Is free dining really free???

[Teresa Pitman]

I haven't done free dining before, but this year, my son has been accepted into the International Program and starts in mid-August. I was planning to drive down with him and one of my other sons to take him there anyway. Staying in Pop and getting free dining is going to be an excellent deal for us, I think. My sons are in their twenties and are (how shall I describe it?) enthusiastic and adventurous eaters.

Teresa

 

[heartsy77]

We are planning on free dining 10 . We are taking our 2 children and my step children. We could never afford to take four kids ( all count as adults) unless it was free dining. Feeding 6 adults a day in WDW would cost us a ton! We will stay at POP or ASM suite during value season. For us it is a huge discount vs a room code.

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

I sort of find it bizarre that "free" dining isn't really free because you have to pay rack rate for your hotel to get it.

Even for my husband and I - a couple, staying at a Mod, it saved us $550. We didn't have a pin code, but were already planning on going, so this was great for us.

Does it really "cost" Disney that much? Probably not. But for us, it is saving us a lot of money, especially because we were planning on using the meal plan. It is like anything...don't assume it is a good deal, because it might not be for your particular situation (i.e. if you have a pin code or whatever). I don't think that's Disney's fault, and it is clear from this thread that the Free Dining has saved people money.

 

[CarolA]

My problem with doing this is that if I am paying OOP I will always choose a less expensive meal. That $30 steak might sound REALLY good, but I would never order it because it's just too much money for one meal. However if I were on the DDP I'd probably go for the $30 steak, since it's already paid for (except for tip). It's hard for me to compare things "apples to apples" because I would eat differently if I were on DDP than if I was paying OOP.

We've never done the DDP before, but are considering trying it next trip.

I priced it based on what I wanted to eat.

I still didn't want to eat a sit down meal at Disney resturants once a day. (SOrry, but IMHO the foods not that outstanding LOL!)

I think though you do point out another drawback. How many of us REALLY need desert at every meal? How many of us on the DDP eat it because "it's already paid for" ? Do you think those calories "were paid for"? (And no, walking around Disney is NOT an areobic activity!)

 

[MelanieC]

For us, the free dining is saving us money.

We orginally had 16 nights booked rack and then the 40% military rate came out. I immediately switched to the 40% off and saved over $600. We since added 2 more nights which I'm sure saved us around $100-$150.

We were going to buy AP's at Shades of Green for $1840 for the 4 of us (4 adults -our kids are 11 & 17). We usually by AP's and use them for another 2 week vacation prior to them expiring.

When free dining came out, the dates fell during the last 8 nights of our vacation. When I called and got pricing it was for 1 base tix per person and 8 days of free dining. It was $622.60 more than we were paying for 8 nights using the military 40% (55.35 x 8 nights =442.80. The $622.60 divided by 8 days is $77.82 per day and then divided per person is $19.45 per person per day.

Normally we usually eat 2 sit down meals per day (lunch and dinner). Breakfast is breakfast bars and pop tarts in the room while getting ready. For $19.45 per person per day, I knew that if I took all of the buffets/family style meals that we were going to be eating at as well as the fantasmic dinner at Mama Melrose and LeCellier and am going to book them for the week of our free dining. Those meals alone are between $26.99-29.99 per person, well over the $19.45 per person per day. So basically our fast food and snacks are free. The first 10 nights we are there, will not be on a dining plan. 4 of those days at are Universal and Sea World and then the other days are our less expensive sit downs or meals that wouldn't really work with dining (like T-Rex and Jiko - Jiko for us isn't a good deal because the kids really only want the mac & cheese -they don't like the adult meals there - and with 2 table service meals it doesn't pay us because our meal would be less than using those two TS credits for buffets). When we are not on dining we will be eating lunch at the sit downs that don't cost as much like the Plaza, Tony's Town Square, Prime Time, Sci Fi -etc.

We saved a lot of money considering that almost all of our expensive meals are now covered on the free dining for the $622.60 extra.


Then when I started thinking about us having that 1 day base ticket, I started thinking about the 5 day military free ticket and companion tickets for $99 that we wouldn't be using. I figured out that if we used the 5 day military tickets at the beginning of our trip in conjuction with our Sea World and Universal tickets, it would cover the first part of our vacation. Then if we upgraded the 1 day base to an 8 day base ticket, it would only cost an extra $166.14 per person. So total we will save $878.44 on tickets by doing them this way and not buying the AP's. If we need tickets the next year, we will just buy AP's then. DH's base/unit may be closing down, so there is a chance we may not be able to go next year anway.

