There are a lot of factors involved in deciding which is the better deal......what resort you're staying in, how many people in your party, even the number of adults/children in your party. It's always a good idea to call anyway and ask about the final cost for a particular code/offer so you can compare to what you already have. Plus....sometimes these
free dining offers DO come with a room discount........definitely happens with the bounceback offers. But many people are reporting room discounts....it seems to definitely be tied to particular dates/resort combinations, so if you're flexible about where you are willing to stay, tell the CM that so they can do a little comparsion shopping for your dates at different resorts. I haven't done any formal comparing, but it sure seems like those staying at AS-Sports are getting really low rates with the free dining, compared to my POP stay....but both are values so they presumably should be the same rates. Since our family has no interest in sports, staying there would not be enjoyable.....and for all I know our dates have a lot to do with not getting the same rates they did.....but it could also be their resort.
A few examples:
A single person staying at a value/moderate.....the free dining may not be the best deal.....their were recent codes for a value at $59 instead of the typical $99....so that $59 plus the $38 for dining plan, would pretty much break even.....but depending on the dates you are going, sometimes the values are in the $70 range.....so then the savings for a single person to pay $99 and get free dining is about $20 a day......not a huge savings, but multiple that by 7 nights and it's a savings worth pursuing. But throw another person in the room and the free dining is a definite savings, even if the other person is a child at only $11 for dining plan. Change this to a 2 adult 2 child family, and the savings is quite substantial.
Now, throw those same people into a deluxe.....and it depends on the amount of the discount, number of adults/children in the room. Deluxe rooms are typically $200-300 a night minimum, so 40% codes would be $50 to $120 off or better.......but if there are enough people in the room it's possible that the free dining at $38adult/$11child would be better, whereas one adult it's actually a loss, two adults it's barely a savings. Start getting into the more expensive rooms and it doesn't matter if the occupancy is at max, the room savings are definitely more likely to be the bargain.
For us....the AP discount seemed a good deal....then the free dining came out and I called.....yeah, we had to buy 1 day MYW at $79 a person, but we'll use those in 2009 or 2010 when we come back and need new APs....so I don't see it as an expense so much as a future investment. For whatever reason we aren't paying rack rate with the free dining, so if you take away the ticket cost, our cost went up only a few dollars.....compare that to the $700 we had budgeted for food for those 9 days.....and well, my feeling is I saved $700. Had we paid the rack rate that is list on places like allearsnet, then it should have been about $200 over what we're paying, so I still would save $500. Plus, our personal habits are that we tend to share meals to save money and not waste.....but with the dining plan we'll get to sample more variety because what will likely happen is we'll all order something different and then still share, lol. It's just how our family is.....I know some families would be appalled at the thought of sharing a meal.....and so it wouldn't work for them. We've even been known to share sodas with, gasp, one straw....which freaks out my MIL, but doesn't faze us. We'll likely have some guilty feelings as we'll end up wasting some food by each having our own meal, but we'll get over it.
Even if you are only interested in Deluxe....it's always worth calling and asking about the various discounts, otherwise you may be passing up a chance at a better offer.
Or....if you're satisfied with the deal you have, be happy and skip the hassle of calling everytime a new code appears! Since we originally booked at full rack rate (with of course the HOPE that there would be a discount), for my budget every penny saved is, well, a penny saved because we'd have still gone at full rate this trip. It's a surprise for my kids....we've never stayed on site and they think we're not this time either.
