Is Free Dining really free? Post your results.

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I feel your pain. Going the same week for the same reasons. We have 3 rooms at POR for $3060 for 5 nights. Wish I could put my DD and DS in one room with their significant others but that wouldn’t fly. They would just say they didn’t want to go. This trip is obviously more important to me than them.

Yep. I want DD16 and her friend close to us, so I didn't want to chance separate rooms. And we would rarely see DD19 and her BF if they were not nearby It will be nice having everyone together in the mornings and evenings.

 

[SarahC97]

We like to go in late August. We prefer the 50-60% off of rack rate discount our travel agent offers at the Poly rather than using the free dining discount.

I got a quote this year from them and they were definitely not 50-60% off rack rate, more like 25. I was very disappointed, ended up booking free dining instead.

 

[MillauFr]

I got a quote this year from them and they were definitely not 50-60% off rack rate, more like 25. I was very disappointed, ended up booking free dining instead.

25% off of rack is a joke. I won't even consider booking until I get at least 50% off.

 

[SarahC97]

25% off of rack is a joke. I won't even consider booking until I get at least 50% off.

It definitely wasn't the rates of years past. I wonder if the days of the sweet labor day deals are over through them

 

[Nancyg56]

Free dining isn't really free if you have the option of booking a discounted package. It's basically discounted dining.
You need to project your food costs to determine which discount, free dining or % savings, works out better.

I agree. In the reality, there is no such thing as free. There are discounts and sales, so you take the one that is the best savings for your own family.

The last FD promo was a good deal for my large family and way more cost effective than a RO discount, so we jumped one. There are times when I look for both FD and RO if we have two rooms booked.

No matter what is offered, math is generally in order to determine the value. The bottom line is that if you ar going to WDW you know you will need to do some financial planning to find a package or discount that works for your own budget. My husband is still trying to figure out how his meals were "free" and no matter how many ways from Sunday we tell him the savings came from the FD promo he insists there is a monkey wrench in there somewhere. LOL! Yes there is, however for us, this was the best sale. Now enjoy your steak, pass me that wine you are not drinking, and let's pick dessert. LOL!

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Now enjoy your steak, pass me that wine you are not drinking, and let's pick dessert. LOL!

Yaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssssssssss Queen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hammie59]

We only do free dining when we stay at a value and take the QS that comes with. IMO, that’s the only way it saves us money. Otherwise we book a room discount and pay OOP for food.

I booked free dining at POP for this summer. (2 adults and 2 disney adults) We saved $63 and don’t have to pay for food for a week. I was already planning on purchasing PH tickets, so that’s not an extra cost for us. We bought 8 day tix because we also have 4 nights at BC with rm only discount directly following POP. We’ll have meal credits leftover for our 1st day there before they expire at midnight, so will only have to pay OOP for food the next 3 days which is fine. We’ll pack sandwiches for the parks and eat a paid meal here and there. Not too bad.

POP pref rm 6 nights w/8 day PH tix Rack Rate/Free QS Dining = $3633
POP pref rm 6 nights w/8 day PH tix Room Discount/QS Dining added = $3696

 

[Vertical]

Value resorts give you the most value for Free Dining in my opinion. Especially when you have four Disney adults in one room. We saved about $600 a couple years ago with FD. (This is based on what we would have spent on food out of pocket. Not the difference between the dining plan cost vs. room only discount.)

 

[DisMommyTX]

We currently have booked 2 rooms at Pop for 8 nights over Christmas. One room with 2 adults has deluxe dining and the other room with 4 (Disney) adults has no dining plan. Without tickets our total is about $4600 using travel agent pricing. Our dates are not included in the current public discount but were in the FD bounceback which we barely missed. Both the numbers on the FD BB in Dec and public offer (using July dates instead) come out to within $100 of our current package, not counting tickets (which we upgrade to AP anyway, so it is banked money for us.) Both include the cost of upgrading one FD room with 2A to Dx, but with FD we would also get 8 nights QS dining for 4 adults! Not exactly free, but it would be $1600 of QS dining plan for $100 more than we are paying now.

 

[old lady]

Nothing is free.

 

[MiMiDebbie]

We booked FD at POR July 19-24 and after doing the math it was the best deal. 4 adults and one child FD- $4586.08, Package- $5755.06, Fun and Sun $5608.82. All the were 5 nights, 5 day tickets with hopper and DDP. ($1,168.98 and $1,022.74 savings) We couldn't pass this up. So excited to be going back after over 4 years.

 

[Jersey Dad]

These posts about free dining crack me up. A lot of people post like their situation is only the possible one and no other scenario is possible.

Everyone needs to do the math and see what make sense for them.

For me, free dining is the best discount possible. We are family of 4, all above 10 yrs old and we always get the dining plan.

My price for Poly in Aug for 9 days/8 nights, standard room, base tix and dining was $8,809.98
Now after the free dining promo we have park hoppers and the cost is $6,713.90

The 15% room discount would get me $75/night discount which doesn't come close.

Bottom line is different scenarios bring about different results. Free dining works for some but not for others.

 

[Shannon G]

As others have said, you really need to do the math. I normally would not pay for the dining plan out of pocket. And FD would not be a good deal for us if we were going to stay at a deluxe, because I don't want to do that many TS restaurants - I end up feeling like I'm planning our trip around ADRs, and eating just to "get our money's worth." But, at a value or moderate, I think this one works for us.

3 Disney adults at Coronodo Springs for 12 nights:
FD with 10 day hopper plus tickets = $4823.16
Sun & Fun plus 10 day hopper plus tickets = $4075.04

So the "free" QS dining plan is costing us $748.12, which works out to about $21 / day per person.

 

[MichaelWill&Megan'sMom]

For my family, FD is usually the way to go. It all comes down to the number of people in your room and whether or not they are considered an "adult". My 3 kids all qualify as "adults", so our party of 5 using FD always beats the room only discount.
Adult pricing DDP: $75.49/night * 5 people = $377.45/night. There is no room discount that is going to offer a per night discount of anywhere near that value.
If it were just my husband and I, it would come to $150.48 per night in FD. In this scenario, the room only discount could beat the FD value.

 

[deannaf87]

We are doing 5 nights at Corondado Std view w/ 5 day parkhoppers. 3 disney adults and 1 child.

Free dining package with upgrade to regular dining plan: $3,676.43
Room offer w/ DDP: $4,279.15

Savings difference of $602.72.

If we were to get the room offer w/o DDP : $3,006.94

Difference between that and free dining package is $669.49. Will we eat $669.49 worth of food in 5 days? Absolutely.