Free Dining v Room Discount...help with the math

[got15]

Hey! We have never really bothered with the Free Dining discount bc we had 1 infant. This November we will have 2 Disney Children and 2 Adults. Since the bounce back is blacked out we are thinking about booking a Birthday/Celebration trip and wondering which discount would be better for us. I seem to recall last year that there were a lot of additions to the free dining (park hoppers, min days, etc) and I don't remember what they exactly were. I also don't recall if a room discount of over 30% was done for Deluxe hotels. What is the general rule of thumb for someone with 2 Adults/2 Disney Children. Totally lost here.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mousefan73]

The more in the room the more FD is a better deal.. How old are your Kids?? I can see a 2 yr old. eating less than a 9 yr. old if you are paying OOP.

for us ( 3 A and 1 C) in a moderate, the FD was always a better deal.. even with a deluxe. We do one TS a day and usually the 42$ per adult buffets.... about 200-225 a day on Food.... Here the FD was way better. I heard if you are a couple in a deluxe it makes sense to do the math.

 

[mickeygirl78]

The way I have always calculated it was to see what the room discount would be (ie: if your room is $500/night rack rate and you could save 30% = $150/nt) then see if I could feed how many people were in my room for that cost. If you think you can and want to eat for less than that, then room discount is better. If you cannot eat or would not eat (ie: plan to do a lot of TS meals), then the free dining is better. That's my simple way of looking at it.

For example, we go with a party of 7 (two rooms). We stay at Pop a lot, even with a extremely high rack rate of $200, they typically offer 15% disount at values, that is $30 x 2 rooms = $60. There is no way we could feed 7 people 2 CS and 1 snack for $60 (even not ordering desserts etc...).

 

[vanjust14]

I want to say generally speaking the free dining is a better deal, but like previous posters have mentioned, it does depend on your dining style and how/what everyone will be eating. I like to eat at least one table service meal a day. I find it is relaxing and a great change of pace to take the time to sit down and eat. I also like to go to some of the character buffet meals. Evey time I've done the math the free dining is a better deal for us. If you are staying in a deluxe, and only plan to eat counter service meals, split meals or eat one meal (i.e. breakfast) in your room, the room discount may be a better deal for you.

If you do plan on eating at least 1 table service meal, 1 counter service, and 1 snack per day per person, I would price out the cost of of the dining plan, which is currently $63.70 per adult per night, and $22.85 per child per night, and compare it to the room discount savings. Last year a hopper or a WPF&M ticket did need to be included in the free dining offer, but I always get hoppers anyway so I did not factor that in. As an example, a 6 day magic your way ticket with hopper is currently $73.48 more than a 6 day magic your way base ticket. If you normally wouldn't buy hoppers, I would factor that cost in.

 

[disney world dreamer]

just did the math for this myself.
we have 2 adults and 2 17yr olds.
staying at POR.
i figured a possible 20%-25% room rate discount which would work out to $51-$64 per night and we are staying for 4 nights so a $204-$256 savings total.
compare that to a FD discount and we are looking at a $255 savings PER PERSON!
so a savings of $1,020 total.

since we already planned on a 2 day park hopper and the DDP we truly are saving a boat load of money.