Free Dining--worth it?

[ginadv]

I know the title of my post sounds ridiculous, but I'm weighing my options here. I never considered doing the DP, but we got a free dining pin and now I'm considering using it and upgrading to the Plus plan (1 TS, 1 CS and 1 snack per person/day). Here are the factors--we're two adults, three girls under 9:

-We're staying at FW Cabins. I'll have a full kitchen (was planning to have groceries delivered from Garden Grocers). FW has no CS restaurant, only the little markets and the Meadows Snack bar). I'm hearing differing info. regarding using CS credits for carry-out from Trail's End.

-I have all our ADRs booked already plus Cat. 1 HDDR reserved. Right now we have:
Chef Mickey's dinner
Akershus lunch
Crystal Palace breakfast
Biergarten dinner
'Ohana dinner
1900 Park Fare breakfast (though we may skip this)
Liberty Tree dinner
Rose and Crown dinner

So they're all buffets except for Rose and Crown which means our kids (ages 5, 7, & 9) who are adventurous eaters, won't be confined to the kids' menu. Kids choose whatever they want at buffets, correct?

So that's 8 TS meals (not including the 2 TS credits we'd need for HDDR--and we'd have to go down to Cat. 2 if I wanted to use those). We're there for 8 nights, so that's perfect. I could pay OOP for the two breakfasts and use those 2 credits for HDDR switching to Cat. 2, but the difference in value is only about $40).

We were planning to eat lunch in the cabin or by the pool at FW each day. If FW had CS, I'd be more inclined to go with free dining and upgrade.

The cost comparison is that I wouldn't be able to use my AAA discount on the room-only (10% savings) and for the park hoppers (that I'd buy directly from AAA--savings about $50/family). Going the AAA route would be $753.74 vs. going through Disney for the package with the upgrade to the plus dining plan.

I KNOW we're already about $300 more than $753.74 with TS ADRs alone. Then with the snacks and CS meals we're entitled to, that's all gravy--so this seems like a total no-brainer. BUT, I will feel stressed if we don't use those CS meals at lunchtime as it seems wasteful and ungrateful but I don't want to feel obligated to stay in the park into the afternoon to eat a CS lunch when my kids would rather be eating sandwiches I make in the cabin by the pool.

Anyway, just for the $300 savings and snacks alone it's probably worth it. I'm also worried about confusion using the plan as I've read that a lot of folks have struggled with it. Touring Plans has the majority of negative reviews, so I wanted to put this out to the Dis experts!

So sorry this is so long-winded. I always wished for a pin, especially this one, and now I don't know what to do!

TIA!!!

 

[DaParkers]

I would do it just based on the cost. You could always use the cs for a breakfast if you wanted or you can grab a few sandwiches and chips and cookies on the way out of the park and eat that for lunch. The options that you'll have is another reason that I would go with free dining.

 

[ccgirl]

If you have done the math and it saves you money I would do it. It can be confusing to some people. You can always use snack credits to get pastries and things like that and leave in your room. You can also purchase some drinks to have in the fridge.

 

[Cafeen]

Ok, new math time, since I completely flubbed it up last time! Had done the math as if you were buying the DDP to begin with, which wasn't the case ><.

So, here we go.

The Results
Plan A (AAA discounts) should save you about $46 per night or $368 total (based on the highest room rate outside of Christmas to inflate this plan).

Plan B (FD) should save you roughly $80 per night or $640 total if you don't change anything but the discount used.

Adding only 3/4 of your CS credits spent for Plan B, and all of the snacks would increase the savings to roughly $140 per night, or $1,120 total.

So, overall, you're going to see a discount even if you spend 0 snack and CS credits. This should ease the worrying factor a bit .

If it were up to me, I'd definitely go with the FD deal and know that you're coming out ahead without even trying to burn CS and snack credits.

The Math
Plan A (your current plan). Discounts total roughly $46 per night (10% of $395 (the max room rate of the cabins in 2011 outside of Christmas) + $50 / 8 nights).

Plan B (FD). Discount relys upon buying the dining plan. Since it's a moderate, it will be QSDP for a total of $103/ night. It looks a lot better, (and this is where I got confused before!), but is it really?

Let's figure out your estimated dining costs, shall we?

• Chef Mickey's Dinner: 2 * 34 + 3 * 17 = 68 + 51 = 119
• Akershus: 35 * 2 + 21 * 3 = 70 + 63 = 133
• Crystal Palace: 21 * 2 + 12 * 3 = 42 + 36 = 78
• Biergarten: 33 * 2 + 14 * 3 = 66 + 42 = 108
• 'Ohana: 31 * 2 + 15 * 3 = 62 + 45 = 107
• 1900 Park Fare: 22 * 2 + 12 * 3 = 44 + 36 = 80
• Liberty Tree: 30 * 2 + 15 * 3 = 60 + 45 = 105
• Rose and Crown (this uses middle of the road pricing): 24.50 * 2 + 7.50 * 3 = 49 + 22.50 = 71.50

So, Covered meals as is (without adding any CS) would come out to roughly $801.50. Figuring the cost of the Dining plan:

• QSDP = $36/night adult, $12/night child. 36 * 2 + 12 * 3 = 72 + 36 = $108 per night or $864 for 8 nights.
• DDP = $46/night adult, $12/night child. So an extra $20/night or $128/night. $1,024 for 8 nights.
• Now, you're getting the QSDP free and only paying the difference between QSDP and DDP, 1024 - 864 = $160
• So, in essence, you are getting ~$801 worth of food (plus snacks, plus CS!) for ~$160, or a savings of $641 total, or ~$80 / night.

