Is free dining worth it? Or a resort discount better?

[pooh2001]

Free dining comes with full rack rate of your resort.
We would stay deluxe or moderate.
So that would be a snack, CS & TS per day per person.
But we would pay full rack rate.

What if we could get a resort discount?
Typical discount ?
AAA ? Maybe AP ?

Please advise

We can go to WDW any time we wish.
Just DH & DW - our DS & DD are college age - we are finally able to vacation with out them - but they are jealous we are not taking them to WDW

 

[Autumnslight]

The normal room discount is usually 15% for a value, 20% for a moderate, and 30% for a deluxe resort. Which one is a better deal depends on a lot, like the makeup of your party, where you're staying, time of year, etc.

For example:

If you use a rack rate of $500 a night for a deluxe, then a 30% room discount is worth $150 a night. The regular dining plan for two adults would cost about $110 per night. In that case, the room discount saves you about $40 per night.

If you use a rack rate of $200 a night for a moderate, then a 20% room discount is worth $40 a night. The regular dining plan for two adults would cost about $110 per night. In that case, the free dining saves you about $70 per night.

 

[Mousemommy1]

If you planning to stay deluxe, usually the room discount works better.

For example:

Our 5 nights at CR Atrium CL TPV at 40% off yields us a savings of $1,505.02
The DDP for that 5 nights costs $775.40 (for my family of four). So, the room discount wins.

Plus, we don't use the DDP, and spend a lot less on food than what the DDP costs, so it wouldn't be worth it for us anyway.

 

[scard192]

FD was a much better deal for us at POFQ. The RO for that resort is often only 5%.

 

[paxsarah]

The normal room discount is usually 15% for a value, 20% for a moderate, and 30% for a deluxe resort. Which one is a better deal depends on a lot, like the makeup of your party, where you're staying, time of year, etc.

For example:

If you use a rack rate of $500 a night for a deluxe, then a 30% room discount is worth $150 a night. The regular dining plan for two adults would cost about $110 per night. In that case, the room discount saves you about $40 per night.

If you use a rack rate of $200 a night for a moderate, then a 20% room discount is worth $40 a night. The regular dining plan for two adults would cost about $110 per night. In that case, the free dining saves you about $70 per night.

The above is the simplest way to figure it, but when I'm looking at dining plans and related discounts, I also take into account how my family eats and try to estimate a ballpark cost of food per day based on our actual eating habits without a dining plan, using actual menus to check prices. For instance, would you normally eat at table-service once every day or would you eat more quick-service, do you typically get dessert or not, does everyone in the family only order an entree or do people like to share appetizers, for example? Regular dining for two adults might be $110 a night, but maybe DH and I would only spend $80/night (or on the flip side, $150/night) when left to our own devices instead of trying to fit into a dining plan.

In the end, a room-only discount is frequently a better deal at a deluxe, free dining tends to win out for values, and at moderates it really depends upon the size of the party and their eating habits. At every level there are exceptions, so the best way to be sure is to run some numbers based on your own preferences.

 

[KJF0528]

I think you have to work the numbers. I know a lot of people on here say that free dining is usually not the best deal. But for us it is. My husband is active duty military, but since we are going during blackout time, we cant use the military tickets. We can buy the slightly discount ones.

So looking at the military room discount (35%) at PORR makes the room $1025 for 5 nights. THe military tickets we can get (which are not a great deal) are $1020. This comes to $2045. This is without food. Now if we had been able to get the Stars and Stripes package for the tickets, that would be a TOTALLY different story.

We went with free dining. Our room plus tickets was $2638. We have four people, all of us count as adults. The dining package is worth $1100 for us. And we will probably eat that much. My skinny kids are bottomless pits! We figured that by paying an extra $600 to go with the rack rate package, we actually get another $500 in food for "free" per se. Because we would probably spend that $1k in food any ways. This way, we can get the most expensive items on the menu (my husband LOVES steak and as he about to deploy, I want him to have as much as possible lol) and not feel like we are breaking the bank.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[mickeynut1]

I think you have to work the numbers.

I totally agree with this. We are a family of 4 (all adults) and stay deluxe and sometimes the room discount is better and sometimes FD is better. A lot of people think that just by paying rack rate for the room to get FD makes that deal not worth it, when in reality, it all depends on several factors like time of year, resort, room type, etc. In a lot of cases, a RO discount at a deluxe will come out better than FD for 2 adults, but that is not always the case. If the RO discount is low (like 5% or even 20%) for a deluxe, FD can come out to be the better deal as the factors I mentioned above can/do play a big part.

 

[TDC Nala]

This is where you have to do your own math.

Take into account: the resort you want to stay at, the number of people in your party, the adult/child balance, and the schedule you would like to follow regarding where you intend to eat and how much.

Since you have two adults, you also have to ask:

Moderate, or deluxe?
Are we doing character meals or a lot of buffets/family style?
Are we going to have at least one table service a day?
What kind of room discount are we eligible for?
Do we have eligibility for TIW or any other discount programs that may apply to some restaurants (DVC, AP?)
Do we like to visit the restaurants at the Swan or Dolphin, which are not on the dining plan?
Do we want to have a more spontaneous type of vacation which would not require us to have and keep at least one ADR per day?

Also remember that if you have AP, you will have to purchase additional 2 day tickets with the free dining. You may want to save those for later, or you may not.

 

[tink1953]

here's the math for a friend I helped with her Nov trip

room only discount @ 35% off 5 nite stay at Grand Floridian saved her $845

I asked her if they could eat $845 in food in 4 days and that helped her make up her mind.....they paid out of pocket for castle breakfast and Circos and still came out ahead...

 

[GovieMom]

The dining plan for our family of four adults costs approx. $225 per night.

If the room discount at our resort isn't at least $225 per night, then free dining is the best deal.

That being said, we didn't get a free dining PIN this time, so are going with the 35% RO at the CR in February, which is a savings of $206 per night. Free dining would have been better (it almost always is for four adults), unless you book a really expensive room.

 

[Destynee29]

My husband is active duty military, but since we are going during blackout time, we cant use the military tickets. We can buy the slightly discount ones. THe military tickets we can get (which are not a great deal) are $1020. This comes to $2045. This is without food. Now if we had been able to get the Stars and Stripes package for the tickets, that would be a TOTALLY different story.

I was also looking at the Stars and Stripes tickets, can you please let me know what the blackout dates are for those tickets? I may be blind but I didn't see anything listed about blackout dates on the shades website.

Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

It's so individual that you really, really need to sit and figure it our for your particular circumstance.

For us, it's definitely the free dining. For instance, last time we went we stayed at POFQ in August. Now, let's say, just for example, they were offering a 20% discount (about average for moderate, but more than usual for POFQ). Figuring a cost of $200 per night, that would save us $40 a day. There's no way I could feed my family of four (DS11, DS13) for $40 a day at Disney! Even without table meals or desserts or the extras.

So, for us, FD is almost always going to win!