounds great and I have heard of others doing it. I also read (and can not find the thread) that if mousekeeping thinks that the room is not being used, they will report that and Disney might cancel the reservation.

I don't know if this means you should check the room each day, leave an empty suitcase, etc. or how true this even is, but I would hate to see that you are half way through your trip and all of a sudden your credits are cancelled!

Have a great trip!!!

 

[disneynutz]

Why anyone would want to put up with the crowds and poor service in the restaurants just to save a few bucks on food is beyond me. People hear the word "free" and they want some just because they don't want to be left out.

 

[kdepot]

" Nothing is Free"

Why would I go back to paying a rack rate for a hotel room to get free dining when I can use my points.

 

[Chuck S]

This 'Free Dining" sort of reminds of a current promotion being run by our local Cici's Pizza. Cici's took 1500 pennies put stickers on the back and scattered them throughout town on parking lots and side walks, sticker side down. If you pick up a penny you have a chance to win a FREE (yay, FREE) buffet, but you have to drop the penny in one of those water tower games and get it in the correct cup to actually get the "free" buffet.

So it boils down to a lot of people finding pennies, not winning and likely spending $5 or $6 bucks for a meal (since they are there anyway) for lousy pizza and a salad that they probably wouldn't have bought in the first place under normal circumstances. So I'm sure a "Free" promo that cost them $20, if you include the stickers, has likely brought in several hundred $$

In other words, free dining is marketing...it really doesn't save much more than other discounts available, like AP discounts and FL resident discounts or the buy 4 stay 7 promotion...but people respond to the word "Free."

The point is, unless the DDP matched exactly your normal dining habits...for instance you would normally ALWAYS have a TS diner including entrée beverage and dessert for every day of your trip, and if you normally have a CS lunch including dessert, the "Free" DDP is no bargain.

 

[DiznyDi]

Prior to owning DVC, my family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 adult 'children' stayed in a 2 bdrm at SSR and yes, we received 'Free' dining. However, our room cost in excess of $5,000 for 9 nights. Don't forget you have to add the resort tax per night which I believe is around 11%. It was this single experience that was our deciding factor to buy in. Too bad we didn't buy in before the trip!

Is Free dining like the current dining plan? IE: You pay extra for appetizers plus an 18% tip? All of a sudden, Free isn't so Free anymore.

 

[kikiq]

Basically you pay rack rate for disney hotel and park tickets and dining plan is included . I chose to stay at ASM (For family of 4) PLUS 1 Day park ticket(my family has DVC AP) FROM AUG 28 (MY ARRIVAL) TIL SEPT6TH (MY DEPART) FOR 992. For Family of 4 I can purchase DP 40X4 A DAY FOR 9 =1440 I SAVE 448 BUCKS

Is this in addition to your BLT ressie or did you cancel your BLT ressie? If you didn't cancel the BLT ressie then wouldn't you have to include the "cost" of using those points which would be 106 points for a std view for the original period you posted. The "cost" would be $1060/stay if you use $10/pt rent.

So if you aren't staying at BLT, then $992/9 nights is a good price for staying at ASM. BUT if you are keeping the BLT ressies, then you need to add the cost of points to $992. I'm trying to understand what you actually booked.

 

[Sandisw]

Is this in addition to your BLT ressie or did you cancel your BLT ressie? If you didn't cancel the BLT ressie then wouldn't you have to include the "cost" of using those points which would be 106 points for a std view for the original period you posted. The "cost" would be $1060/stay if you use $10/pt rent.

So if you aren't staying at BLT, then $992/9 nights is a good price for staying at ASM. BUT if you are keeping the BLT ressies, then you need to add the cost of points to $992. I'm trying to understand what you actually booked.

The OP is just comparing the cost of adding the dining plan to his DVC reservation with the cost of getting the dining plan "free" by paying for a room and a 1 day base ticket at ASM.

It will cost him over $400 less to pay rack rate for the ASM room and a 1 day ticket with the free dining promotion than it would be for him to add the DDP to his BLT reservation for his family of 4.

Either way, he will be staying at BLT. Its just a matter of which scenario leads to a lower cost for the dining plan--adding it directly to the BLT ressie and paying full price, or adding it indirectly by paying for the room at the ASM and getting it "free".

