Free Dining--Really Free?

[amomma23]

Hi,
This will be our first time to Disney together. We got the same offer-but when we explored it, we found that the difference, staying at the PO Riverside was 802.00 with the hotel discount. With free dining it went up to $1600!

Thats double!

Now, while it would be nice to have 'free' dining, not at that price. We figure by eating breakfast in the room on occasion, and eating early dinners and maybe snacks later, it will work out to be a bit less expensive.

My friend went last year to Disney and had the DP. She enjoyed it, but found it confining, as it took time out of touring the parks, and also you had to leave where you were to get to where you were dining.

I don't know if we're doing the right thing, or making a mistake, but we're hoping we don't come back too thin! (right! )

I'm just curious how you got a 50% room discount? Something isn't adding up. Free dining may very well not be a good deal for your group, but that doesn't make sense.

 

[Hootch]

lot middle ground between using the dining plan and starving.

We used to do the dining plan but haven't in a number of trips. The price went up, some restrictions were added, etc. The biggest reason was that the kids wanted to be in the parks more. They are older and have more rides they want to do and and many they want to do over and over. Every trip I look at the dining plan but it hasn't made sense to us recently.

This trip we added in Universal and cut down the days at Disney. We do not have a single ADR planned. We have been enough to know that there is a variety of foods available at CS locations.

I may lose weight but that's because it will be so hot that I won't want to eat a lot. It won't be for a lack of choice.

 

[smitch425]

Free dining is NOT free.

YES IT IS. It isn't always the best deal, and it doesn't work for everyone's eating habits, but it IS free.

 

[texasroni75]

Like PP mentioned, you really have to do the math. For this trip, on the dining plan we count as 3 adults and 1 child. We don't do tons of sit-down meals at WDW, eating mostly shared CS meals and snacks anyway so the Free QS dining plan with our Value resort stay is a good fit.

The free QS dining plan (if we choose our meals and snacks carefully) - will give us anywhere from $550-$650 worth of food. Plus we also get our 4 free refillable mugs (which we DO use) - a $60 value.

A discount on our value resort room would save us under $200. By choosing the free dining over the room only discount, we are getting potentially $400 worth of food "free". The way I explained it to DH, after day 2 anything we eat is Free. We will probably be eating MORE than we would if we were paying OOP.

It isn't always a better deal than room rate savings, especially if your traveling party is small.

 

[lylone]

ours appears to be free according to our reservation details.

Disney's Coronado Springs Resort-King Bed
MYW Pkg + FREE Dining PIN

Now we had to get a old website link to get the website pricing and the Dining PIN. For some reason calling in on the phone costs $500 more than on the website and we couldn't get an explanation. After 4 calls and a chat session, we were able to get a link where we were able to use the PIN online.

So it is free...but Disney makes you go through hoops to get it.

 

[mckelvey72]

I got free dining for December and was not going to take it. Was going to hope for a room discount. On our first trip last April there was no free dining so we took the room discount and opted to pay OOP for food. That worked great on our first trip. The cost of paying OOP saved us about 300 over the dining plan.

Now, our trip in December...if a room discount is offered for 30% on WL bunk bed room, the savings is approx. 750.00. I went out to allears and priced out our sit down meals and one is signature so 2 credits, some are lunch instead of dinner and I come out at saving approx. 1100.00 when I include the QS at approx. 40 a day for either breakfast or lunch and factor in the mugs. So for this trip, we are taking free dining.

So it depends on what is offered, if you want to do sit down meals etc. But people do need to realize that if they eat 3 meals a day they will have to pay for one meal. Also, tax and tip is not always included in the meal plan and appetizers are not included so you will pay for food....just not as much. I have it estimated that we will need (on top of free dining) at least 600.00 more to pay for tax, tips, appetizers, meals at LEGOLAND etc.

Take the time and look at the menus and do the math. The numbers are all there for you. We are a family of 3 Disney Adults and 1 Disney child.

 

[Pooh2]

OP, you cannot go wrong with Shades of Green! And if you got a discounted price, even better! The rooms are comparable in size and location to a deluxe Disney room. The resort is beautiful, they have a fridge in the room if you want to keep snacks or breakfast items. Have a great trip!

