Free DDP Not a Money Saver for Me in September

[BadgerGirl84]

I was really excited when free dining was announced for this fall--I'm visiting Disney for my honeymoon in early September. It's my first time staying on-site and I thought free dining would be the icing on the cake. However, after running the numbers, it looks like it would cost me more money to do the free dining plan than to eat on our own.

What I have currently booked: 2 nights at the WL - standard view. (We are following this by 6 nights at a Marriott, as I have Marriott points up the wazoo--hello, free hotel!!) This came to $365.62 for the two nights with the rate code I had used a few months ago. I had also been planning on getting a 6 day MYW base ticket for me and my fiance and the total for both on Undercover Tourist would come to 483.90. So for 2 night stay and tickets, it's 849.52.

Just so I'm comparing apples to apples, you need a 3 night stay to qualify for the memories free dining plan, so three nights at WL at my discounted room rate plus the ticket = 1032.33.

The price I was quoted for 3 nights at WL - standard view and 6 day MYW base tickets and the Memories Free Dining was 1586.28.

The difference in price is $554. To me, it does not seem worth it to spend $550 to eat for three days. This gives us a food budget of $184 a day if we would skip the plan and just use the cash we would have spent on the plan towards food--seems like a much better deal. The photo book was not interesting to me, as we are already doing the Photopass CD and I like using photobook software online (snapfish, mixbook, etc.).

Just thought I'd share my experience...it seems like when free dining is released, people automatically think they will save tons. Many do (which is great!) but it wasn't a money saver for me.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Also, the thought of having to do all the planning for free dining was really stressing me out. I already had a few disney dining reservations, but they were spread out over our stay, so I would have had to reschedule them to try to fit them into our three-day window to get them included. Plus, I didn't like the fact that 3 meals were not included. I'm sorry, but the idea of eating a granola bar or a day-old pastry that you saved from the day before using your snack credit does not sound that appealing to me. I would have spent extra $ OOP for breakfast on the DDP.

 

[jesusluvsu2005]

I agree that for smaller parties the free dining isn't always a great deal. For larger parties it really can save a lot. We're going next week with free dining and it will save us a bunch but they're are 5 of us. Enjoy your trip!
God bless,
Amanda

 

[henketroy]

I agree that it can sometimes and sometimes not be a savings. We have our book tripped for September and the total came to $3500 with the dining plan. When we talked to our travel agent about the free dining plan, she checked into it for us and our cost went from $3500 to $2900. There are three of us.

If you have a travel agent I would consider checking with them and getting their thoughts prior to not looking into this. When I did my numbers on the Disney site it came up to like $3400 with the free dining but she worked her magic for us and got it a lot cheaper then what I found!

 

[catne]

Free Dining is just one type of discount, and depending on where you're staying and your party size, it is not going to automatically be the best discount. That's why you'll so often see the advice to "do the math" to see if this discount will work for you. Our personal experience as a party of 2 is Free Dining never gives the best discount when we're staying at a deluxe resort. The % off room discounts are far better on deluxe rooms unless you have a big family & kids that are "Disney adults".

And other factors make a difference, too...like the one you see where 3 nights are required but you're only wanting 2 nights.

 

[havoc315]

The difference in price is $554. To me, it does not seem worth it to spend $550 to eat for three days. This gives us a food budget of $184 a day if we would skip the plan and just use the cash we would have spent on the plan towards food--seems like a much better deal.

Good math. You'd basically be way over-paying for the DDP.

For $184, you and your husband will be able to eat quite well... Far better than if you squeezed yourselves into the DDP.

 

[MHSweb79]

"Free" dining generally is not the best deal for A) smaller parties (like 2) and B) deluxe resorts. You can typically get a room discount that equals or betters the dining plan.

 

[Colleen27]

At a deluxe resort with only two people in the room, free dining is seldom the best savings available and for you it sounds like a poor fit too since you'd have to add a night to qualify. It really isn't a discount that benefits everyone, much like the kids-free offer that is useless to anyone without kids or whose kids are over 9.

Where free dining gets to be a great deal and why it has such a devoted following among DISers is for families, especially when the kids turn 10 and start counting as adults. For our family of two adults, two kids who count as adults, and one that still counts as a child, free dining is better than even a 40% code for all but the more expensive room choices at the deluxe resorts.

 

[bluejasmine]

It use to be a good deal when they first did FD.. I can remember taking my two kids for 5 days and being able to do CRT for breakfast (was a 1TS) and Le Cellier, Ohana, Biergarten and more and appys and tips were included I paid right at $1000 for three ppl 5 nights at AsMo with PH and FD..

Last time I did FD was in 2009 and we stayed at a value, then you still got regular DDP free with it and even then it was an ok value, my family likes to eat so I know we did save money on food this way.

Now staying deluxe or moderate it really isnt a good deal. I find the room only discounts alot better and we pay for DDP because I still believe that DDP saves money for our family.

I think for families who get enough out of the QS plan and stay value its still a decent deal..

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

The new free dining promo includes at Memory book you have to pay for. That'll account for $100 of the price difference.

 

[havoc315]

Where free dining gets to be a great deal and why it has such a devoted following among DISers is for families, especially when the kids turn 10 and start counting as adults. For our family of two adults, two kids who count as adults, and one that still counts as a child, free dining is better than even a 40% code for all but the more expensive room choices at the deluxe resorts.

When doing the math, you need to also consider what value your particular family will get out of the DDP -- not just the price Disney assigns to it.

If you get $55 of value out of the $46 meal plan.... Then the free dining is an even better bargain. On the other hand, if you are only going to get $35 of value out of the plan, then it's of even less value.

For us, for example... many of the CS meals would entirely go to waste, as we do mostly TS for lunch and dinner.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

Free dining definitely saved us money on our last trip (moderate resort, no other discounts available, peak season), and it is more expensive on our next trip (deluxe resort, 40% discount, paying out of pocket for a dining plan). It is all about being a savvy consumer and making the best decision when weighing all the variables. I like pre-paying for meals (we feel more free to order what we want, add on drinks, etc.), so we get a dining plan either way, but Free Dining isn't always a better option than paying for the dining plan.