I don't understand free dining!

[fall08CP]

Sorry guys, bear with me.
I have been reading through all of these threads and I don't get it at all. Basically it's just the normal price of hotel + normal price of tickets + no price for dining? So you're saving $40/person/day, correct? And you cannot use any discounts on the room, including a CM discount?
I will be a cast member next month and my parents want to visit in Sept. I'm wondering if it will be cheaper for them to book the free dining (they'll use the plan either way) or get the CM discount.
Let's say they wanted to stay for 4 nights/5 days at a Mod. with 3 days of park tickets. How much would it cost with free dining?

I was reading the wdwinfo site and it said this:
Prices start at:
$57 per person, per day for family of 4 at select Value Resorts (std room)
$73 per person, per day for family of 4 at select Moderate Resorts (std room)
$104 per person, per day for family of 4 at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa (studio)

And I don't understand what that includes. A room and tickets and free dining?? That seems really cheap.
Thank you so much to anyone who responds!

 

[ihearttink]

I think those are room only prices, per night.

 

[iheartdisney]

Ok, now I'm confused!
$57 per person for a family of 4 equals $228 an night for a value room?

 

[victorandbellasmom]

I think the rates are based on 5 nights and 6 days with tickets. We booked this morning for a 6 night/7 day stay at POP w/ 7day tickets for $1454. It averages out to $60.59 per person per night for 2 adults, 1 junior and 1 child.

 

[iluvepcot]

I found this web link on another thread that helped me calculate discounts vs. FD

http://personalpages.tds.net/~rb/DIS/MYW Dining/2008FDDPConpare.htm

I hope you can link to it. If not, cut and past it to your url address.

If you can not get it, I'll try to find the thread.

 

[iluvepcot]

Here is the link to the other thread

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1782848

 

[KibbyCat]

If I was to stay in the resort for 7 nights, but only buy a 1-day/-park ticket (because I'll be bringing no-expiration park hopper tickets with me), will my free dining be for 1 day or 7 days? Does it go with how long you're checked in, or how many days you're buying park tickets for?

 

[cuppycake]

If I was to stay in the resort for 7 nights, but only buy a 1-day/-park ticket (because I'll be bringing no-expiration park hopper tickets with me), will my free dining be for 1 day or 7 days? Does it go with how long you're checked in, or how many days you're buying park tickets for?

It goes by how many nights you are staying, so you would get it for 7 days. And, you are doing it right, if you already have tickets to just get one day tickets and save them for another time.

 

[KibbyCat]

It goes by how many nights you are staying, so you would get it for 7 days. And, you are doing it right, if you already have tickets to just get one day tickets and save them for another time.

Great! thanks for clarifying!!!!

 

[Laura's Dad]

We have non-expiring park hoppers with seven days left on them. We are going with some friends and purchased one day passes. We plan on using the one day pass on the same day at MNSSHP since we have to buy a seperate admission for that any way. We re actually saving a park hopping day on our tickets.

 

[fall08CP]

What if we're not a family of four though? How do we calculate it then? It would be 2 adults at a mod. I'm mathematically challenged so I didn't really understand the chart

This is basically what I'm asking:
For 2 adults,
Would it be cheaper to do 5 nights at a mod with free dining
OR
50% off (CM discount) on mod room and 20% off of dining during the first week of December? Or is DDP at full price cheaper than 20% off (They'd be eating 1TS, 1CS, 1 snack either way)?

Sorry for all the questions! Hope someone can help- thanks in advance!

 

[Letsbgoofy]

Fall08CM,

My advice would be to look at the menus, plan a day of eating, and see how much your parent's would typically spend on food. The DP is a good deal if you eat a lot, but 20% off (and your CM discount on the room) would probably be a better deal for people who don't order desserts or really expensive meals. At that point, the math should be easy. If you still need help, feel free to PM me - I love to figure out things like that!

The other big question is, when do your parents want to travel? To use the free dining they would have to travel those dates, not the first week of December.

 

[goofy4tink]

The easiest way to figure out the cost is to go to Disney's site, pretend you're booking a package, and plug in the dates you want, the resort you want, ages of those going, number of days for park passes/and type. Then, that total will pretty much be what you will pay with free dining. I figured it that way and my cost, with free dining, was exactly what the Disney site gave me for a package with no dining.