Sharing Room- Free Dining vs. Room Discount

[west&east]

I usually stay CL with my husband and 2 kids (one 12 year old who is considered an "adult"). We have received 40% off room discounts in the past and paid for meals OOP. We usually would eat breakfast in the lounge, lunch CS and dinner TS with maybe 1 character breakfast or lunch instead of the dinner on one day.

This year, my husband is not coming. Instead, we are going with a great friend and her 12 year old daughter and sharing a room. So there are 5 of us, 4 "adults" and 1 child. We still want to do club level. Our plan was to split the room and then each pay our own meals. If we get the hoped for room discount it would save about $175-$200 a night. On the days we did buffets we would probably easily spend $200 for meals (probably at least $150 for the 5 of us for a character dinner alone), but when we did menu service it wouldn't be quite that much.

If we did free dining, would it still be "fair" to split the room costs or should I pay slightly higher since I have an extra child. Since it seems such a close call dollars and cents-wise, shoudl we stick with the room only discount (assuming it finally comes out for our dates in Dec?) Thoughts?

 

[Sandisw]

If the original plan, with a room discount, is to split the room costs (and your friend is fine with that), then I don't see how getting free dining would change that.

Yes, if you go with free dining, the room costs are more but the food is less--if you go with a room discount, it is the opposite.

IMO, look at the overall cost of the trips. I would assume you will go with either free dining or a room discount, whichever gives you the better discount, so in the end, it will work out the same.

 

[snykymom]

If we did free dining, would it still be "fair" to split the room costs or should I pay slightly higher since I have an extra child. Since it seems such a close call dollars and cents-wise, shoudl we stick with the room only discount (assuming it finally comes out for our dates in Dec?) Thoughts?

Your extra "adults" are adults for ticket and dining purposes only. The 12 year olds are considered "juniors" for purposes of the room occupancy levels. Therefore, you still have only 2 adults in the room. The room price doesn't change for the kids. So particularly if it's "free" dining, your costs are identical for the room. You would just pay for your 3 kids' tickets (2 adults and 1 child), ignoring both the room costs & the dining.

Make sense?

 

[west&east]

Thanks for the input. I guess it all comes down to how much we will spend on food. So hard to predict. My daughter loves the buffets and eats her share as an "adult" but my friend's daughter is a bit pickier so I am trying not to book too many buffets because I think she will think it is expensive to pay for her daughter as an adult when she could order an appetizer only somewhere or off the kids menus at places that allow that...

 

[fla4fun]

Thanks for the input. I guess it all comes down to how much we will spend on food. So hard to predict. My daughter loves the buffets and eats her share as an "adult" but my friend's daughter is a bit pickier so I am trying not to book too many buffets because I think she will think it is expensive to pay for her daughter as an adult when she could order an appetizer only somewhere or off the kids menus at places that allow that...

I would recommend getting together all the traveling party for an afternoon, and go over the "sample" menus available online to see what items people might actually order. You can get a better estimate of costs that way and see if the free dining would be a better deal or not. Keep in mind that if you use the dining plan, anyone considered an "adult" will be asked to order off the adult menu, and the dining plan does not include appetizers - only dessert. There have been mixed results posted from people trying to get their 10 year old "adult" a child meal on the dining plans - it doesn't seem worth the hassle to me. So if there are people in your traveling group who enjoy appetizers as their meal (and I would put myself in this category a lot of the time) then paying for food OOP would be the better option.