Paid cash for free dining. good idea?

[Redbudlover]

Hi I am taking my DS, DDIL, and DGD to WDW this Sept and had planned to use points and borrow points for the trip. When the free dining came out I whipped out my calculator and called my best dis friend and discovered that on points I would be paying around $1300 for food and also paying about $750 for tickets. Which meant that the free dining package at WL was only going to cost me about $600 over the cost of food and tickets! So I decided to save my points for a later trip and booked WL

Has anyone else done this? What do you all think of this idea?

 

[Chuck S]

Some DVCers do exactly that, pay cash and get free dining while saving points. For us, we eat TS almost everyday for lunch, and eat what we want, and still spend less than the price of DDP per person,so even the amount oof savings with the "free dining" packages has no value to us vs. our DVC accomodations. We occasionally spend a night or two at a value to extend out trips. but usually get an AP discount, so again, no DDP even on our cash stays.

 

[dgaston]

I had no points to use, and did the Visa Free Dining offer in December. We stayed at AllStar Sports, and had a great time. We had ADRs at great restaurants, including Le Cellier for our CP meal.

For us it was money well-spent -- we only had to purchase 1 day tickets which I will apply to the cost of our next APs.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Some DVCers do exactly that, pay cash and get free dining while saving points. For us, we eat TS almost everyday for lunch, and eat what we want, and still spend less than the price of DDP per person,so even the amount oof savings with the "free dining" packages has no value to us vs. our DVC accomodations. We occasionally spend a night or two at a value to extend out trips. but usually get an AP discount, so again, no DDP even on our cash stays.

I agree with Chuck. We also didn't buy DVC to continue to pay rack rate for rooms. I makes no sense to us, so we wouldn't even consider it. Of course, we also wouldn't consider going in August-early September either....been there, done that....not about to try it again. TOO hot and TOO rainy.

 

[dcamdad]

Let me get this staight, staying on points in deluxe villas you would be paying around $2050.00 for food and tickets. Yet by booking for the free dining for $2600.00 you get "free" food, park tickets and get to stay in a "hotel" room, as you mentioned WL not WLV. Am I missing something here?

 

[n2mm]

We're doing it too. We have 6 planned trips this year and decided to do the free ddp at Pop in several rooms. Our other 5 trips will be at one of our favorite DVC resort. This will allow me to save the August points for next year. With another new grand daughter arriving this summer, the extra points will come in handy when we have to expand our summer vacation to bigger than a 2 bedroom next August. If I only went on one trip a year, then no I wouldn't do it, but since we go to WDW about every other month, it was an easy decision.

 

[Redbudlover]

Let me get this staight, staying on points in deluxe villas you would be paying around $2050.00 for food and tickets. Yet by booking for the free dining for $2600.00 you get "free" food, park tickets and get to stay in a "hotel" room, as you mentioned WL not WLV. Am I missing something here?

Well, that is why I was asking. I am not saying the food is free, nor the tickets. What I am saying that I would have to pay $2050 for food and tickets if I was using my points. So that money is out of pocket regardless of which way I go. And then I would be using up my points for the year. But by paying an extra $600 I still have 8 days worth of the points that I can use for a second trip when I will use my AP and Tables of wondeland card - plus I will have an unused 7 day ticket to trade in when I renew my AP. No I won't be staying in a villa, but I will have everything but the microwave I would have had in the studio. It seemed tome that my points are worth more than the $600 extra I was paying at the hotel.....

So what I am wondering is if other people see it the same way or really disagree - and why. If I didn't have the cash, I would obviously not do it - and I did buy points to avoid paying rack rate all the time - but with the free dining and three adults plus a child to feed, it seemed like a good idea....

 

[Redbudlover]

We're doing it too. We have 6 planned trips this year and decided to do the free ddp at Pop in several rooms. Our other 5 trips will be at one of our favorite DVC resort. This will allow me to save the August points for next year. With another new grand daughter arriving this summer, the extra points will come in handy when we have to expand our summer vacation to bigger than a 2 bedroom next August. If I only went on one trip a year, then no I wouldn't do it, but since we go to WDW about every other month, it was an easy decision.

that is what I as thinking, too. I go for two or three trips a year and only have 100 points, so two trips are with points.

 

[hulagirl]

Hi Redbud,

Don't forget, if you have annual passes already and you want to go during free dining...you don't have to get an entire 7 day pass, you can just get a 1 day base pass and use that toward the cost of renewing your APs next year. That would save you a little bit of money this year as well, which would take away some of the $600 overage now, right?

 

[Redbudlover]

We're doing it too. We have 6 planned trips this year and decided to do the free ddp at Pop in several rooms. Our other 5 trips will be at one of our favorite DVC resort. This will allow me to save the August points for next year. With another new grand daughter arriving this summer, the extra points will come in handy when we have to expand our summer vacation to bigger than a 2 bedroom next August. If I only went on one trip a year, then no I wouldn't do it, but since we go to WDW about every other month, it was an easy decision.

