Savings for "free" dining promotion - $48/day

[ReallyFunMom]

I think its a very good deal but when people talk about the free dining promotion I think they overestimate it or at least mix it in with the saving from the dining plan itself which are two different things. (By adding up the cost of food.)

The real savings for a family of 4 with 2 children staying at a Mod is $48 dollars a day. To determine the value of "free" promotion you have to compare it to what you would otherwise spend to get the same thing. For each night at a mod = 139 with promotion. Without promotion its room rate + $98 to buy the plan. The mod discount for AP, FL resident, etc is $50 off. 139 - 50 + 98 = 187. 187 (w/o free dining promo) - 139 (with free dining) = $48 savings per day. I'm not missing anything, right?

Somehow I don't think Disney is giving away farm by spotting a family of 4 $48 per day discount during a slow time. It comes with the requirement of buying MYW tickets and keeps people in Disney parks instead of comparable discounts in terms of annual passes at other theme parks. Don't get me wrong, I think its great. I just don't think of it terms of "how do they make money on this" much different than IOA/US offering a deeply discounted 2 year pass.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Yes, but you have to have an ap (which costs more than a myw tix) or be a florida resident.

If you are neither the most your discount would be is 20% of your room rate (AAA - which even for that you need to be a member) so it would be:

139 - 20% ($111) + $98 = $209 so the savings would be at least $70 per night.

It really depends on your family make up and what other discounts you may or may not qualify for.

Using the above scenario but with 2 adults, 1 junior (age 10-17) and 1 child it would be $139-20% + $125 = $236 so the savings would be $97 per night.

 

[PureTcrazy]

There is a problem with your logic in one respect, you cannot purchase the dining plan and use an AP or FL res rate. I have a Fl resident AP (so does most everyone else in my family) 3 of us total, we are paying rack rate for a room and buying a MYW 1 day ticket
$79 x 5 = $395 + 50 extra person (room)
3 x 67 = $201 (MYW)
445+ 201 = $646
Without free dining and ticket purchases
59 x 5 = 295 + $50 extra person 345
we usually figure $50 each per day so that would be
150 x 5 = $750
345 + 750 = 1095.

So Free Dining saves us $449.00! Wow, I had never really sat and figured it out like that, I amazed myself... I can't wait!!! My DM, DB and DSIL are also going and saving big money! And a big PLUS We are going to be able to order whatever we want, AND eat at places we would not normally have been able to afford!

 

[lovesdumbo]

I booked a free dining package for my party of 7-me, DH, DD(7), DS(5), DD(3), DFriend and her DH. We are getting 2 rooms at POFQ. My friend, DD(7), and self have AP's so we have one room with a 1 day base ticket. The others don't have tickets so I've booked them all in another room with tickets. Our dates are 8/22 to 8/29. I'm getting the value rate on the package even though value season doesn't start until 8/27. So when AP rates came out I got a quote online for 1 room at POFQ and figure I was paying about $700 more for my package then booking the rooms with AP's discount and not getting dining. The 7 of us would surely spend more money on a 7 night trip for food than $700 and I'll have about $190 worth of tickets to use for a future trip (the 3 one day base tickets those of us with AP's need to buy). I think dinner at CP for the 7 of us would be about $175 with tax and tip even with a DDE discount.

I'm looking forward to trying the dining plan for the 1st time.

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

let's see................family of 5 (DH, me, DD13, DD10, DS6), we all have AP's.

We are paying $1879 for 10 nights (only needed to buy one day tickets). But we can save that one day ticket for next year, so I'm going to deduct $323.78(or $324), so that takes us to $1555.

staying at POR.........if we were getting the AP discount, we would be paying $117.08 per night (including tax)....that's $1170 for just the resort.

We wouldn't need any tickets, so deduct $1170 from $1555. That's $385 that we are essentially paying for the dining plan. So no, for us it is not "free". But, how would we eat for 10-11 days, a family of five on $385 at Disney World!!???

When we've stayed off-site and cooked some of our meals, we still would eat in some sit down restaurants on and off WDW. Just our meal at Biergarten was at least $125, and that was when one of my children was 9 and got the reduced rate. Now she is considered an adult. Plus , we will be going to Hoop de Doo, so it is saving us even more money.

