Is Free Dining Really Free?

[ireland_nicole]

I got a room pin, too; but really need to maximize our savings this year. Because we have a family of 5 (4 of which will be considered "adults" this trip) and are staying in a moderate (POR), it is a much bigger cost savings to get free dining.

 

[ThumperandLitenin]

Great point about the benefit of free dining or DDP if you hit a character meal every day. That used to be a once or twice event for the family when DS was little.

For just DW and me, we use a TIW card as AP holders. I realize that doesn't work for folks who can only make it down once a year.

Another benefit mentioned is the fact that the "pre-payment" of your meals helps you stay within a budget - been there, done that.

Like everything else, some things appeal to some folks while not working for others. This is true of resorts, restaurants, and discount offers.

The math on this one can be tough, but you really have to factor in your group's eating habits, schedule flexibility/rigidity, and the make-up of the group.

Best of luck and I hope your family enjoys their vacation!

 

[MFLetou]

And everybody's in one room?

See, that's another reason why I'm diluting the cost savings of DDP. We're going to have 2 separate rooms (there was NO WAY we'd be doing this otherwise).

Okay, well, then with 10 credits, its basically working out to "$20 off DDP" for us then (per room).

As opposed to "$59 off room rates." You can see why it is a tough call.

 

[marcielm]

Wow, what well reasoned and compelling arguments all the way around. (And btw--i was probably being a little too cute with my post title..I know it isn't really free, it was more of a rhetorical question!)

I'm still on the fence.

Let me throw a few more things out there. The DDP plan says it is in place for the number of nights that you are staying. So, if you are staying for 10 nights, and then buy a 10 day pass, how many credits to you get? You actually are going to BE there for 11 days, but you are only staying 10 nights. So do you get 10 TS, 10 CS, 10 Snacks, or 11 of everything?

It does make a difference in the math, and lowers the "magic number" by about 10 percent.

WTP's point about "what we will eat" is well taken. I share some of those same tendencies. 1) We routinely share drinks, at least when they are refillable, in order to save money no matter where we are. 2) I love dessert, but my wife doesn't. Even when I do want dessert, I also don't always want it right after a meal--I might want it a few hours later. 3). Sometimes I like to try appetizers, and my wife loves soup. Say you go to Le Cellier on the DDP...now I have to pay $6.99 for the cheese soup. But I had it once and I loved it...but I'm not sure if actually would bring myself to pay the money for it. 4) I totally get it when it comes to certain traditions, etc. One of ours is that we like to have some nice breakfasts, like at Kona. Well, that's a terrible use of a TS credit, so we'd probably be paying out of pocket.

Here's what doesn't apply. 1) Nobody in our party drinks alcohol. 2) We have no desire to eat off campus during our stay. 3) It will be December, so I'm not that worried about it being hot. We were there in January a few years ago and it was really pleasant, we never were too hot to eat!

Now, here's a wild card. My parents are the kind of people that don't spend a lot on food. If you go to a "nicer" restaurant, they may not say anything but they will politely order the least expensive thing on the menu. At Disney, they are going to want no part of most of the table service experiences, and when they do, I KNOW they'll be sticker shocked and end up ordering whatever is cheapest. We'll be doing a lot of hamburgers, a lot of pizza, etc. Over the course of 10 days, that's going to get old.

Regardless, we'll do Chef Mickey's because everyone wants to watch the kids interact with the characters. And my wife and I will have opportunities to go have some nice dinners on our own. But with the DDP, I know they'd probably actually eat something nice for once. My mom has already said, "if we don't have the dining plan, I'm not going there" a few times in our trip planning conversations about certain places I've brought up. (Not that they neccesarily are advocating for it, she was just being honest about her mentality).

However...the other concern I have is simply logistics. I HATE being locked into needing to be at a certain place at a certain time, and I wonder how much "pressure" we're going to end up feeling trying to herd the whole clan over to restaurant x at a certain time. How badly do you need ADRS? I'm planning on making them at my 90 day window, but since the park hours for my month won't even be out yet, I really have absolutely no idea when we're going to want to go to certain places.