So free dining is partially free for us. It's costing us 19.45 per person per day, but we are saving on snacks and lunch (which would have most likely been sit down). Also, if you remove the cost of the 1 day ticket that we are now using (we were not using it originally so it was included in the price of the extra for the dining), it actually costs us even less than that. Actually that would make the free dining around $10 per person per day. So I guess technically for those 8 nights it is almost free, lol.

 

[mjhd]

Free dining is a great deal for our family - there are 4 of us and we stay in a value though. I also wanted to add that I factor in the intangible value of not having to tell the kids no because what they want to eat is too expensive, not having to say no to snacks, and knowing that they will be more likely to try different cuisines with us.

 

[TheLittleRoo]

Free dining is a great deal for our family - there are 4 of us and we stay in a value though. I also wanted to add that I factor in the intangible value of not having to tell the kids no because what they want to eat is too expensive, not having to say no to snacks, and knowing that they will be more likely to try different cuisines with us.

Oooh, good point! Not worrying about what the kids pick is a huge mental benefit for me. My DS14 is very good about staying within a decent price range when we eat out at home - he just wouldn't even ask to order some crazy priced meal at home. But I had to chuckle how he threw caution to the wind the past two times we've been for Free Dining! He can barely say the words, "I'll have the filet mignon, please" without suppressing a huge ****-eating grin while saying it!

And the snacks - it IS nice to be able to say yes to whatever they ask for when they smell something they want!

 

[Disney Bound Mommy]

We're going this year, staying at POP for 10 nights and saving over $1000. We're happy with the deal!

 

[luvsJack]

We're going this year, staying at POP for 10 nights and saving over $1000. We're happy with the deal!

That's exactly what the difference was for us between our last trip and one in September with free dining.

 

[onemaybaby]

If you have not been to disney before there are some cost one wouldn't think of. On free dining You have to pay for tip at the table sevice. To avoid this cost many people turn there TS into CS. When they do that disney gives you a voucher for 2 free snacks from the snack list or a gift. One yr was a lanyand and pin. Last yr it was a mickey mesh type string bag. The table service tips are calculated on your check. both 18% and 20%. If I pd 20% at each TS. I would pay close to 35-50$ Thats much more then I get a hr and I'm a nurse. The free dining lets us eat at a nicer resturaunt and try food we would never be exposed to.

Please do not take this as rude, and as a disclaimer I am not trying to stir the pot, however there is an entire thread dedicated to tipping. I like this because when I read an post such as yours it makes me extremely upset. Obviously I cannot tell the tone of your voice in a post, however the comment about servers getting more per hour than a nurse would I truly find offensive. I am a server and yes somedays I do make more than you probably would, but there are always days when I work for less than minimum wage. If it's not busy I don't make money and servers get paid less than the standard minimum wage. Also, we have to put up with alot of crap from rude people, and to be perfectly honest 20% is a great tip, but there are also people that leave 5% or people that don't pay the bill and we have to cover it, or the forgetful people that take the wrong copy of the bill leaving no tip at all.
Also, for the OP you do not have to leave 18% or 20% unless you have a party of 6 more, I believe if you have a party smaller than that you could leave a tip at your discretion or not tip if you desired. (not that I avocate that )

 

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

For our Grand Gathering in September, we booked a preferred room and suite at ASMu through AAA, and prayed for free dining. It saves our family $2400.00, yes we could no longer get the AAA discount but it only wnet up $300.00, so we are still coming out ahead $2100.00.

 

[neatokimmo]

I've never gotten a pin. But let's pretend I did

40% of $82 is $32.80. That would buy us 4 burgers a day (I think?).

So by booking free dining we are upgrading our food. Plus there are greater savings when you consider the 2 year is allowed to eat free from the family style places or buffets.

 

[mjhd]

Oooh, good point! Not worrying about what the kids pick is a huge mental benefit for me. My DS14 is very good about staying within a decent price range when we eat out at home - he just wouldn't even ask to order some crazy priced meal at home. But I had to chuckle how he threw caution to the wind the past two times we've been for Free Dining! He can barely say the words, "I'll have the filet mignon, please" without suppressing a huge ****-eating grin while saying it!

And the snacks - it IS nice to be able to say yes to whatever they ask for when they smell something they want!

This is truly one of my favorite parts of this offer. DD is the same way. She does not want to be a kid and get kids meals or adhere to a set limit when we go out at home so at Disney she can be an adult and order whatever SHE wants. It makes me feel so happy to see her so excited. LOL at your DS! I can picture that same smile on my two!

 

[holden]

It's cheaper for us to go without free dining and that's what we are doing in Sept. We get 40% off the room and discounted tix (castmember discount). I crunched the #s and our deal is still better than free dining (and we do TS meals for 6 nights). To get free dining, we have to pay rack rate and buy tix (or at least one night for each person on the plan) through Disney. The only reason we are going during free dining is that DD goes back to school late this year and we are hoping crowds will be less than in July/Aug.

