So who is NOT doing Free dining during the promo dates?

[jme829]

With all the talk of free dining and people going crazy trying to get in all their ADR's. I was just curious if there is anyone other than us Not partaking in the free dining offer during the promo period?

We booked and planned our trip in Jan so we had already planned on going during free dining.

We are staying offsite and while some would encourage us to change (well its too late now even if we wanted too) our plans, let me explain why we aren't doing the free dining.

My DH travels extensively thru the year. Enough so that we have built up enough Holiday Inn Priority Club points that we not only get our room free for the week (both at HIEX and NICK), we also were able to get 5 free passes to Sea World and 5 free passes to Universal.

WE also were able to get a free Applebees GC with our Speedy Rewards points , free TGIFriday meal with those points, a free $50 Visa GC for test driving a new Ford (which we will put toward NBA City) and a free $100 AMEX GC to be used toward our Chef Mickeys meal (we made that ressie at the 180 day mark and got the day and time we wanted with no problem) . Add to the fact that our hotel offers free breakfast (and they are pretty decent at HIEX), we won't have much oop dining expenses. We'll buy someting at the Publix store for the 2 mornings we'll be at Nick Hotel (probably micro pancakes and sausages) and for lunch we eat light when its hot anyways (ususally just "graze" on fresh fruit, smoothies, Dole Whips, etc...) and eat light on MK and EPCOT nights.

So along with free airline tix for 4 of 5 people, we are going to save alot of money. Why pay for a DIsney package just for free food? WE are getting our hotel free plus the majority of meals free anyways. Plus we are one of those that almost prefer to stay offsite so the DIsney hotels isn't a big deal for us anyways. FOR US, this is a better deal, although if we had to pay for our hotel and etc...we would definitely do the DIsney plan.

ANyways, anyone else out there who is not grabbing the opportunity for free dining at WDW during the time it is running? (we'll be there 9/11-18 BTW).

 

[Todd&Copper]

I am going with DMom and DSis in mid August and are not doing free dining. After looking at the offsite versus onsite hotel costs, we got a MUCH better deal staying offsite, and we are not going to WDW only (we are planning some time at Universal - egads!), and I am not interested in character meals or buffets. I am not interested in doing one TS every day, and realistically looking at menus and figuring the costs of what I'd eat, it just wasn't worth it to stay on-site and pay that much more for hotel just to get free food. But that was how it worked out for me, I am sure for others it is a great deal to get free dining.

 

[Aidensmom]

We aren't doing free dining either. If we do TS meals at all, it is usually just one per trip. I would just rather not be tied down to having to eat at a certain time at a certain place, especially with a child.

 

[carone0318]

Hi!

I am going 8/18 -8/26, I am doing the dining plan but it was not free, because we are DVC members and are staying with points.

I had made all of my ADRs about 2/3 weeks before they announced the promo, so I had all of my dates and times that I wanted.

I am expecting it to be pretty busy because of the promo, but we'll do just fine!

 

[Sleepy]

We are staying at SOG, so even if we did go during the free dining time, we would not qualify. I feel we are getting a good deal as it is. We have no problem paying for our food.

 

[simpilotswife]

Hi!

I am going 8/18 -8/26, I am doing the dining plan but it was not free, because we are DVC members and are staying with points.

Same here. As soon as they announced free dining I made ADRs since I knew eating would be problematic.

 

[allie&mattsmom]

We are also DVC members so no free dining for us. We've never done the dining plan but we are seriously thinking about signing up for it this time. The way I understand it is we can sign up up to 5 days prior to our trip. We leave Aug. 15th so we still have some time to think about it.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

With all the talk of free dining and people going crazy trying to get in all their ADR's. I was just curious if there is anyone other than us Not partaking in the free dining offer during the promo period?

We booked and planned our trip in Jan so we had already planned on going during free dining.

We are staying offsite and while some would encourage us to change (well its too late now even if we wanted too) our plans, let me explain why we aren't doing the free dining.

My DH travels extensively thru the year. Enough so that we have built up enough Holiday Inn Priority Club points that we not only get our room free for the week (both at HIEX and NICK), we also were able to get 5 free passes to Sea World and 5 free passes to Universal.


WE also were able to get a free Applebees GC with our Speedy Rewards points , free TGIFriday meal with those points, a free $50 Visa GC for test driving a new Ford (which we will put toward NBA City) and a free $100 AMEX GC to be used toward our Chef Mickeys meal (we made that ressie at the 180 day mark and got the day and time we wanted with no problem) . Add to the fact that our hotel offers free breakfast (and they are pretty decent at HIEX), we won't have much oop dining expenses. We'll buy someting at the Publix store for the 2 mornings we'll be at Nick Hotel (probably micro pancakes and sausages) and for lunch we eat light when its hot anyways (ususally just "graze" on fresh fruit, smoothies, Dole Whips, etc...) and eat light on MK and EPCOT nights.

So along with free airline tix for 4 of 5 people, we are going to save alot of money. Why pay for a DIsney package just for free food? WE are getting our hotel free plus the majority of meals free anyways. Plus we are one of those that almost prefer to stay offsite so the DIsney hotels isn't a big deal for us anyways. FOR US, this is a better deal, although if we had to pay for our hotel and etc...we would definitely do the DIsney plan.

