Is free dining really free?

[Drrazorback]

Im excited! We are taking our first trip to WDW! I went to WDL over 30 years ago and now get to take my kids who are 4! Im planning on making this an every other year vaca, so Im learning as much as I can...

I am about to rule out the DVC for us because I just cant see where Im saving any money to tie up myself paying $500+ per year for 30 more years!

Nevertheless...

We have reservations for the WL from 9/21-9/27 with the free dining plan and park tickets. The total comes to around $2800, which I didnt think was too bad...However, when I got online and played with the reservation computer, I noticed that my same stay/hotel was $1800 without anything associated with it...Am I missing something here?

Oh, I also ordered like 4 books on WDW with kids!!!! lol...Im trying to catch up and its actually quite fun! I think Im more excited than the kids!

 

[Reddy]

usually when the numbers are off that much you need to double check everything
are you staying in the same hotel?? same viewpreference? number of park days?? hoppers/water park??
the dinning plan is free but not the tickets

 

[KELLY]

That sounds like room only no tickets. Tickets are expensive.

 

[Drrazorback]

I guess I DID get free dining!

I just repriced my room on the internet thingy with a 5 day pass like we already have and it came out within a few dollars of what I have WITH the dining plan!!!! SWEET!!!!

This is the way to vacation at WDW!!!! Finding those codes and going during these offers!!!

Does Disney give any rewards to frequent guests? I wonder how many times you'd have to go to be considered a "frequent guest"?

 

[vicki_c]

Does Disney give any rewards to frequent guests? I wonder how many times you'd have to go to be considered a "frequent guest"?

No frequent guest discounts @ Disney.

As for the whole free/not free thing - of course, the plan is free as in no charge when you book it with a free dining offer. BUT ... you may be paying more than you would need to for your room when you book free dining because you have to pay rack rates for the room.

I have a 35% off room reservation for the fall, which in my case is saving us $150/night at our resort. For my husband & me, that is a bigger savings than free dining would be by quite a bit.

Generally, as the resorts go down in price, and/or your family goes up in size, free dining can often be a better deal than a room discount. At a deluxe resort with fewer people, a room discount is often the better deal.

You always have to do the math for your own situation to see what works out cheapest.

 

[tonya clayton]

Of course free dining Quick Service doesn't suit everyone. Then if you upgrade to Basic there's a cost. And wheter you upgrade to Basic, or get it as free dining, you still have to tip on the total
for table service meals (excluding buffet). Those meals are usually costly as a total, so costly as a tip.

 

[tinkbyday]

As a PP mentioned, a comparison of room only offers is really needed to see if you are saving the most from the free dining plan or a room only discount.

Also, some of the dining experiences use 2 table services - if you do those, you may have to pay oop for a meal on another day.

We have found the room discount to be a better deal, but that may or may not be the case for you.

 

[Hitchhiking Ghost]

No frequent guest discounts @ Disney.
Generally, as the resorts go down in price, and/or your family goes up in size, free dining can often be a better deal than a room discount. At a deluxe resort with fewer people, a room discount is often the better deal.

You always have to do the math for your own situation to see what works out cheapest.

^THIS!

With 3 kids, with one turning 10 before our November trip that means for dining purposes that we have 3 adults and 2 children. Free dining equates to about $1700 based on our length of stay, so its pretty hard to beat that "discount" even with a 20-30% room discount at a moderate.

And its not always about the math anyway. Free dining basically requires you to plan out and organize all your days in advance based on getting dining reservations. You can try it on the fly, but that's iffy at best. I don't particularly like picking my park dates based on my dining plans, but if I want to get specific restaurants, that is generally what happens.

 

[smitch425]

I guess I DID get free dining!

I just repriced my room on the internet thingy with a 5 day pass like we already have and it came out within a few dollars of what I have WITH the dining plan!!!! SWEET!!!!

This is the way to vacation at WDW!!!! Finding those codes and going during these offers!!!

Does Disney give any rewards to frequent guests? I wonder how many times you'd have to go to be considered a "frequent guest"?