I am giving up more space by doing this since we would have stayed off site in a 2 bedroom condo. But the price for the room would have been about the same.

So, all in all, we are giving up some luxuries, but gaining some also for a rediculously little amount of expense.

 

[Allensfan]

I agree a bit that the free dining is not the best deal in the world. It sounded really good to me...but then I had to give back the $400.00 discount to AAA to get the free dining. So it saved us about $150.00...which is nice, but not as great as we thought it would be. We had already paid for the dining plan when we found out it was free so they just changed it back. But depending on how long you are staying and what discounts you can get on a hotel, it may not save you money.

 

[punkin]

It will save me money (sort of). I am staying in a value, so my savings, even with AAA would be $20 per day. I have 2 adults 1 jr and 1 child, so I am saving over $100 per day for food. We eat a lot, usually 3 TS per day, including at least 2 signature places during a trip. I am planning to cut down on that and actually use all our CS credits. If I have them, I will use them and save money that way. My DD7's meals will probably be paid OOP (depending on what she wants to order) and her credits used for signature credits for the rest of us (we are only going to do one this trip). I am not sure exactly how much we will save, but I am betting at least $500 for the week. So with the savings, we splurged on a connecting room for the kids (which they will be sharing with the kids from another family going with us). That pretty much eats up our food savings BUT I get to sleep with DH with no kids in the room. and that is PRICELESS.

 

[FINFAN]

While the actual dollar savings will vary form person to person, it is the opportunity to enjoy new TS places that has us excited. For somewhat less than we would normally spend, we can try new places that we would not have done, or would have done on the cheap...sharing, trying only for dessert etc. To us that is a "value" maybe not i cold hard cash, but in overall vacation enjoyment. For once, I do not have to be the miser that budgets every meal and has to pack lunch to bring into the park each day. I can't WAIT to be on vacation from deciding meals, trying to make pbj's on the small table in the room, judging if we have enough snacks/chips/ bread etc. M whole family can enjoy where we eat as much as the parks now. To us, free DDP is a win/win...now if we were paying for the DDP that would be different unless the room was at a great discount.


Pam

 

[NYMomof4]

I definitely think that there are factors that make it a better deal for some. For our trip in August there are 2 adults, DS13, DS10(turning 11), and DD8. If I wanted to buy the DDP it would cost $162.95 I believe($37.99 x 4 + 10.99 for child). Multiply that by 7 nights and I get $1140.65 for the DDP if we were to buy it. I'm paying $1400 for 7 nights at POR with 1-day passes (we have APs). We did the free dining last year and really enjoyed it!

 

[melomouse]

While the actual dollar savings will vary form person to person, it is the opportunity to enjoy new TS places that has us excited. For somewhat less than we would normally spend, we can try new places that we would not have done, or would have done on the cheap...sharing, trying only for dessert etc. To us that is a "value" maybe not i cold hard cash, but in overall vacation enjoyment. For once, I do not have to be the miser that budgets every meal and has to pack lunch to bring into the park each day. I can't WAIT to be on vacation from deciding meals, trying to make pbj's on the small table in the room, judging if we have enough snacks/chips/ bread etc. M whole family can enjoy where we eat as much as the parks now. To us, free DDP is a win/win...now if we were paying for the DDP that would be different unless the room was at a great discount.


Pam

Exactly how I am doing my accounting of "value" this trip!!!

But, OP, thank you for the computations. Always interesting for this math-phobic to read!!!

 

[Mickey&Donald]

I haven't gone and done any serious math to figure out how much we're going to save by using the Free DDP -- but I can tell you that on our last trip, which was a day shorter than this trip, we spent somewhere between $600-700 on food. We enjoyed as many TS meals as possible, but of course, we had to bow to the budget at some point. This time, the sky is the limit! And to me, NOT spending $600 on food is a huge savings no matter how you look at it.

 

[Disneynutbsv]

I haven't gone and done any serious math to figure out how much we're going to save by using the Free DDP -- but I can tell you that on our last trip, which was a day shorter than this trip, we spent somewhere between $600-700 on food. We enjoyed as many TS meals as possible, but of course, we had to bow to the budget at some point. This time, the sky is the limit! And to me, NOT spending $600 on food is a huge savings no matter how you look at it.