It was tough even the last time, when it was just me and my wife in '07. We really wanted to eat at certain restaurants, so we made ADRs...but I remember it being a pain in the butt, because we'd want to go on "one more ride" at Hollywood Studios, but instead were stuck watching the clock because we had to be at Chefs de France in 30 minutes. (Thank God we had a car, and will win this time too). But you see my point.

So anyway...still undecided, and trying to figure out whether we'd be getting 10 or 11 days credits.

Based on this I say go with the meal plan... you will get 10 credits... it is based on nights in the hotel. Cost wise, it's my opinion that you will spend more than $62 a day (for you and your spouse, or just your parents) in food at Disney. For some numbers, Chef Mickey's breakfast buffet is $23/adult, and $30/adult for dinner. (Check out http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm for the menus & current prices for many of the restaurants)

If your mom & dad are 'cheap eaters' (I say this with affection, as my parents are the same way... and so are DH & I) then the only way you WON'T eat burgers & pizza all week long is to do the TS meals. It would be a nice treat for them to go and not worry about the price of the meal, and order what they WANT to eat. I know DH enjoyed that $35 steak at Tony's one night.

And keep in mind you don't HAVE to have a TS meal each day, you can swap a TS for a QS, or use 2 for something like the Poly's Luau or Hoop De Do Review.

I also think the buffet like meals are best with you having two under 3, because then you don't HAVE to buy the kids any meals... they get to eat the buffet. When we went I had a 'child' - age 9 who eats like an adult. We did much better at buffets, because he could put away 2 kdis meals without blinking if we had let him. Also, the 2.5 yr old could eat an entire kids meal if she had one, and we were able to share with all the food we had so as to not need to buy many extra meals (and we like to eat!). I only bought 1 extra 'adult' pizza (not the meal) at Pizza Planet for my oldest DS to eat, and then let the DD have the kids' meal pizza during the 5 days we were there. We had 11 snack credits left at the end of the week, which we used to stock up on diet coke & muffins for our drive home. There was more than enough food for us... and we only had 2 'adult' credits & 2 'child' credits for our family of 6 (and even the baby was eating some table food at this point as well).

Plus, there is soooo much food on the QS meals as well as the TS plate meals that you will have more than enough to share with your kids.

With 10 days, I think you will have plenty of time to visit all of the parks, have all the fun, and not feel pressured about getting to your TS meals.

 

[AFETA]

I would have to say that the DP is well worth it. It is hard to eat cheap at Disney and like other posters said, it is like an all inclusive trip. The more you can pay for ahead of time, I think makes for a more relaxing trip. This our second time taking advantage of the DDP and we have been so pleased. Our next trip Labor Day week we will be traveling with 14 adults and 7 kids, 3 of them being under 3. We have booked a couple of buffet meals and a family style dinner. These work out great because they eat for free. It is all what works best for your family. Enjoy your upcoming trip, I know we will!!!

 

[Callas]

Free dinning is best at value resorts and really adds a lot of value. Its the best "deal" all the way around.

Note: free dinning only really covers 2 meals a day. So it breaks down to a 25 dollar table meal, 15 dollar quick service, and a 5 dollar snack.

On delux resorts it depends on the number of guest and age of the kids.

I believe that if you have 4 adults then free dinning is the best. 2 adults and 2kids it is close to a toss up. 2 adults grab the room discount.

Also remeber there is a 12%? hotel tax and saving 40% on a room means saving about 45% if you include tax savings.

Delux's like the poly, contemp, and GF grab the room discount

WL and AKL you need to look at the number of people in your party to make sure you get the best deal.

 

[Keri]

Now, here's a wild card. My parents are the kind of people that don't spend a lot on food. If you go to a "nicer" restaurant, they may not say anything but they will politely order the least expensive thing on the menu. At Disney, they are going to want no part of most of the table service experiences, and when they do, I KNOW they'll be sticker shocked and end up ordering whatever is cheapest. We'll be doing a lot of hamburgers, a lot of pizza, etc. Over the course of 10 days, that's going to get old.

