Free Dining help

[mnmomto2]

I have been trying to run the numbers on this and I don't think it will be an advantage for us. Please correct me if I have figured something wrong. We are booked right now at CSR for Aug 19-27, 2 adults, dd 10 and ds 12 - with a AAA price of $1170. On the disney site I am coming up with a price of $1656 after choosing the one day base pass for 4 (67.10/pp). I have unexpired tix from another trip so that is why I would only need to purchase 1 day tickets. The price of our vacation would increase by $500 to get free dining. This would most likely still be worth it but I keep seeing everyone saving hundreds of dollars and thought maybe I am calculating incorrectly - or were most people paying for the dining option to begin with (which we didn't purchase in our original ressie)??

 

[kmkja1]

I think most of those people are paying for dining to begin with. Just look at it as if you are getting the dining plan for $500. Just decide if that is worth it to you. I think the dining plan would cost you around $1,350 so if you want it it is a great bargain.

 

[Lisa3]

Originally, I had calculated our room at the Poly AAA and 9 day PH to be about $3547.00. With the "free" dining it is costing us $4056.00 or an additional $500.00. For our family of 5 to eat for 9 days at a cost of $500.00 (or $100.00 per person) is an incredible deal and well worth it. You have to decide if you would utilize the dining option especially since you don't need the tickets.

 

[kmkja1]

We are planning 10 days at POR. Without our AAA discount this deal is costing us almost $500 more. On the other hand, feeding 5 people for 10 days at WDW would cost much more than $500 even while trying to eat on a budget. Bottom line we eat at better places, get more food and get the experiences like Coral Reef & Charecter Meals for less money.

 

[Tjaleks]

I think most of those people are paying for dining to begin with.

That is how we saved money. We already had 5nights booked at PC with dining and a one day hopper through AAA at $958. With free dining we are now at $660. We saved almost $300 from what we were going to do any way. (for 2 adults)

 

[mnmomto2]

Sounds like the advantage is there for most people. We will be driving to the beach for 1 (possibly 2 days of our stay) so I will have to decide before the rates open the to general public if it is worth pursuing. Also, our dd will just turn 10 while at WDW and doesn't eat much so that is another factor for our family.

 

[Tjaleks]

Sounds like the advantage is there for most people. We will be driving to the beach for 1 (possibly 2 days of our stay) so I will have to decide before the rates open the to general public if it is worth pursuing. Also, our dd will just turn 10 while at WDW and doesn't eat much so that is another factor for our family.

Will she be 9 at the beginning of your stay? I am pretty sure if she is 9 at the beginning she qualifies for a child rate for the whole stay. (If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will let us know)

 

[Panna]

Will she be 9 at the beginning of your stay? I am pretty sure if she is 9 at the beginning she qualifies for a child rate for the whole stay. (If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will let us know)

From everything that I have read, she stay's 9 for the full trip.

 

[bethbuchall]

I have been trying to run the numbers on this and I don't think it will be an advantage for us. Please correct me if I have figured something wrong. We are booked right now at CSR for Aug 19-27, 2 adults, dd 10 and ds 12 - with a AAA price of $1170. On the disney site I am coming up with a price of $1656 after choosing the one day base pass for 4 (67.10/pp). I have unexpired tix from another trip so that is why I would only need to purchase 1 day tickets. The price of our vacation would increase by $500 to get free dining. This would most likely still be worth it but I keep seeing everyone saving hundreds of dollars and thought maybe I am calculating incorrectly - or were most people paying for the dining option to begin with (which we didn't purchase in our original ressie)??

So you would be paying approximately $15.22/person/day to eat, plus you would have an extra park ticket each. Still sounds like a great deal!

Beth

 

[kldmom2000]

I had a room-only ressie for Sept. 29-Oct 4 at the Beach Club. The AAA discount for it was $1444 for 5 nights. The tix for the 4 of us (2 adults and 2 kids) for the 5 day hopper was going to be around $950"ish" and then food would run us about $125-$150 per day=approx. $3295"ish".... I called re: the free dining (because we ARRIVE during the promo period, we're still eligible for the entire trip) the entire pkg including 5 day hopper, 5 nights @ the Beach Club and the free dining pkg came out to $2745! That saves us about $550! Cool deal! Now I'm not feeling so guilty about doing a table service restaurant each day!!!

 

[lark]

The other part of it is that for people who are using this board, the free dining plan saves you more than just the cost of the plan.

In other words, if you have a room only with AAA, and switch to a MYW with free dining, you can figure out the initial savings by taking the cost of the dining plan and subtracting the additional money you have to pay to get up to the rack rate. But for planners, it's even more than that, because you can usually stretch the dinning so that you're getting more than $40 per adult and $10 per child out of it. Now, if you were going to spend less than that out of pocket by being frugal, maybe it goes the other way.