 

[missycj96]

Free dining is not free. The cost is equal to the best discount that a particular person could get, which is not the same for everyone. If you could get no other discount then it is technically free. I had a 40% off code. So for me, free dining cost $67 per night, plus the cost of a tip at a TS restaurant (say a min of $13) for a total of about $80 per night. This means for free dining to be a savings, I would have to spend more than an AVERAGE $80 per night. After much back and forth we chose the 40% off. I felt like free dining would probably either cost less or provide more/better food for the same cost, but not by much. I will have a 20% from Tables in Wonderland which also can be used at my hotel food court because there is no table service restaurant there. So we decided to keep the flexibility (room only reservations can be canceled more easily -so no worries about insurance, plus we didn't want pressure to have to make and keep all the ADRs) for roughly the same cost.

So in a nutshell, the cost of free dining is the discount that any particular person forgoes in favor of free dining. Hope this helps.

 

[wall*e2008]

First you have to decide would you really eat at all of those places and all that food if it was not free. For us the answer is not. And thus free dining is not the deal for us.

 

[jessica52877]

It is a big it depends for our family too. We are 2 adults and one child and stay at a value resort. I had free dining booked for last Sept but ended up changing it to a 40% off code for October due to son's fall break. That left me with $331 to eat for the week (additional cost of room on free dining).

We eat the same whether on the dining plan or not and order the same foods so this was not an issue and made it super easy to compare and see what would happen. One thing though was that I had to add tips in for the free dining so really had more then $331 to do this with. For us it happen to more or less break even. We don't really do dessert though and might have ordered one here or there with free dining.

 

[MichaelColey]

It really depends on where you stay, how long you stay, and when you stay. You'll get the most benefit from it if you stay at a Value Resort for a longer period of time during the value season. Skip the park hopper and plan accordingly, as others pointed out, to save even more. Opt for the base priced rooms, not the more expensive preferred rooms closer to the lobby. (If you're driving a car, the cheaper rooms are actually closer to the parking lots!)

For our family of 4, we'll be staying for 14 days at All Star Movies, 10 day Park Hopper, Water Parks (and DisneyQuest) for the other days, and we'll take full advantage of the dining plan. The cost? Under $2500. We figure we'll eat close to $2500 worth of food, which makes our vacation essentially half price. I know people who spend more than that for a short 3-4 day Disney vacation.

Another way of looking at what we're getting for $2500... It's basically the same as getting 14 nights at $50/night (that's $700), 4 Disney passes for $150/each (that's another $600), 56 table service meals for $15/each (that's $840), 56 counter service meals for $5/each (that's $280) and 56 snacks for $1/each. You would have a hard time beating ANY of those prices with any other promotion.

You'll also want to research all of the options to maximize the value that you get out of the dining plan. If you blow your credits on cheaper meals and/or don't utilize all of your credits, it's much less of a deal.

 

[katiebsmom]

Forgive me if this has already been said...Hey, it's midnite and I don't want to read through 5 pages of responses LOL! EDITED TO SAY: sorry, I mean 3 pages of responses LOL!

The only way I see FD to really be "F" is to go during the value season and to stay at a value resort. I've always been a "more bang for your buck" kinda girl, so I have to bite when FD is waved around in front of me. If we were going and eating on our penny then we would be sharing meals left and right and going back to the room to have PB&J for breakfast and lunch and doing the ice water thing all over the place. So, to me it's an extra budget friendly thing because it means my family will not only eat "free", but much more nicely than if I were paying for it. That's just my humble little ole opinion .

 

[rileysmommy]

This is our 4th big family trip (4 in my family, 11 total). We were all set to stay outside the park for 6 nights, had free breakfast at our hotel, 4 day park tickets (no hoppers) and CS meals for every day with 1 character breakfast and 1 character dinner. That would have cost us about $1700.

Now we are staying at ASMu for those 6 nights and have free dining. We are only paying $1400. So we have a savings of $300, we are now doing 5 character meals instead of 2 and we will be able to enjoy some TS meals that we would not normally pay OOP for. We will have to pay the tips on those as we are a party of 11.

So for us, this is a great deal and we get the magic of staying in the park again. I am so glad they offered it to us for August.

As for the heat and humidity, I have gone once in January and it was perfect. Every other trip has been hot and humid. It's Florida, we deal with it. Knowing I have an air-conditioned hotel room and a shower to go back to every night makes it not so bad. And I went in August '05 with a 100 degree heat index every day and I was 8.5 months pregnant!! And I did fine. I figure if I can survive that week, I make it through anything. Last summer we were there during TS Faye.