This is my husband, and this is 100% why the DDP will *always* be "worth it" to me even if in the end we saved less (we stay at values, though, so it's still a good deal for us -- another part of his frugal-ness WDW would be a once-every-10-years event if we paid the money for a nicer hotel!!) He would NOT want to go to *any* TS meals if we had to pay out of pocket. For me, it's more important for him to be relaxed, not stressing about the cost of dinner (esp. when the kids refuse to eat much) than to potentially save a few bucks by paying OOP. But really, I don't think we would. We like character meals while the kids are this age. We do lots of them. Yeah, it was a better deal in 2007 when we went for the first time, but it was also so much food we walked away from our non-buffet meals so stuffed we could barely walk So whatever.

Kids - the first year we went ours were 3 and 4, and they had no problems sitting for a TS meal every day (or most days, some days we had 2, one time we went to CRT so 2 credits). Last year was the same, and we also had a 7 month old with us. This year I think will be the most challenging, since the baby will be 18 months, but hopefully between the food & the characters, she'll remain pretty happy. Plus, after so much walking, it's nice to just sit for a while, for everyone!!

The reservations hasn't really been a hinderance to us, and when it is, we changed things up. (I am NOT a touring plan girl. We follow the kids lead, for the most part, and don't stress about things. I'm sure we could do more doing it more planned, but I'd rather keep us all happy. So I understand your concerns!) Both years we ended up cancelling an ADR & booking something else. Year 1 we didn't want to cut our MK day short to get to Boma, so we cancelled it & walked into Crystal Palace for a late lunch instead. Yeah, we waited 30 minutes, but in the end it was a better use of our time. Last year we cancelled Crystal Palace and got a dinner at Cape May instead, so we wouldn't miss the parade (we go to the princess/fairies line in Toontown during the parade one day and see the parade the other ... shhhh!) and we were able to get reservations just fine. So you can still have *some* flexibility while making sure you get the meals/experiences you *really* want.

Good luck with your decision! Just have fun ... to me, the decision should come down to what is going to make life easier, since we're not talking about tons of money either way. For us, that's DDP (we upgraded to regular during free dining at POP) I'd say if you want to do TS/character meals, it will be worth it in the end.

 

[skier_pete]

And everybody's in one room?

See, that's another reason why I'm diluting the cost savings of DDP. We're going to have 2 separate rooms (there was NO WAY we'd be doing this otherwise).

Okay, well, then with 10 credits, its basically working out to "$20 off DDP" for us then (per room).

As opposed to "$59 off room rates." You can see why it is a tough call.

Well, I am a big fan of the DDP as I feel it is a "value" even if you pay for it OOP, so when it's free it is a double value. For example, last year for 8 days we were on the DDP - we got $863 worth of food. The DDP would have cost us $688, a savings of $175 over the menu cost of things. In addition we had the free dining, so we also saved the $688.

Actually, your logic with your parents screams "take the dining" to me. This is one of the things that makes ME love the DDP. If I didn't have the DDP, I would constantly look at the prices on the menu, thinking, "Oh, that's too much money...I don't need the Salmon, the Chicken is $6 less, I'll just get that." On the DDP, there is none of that, I find you don't even glance at the prices. (Some probably do the opposite, looking to get the most expensive thing, I don't do this.) It makes every meal so much more pleasant.

You DO also capture the big drawback to DDP (or actually TS in general) is that you are required to be there at a certain time. Some people hate this. To me, it is all part of Disney vacation. Everything is Regimented at Disney, not just your ADRs. Many shows are only shown at certain times of day. The parades and nighttime shows have a set time. FP return times, which you don't know until you get there. Meal reservations are a part of that as well. To me planning is a must, and ADRs are just a part of that. I use last years calandars to plan this years trip, and usually the results are about 99 % accurate.

SkierPete

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'm struggling to figure out which is a better deal--the room only discount, or free dining. The traveling party I'm dealing with is 4 adults in 2 rooms plus 2 kids under 3 (so no free dining to them). ....

Your party is a party of five because one of the children under the age of three will count towards room occupancy. So you won't fit in a value resort that costs $96. You would have to move up to a moderate that sleeps five (POR) or a FW Cabin (sleeps 6) or a deluxe resort that sleeps 5 (several to choose from). At rack rate, those get a bit more pricy.