Hi Redbud,

Don't forget, if you have annual passes already and you want to go during free dining...you don't have to get an entire 7 day pass, you can just get a 1 day base pass and use that toward the cost of renewing your APs next year. That would save you a little bit of money this year as well, which would take away some of the $600 overage now, right?

Hi, Thanks - unfortunately I am the only one with an AP - fortunately my DS, DDIL have decided they would like to go with me and see for themselves what I love so much!!! so that's why I will have the multiday pass to use for renewing.

 

[allshookup]

Free dining is one of the reasons we bought DVC! Honestly to really see the savings you have to stay at a value & POP is okay, but gets old quick. I was tired of waiting for codes & then fighting the crowds at POP to get that best out of the new promotions. Now that we stay in a 1 or 2 BR every trip, I couldn't go back to value with my teen & tweener. Plus even though dining was free, I still felt like we were eating all the time whether we were hungry or not & we also had snack credits left over that we spent on a bunch of chips. You couldn't pay me to take free dining! Okay that's an exaggeration, but you KWIM!

 

[disprincessatheart]

Hi, Thanks - unfortunately I am the only one with an AP - fortunately my DS, DDIL have decided they would like to go with me and see for themselves what I love so much!!! so that's why I will have the multiday pass to use for renewing.

If you want, you can get 1 day passes for everyone and then the first day at the park you're visiting, upgrade the other people's tickets. Then you can just keep your one day towards an ap upgrade later instead of paying for the 7 day now. Obviously you plan to use that ticket towards an upgrade either way, it's just less out of pocket upfront if you choose to do it that way.

 

[RCharnay]

I think I'm missing something. How are you getting 8 nights at WL rack rate for $600. That's less than the rate for the values, isn't it?

 

[piratesandpixiedust]

For us it's not a great deal, because I only have one child old enough for the dining plan. We're coming during the end of free dining to use the low point requirements though

 

[JT's World]

We changed our plans to take advantage of the Free Dining also. We were already planning on purchasing the Dining Plan for my family of 4 with kids that are 10 & 12 (full price).

With this promotion I was able to get a Moderate resort + Dining Plan for the same amount that I would have paid for the Dining alone.

In the end I decided that getting to stay in a Moderate for no extra money and saving the points for another vacation later was worth the reduction in level of accommodations.

I purchased the single day tickets with the package and will upgrade them to a DVC AP.

For my family this made the most sense to us.

 

[rjthkids]

We wouldn't do it, but for very different reasons. Next time we go to Disney we'll have five children under 7, plus ourselves. I despise, detest and avoid eating out as much as I can. That many small children do not make for enjoyable eating out experiences.

Personally, I bought into DVC for the #1 reason of having a full kitchen. It saves a significant amount of money and a significant amount of stress to be able to eat on our own terms and food we prefer. I can make the same meals we can buy at Disney for a fraction of what they would charge me, and even with free dining I'm not interested in spending that kind of time and effort on eating.

We have a great set-up when we go to Disney. I plan out our menu in advance, get groceries, we pack our lunches with us, eat breakfast in our room and I plan easy to prepare meals for dinner and do as much prep work for them before we leave in for the parks in the morning. Every once in a while we'll eat out at CS or something, but it's only a few times we're there.

I love, love, love having a kitchen. When my children are significantly older maybe we'll look at eating out some more, but right now you couldn't give me free dining and have me take it unless you were also taking my children with you.

 

[kerickson]

I think I'm missing something. How are you getting 8 nights at WL rack rate for $600. That's less than the rate for the values, isn't it?

I think she's saying the WL/ticket package rate would be $2600, $2050 she would be spending for food/tickets if she was staying on points (food/tickets are included in the $2600 above due to free dining). So, $2600 - $2050 is about $600 extra out of pocket, vs the what a weeks worth of her points are worth (should be worth about $1000-1600 if you are estimating $10 ppt value...)

 

[Sandisw]

Since it sounds like you have plans to revisit WDW a 2nd time this year and will benefit from having the points, then I think it is a great idea to take advantage of the free dining option.

Like you said, you will be paying that $1300 anyway, whether its to pay for the dining plan when staying on points, or using it to offset the cost of the room at WL.

Have a great trip!

 

[Redbudlover]

I think she's saying the WL/ticket package rate would be $2600, $2050 she would be spending for food/tickets if she was staying on points (food/tickets are included in the $2600 above due to free dining). So, $2600 - $2050 is about $600 extra out of pocket, vs the what a weeks worth of her points are worth (should be worth about $1000-1600 if you are estimating $10 ppt value...)

Yes, that is it exactly - and I had not figured the cost of the points - which I should have. when I figure $10 a point it makes even more sense to me...

 

[ranthony]

We'll be doing what you are in August. We had already scheduled a trip for November and have APs from a trip last month.

I have no problem with paying rack rate for a regular room when our tickets and food are paid for already.

Save those points for future enjoyment!