 

[lylone]

I got free dining for December and was not going to take it. Was going to hope for a room discount. On our first trip last April there was no free dining so we took the room discount and opted to pay OOP for food. That worked great on our first trip. The cost of paying OOP saved us about 300 over the dining plan.

Now, our trip in December...if a room discount is offered for 30% on WL bunk bed room, the savings is approx. 750.00. I went out to allears and priced out our sit down meals and one is signature so 2 credits, some are lunch instead of dinner and I come out at saving approx. 1100.00 when I include the QS at approx. 40 a day for either breakfast or lunch and factor in the mugs. So for this trip, we are taking free dining.

So it depends on what is offered, if you want to do sit down meals etc. But people do need to realize that if they eat 3 meals a day they will have to pay for one meal. Also, tax and tip is not always included in the meal plan and appetizers are not included so you will pay for food....just not as much. I have it estimated that we will need (on top of free dining) at least 600.00 more to pay for tax, tips, appetizers, meals at LEGOLAND etc.

Take the time and look at the menus and do the math. The numbers are all there for you. We are a family of 3 Disney Adults and 1 Disney child.

We heard that they weren't going to offer anymore room discounts through then end of the year. Last year for the same week we only were able to get 5% off... so when Free dining showed up, we jumped on it. Being two adults we can get by with 2 meals and a snack a day

 

[mckelvey72]

Glad I got the free dining then. I am not a fan to having to worry about using credits but it is free so we will do it and see how it works out. Thanks for the info....I hadn't heard no room discounts so I feel better knowing I took the free dining!!!

 

[Disneylover99]

Free dining is NOT free.

Free dining IS is free dining.....

A 30% room discount IS a 30% room discount......

Do the math, think about your families eating habits, and figure out what works best for your family, then take the most appropriate discount for your family.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We're now a family of four "adults" (only in Disney is 11 an adult!) and we do enjoy taking breaks and enjoying a sit down meal most days. While we were waiting for the FD, we did price out a vacation using the room discount at POP for the end of August. So we got the room price and then figured out, based on places we knew we wanted to eat, approximately what we would be spending on food. Of course, knowing we'd be paying OOP, we'd be more conscious of what we ordered, split meals when we could, maybe skip dessert, etc.

Then we got the FD PIN!!!! For the same price we had figured before, we're now staying at a moderate resort (POFQ), will order whatever we want off the menu without batting an eye, have the four refillable mugs, and probably add a couple more TS meals than we would have paying OOP.

Don't know if you consider that "free" or not, but it's certainly a savings of some sort--and we'll take it! It's definitely an upgrade of our vacation!

 

[mrsarbogast]

I wouldn't go if I didn't have the FD pin. it's definitely a draw and the only way that i can convince dh to go. He would literally panic at the food prices if we were paying OOP for them and this way, very few limits. If my dd wants an overpriced Mickey head so be it...

when we went last we saved all receipts and spent about $1200 in 5 days for 5 people (my youngest wasn't quite 3 at the time); so year... Definitely free for us.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DISzy]

I have heard people say that the room rates get jacked up during "free dining," but that is not true. Room rates in September are the lowest of the year and we get free dining.

 

[Disneylover921]

Like many people have mentioned, you need to do what is best for your family. For instance, it is currently just my DH and I. We are not big eaters and quite often share meals whenever we go out to eat. So would I go out of my way to purchase a meal plan? Most likely not.

With that said though we got free dining a few years ago and stayed at a value but upgraded it to include the sit down meals because my husband wanted guaranteed breaks...apparently I am too much of a crazy person at DW and like to go 'til I drop!

We are going back this Dec and happened to get Free Dining again. This time we decided to take our trip a bit more relaxed and so we are staying in a MOD that came with the DP. So it is free, and we are planning on going to signature dining so we can try new things. We made our ADR 180 days out so we could be sure to get the places we wanted to try. For us, the free dining is a nice bonus because it allows us to do things we wouldn't otherwise.

Basically, I think that free dining is really a good value for your family if you were going to purchase a dining plan anyway. I've heard that SOG is an awesome hotel and with the savings you get staying there, it might be cheaper to just pay OOP for BOG one night. =)