 

[jrc-elpaso]

It's going to be a good deal for us. There weren't any deals on rooms when I booked our trip so when the free dining offer came out I called to see if it could be added. The answer was yes - yaay. It was a little more expensive though - 18 cents. I was toying with getting the dining plan anyway - for the 2 of us at POR I think it was still going to be plus. Now we can relax and get whatever we want to eat. We have 7 park days to do whatever we want - 60'ish adults so we're not interested in going on ALL the rides which makes for a more laid back trip than for folks with kids who want to go on EVERYTHING. We'll have 1 non-park day do go around and gawk at the deluxe resorts, etc.

 

[WTP]

With your parents' mindset about the DDP, then it sounds like the dining plan is a good bet for you guys! Especially since they won't go certain places without the plan. You don't want to look back and wish you had done more things but were held back because of them. DH and I are always trying to save money, but we are able to (usually) let go and just get what we want, once we have decided to do things. Get the plan, and eat your salmon! Trade in some of the 2 TS credits for one of the shows and then you only have 9ADRs in 11 days--not so bad. If there is a cheaper TS restaurant you want to hit for breakfast or something, go ahead and do that on one of the other days.

ETA: My in-laws are almost the exact opposite from your folks: they balk at the price of the DDP and talk about ADR's being restrictive---but then they will decide one morning that they want to eat a TS at Epcot, pick up the phone, take whatver is left, and pay cash for their meal. Sigh...

 

[mickeyluv'r]

(5) You rightly point out "Free dining" costs you about $62 a day. However, I guarantee if you eat ONLY counter service meals all week, you will spend more than that for your family of 4, and you won't eat nearly as well.

It makes me uncomfortable when people word a comparison of discounts this way. Free dining is a discount, just like any other. It is a real discount. Comparing it against another discount and then saying it isn't a discount is false. One discount may be bigger - but BOTH should be compared against full rack rates, not each other.

I'm also a little concerned that OP compares the price of a package without dining to one WITH dining plan included. They are two rather different ways to vacation. One is prepaid, the other is a la carte, PAYG.

It is also easy to compare more directly. Price your package using Disney's website with the 'room only discount' but add on the dining plan option. Then you will be comparing apples to apples; having free dining discount vs. paying for dining plan with room discount.

When the DDP plan started, I was one of the folks saying, "I can eat for less than the DDP costs." Initially it was true, but then we were accustomed to breakfast in our room (cereal and milk we acquired from grocery store run - also before MExpress.) The initial DDP was also too much food for us with appetizers included.

Now, Disney has raised prices on TS places! Once you buy a package you are more or less locked into that price. Disney may well RAISE menu prices before you go if you buy dining a la carte. They do so frequently with little fanfare here on the DIS. (Certainly not like the hype ticket price increases get, also another area where prices may increase if you don't ge eh package). So you have to be careful to compare your package price to the menu prices at teh time you go to WDW, not menu prices from six months prior. Then again, if you do room only, you may also be able to save a few buck by getting park tickets through Mapleleaf or UT. (say $10 to $20 per ticket.)

As other posters have said, a quick reference is that free dining is often a good discount at value rsorts and a room discounts are often a better deal at the deluxe resorts. Difference in mod prices usually fall into the noise.

What kind of vacation do you want? using the old model (before DDP) if I had stayed at a value, I probably would have had breakfast in my resort room - and would have dined numerous times at my home resort's food court for dinner or lunch.

Last year, when we did free dining at Pop - we found ourselves hopping on a bus in the pouring rain to get over to an ADR that was more or less prepaid. There was no TS option at Pop. At a mod, we probably could have exchanged our WS ADR for one at our home resort's TS (Teh TS at the mods are rarely booked to capacity). We spent very little time in our home resort, BUT we ate lots of great TS meals. On DDP, we are usually able to pool points to have one deluxe meal.

