Help me understand free dining cost analysis

[wdwthanksgiving]

my husband and i are going to WDW in early feb - when making the reservation they offered free dining which i have accepted..but i'm not sure how to analyze the cost
i have an annual pass, he has a 10 day no expiration pass (which means his day cost for a ticket is about 55.00 for a park hopper full day)
i had 30% off the cost of the room and i have tables in wonderland for 20% off food and alcohol...

when i see breakdowns of cost, i never see anyone talk about the difference in buying a full price ticket that has the cost of the park hopper added and then the annual pass/tables in wonderland on top of this

can anyone help me figure out the actual cost difference between the free dining savings and just using my annual pass/TIW?

thanks so much

 

[clanmcculloch]

Yours is a much more complex scenario than many who are trying to decide on which type of reservation makes most sense for you. I had to make that decision August 2010 as well though we hadn't yet bought TiW. Here's what our decision basically came down to.

For the sake of arguement, lets assume you want to eat 1 TS, 1 CS and 1 snack per day so the numbers are equal between the two. Using the menus on allears.net, figure out how much each meal would cost you using your TiW card where applicable. Add that to the cost of your discounted room. Then compare this cost to your package with free dining which has the full priced room and 2 day MYW tickets. If free dining is cheaper then as long as you WANT to eat like this then stick with free dining and save those tickets towards the next time you buy your APs. If free dining is more expensive then you should consider just how much more expensive because after this trip you will till have the 2 day tickets that can be used towards a future ticket/AP purchase. If you already have a few of these floating around then that kind of negates the benefit of these since you won't end up using them but if you don't have any then they can be used later on. If you wouldn't otherwise want to eat the way the dining plan dictates then it really should be a big savings by using the free dining promotion in order for you to go that route.

You REALLY need to do the math for your own situation.

 

[TDC Nala]

In your situation I would, personally, never go for the free dining. But then I am not a fan of just being on the dining plan.

To break it down, you have two adults, and no children. You pay rack rate with free dining, although a discount on the room is available. You have tickets already (does he already have the 10 day ticket or was it part of your package?) - you don't need the 2 day tickets. And you have TIW. Which would get you a discount on all your TS anyway. Unless you're into Teppan Edo or you're there on a major holiday.

Would you buy the dining plan anyhow? I think it's going to depend on how attached you are to the dining plan itself. because I don't think it's going to save you money on a large scale. Especially if the resort is a deluxe resort.

 

[wdwthanksgiving]

thanks for your responses -
i did talk to a disney castmember - her explanation was this:

i could apply both the one day base tickets i am required to toward a new annual pass (about 178.00 eac which includes tax)...then i am left paying the rack rate - 376.00 at pop century (plus tax) instead of 282.00(plus tax)...so for a difference of 182.00 (which includes a 11.00 per day per adult for upgrade from quick dining reg. dining= 88.00 plus 94.00 for the room cost difference between annual pass rate and rack rate ) my husband and i can eat for 4 days - quick service lunch, snack and table service dinner for both of us...
that equals 45.50 per day divided 2 adults is 22.50 per day each

that sounds pretty good to me