Free Dining not Really Free right?

[Nicolepa]

OK, so I hear every one raving about the free dining. I just don't get it, when I run the numbers I have to double my food budget to pay the same as if I get the "free dining"

Can someone tell me if my numbers are off? I'm comparing the "free dining" rate to the AP rate that we got. I looked at the menus and priced based upon what we usually get. We are not huge eaters, we usually split a CS meal, have the kids eat off our plates at TS meals and we are stuffed. With 2 small kids I can't even guarentee that they will sit thru a TS meal every night, character or not.

So here is what I came up with and this is after doubling what I thought we would eat.


Dining No Dining
Room 1492 792 (AKL AP rate $99)
DDE 50 50
Tickets $315 178 (AP)
(We all have AP's except our son who just turned 3. The $178 is the FL Seasonal rate, the $315 is the 4 one day passes plus one upgraded to an additional 3 days so he'd have 7 days. This also means he wouldn't have park hopping which we use every day.)
Mon - Tusker House - L 40
Prime Time Dinner 80
Tue - Sci Fi 80
Cosmic Rays 40
Wed - Counter Service 40
Chef Mickeys Breakfast 100
Thurs - China CS 112
Counter Service 40
Fri - Coral Reef Lunch 100
Saturday - CS 40
Plaza 80
Sunday 100
1857 1872


Maybe the savings is greater if you are staying at a Value resort, since the discount wouldn't be as large for the room? I just don't understand why you would pay rack rate when you can get an AP rate of 50% off the room? Assuming you had an AP of course. (Staying Value or Moderate isn't an option with my DH.)

 

[CarolA]

Keep in mind that the free dining is really for folks who are buying thier tickets via Disney not AP holders. If you have an AP this is going to be hard to be a good deal since your room rate on the free dining includes tickets!
Also, where are you getting the AKL for $99??? I have never seen it that low. The cheapest I see on MouseSavers for FL Resididents is $129.

 

[Nicolepa]

Keep in mind that the free dining is really for folks who are buying thier tickets via Disney not AP holders. If you have an AP this is going to be hard to be a good deal since your room rate on the free dining includes tickets!
Also, where are you getting the AKL for $99??? I have never seen it that low. The cheapest I see on MouseSavers for FL Resididents is $129.

We booked about 2 weeks ago. I know it was an AP rate. I think the FL rate was actually more expensive. We are going 8/20-8/29.

As for the package, I know it's a better deal for those who already have to buy tickets, but I see so many people saying "i already have AP, so I just bought a 1 day ticket for each person". I'm trying to figure it out. The more I think about it, I think it's a good deal for those staying at a Value. Any discount isn't going to amount to the $100 so you would be getting the meal plan for a discount.

 

[cobbler]

You really did get a good deal then because the AP rate for AKL standard view is 124/night, (before tax).

I think the deal becomes less of a deal if you have an AP and are staying deluxe. I am staying at a moderate and it is just about a wash. I think doing my AP room only discount I might end up paying 50 more at the very most (depending on how much I really do eat). It would def be worth it staying at value.

 

[Letsbgoofy]

It's definitely a good deal when staying at a value. We payed $89/night for the ASMU. I could have had my friend book our room with the FL res. discount of $59/night, but we will spend much more than $30/day for food.

 

[BethR]

When this promotion first came out, I too crunched the numbers and realized that at a Value Resort, it was a GREAT buy, at a Moderate Resort, it was an OK Buy, and at a Deluxe Resort, any savings was pretty non-existant.
That is why DH and I will be staying at Pop Century (for about $77 a night) in Sept/Oct to celebrate our 25th Anniversary.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

We were heading down on October 5th, so going a day early and getting free dining WAS free for us (except we had to burn an extra vacation day at work). We were already booked at POFQ and had to switch to POR because there were no more pkgs left at POFQ.

 

[Princess Glenda]

Your AKL rate is great and like others have said since you already have the APs and are getting such a great AP rate at AKL the Free Dining isn't a GREAT deal for you. We are staying Value and got just the 1 Day MYW Base Tickets so it was a GREAT deal for us! We already have MYW tickets so the deal was just too good to resist.

 

[Nicolepa]

Thanks everyone. I've been questioning myself for the last two weeks. Dh doesn't want to do the plan, even if it's a wash, because he doesn't want to feel pressured to eat. I liked the idea of not having to think about food, but I don't think it's a savings for us, and might even be a hassle (having to do a TS a day). Since we've had kids Disney isn't really about the food for us anymore, they would much rather eat quick and ride more rides than sit in a nice resturant stressing about our kids behavior. We are DVC, so normally we eat breakfast and dinner in the room. We didn't want to borrow any points from next year so we are paying for the room this time. So for us it's either do the plan this time or probably never again.

Staying below a deluxe (except for the FW Cabins) is not an option for dh. We stayed at the Coronodo Springs when it first opened and he was very unhappy.

I feel much better now! I was sure there was something wrong with my math!

 

[planning06]

How are you getting an AKL rate of $99/nights? The AP rates for the free dining period are $129/night standard room.

You are right that it is a better deal if you are staying at a Value or Mod since the AP discount per night is not as much. It is also becomes a better value if you have more kids staying in your room. Especially, if they normally eat a good bit.

My family typically eats one table service meal a day. My dd5 is a good eater. We are staying at a Mod. I crunched the numbers and feel that free dining is a great deal for us especially since we don't have APs yet (we plan on updating our MYW to AP when we get there). If we had to pay for three 1 day MYW passes then it would not be as good of a deal.