Most recently we didn't use DDP, we were at a deluxe reosrt, and felt we had flexibility in skipping an ADR on a night when it was downopuring. (No, we didn't intentionally overbook ADR's.) The meal wasn't prepaid. BUT the popular TS at our home resort were booked up in full, so dining there wasn't really an option either. Still, we were able to spend more time doing fine TS dining that WAS in or near our home resort.

In essence, at teh deluxes, in my mind, part of what you are paying for is a more relaxed vacation pace - but there are always a variety of factors to consider.

On this most recent trip we actually stayed concierge for the first time. That presented a new way of looking at touring, and an entirely different food option. It was like having refillable mugs on steroids. WE could go to our lounge ofr some sort of food most of the day - IF - if we went back to our home resort lounge to get it. We spent a good deal of your trip sitting in the same space, but we got breakfast with no lines. Except that breakfast is the cheap kind of plain bagels and cantelope. Most of the food isn't very thrilling: no Mickey waffles, omlettes, or strawberries. (Strawberries are an endangered species in all of WDW these days.) Still, it was relaxing to have our little semi-private corner of WDW. Even if did gain some weight from eating too much starch and too many greasy 'housemade potato chips' instead of the healthy food I normally seek out. I rarely gained weight on prior trips, even with DDP. Still, it was great to exchange refillable mug coffee for instantly ready lattes, no food court lines, and not having to expend any mental energy figuring out how to fit our wants in to our available QS/Snack credits.

One more point to compare - less for OP than other readers - witha large family group DDP is a HUGE help. Every one can pick whatever they want from the menu. No figuring out how to divide the bill, no feeling odd for getting an expensive entree when everyone else is ordering on the cheap. (though you might feel odd if you are the only one getting an appetizer) Most important, nobody was complaining halfway through the trip that food was costing TOO MUCH. It made the trip SO much easier.

Last, remember that IF you are going during what disney considers a "holiday" dinign period, there will be surcharges at many restaurants. I've not been during thsoe times, but it is my understanding that if you are on DDP you don't pay those surcharges. That increases the value of DDP quite a bit.

Ah, there are pros and cons to everything.

 

[clanmcculloch]

1) We routinely share drinks, at least when they are refillable, in order to save money no matter where we are.

At CS locations, continue your current habits for drinks. One of you can order a bottle of water to carry through the park.

2) I love dessert, but my wife doesn't. Even when I do want dessert, I also don't always want it right after a meal--I might want it a few hours later.

At non-buffet meals (where your kids will be eating off your plates) ask the server for fruit for dessert and ask for it to be brought out with your meal. Let you kids chow down on it. If you're not hungry for dessert at the moment, find out which desserts travel the best and then get your dessert to go. Eat it later. I'm assuming that with such young children you'll have a stroller so you can just put it in the basket under the stroller.

3). Sometimes I like to try appetizers, and my wife loves soup. Say you go to Le Cellier on the DDP...now I have to pay $6.99 for the cheese soup. But I had it once and I loved it...but I'm not sure if actually would bring myself to pay the money for it.

On the DDP, you are allowed to share a meal and then pay OOP for anything extra. At places where you want appetizers, order them and then split an entree. This will also allow you to eat at more TS restaurants or to try some signature (2TS) restaurants, though it does mean more money OOP.

4) I totally get it when it comes to certain traditions, etc. One of ours is that we like to have some nice breakfasts, like at Kona. Well, that's a terrible use of a TS credit, so we'd probably be paying out of pocket.

Don't focus on what is a good use of credits and what isn't. If you take my advice on the previous point then you'll have plenty of credits to go around anyway. You'll have a much more enjoyable vacation if you don't try to maximize the plan.

Here's what doesn't apply. 1) Nobody in our party drinks alcohol. 2) We have no desire to eat off campus during our stay. 3) It will be December, so I'm not that worried about it being hot. We were there in January a few years ago and it was really pleasant, we never were too hot to eat!

Now, here's a wild card. My parents are the kind of people that don't spend a lot on food. If you go to a "nicer" restaurant, they may not say anything but they will politely order the least expensive thing on the menu. At Disney, they are going to want no part of most of the table service experiences, and when they do, I KNOW they'll be sticker shocked and end up ordering whatever is cheapest. We'll be doing a lot of hamburgers, a lot of pizza, etc. Over the course of 10 days, that's going to get old.