There is no frequent guest reward, HOWEVER you CAN sometimes book what is called a bounceback offer. This is an offer for another trip to WDW that you have to book while you are staying there. For instance, if you were at WL during March and you call the desk and ask if there are any bounceback offers, they might tell you there is a 35% code for dates later in the year. If you are at WL during Nov., they might have a free dining offer for Sept of the following year. Bounceback offers must be booked before you check out of your room, so if you think you might make a return trip in the near future, it never hurts to see if there is a bounceback offer available to you.

 

[TDC Nala]

you still have to tip on the total
for table service meals (excluding buffet).

Not going to bring up about whether or not to tip for buffets, but will point out that for a party of six or more an 18% tip will be automatically added at all table service (including buffets). So if there are six or more in the party, you do have to budget for tips at all table service.

I don't do the dining plan. Free or not. For some it's a slam dunk, for others they need to do some math to determine if a room discount would actually be a better deal.

 

[mill4023]

Generally, as the resorts go down in price, and/or your family goes up in size, free dining can often be a better deal than a room discount. At a deluxe resort with fewer people, a room discount is often the better deal.

This sums it up perfectly.

For a family staying at a value resort, free dining is going to be a much better deal than any room discount you could get.

For a couple staying at a deluxe resort, a room discount is usually going to save you more than free dining.

For everything in between, you have to do the math.

 

[AJA]

For my family of 3, free dining is not a good deal at the deluxe resorts.

It depends on the size of your family (check the rack rate for dining for each member of your family, those 9& under and 'Disney adults' 10 yrs old and older). Then decide if 30% off the room price would be a better deal.

I'm not saying a 30% off Deluxe offer is a sure thing. We've been lucky though and in Sept have always found a good % off the room discount.

Also September being Hurricane season I like the option to cancel at a few days out without loosing any money. If you book a package (free dining is a package) you can't cancel within 45 days. -of course you can always purchase insurance.

 

[smitch425]

For my family of 3, free dining is not a good deal at the deluxe resorts.

It depends on the size of your family (check the rack rate for dining for each member of your family, those 9& under and 'Disney adults' 10 yrs old and older). Then decide if 30% off the room price would be a better deal.

I'm not saying a 30% off Deluxe offer is a sure thing. We've been lucky though and in Sept have always found a good % off the room discount.

Also September being Hurricane season I like the option to cancel at a few days out without loosing any money. If you book a package (free dining is a package) you can't cancel within 45 days. -of course you can always purchase insurance.

You CAN cancel, but you will lose your $200 deposit. I always say book whatever discount is available and then if something better comes along later you can switch it to the new offer. If you hold out for something that never comes to fruition, the other offer will likely be expired or all used up. Take what you can get and then hope and watch for something better.

 

[Zim]

There is no frequent guest reward, HOWEVER you CAN sometimes book what is called a bounceback offer. This is an offer for another trip to WDW that you have to book while you are staying there. For instance, if you were at WL during March and you call the desk and ask if there are any bounceback offers, they might tell you there is a 35% code for dates later in the year. If you are at WL during Nov., they might have a free dining offer for Sept of the following year. Bounceback offers must be booked before you check out of your room, so if you think you might make a return trip in the near future, it never hurts to see if there is a bounceback offer available to you.

Thank you for this information! This year we're going in September for a week and staying in the LM rooms at AoA with the Free Dining package (my teen and myself). But I also signed her up for the Youth in Education package. So I got the tickets we'll use through that program, and got two day base tickets with the Free Dining Package. NEXT year, in December we're going for a 3-day Disney cruise, but plan to stay a few days at the park and use those base tickets then. Now I know I can also check for a bounceback offer on the rooms too! Hope it's not just for packages since we'll already have our tickets....

 

[ssawka]

you still have to tip on the total
for table service meals (excluding buffet).

You are expected to tip for buffets as well.

 

[KELLY]

Of course free dining Quick Service doesn't suit everyone. Then if you upgrade to Basic there's a cost. And wheter you upgrade to Basic, or get it as free dining, you still have to tip on the total
for table service meals (excluding buffet). Those meals are usually costly as a total, so costly as a tip.

I have to agree with this except the buffet thing.We just stick with the QSDP and pay OP for a couple of character meals. We still come out way ahead because we go for 11 days and the cost to upgrade and tips is a lot. I'm not cheap but we would rather have the WP&F option and not have to deal with adr every day.