 

[taurus8012]

My neighbor Sandisw explained perfectly I am staying at BLT but if I add the dining plan to BLT ressie I pay 160 a night (4 people x 39.99) x 9 nights =1440. If I pay for rack room plus 1 day ticket with free dining at ASM for 9 days plus taxes is only 1002. Why would I not purchase The free dining

 

[Sandisw]

My neighbor Sandisw explained perfectly I am staying at BLT but if I add the dining plan to BLT ressie I pay 160 a night (4 people x 39.99) x 9 nights =1440. If I pay for rack room plus 1 day ticket with free dining at ASM for 9 days plus taxes is only 1002. Why would I not purchase The free dining

HI Neighbor!!! Just saw that you are from Liverpool. Have a great trip!!!

We are going in August from the 5th to the 12th. We are trying the QSDP this time to see how we like it compared to the regular DDP.

 

[taurus8012]

HI Neighbor!!! Just saw that you are from Liverpool. Have a great trip!!!

We are going in August from the 5th to the 12th. We are trying the QSDP this time to see how we like it compared to the regular DDP.

Please let me know how was QSDP compared to DSP and is it worth the 10 bucks savings

 

[JW2]

If you are getting the dining plan regardless, your scenario sounds great! You get an extra park ticket (anyone you can give/sell it to??) and if things get hairy, you have a room to disappear to

It's hard to believe that buying the DDP is more expensive than buying Magic Your Way Package/Free Dining the entire time! You probably could save even more by only getting 6, 7 or 8 nights and fudging the rest of the days - especially since it goes to check out day at midnight! I wonder what the difference in price would be with DDP Deluxe - lots of TS to spread out and could do signature dining - say 6 nights of deluxe?? So many scenarios once you start thinking about it!!

Have fun with all the decisions!

 

[ftballfan7]

This is a repost from another thread, but it is exactly what you are considering. Hope this helps.

We are taking advantage of free dining and DVC. We are staying at SSR for seven nights in August using developer points. We had planned on 4 table service meals, and as such purchasing the DDP would not have made sense for us (especially when considering the requirement for entire length of stay). However, when the free dining offer came out I did the math and realized we could book a value room with free dining for less per day than what the DDP would have cost us had we paid for it seperately. The best part is we made the reservation for only the four days we want, so it works out perfect for us. So basically we have booked a room at Pop that will not really be used. Here are the numbers:

DDP for 7 days (full length of stay - 4 people) = $1092.00
DDP for 4 days (4 people, all considered adults) = $624.00

Package price 4 nights @ Pop 1 day ticket w/ free dinning = $694.76
Adjustment for aplying the cost of 1 day tickets to AP upgrade = -$300.00
Actual cost of Pop room + free Dining = $394.76 ($694.76 - $300.00)
Our cost per day to get dining plan is $98.69
Regular cost of DDP per day (for us) is $156.00

If we weren't staying on developer points, I might consider cancelling our DVC stay and saving the points for anothe rtrip. Although after 14 nights in a value last year with myself, dw, and 2 boys (12 & 13), I think I am officially done with that. Very much looking forward to our 1 bedroom.

I know it sounds crazy to get an extra room we don't need and probably won't use, but we usually spend over $100.00 when we do a sit down meal at WDW. We were planning on 4 sit down meals anyway. The numbers work for us.

I haven't heard anything about Disney cancelling a reservation if they do not feel the room is being used. It really shouldn't matter to them how much time we spend in a room we are paying for.
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[ftballfan7]

Why anyone would want to put up with the crowds and poor service in the restaurants just to save a few bucks on food is beyond me. People hear the word "free" and they want some just because they don't want to be left out.

In our case, we are not getting it simply because it is free. The plan was to eat 4 sit down meals (eaching of us choosing one) and this is just a more economical way to do it.

 

[Castillo Mom]

That sounds great and I have heard of others doing it. I also read (and can not find the thread) that if mousekeeping thinks that the room is not being used, they will report that and Disney might cancel the reservation.

I don't know if this means you should check the room each day, leave an empty suitcase, etc. or how true this even is, but I would hate to see that you are half way through your trip and all of a sudden your credits are cancelled!

Have a great trip!!!

I'm not advocating one way or the other, but I'm curious - why would Disney care whether the room was being used or not if it has already been paid for? Less work for Mousekeeping, right?

 

[logan115]

Didn't do it during a free dining period, but a few years ago I ended up in a situation where it was cheaper (by around $100-$200) to book a 3 night stay and get the "promo" (which required a minimum 3 night stay) than it was for us to book the 2 nights we needed with the same tickets + DDP. On the morning of day 3 we just checked out at the front desk and said we didn't need the room because we were switching to another resort. Bell services even transferred our bags to BCV.