Regardless, we'll do Chef Mickey's because everyone wants to watch the kids interact with the characters. And my wife and I will have opportunities to go have some nice dinners on our own. But with the DDP, I know they'd probably actually eat something nice for once. My mom has already said, "if we don't have the dining plan, I'm not going there" a few times in our trip planning conversations about certain places I've brought up. (Not that they neccesarily are advocating for it, she was just being honest about her mentality).

These are EXCELLENT reasons to use a dining plan. These are the exact reasons why we plan to always have some type of dining plan every time we go to WDW. No it won't always save us money, but it's these intangibles that make it worthwhile to us. Even at QS locations, we'd be looking at which meals are cheapest and then most likely end up eating way too many burgers. Dining plans give us the freedom to ignore the prices (again, don't try to maximize by ordering the most expensive items or you'll be just as miserable; order what you WANT to order without looking at the price).

I'm not saying that the free dining promotion is always the best deal. I'm saying that when I compare prices between different deals, I always include the dining plan on each option. In February we stayed at Pop using the 4/3 promotion. We bought the dining plan (we like the QSDP).

However...the other concern I have is simply logistics. I HATE being locked into needing to be at a certain place at a certain time, and I wonder how much "pressure" we're going to end up feeling trying to herd the whole clan over to restaurant x at a certain time. How badly do you need ADRS? I'm planning on making them at my 90 day window, but since the park hours for my month won't even be out yet, I really have absolutely no idea when we're going to want to go to certain places.

It was tough even the last time, when it was just me and my wife in '07. We really wanted to eat at certain restaurants, so we made ADRs...but I remember it being a pain in the butt, because we'd want to go on "one more ride" at Hollywood Studios, but instead were stuck watching the clock because we had to be at Chefs de France in 30 minutes. (Thank God we had a car, and will win this time too). But you see my point.

This is why my family prefers the QSDP over the DDP. Free dining is cheaper deal for us than a room discount with the QSDP for our December trip so that's what we're doing. In order to make it work better for us, we're doing 3 signature meals so that means 3 less times that we'll be sitting down for TS meals. The ones I've chosen happen to be ones that also include the tip so that's less money OOP for us during meals. I think that might take some of the sting out of then paying for a few appetizers. The dinner shows might also be the only signature meals that the under 3 crowd would be interested in.

Something else that is important to us is that we maintain our schedule, even when at WDW. Because of this, having the ADRs forces us to stop to eat at the same time that we would at home.

I do take the time to plan our ADRs around which park we'll be attending on a given day to take away the issue of time to transport between parks and resorts. We do eat at resorts but I make sure that the park we'll be at has easy transportation from the park that we'll be at. Having a car does make this much easier but limitting the running around even more makes things SO much smoother for us.

If you're booking your ADRs online, you can always move them around very easily once the park hours come out. I'm sure you won't be the only person doing this. I'd also suggest putting the dining reservation number into your cell phone so that when you're at WDW, if you find one day your family just doesn't feel like heading over to an ADR when you're scheduled to be there then you can call and cancel. You can also call up last minute and find out if there is anywhere at all that still has last minute openings. You may be eating at places you hadn't considered dining before, but that's just part of the adventure of being on vacation.

 

[MFLetou]

Your party is a party of five because one of the children under the age of three will count towards room occupancy. So you won't fit in a value resort that costs $96. You would have to move up to a moderate that sleeps five (POR) or a FW Cabin (sleeps 6) or a deluxe resort that sleeps 5 (several to choose from). At rack rate, those get a bit more pricy.

Well, right now we're book in 2 separate rooms in a moderate for $96 (+tax). Two rooms at a mod is really our only option--we're all not going to cram in one room, no matter what. In addition to space, there are privacy issues...and, grandma and grampa are looking forward to having the kids stay with them for a few nights! I have requested adjoining rooms...

