Free Dining at a Mod vs Other Discount - Am I missing something ?

[DisFanDad]

Hey all,

So, I happened to snag myself a nice week of free dining at POR in August with the QS package. And at first, I was quite happy.

But then I looked at the math and though, $2700 for a week, for 2 with only the QS plan ???

Anyway, I started poking around, and decided to price out another vacation with some of the other offers, tried the summer room only, and it looked pretty interesting, then I flipped to the AP discount.

I got a room at POR, garden view, for $1500 for 7 nights. I thought, hey, lets see added QS dining it was $2300, still $400 less than "free dining", so then I thought, ok, and added the Regular dining plan $2673. Almost the exact same cost as "free dining" but with the regular dining plan instead of the QS plan.

Now, I know that was just for 2 of us, and if you have 3, or 4, or even 5 the numbers start working better for FD, but dang, I was surprised. And if you remove the ticket price from the Free dining they about break even with RO and FD ... still, was again, surprised.

Just thought I'd share my experience for those who might be disappointed in not snagging FD, maybe look at a RO discount and adding it on.

 

[disney777]

Yes, this is why I always do my "Disney" math. Free isn't always the best deal, especially for smaller parties. It's great for larger families staying in the same room. And with the latest change of Mods getting QS instead of regular dining plan, it's even more important to weigh your options.

 

[supersnoop]

Did you include tickets in your comparison? It doesn't really look like an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

[chris benton]

The math is pretty simple. Free isn't really free sometimes, and plenty of ppl see the word, "free," and become enamored with the idea. Free dining does definitely work out great for some, but not for all.

 

[calngavinsmom]

Did you include tickets in your comparison? It doesn't really look like an apples-to-apples comparison.

Partly the deal you got was so great because you already have tickets (AP) To be a fair comparison, you would have to add a two day park hopper to your deal which would be $518. So that $2300 turns into $2818. A moderate for 7 nights in August for 2 adults, free cs dining and two day park hopper works out to $2184. So if you didn't have the AP, and had to buy tickets for your package, the free dining would have been the better deal ($2184 vs $2818)

 

[kreckl]

You can get free dining without buying extra tickets if you have an AP?

 

[mom2rtk]

Ah yes, another opportunity for the free dining haters to come out in force.

Add the price of the tickets with park hopper to get a true comparison.

Sometimes free dining is a great deal. Sometimes it isn't. It depends on how many in your party, how you eat, where you stay.

 

[meggers628]

I'm surprised more people don't rent DVC points. I have a trip planned in the fall renting DVC, so just out of curiosity I priced out a free dining package for the same time.

10 nights, 10 day park hoppers for 2 adults and 1 child (I also have 2 under 3). For the same price I could either stay...

@ POR in a preferred room with free QS dining plan

Or

@ the Poly in a studio with $30 per day to put towards food

Same price, no brainer. I know renting is not feasible for everyone. And I could see free dining being worth it for bigger families who eat a lot, but I really don't see that much benefit for all the drama.

(Edited to correct my math)

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm surprised more people don't rent DVC points. I have a trip planned in the fall renting DVC, so just out of curiosity I priced out a free dining package for the same time.

10 nights, 10 day park hoppers for 2 adults and 1 child (I also have 2 under 3). For the same price I could either stay...

@ POR in a preferred room with free QS dining plan

Or

@ the Poly in a studio with $30 per day to put towards food

Same price, no brainer. I know renting is not feasible for everyone. And I could see free dining being worth it for bigger families who eat a lot, but I really don't see that much benefit for all the drama.

(Edited to correct my math)

Who's feeding a family at Disney prices for $20/day?

 

[elaine amj]

Who's feeding a family at Disney prices for $20/day?

LOL - my thoughts too! Even eating CS only (and eating cheaply), it would cost my family of 4 about $80-$100/day to eat. So your Poly room would cost me about $70 extra every night. Or about $700 extra over 10 nights. Not a bad deal for the Poly - but can (and has been for me) a budget buster. The $700 is about 2 weekend trips for me at other times in the year. I typically don't care much about my room so hard for me to justify giving up more traveling for a nicer room.

 

[mommyboys3]

I priced out a trip yesterday for my sister & her family (2 adults & 2 disney adults) & I found "free" dining package was $129 MORE. Everything about the package was identical except no park hoppers (she would never, ever use them so a total waste for her). So essentially if you liked park hoppers going with "free" dining got you them for only $129 so a bit of a savings there. BUT...this trip was Nov so did not include a room only discount which means I know not going with free dining would be a much better deal once you factor in room only discount or any magical travel agent discount that could most likely be found.

I've done free dining 4 times & am a big fan of the dining plan (paying for it during my May trip). The dining plan works out for my family (I've crunched the numbers many times). Now that Disney has added the hopper requirement (an extra $400 for my family & we've never felt like we needed them) and now the QS only at mods which we would definitely need to upgrade (another $425 I believe) it just makes absolutely no sense for us.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

You can get free dining without buying extra tickets if you have an AP?

Nope, but it can work in your favor anyway.
We are doing 7 nights at the pop over Thanksgiving. I just booked with FD, and the FD reservation was within $100 of a ticketless dining package, but netted us $770 in tickets we can either save for future use or put towards AP renewal.

