We did it one time.
We had the regular dining plan.
My opinion is it’s too much food and you become tied to your ADRs to the point your entire day revolves around when you’re to eat. Not as fun as one would think.
BTW: I priced out “
free dining” it’s over $1000 more than what we paid 4 years ago for same party, dates and resort.
I priced out rack rate on my resort of choice for December 2018 and it had skyrocketed in price from December 2016, so Free dining promo, which is based on rack rates would be more money than the rate in 2016. The again, my final cost for RO discount would be higher as well. When I cost out the trip I look at the resort cost in itself, and run numbers based on that rack rate. I base my ROM cost on that, and then move forward with the rest of my trip costs, such as dining and tickets. Every aspect of a WDW has increased in cost so I have no doubt that the overall cost of a FD based trip would be as well.
With that said, a discount is a discount, and something usually beats nothing, so when I booked my FD promo this year, YAY!!! I made the decision to move from the Beach Club, our first choice and where my total cost was a tad over 18,000.00 for two rooms, tix and dining to OKW. Our dates were not included in the promo. The base price of the 2 bedroom villa was 13,219.00 for the 7 of us, which was over 1000.00 less than that rate I was going be paying at BC, so I ignored that amount of my savings. I saved 4227.00. We would have purchased the plan and hoppers anyway, so it is real savings.
I am shocked at the rising cost of lodging in WDW, however if I want to go and I want to stay at a level I prefer, I need to accept that the cost is what it is. I look for discounts, and I will often make adjustments. My dates this trip were written in stone, so my choices were going to be not when I traveled, but how I managed to use a promo if it came available.
As to dining plans, they are really based on preference. We like being tied to ADR's, and we do eat two real meals per day. DH claimed I was starving him when I did not book a hot breakfast daily as well, and thought he would be satisfied with the continental offerings in the BC CL lounge. So far we have never "lost" money on the plan, either purchased or "free", however I know upfront what my family will likely choose at whatever restaurants we book. If they grazed daily I would just skip the plan because it would be too stressful counting the money we did not use. (Both my DD and I are accountants, and I cannot help but loosely track the amounts. DD OTOH will actually keep receipts and after the rip is over she will build he spreadsheet. She will then plop it in my DH lap and show him the cost for the plan, and the cost we would have spent for meals and snack (and this year alcohol and specialty drinks)
