Is free dining worth it if you have to pay rack rate for room?

[Melmac]

Personally I think Free Dining is a better deal at the Value or Moderate Resorts if you had to pay the rack rate for your room. However I don't think Free Dining is a good deal for the Deluxe Resorts because their rack rates are a lot more per night with Free Dining, especially at the Monorail Resorts or Epcot Resorts.

This is what I was going to say. It is only DH and I so the last couple of times we booked free dining, I crunched numbers first (and we always used free dining in September when rack rates are lowest anyway). Free dining is a better deal in a value or moderate, a 35-40% room discount is better for a deluxe.

You would just have to crunch out the numbers and see what works best for you! Good luck on getting that PIN!

 

[kehlyrsmom]

We go in early Sept for my son's b-day. We are a family of 4 2 adults kids ages now 11 and 9 and we have to upgrade our daughter to the adult DDP. I trip to POP in a Reg room with 8 day base ticket and upgrading from QSDP to DDP our total is around 1974 if we took the room discount now being offered with the 8 day base ticket and purchased the DDP our total would be $2624 for the same week, so yes for us it is worth it.

My parents have always gone with us as well and I prived out the room discount vs the free dining with upgrading dining plan in the value and it is the best value for them as well.

To be honest if it was just my husband and the kid we might consider staying at a moderate but my parents always want to try to keep things inexpensive as possible and want to stay at the values.

 

[mickeynut1]

However I don't think Free Dining is a good deal for the Deluxe Resorts because their rack rates are a lot more per night with Free Dining, especially at the Monorail Resorts or Epcot Resorts.

You save the most using the FD versus a room discount ONLY if you stay moderate or value. if you want to stay Deluxe, you are better of to have the room discount...because it is usually a larger percentage, aka 30-45% off rack rate, versus the price of buying the dining plan.

I disagree with both of these......we are a family of 4 with 2 teens, which by Disney standards, our teens are priced as adults for the dining plan. We stay at the deluxe resorts and sometimes free dining saves us MORE than a room discount. We are booked for August at the Poly and free dining would save us $230 more than the 30% room discount we are currently booked under. Even with a 40% discount, free dining would save $10 over a room discount.......not much to sway one way or the other, but $10 is $10 if you're talking which one saves the most money. However, if we stayed at a cheaper deluxe (i.e., WL or AKL), free dining would come out to be even better as the room discount would be less since rack rate for those two resorts is cheaper. So saying free dining is the best deal ONLY if you stay at a value or mod is not accurate, IMO.

Depends on property, level of dining plan, number of people in your party, and time of year.

Crunch the numbers and see which is better for your situation.

My thoughts exactly. It also depends on room type......a standard room at a deluxe with free dining can come out cheaper than a room discount, but a CL room, for instance, would probably come out better with a room discount since the rack rate is higher. But it all comes down to various factors in determining which is the better deal for each individual family.



OP.......We think free dining is worth it for US, depending on that savings vs a room discount. We always get the dining plan anyway, so if we can save more money with free dining, we go that route; if not, we use a room discount. We choose which resort we want to stay at first, then decide which deal (if any are out) that we are going to use to save us the most money. We don't choose the resort according to which deal we can get. As others have said, you just have to run the numbers to see which deal works out the best for your family.

 

[GovieMom]

You save the most using the FD versus a room discount ONLY if you stay moderate or value.

Not if you're a family of 4 or more adults. The Free Dining Pin is saving us a good deal more than the room-only discount we originally had at the Poly for our family of 4. If there were 5 of us, the savings would be even more.

 

[sand&sun2]

I think so

 

[agripnt]

We have a trip for 4 (2 adult, 2 kids) in June booked. Booked it back in January. Staying at a Mod for 6 nights, 7day MYW PH, Dining plan. I called and they said we do NOT have the pin. This would be our 3rd trip I think...

Will it do any good to keep calling? We did book the kids stay/play free, but I think dining would still save us a couple hundred $.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[texasteacher35]

Not if you're a family of 4 or more adults. The Free Dining Pin is saving us a good deal more than the room-only discount we originally had at the Poly for our family of 4. If there were 5 of us, the savings would be even more.

Sorry, I was basing this on 2 kids, 2 adults...I shouldn't assume everyone has smaller kids...When we stay in the tower at CR, the rack rate was like $400, and we got 40% off, so it saved us 160 per night...x 6 nights saving me $960...If I got free dining, it would save us around $870...so when we book a higher end room, it definitely saves us a little more to get my AP discount (deluxe).

If I stay at CBR Pirate room ($200 a night)...AP discount would save me around 60 a night...so 6 nights a savings of $360...FD would definitely be my better route....I am a high school math teacher and I figure the calculations every time I am considering a trip...It is just a general rule or guideline that definitely applies to a family that has several small children...< 9...because the dining is so cheap for them compared to the adult price. The numbers don't lie...everyone has to look at their total party and weigh out the pricing...some people don't know how to do that...

 

[texasteacher35]

We have a trip for 4 (2 adult, 2 kids) in June booked. Booked it back in January. Staying at a Mod for 6 nights, 7day MYW PH, Dining plan. I called and they said we do NOT have the pin. This would be our 3rd trip I think...

Will it do any good to keep calling? We did book the kids stay/play free, but I think dining would still save us a couple hundred $.

Thanks for any advice.

FD would save me more $$ too, but the best offer I have is my AP rate. It's so hard to wait and wait on these codes or PINS...GL