As you can see, without changing anything but the discounts you're getting, you'll be saving an additional $34 per night of stay.

At this point, any CS and snacks you buy on the plan, will be bonus savings as you've already gone far beyond the break even mark. So, just for fun, let's spend 3/4 of your CS credits, and all of your snacks.
We'll average $3 for snacks, and $12 adults/$6 children for CS meals (the CS meals here are actually pretty steep lowball numbers, but that's ok.)

• Snack total ($3 per snack, 5 people, 8 nights)
  ($3 * 5) * 8 = 15 * 8 = $120
• CS Total (as above on prices, using only 3/4 of total credits (or 6 nights))
  ((12 * 2) + (6 * 6)) * 6 = (24 + 36) * 6 = 60 * 6 = 360
• Adding to the total already spent, $801 + 120 + 360 = $1281
• This changes your overall savings to 1281 - 160 = $1121 or ~$140 per night.

Now, redoing the math using a relatively common 30% discount (may not be common for your dates, but it's a hypothetical anyway)...
Hypothetical Plan C: Discounts total roughly 118.5 + 6 = $124.5 per night.

Also as a note, you'd also be saving 6.5% on all meals, however some of the DIS menus include tax while others do not, so instead of risking adding double tax (and thus inflating the savings numbers), I opted to leave this out of the equation, so the theoretical savings are actually a bit more than presented.

 

[clanmcculloch]

If the package with the dining plan will cost you less money that the room discount plus discounted tickets plus the TS meals you've already planned then absolutely switch. Those CS and snack credits become like bonus gifts. You're already got those ADRs so it's not like you're changing your vacation around for the dining plan. That's where a bunch of the complaints come in; being tied to ADRs. A lot of other complaints about the dining plan are that it's costing more money than it would OOP. You're already determined that this deal would save you money. The rest of the complaints tend to have to do with the food itself or blaming the dining plan for difficulty in getting ADRs or other such things that really aren't about the plan. Really, I don't see a downside for you since you've already got your ADRs and you won't have to change a thing regarding how you spend your time on vacation but you'll save money.

You can use the CS credits to get things to go and bring them back to your resort. You don't need to stay in the park and eat right then and there. Just choose things which will travel well (like sandwiches) just before you're ready to leave the park and leave when you're actually ready to leave. You'll be able to eat in the comfort of your cabin. Or, worst case scenario, you can leave credits behind. You'll have already saved money so who cares if you don't use what can be seen as a freebie?

 

[ccgirl]

When are you going? There are a couple of special offers out there thru the fall that are more than the 10% AAA discount.

 

[pooch]

the plan works for you in that you already have the TS meals set and it SAVES MONEY. I've used it for the last 5 years and frankly I don't understand why people have trouble with it. Its pretty straightforward & easy IMHO.

If you want to have lunch back at the campground, most CS meals can be packed to go. The Main Street Bakery in MK is ideally suited to do this. Also, I don't know if you fly or drive but you can take CS meals with you. When we fly, we get a CS meal each to eat at the airport while waiting for our flight. This year, DD and I will be driving back to CT. Since we share the huge CS meals. I expect to have 4-5 credits at the end of the trip. We'll get a styrofoam cooler and hit Earl of Sandwich on the way out. Those 4-5 sandwiches, sides & drinks, coupled with comp breakfasts at our stops on the way, should just about feed us free for the 2 day trip home!

 

[ginadv]

Thank you so much, everyone, for your thoughtful replies! Cafeen, you've outdone yourself with your thorough cost analysis. We're going the first week in July so most TS restaurants add on a surcharge in addition to the regular pp price. So I had figured approx. $140 total for each dinner buffet (including Akershus) and about $100 for the breakfasts.

Also, the AAA was the best we could get on the room--none of the other discounts were good during our time down there.

So as I imagined, it will be best for us to do the free dining as even with the upgrade, we'll save and everything else (the snacks and CS) will be a bonus.

Thanks again!

 

[Cafeen]

Thank you so much, everyone, for your thoughtful replies! Cafeen, you've outdone yourself with your thorough cost analysis. We're going the first week in July so most TS restaurants add on a surcharge in addition to the regular pp price. So I had figured approx. $140 total for each dinner buffet (including Akershus) and about $100 for the breakfasts.

Also, the AAA was the best we could get on the room--none of the other discounts were good during our time down there.

So as I imagined, it will be best for us to do the free dining as even with the upgrade, we'll save and everything else (the snacks and CS) will be a bonus.

Thanks again!

Not a problem at all I like playing with numbers and truly find it interesting.

First week in July may switch some numbers around, since you'd be paying more for the upgrade to the DDP, it shouldn't make too much of a difference though. I think it's $2 more than what I listed for adults, and $1 more for children, so you'd save about $7 less per night, but that will likely be mostly made back up by the seasonal upcharges at the buffet places anyway, which would be covered as you've already determined .

Glad it works out well for you, now you have some extra cash for more goodies! (Disney gets that cash either way )