 

[Nemo1913]

Hey all,

So, I happened to snag myself a nice week of free dining at POR in August with the QS package. And at first, I was quite happy.

But then I looked at the math and though, $2700 for a week, for 2 with only the QS plan ???

Anyway, I started poking around, and decided to price out another vacation with some of the other offers, tried the summer room only, and it looked pretty interesting, then I flipped to the AP discount.

I got a room at POR, garden view, for $1500 for 7 nights. I thought, hey, lets see added QS dining it was $2300, still $400 less than "free dining", so then I thought, ok, and added the Regular dining plan $2673. Almost the exact same cost as "free dining" but with the regular dining plan instead of the QS plan.

Now, I know that was just for 2 of us, and if you have 3, or 4, or even 5 the numbers start working better for FD, but dang, I was surprised. And if you remove the ticket price from the Free dining they about break even with RO and FD ... still, was again, surprised.

Just thought I'd share my experience for those who might be disappointed in not snagging FD, maybe look at a RO discount and adding it on.

Wow, $2700 is crazy expensive for 2 people with the dining plan. The wife and I booked our plan for just under $2000 at CSR(standard room), that is with 4 PH+ tickets from 9/20-9/27 and that includes upgrading to from QS to DDP.

 

[Skallywag Steph]

I was excited to get free dining but after everything came out yesterday, it ended up not being that great of a deal for my group. We're in two rooms at CBR as we have 6 adults and 2 kids. We think we'll come out better with a room only discount and pay out of pocket for food. Especially since mods were only offered qs, it just didn't seem worth it. I must've figured things out without tax because things were more expensive when in my cart. Oh well.

 

[nkereina]

I love the dining plan and booked free dining myself, but I know that by getting the free dining plan that I am paying rack rate for the hotel room and foregoing any room discounts. In some instances, the room discount MAY be a better savings for some people, when you consider how much you'd spend on food out of pocket.

 

[IrishNYC]

I'm surprised more people don't rent DVC points. I have a trip planned in the fall renting DVC, so just out of curiosity I priced out a free dining package for the same time.

10 nights, 10 day park hoppers for 2 adults and 1 child (I also have 2 under 3). For the same price I could either stay...

@ POR in a preferred room with free QS dining plan

Or

@ the Poly in a studio with $30 per day to put towards food

Same price, no brainer. I know renting is not feasible for everyone. And I could see free dining being worth it for bigger families who eat a lot, but I really don't see that much benefit for all the drama.

(Edited to correct my math)

More people don't rent out DVC points because it's a large sum of money to pay up front, and isn't terribly flexible, or not at all flexible, if you need to change your plans. Sure a week at AKL for the price of a mod or less sounds great, but when my DH's back goes out and we need to put off the trip by a few weeks insurance might cover the cost, but now that AKL room we were looking forward to isn't available, and it's back to the mod.

Great renting works out for many, but it isn't for everyone.

 

[OasterP]

For our family it works out only b/c I know that we would never ever book the character meals without it. It isn't a question as to whether or not we can stay cheaper than with free dining - we have several times. However, I'm super excited about doing the character meals this time with the kids, so we will do it. We always get hoppers regardless so that isn't a big deal to me.

As for the moderates only getting QS, I think that so many people booking at moderates ahead of time are part of the reason for that happening. I think people were booking in anticipation of free dining, and they didn't have to offer as much to get them full. I could be wrong though - just a thought. We are most likely staying Value, but either way will be upgrading to the regular dining plan.

 

[IrishNYC]

I love the dining plan and booked free dining myself, but I know that by getting the free dining plan that I am paying rack rate for the hotel room and foregoing any room discounts. In some instances, the room discount MAY be a better savings for some people, when you consider how much you'd spend on food out of pocket.

We love the dining plan, too. We would get the DDP with or without "free" dining, and it's almost a wash for us to have free dining vs. a room discount because of the makeup of our family/ages. A discount is a discount, and everyone's got to eat...and mama certainly isn't cooking and cleaning while at Disney.

 

[trouttigger]

I'm surprised more people don't rent DVC points. I have a trip planned in the fall renting DVC, so just out of curiosity I priced out a free dining package for the same time.

10 nights, 10 day park hoppers for 2 adults and 1 child (I also have 2 under 3). For the same price I could either stay...

@ POR in a preferred room with free QS dining plan

Or

@ the Poly in a studio with $30 per day to put towards food

Same price, no brainer. I know renting is not feasible for everyone. And I could see free dining being worth it for bigger families who eat a lot, but I really don't see that much benefit for all the drama.

(Edited to correct my math)

I'm confused. Are you saying that Renting DVC points with no tix, no food = POR with tix, with Free QS?

Yes, the QS dining isn't worth is for us. Regular Dining was worth it in the past, but the price to upgrade won't work for us.

 

[meggers628]

I'm confused. Are you saying that Renting DVC points with no tix, no food = POR with tix, with Free QS?

Yes, the QS dining isn't worth is for us. Regular Dining was worth it in the past, but the price to upgrade won't work for us.

The Poly rental WITH 10 day park hoppers and $30 per day towards food, is the same price as as POR preferred room with 10 day park hoppers and QS dining.

Obviously I will need to put more money towards food. But I'm also paying a steeper rate for staying at the poly. You can definitely rent for cheaper at other resorts.