I agree!!!
This one thing is what got my dh excited about the trip, lol...everytime he's gone its been burgers/fries/chicken strips/pizza...he's excited to be able to order a good steak and not have to worry about is it too much $$ or whatever. I think our savings with the dining plan was like $951 or something like that, but when my dd and I did the free dining package last year for 5 days, our food totals were well over $425 for just the two of us! Now there are 5 of us going and I know we will save a ton (eat a ton too, lol ).
I'm not sure when I'll get my dh there again, but this time I know he'll enjoy not having to worry that we don't have enough $$ and going home completely broke (we've already got our trip paid for and our other "side trips" to other various places ) . Its going to be great!

 

[cjnix29]

Do I count it as a savings if I am taking a trip I hadn't planned on at all because of the free dining promotion!?

But to book through WDW, for my 7 night stay at ASMo with 6 day, no park hopping tickets, and the dining plan comes to $1936.00. I would have gotten a AAA discount on the room only reservation, equal to about 20%. For tickets and hotel I would have paid 1183.52. I have paid $1270 for my trip with free dining. So it "cost" me $90, but I can not eat for one day at Disney for $90!! It is worth more to me to not have to eat on the cheap, or even worry about what the bill will be! Boma here we come!!!

 

[cjnix29]

Actually, the savings on the dining plan for us, paid for our airplane tickets and part of the rental car. And I can still eat wherever I want!

 

[soxnation]

the free dining gave us the chance to use the money we would have spent as 3 adults eating in the world for 6 days out of pocket would have been around 800 to upgrade to the GF for our trip so we are really not saving any money just getting to enjoy a vacation we have always dreamed of doing i guess we are having out "steak" and eating it too!!

 

[PrincessTrisha]

i guess we are having our "steak" and eating it too!!

That is just too cute!

 

[pooch]

had to give back the $300 AAA discount and got $1368 worth of DDP for free!! Spread over 10d/9n that's over $100 per day. But, as posted earlier, the BEST part is not having to be the menu Nazi!!. Order whatever you want !!! Order 2!!!

 

[WLDPNY]

When I called about the free dining promotion, I was told I would have to give up my AAA discount. I said let's try a new reservation and see if it is really better for me in the long run. I was expecting my room rate with 5 Day park hopper to go through the roof...funny it went down $24.00 from my AAA discount. So I absolutely did the promo.

Neither my Hubby or I have been to WDW in 15 yrs, and never together, so we are excited to save this kind of money. I really didn't understand the dining plan until I was reading all over these boards about it. I hope it is as good as it sounds!!!!

 

[richard_andmel]

I think the big problem with Free Dining is if you already have an AP, and were hoping for an AP discount. You have to buy tickets to use at some future date, so that is money tied up for who knows how long. And in our case 2 of our party eat very lightly.

Also in our case, we're 6 adults in 3 rooms at the AKL and were hoping for a discount of $75 per day which is what was offered for August AP discounts. $75/ 2 people is $37.50 each. Our usual mode of dining is TS for breakfast, snack mid day, TS for dinner. So this leaves us with the dilemma of having to either forget the TS most mornings for breakfast or pay OP and waste at least half the CS credits.

So if we pay for breakfast OP, dinner needs to be a value of $37.50 for each adult each night. That means we're loosing money on 2 dinners at Boma, 1 at 'Ohana, 1 at Trail's End, and 1 at Beaches & Cream. We are also loosing money at the 2 TS credit restaurants Jiko & Artist Point.

Now the above supposes we were choosing the free dining over a $75 AP discount. We have conditionally booked the free dining on the chance we are never offered the $75 discount on the rooms. But if offered we will switch, believe me.

 

[paulh]

as we from the uk we usaly end up paying rack rate for room if we are not staying dvc,we go for 14 nights and we plan on spending for the 4 of us $150 on food and drink a day we usaly eat ofsite and not at a TS .We usaly eat big one day then light the next.So when we go in aug on the free ddp we will be eating big every day and saving a lot .Even if you take into account the 2 days base tickets (had to book 2 lots of stays) will be saving over $1000 and eating in places we have never eaten .A win win for me
Paulh

Just checked my spredsheet for the stay and its $2500 we save on food