If you know your family's eating habits and are sure that the dining plan food is more than your would normally purchase or would want to purchase then AP room only rates are probably the better deal for you.

I would check your AKL rate of $99 and see if it really is $129 and crunch the numbers again.

 

[planning06]

As for the package, I know it's a better deal for those who already have to buy tickets, but I see so many people saying "i already have AP, so I just bought a 1 day ticket for each person". I'm trying to figure it out. The more I think about it, I think it's a good deal for those staying at a Value. Any discount isn't going to amount to the $100 so you would be getting the meal plan for a discount.

I also wanted to add something about this. Most people that have APs and bought a 1 day MYW for the free dining plan on applying the cost of the 1 day MYW to next year's AP renewal. So, they aren't just paying that extra money. They look at it as going towards next year's ticket cost. If you went that route, then you should take out the cost of your 1 day MYW tickets from your analysis.

 

[bdcp]

The "free dining" cost is being made up somewhere. Disney could not absorb such a large loss of income without affecting their bottom line and their stock holders would be none too happy. You know the old saying, "If it seems to good to be true, it probably is"? Someone's paying for it, maybe the lowered "adult" age for buffets, increases in costs of other things? It's there somewhere. Even if you normally spend more on food than the discount you could have received on your room, it's still not free. Someone came up with a good marketing ploy. I'd bet there are enough people spending more than they normally would for their "free" dining plan that it makes a huge dent in what could be a loss.

 

[WithFaith50]

I also wanted to add something about this. Most people that have APs and bought a 1 day MYW for the free dining plan on applying the cost of the 1 day MYW to next year's AP renewal. So, they aren't just paying that extra money. They look at it as going towards next year's ticket cost. If you went that route, then you should take out the cost of your 1 day MYW tickets from your analysis.

Exactly how is this done?

Thanks, WithFaith50

 

[Julia M]

When this promotion first came out, I too crunched the numbers and realized that at a Value Resort, it was a GREAT buy, at a Moderate Resort, it was an OK Buy, and at a Deluxe Resort, any savings was pretty non-existant.

It also depends on how many people you are traveling with. Our family of five can't fit in a value, is cramped at PO, and will hopefully be okay in a deluxe! Our AAA discount is $67.56 (with tax). Our family will spend more than that just eating counter service! The dining plan would cost our family $150, if we pay for it.

So the dining plan can be a good deal, even if you stay in the deluxes. It is really more based on your family size

Julia

 

[Nicolepa]

I would check your AKL rate of $99 and see if it really is $129 and crunch the numbers again.

Even at $129 I can still spend $60/day over what I think we will do and break even.

 

[planning06]

Exactly how is this done?

Thanks, WithFaith50

WithFaith, I'd go ask this question on the Codes and Rates board. There seem to be a lot of AP holders planning on doing this. They have confirmed with WDW that they can apply the cost of an unused MYW 1 day ticket to their AP renewal cost.

 

[Nicolepa]

I also wanted to add something about this. Most people that have APs and bought a 1 day MYW for the free dining plan on applying the cost of the 1 day MYW to next year's AP renewal. So, they aren't just paying that extra money. They look at it as going towards next year's ticket cost. If you went that route, then you should take out the cost of your 1 day MYW tickets from your analysis.

Our next trip won't be until December 06 and we already have the adult tickets for those. We will just need kids tickets. (We probably won't do AP since we couldn't get the Seasonal AP) So it really is an added expense since I have to shell out an extra $170 for tickets I won't use for probably 2 years and I'd still have to buy the 3yo tickets for this trip.

We were just going to let him use the 4 tickets we would have to buy (if they will even let him use an adult ticket) because to pay for the tickets and buy him his own 7 day pass or AP would add more to my figures. Even if I kept the 3 tickets and upgraded his to a AP that would still cost me $30 more (which is what we'd probably do because park hopping is a must for us).

 

[DisFlan]

The dining might be "free", but most people are paying rack rate for rooms and top dollar for tickets. Disney makes money by keeping rooms as full as possible at rack rate. Food is cheaper to give away than room discounts. Plus, the free dining includes only one actual sit down meal a day, and not at all restaurants. Many people will be using the sit down meal for character buffets, which are even cheaper to do.

Disney can give away snacks and counter service 'til the cows come home without it denting the bottom line. And the current offering gets people on-site, gets them there during hurricane season and, combined with Magical Express, encourages them to spend more or all of their time on-site. If people stay within the WDW confines, they buy more stuff and spend more money. I doubt Disney is going to lose anything with "free" dining.

DisFlan

 

[oogieboogie]

We're doing the free dining and we have APs.

We're booked at POP for 9 nights at $77/night rack rate with free dining, 2 adults, 2 children, 1-day MYW base tickets - $1,004.74

So, for $1K we get room, food, and tickets that we can use next year. Sounds like a great deal to me.

 

[TNKBELL]

The dining might be "free", but most people are paying rack rate for rooms and top dollar for tickets. Disney makes money by keeping rooms as full as possible at rack rate. Food is cheaper to give away than room discounts. Plus, the free dining includes only one actual sit down meal a day, and not at all restaurants. Many people will be using the sit down meal for character buffets, which are even cheaper to do.

Disney can give away snacks and counter service 'til the cows come home without it denting the bottom line. And the current offering gets people on-site, gets them there during hurricane season and, combined with Magical Express, encourages them to spend more or all of their time on-site. If people stay within the WDW confines, they buy more stuff and spend more money. I doubt Disney is going to lose anything with "free" dining.

DisFlan

Well said! I totally agree!!