Is Free Dining free or "free"?

[Faldred]

"Free Dining" is a package discount on room + tickets + dining (and in the case of last fall's offering, + photobook) that equals the cost of the dining plan. That's all it is, period. It isn't free food, it's a package discount, often one of multiple package discounts available. Whether or not it is the best available discount depends a lot on party size, resort grade, and how much you actually value having a dining plan.

On that last point, if you're not a big fan of having the dining plan, then taking a "lesser" package discount may save you less money, but still cost you less overall (since you wouldn't add the dining plan into the package in the first place) and be a better fit for you. It's not always about the total amount spent or saved, it's about what gets you the best (subjective) bang for your vacation buck. Edit: or in other words, what Nala just said above.

 

[tasha99]

It's free, but it's not always the best discount. I feel that for my upcoming trip w/DD, we would pay too much to stay in a 1 BR villa on site. We could stay in a mod and get a great deal, but I think we'd drive each other crazy with that much togetherness. It's a long way off, but I'm leaning towards an offsite condo ($500 for 1Br bcv vs. $150 for a 2 br at sheraton vistana villages).

One thing that has made me reluctant to eat onsite in the parks (other than counter service), is the new fastpass rules. I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to ride on something for a Disney restaurant meal. So our plan is to do counter service lunches in the parks, and a nice restaurant at dinner. Once I started looking at all the restaurants available, I realized I am mostly interested in offsite chains (melting pot, ruth's chris, texas de brazil, etc). To me, they'll be a treat because we don't have them where I live, and they'll be cheaper, and I suspect as good or better than Disney restaurants.
I hope to go to V&A and Boma, but those are the only restaurants I truly want to go to, so any savings on the DDP would be skewed by my eating meals I wouldn't buy if I had to pay for them.

I guess I'm saying it's free in a sense, but you'll likely pay more for your room and lose time on rides. I want some space and go for the rides, so the DDP isn't good for me anymore. If you have a lot of people staying in a moderate and you want lots of scheduled dining, it's still a great deal.

 

[Kaewin]

Last year I had to add a day to get free dinning and it was worth it. I got one more day on my trip for about $700 less (five of us) and since I had just made a payment the Disney people ended up giving me money back on what I had paid. If I can get free dinning again I will in a heartbeat. I have moved two trips around it for it.