ANyways, anyone else out there who is not grabbing the opportunity for free dining at WDW during the time it is running? (we'll be there 9/11-18 BTW).

I love to hear this what do you estimate your final cost to be? Do not add in optional things like soueniers etc.

While I am not free I did purchase my 10 pass last year and still have 5 days same with Universal. I have a 45.00 gc for Chilis or any of their other restaurants, I have a 45 for Macaroni Grill, I have free passes to Sea World and we are driving so I have free hotel on the way down and on the way back. Still and all nothing compares to what you are spending. That is pretty good. WE get a good deal on Vistana Resort while not free it is 90 per night inc tax and fees for 2 bdrm. So we are saving a ton of money there too.

 

[puffkin]

We are not going to WDW during this time period, but if we were we would not be doing the free dining. We own DVC, have AP's and the DDE so the dining plan isn't a good value to us. We might consider doing free dining in few years (if it is offered then though) because we probably will be going with family and will probably pay for our rooms because we don't have enough DVC points to cover everyone.

 

[jme829]

I love to hear this what do you estimate your final cost to be? Do not add in optional things like soueniers etc.

While I am not free I did purchase my 10 pass last year and still have 5 days same with Universal. I have a 45.00 gc for Chilis or any of their other restaurants, I have a 45 for Macaroni Grill, I have free passes to Sea World and we are driving so I have free hotel on the way down and on the way back. Still and all nothing compares to what you are spending. That is pretty good. WE get a good deal on Vistana Resort while not free it is 90 per night inc tax and fees for 2 bdrm. So we are saving a ton of money there too.

Ok lets see what i can come up with.

1 airline ticket.....$235 (other 4 were free)
lunch........$150 for the week
DInner......$100 (this guess is probably a little higher than actual will be)
car.....$175 (this is a Premium includes tax!!!)
3 day WDW tix for 5....$900 (this will be our biggest expense...but maybe less depending how many days are left on old tix ...if any..)

So approximately $1600 total for a family of 5 for meals, car, hotel, 3 days at WDW, 1 day at Sea World, 1 day at Universal, and airline. SInce we spend very little souvenir/odds and ends wise, i would guess the grand total to be about $2000...Not too bad!!!! I constantly tell DH that if he ever loses this job, there will be trouble...lol...

 

[Poohbear123]

Cause I travel alone, and it would be a waste. However, if my DH goes in Dec. I may do it if its available.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Ok lets see what i can come up with.

1 airline ticket.....$235 (other 4 were free)
lunch........$150 for the week
DInner......$100 (this guess is probably a little higher than actual will be)
car.....$175 (this is a Premium includes tax!!!)
3 day WDW tix for 5....$900 (this will be our biggest expense...but maybe less depending how many days are left on old tix ...if any..)

So approximately $1600 total for a family of 5 for meals, car, hotel, 3 days at WDW, 1 day at Sea World, 1 day at Universal, and airline. SInce we spend very little souvenir/odds and ends wise, i would guess the grand total to be about $2000...Not too bad!!!! I constantly tell DH that if he ever loses this job, there will be trouble...lol...

THat is excellent. I remember one year when All Star Sports just opened they had a deal fo r59 per night. WE had not even planned to go but we had annual passes that we could use. It ended up costing us about 700 for the four of us. The funny thing was we were thinking of going and staying at the beach in Maine but THAT would have been 200 per night not to mention food etc. We drove to Fla. Of course this was like 10 yrs ago but I love to hear stuff like this. It is as if you are out smarting the system!

 

[mickeysaver]

My honey decided that we needed pixie dust after the free dining promo ended. We did take advantage of the room only code and booked a king room at CBR. We usually don't do the dining package. I hate being tied down with a bunch of TS ADR's. I feel that the CS offerings around the WDW resort are varied enough that we don't feel the need to do TS that much. Not that we have had a trip yet that was devoid of TS, but we just don't feel the need to do that much of it.

Our upcoming trip is only 3 days. I have booked a breakfast at Kona and a dinner at Shutters. We hope to be relaxed on this quicky trip. I have a full dining menu plan all worked out. The projected cost is roughly $350 from the morning that we leave for the airport to the time that we arrive back home. So, for 11 meals, a couple of adult beverages, some killer cafe mochas, and lots of bottles of beverages, We feel that the budget is affordable and most likely still a fair amount over what we can actually expect to spend. The best part is that it works for us and our touring plan schedule. Maggie

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

We already had ressies for 6/10-6/17 when the free dining promo was announced for this year. Due to my friend's schedule we were not able to change our plans, this week was best. We did not purchase the DDP because we felt we could spend less of our money on meals without it. We don't always get an appetizer and rarely do we order dessert, so it really didn't make sense.

I am planning on a vacation to WDW and US next year during the free dining period. This trip is not set in stone and may not happen. Currently I am planning to stay offsite as I'm not expecting another year of free dining to be offered, especially if this year's tropical storms avoid landfall. I would be thrilled if WDW did throw it out there again for 2007. I would change at least part of our stay to a WDW resort package to take advantage of the promotion if we do in fact decide to return to Florida so soon.