Some good tips here...particularly about the water and ordering fruit for dessert. As I said, my wife does not especially enjoy dessert, so she would probably be happy to have hers serve as a meal for our son. And I'd be happy to split mine with hers, especially since my father isn't a huge dessert eater either.

Just curious--what "signature" dining experiences include tip?

This morning, I was leaning against DDP. Perhaps some of you have started to push me toward it.

Mickeyluvr, I take your point on comparing discounts. But, the reality is what it is. It makes no sense to compare a given to discount to rack rate, because at this time there's no reason to actually pay rack rate. My understanding is that you cannot add dining to a room only reservation. You have to have Magic Your Way, which includes room + park admission. So there's not really much point to making that comparison, since it doesn't exist. Theoretically, though, it would be room ($108 including tax) + $79.98 (dining plan for 2). Comes to $187, vs $167 for the rack rate that includes free dining.

The what kind of vacation question is a good way, and I think the reason why I'm struggling with this some is that I don't neccessarily want the kind of vacation that would be most taking advantage of DDP (w ADRs and all the rest). However, I am a Type-A theme park commando. I plan EVERYTHING. I am already thinking that I need to let some of that go, because this will be my first trip to Disney with kids. We may be getting up early and rushing to Magic Kingdom, but it won't be for the Space Mountain rope drop, it will be for Dumbo. And we should be prepared for our 2 and 11/12ths year old to want to divert several times on the way...

By the way, hopefully this thread is helpful to more than just me. I imagine there are others trying to make the same calculations, so if nothing else, at least this is a good place for the arguments pro and con, etc.

 

[kim_d]

CRT and HDR include tip.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Just curious--what "signature" dining experiences include tip?

Here's the 2009 Disney Dining Plan.

If you take a look through it, you'll see that the gratuity is included for the following:
Pizza Delivery
Private in room dining
Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Review
Mickey's Back Yard BBQ
Disney's Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
Cinderella's Royal Table

ETA: This brings up yet more options for TS credits without a schedule; Pizza Delivery and Private in room dining.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Even before I married into castmember discounts the dining plan never made $$$ sense to me.

#1 - I cannot eat all that food - volumn

#2 - I cannot eat all that food - especially now that the quality and variety have fallen


DH and I generally eat only one meal a day while at WDW. We have a grocery delivery - have far more healthy food available for meals and snacks this way.

Even when I was doing this with AP discounts......it never made $$$ sense for me.

 

[kkmcan]

We chose free quick service dining instead of the room discount for our trip in Dec for a few reasons.

1) We are flying in and taking Magical Express- so no car to make a grocery run. Also we are packing extremely light because of luggage fees.

2) We have always tried to eat on the cheap on our vacations- we share meals and snacks and forgo things we would love to try just to save a few bucks.

3) Because of #2, we want to really enjoy this trip. Our kids will be so excited to pick whatever they want, with whatever drink they want + a dessert. We will all feel like we are on cloud 9!

4) We are doing a 3 night cruise so there will be those nights that we will do the long sit down dinners. I thought 4 nights of it at wdw + 3 nights of sit downs on the cruise would be too much for all of us.

 

[robinb]

Mickeyluvr, I take your point on comparing discounts. But, the reality is what it is. It makes no sense to compare a given to discount to rack rate, because at this time there's no reason to actually pay rack rate. My understanding is that you cannot add dining to a room only reservation. You have to have Magic Your Way, which includes room + park admission. So there's not really much point to making that comparison, since it doesn't exist. Theoretically, though, it would be room ($108 including tax) + $79.98 (dining plan for 2). Comes to $187, vs $167 for the rack rate that includes free dining.

Rack rate for a moderate is $167 per night with taxes and your discounted rate is $105 with taxes. I guess what you need to come to terms with is if you think you can feed your family for $62 per day. The average CS meal is about $13 (entree, drink, dessert), the average TS meal is about $30 (entree, drink, dessert) and the average snack is about $2.50.

 

[LaughingGravy]

5) Flexibility. Here's an example: My IL's and DH have fond memories of eating the "kitchen sink" at Beaches n' cream every trip ever since DH was little. It's a tradition.

Well, I feel absolutely ancient now.