PSA Canadians and Free Dining

[Lesverts]

It was mentioned on the Free Dining Dreams Podcast that Free Dining is not always the best deal.

Since things have dramatically changed in the last 24 hours for me. My trip will fall within the FD promo. I just thought I'd pass along that the numbers don't always pan out that FD is the best promo to go with for Canadians this year with the ticket discount.

So just do yourselves a favour and make sure that FD is the best promo for you. With the exchange we Canadians need to be as thrifty as we can be.

 

[Disneymom20]

I agree! We are a family of 6 - our kids are 12,13,14 and 16 and are going this Christmas. Assuming that moderates get the QS FD, it was cheaper for us to take the ticket deal for Canadians.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Generally speaking.....FD works in your favour when you stay more than 7 days, at a value resort and your kids are Disney adults. However, things changed last year with the additional requirement of park hoppers. That made it less of a deal.

 

[alc571]

We compared the two numbers last year. We did Free Dining in June, and upgraded the hoppers to APs and did a room discount, OOP for meals trip in September. With Free Dining, we "spent" 1385.40 on food, plus $130 OOP for tips. Paying OOP for food the whole trip, we spent $726.79. We'd basically have to get a 50% discount on a room to make up for the savings when doing FD. Plus, you're not paying the exchange rate on the dining you are paying OOP for.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Our first two trips were FD and they definitely were the better deal back then. Generally we would go for 9 or 10 nights. However with the free tickets I can get through airmiles and the fact that we can't eat so much food anymore it's not as much of a deal breaker for us to get FD. Our last trip we paid oop and rented points for a dvc villa, ordered some groceries for bf and snacks in room and came out way ahead. I did miss the freedom of booking an expensive buffet and not caring how much it cost, but we felt so much more relaxed this trip not working around so many dining reservations. I know my kids didn't feel cheated because all they cared about were the rides and icecream!

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

We got our passes for free through air miles as well. For 7 nights, it would cost us $1000 for the FD plan, plus the exchange rate! Ah, nope!

 

[pigletto]

The "rumour" is that four day tickets will be required, plus hoppers, plus it will be the quick service plan for mods. It made ZERO sense for us to do free dining. In the past it was an excellent plan for our family of four at the mods. Not anymore.

 

[alc571]

The "rumour" is that four day tickets will be required, plus hoppers, plus it will be the quick service plan for mods. It made ZERO sense for us to do free dining. In the past it was an excellent plan for our family of four at the mods. Not anymore.

And the only two mods included (CBR and CSR) are both under extensive renovations... CBR having food trucks brought in because there's no place to eat. No thanks!

Glad I secured my free dining bounceback last year for this September.

 

[Sue M]

It's usually just 2 of us, me & adult daughter. FD was never the better deal at deluxe resorts. Room discount was always better. At moderates it was pretty close to even which was better depending on what the room discount was. Now with downgraded meal plan I can't see FD ever being a good deal for us.

And with DDP ever increasing price, the DDP itself isn't a good deal for us anymore. We stopped getting it years ago.
I load up a gift card after check in with what I think we need for dining, and use it only for dining. Very convienent, don't have to worry about carrying cash, it's almost like being on DDP. We used to load card with cost of DDP, but found we spend way less than cost of DDP and we eat well, and what we want. It's the little things that add up. We prefer water with meals, don't use many snacks, or desserts. If we have dessert after dinner we usually share one.

 

[Donald - my hero]

From a very reliable source this morning -- offer will drop on Monday April 24th. If you're into stalking the Disney site it's worth noting that last year, when i was waiting for January's discounts, they popped up around 1 am

 

[AngelDisney]

It's usually just 2 of us, me & adult daughter. FD was never the better deal at deluxe resorts. Room discount was always better. At moderates it was pretty close to even which was better depending on what the room discount was. Now with downgraded meal plan I can't see FD ever being a good deal for us.

And with DDP ever increasing price, the DDP itself isn't a good deal for us anymore. We stopped getting it years ago.
I load up a gift card after check in with what I think we need for dining, and use it only for dining. Very convienent, don't have to worry about carrying cash, it's almost like being on DDP. We used to load card with cost of DDP, but found we spend way less than cost of DDP and we eat well, and what we want. It's the little things that add up. We prefer water with meals, don't use many snacks, or desserts. If we have dessert after dinner we usually share one.

I concur! We are the exact same situation. Tried it once and not again anymore!