The Free Dining Myth

[eeyoregon]

WOO HOO We are booked! 3 adults, 7 nights at Disney resort, park tickets, FREE DINING and airfare from Oregon to Orlando for $1,580 total!! The magic and memories?? PRICELESS!! Think I am most excited about my ADR for dinner at Le Cellier as I always hear the rave reviews but have never dined there .

See you all soon...real soon!! Now we just hurry up and wait for August.

 

[TDC Nala]

It's the DEAL OF THE YEAR! You can NOT beat the following equation:

You get a room at Value Resort for $79 a night (and you have a good chance of being upgraded to a moderate or DVC property at no additional cost).

+

Then you buy park tickets that never go on sale anyway which you HAVE to have or just buy a 1 day ticket to qualify for the package if you already have non-expiring tickets or AP.

+

FREE FOOD for the length of your stay.

=

ONE SUPER CHEAP, SUPER FUN, SUPER GOOD DEAL!

Makes my heart twitter

I'm beating it all to heck this year - paying nothing out of pocket for my room (DVC), I don't need the ticket (AP), and getting 20% off all my table service anyway (DDE). Of course free dining is a great deal for most, but it does NOT work for everybody. I used to use the dining plan at times when the tips were included, but not anymore. No need for me to buy a package. In fact I am going to WDW August 30-September 2 and my ONLY expense will be for food.

It's also possible to get up to 40% off the room rate and buy tickets from a ticket broker for less. Depending on how many people are in your party and how and where they usually eat, sometimes that can be a better deal.

 

[sunny_]

We are happily taking advantage of the mythical free dining this year again (our fourth time). And the food does taste better when it's "free"!!!! Our extended family was a bit reluctant at first but they did get the free dining that first year too. But they refused to book ADR's. We tried to warn them but .... oh well. They said they did fine and had no problems. But you better believe they book ADR's now! LOL We're all excited to enjoy the dining again this year!

 

[scubamouse]

We're not doing it this year. We want a 1bed villa at BCV and we have that with a 20% AAA discount. There aren't any BCV rooms we want at the time we're going. Plus all our ADRs were made assuming we'd be OOP using DDE.

We're going to try it w/o dining and see how it goes. We'll have a kitchen to make breakfast and lunch to take with us.

The 'cost' of free dining goes up when you have a more expensive room with a discount you're giving up.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

WOO HOO We are booked! 3 adults, 7 nights at Disney resort, park tickets, FREE DINING and airfare from Oregon to Orlando for $1,580 total!! The magic and memories?? PRICELESS!! Think I am most excited about my ADR for dinner at Le Cellier as I always hear the rave reviews but have never dined there .

See you all soon...real soon!! Now we just hurry up and wait for August.

Does your total $1580 include airfare? We're pricing out airfare from Seattle and it's roughly $1500 for 4 people alone.

 

[Crisgw]

Does your total $1580 include airfare

There is no way this can include airfare and if so, WHAT carrier?!!! Our airfare for 4 of us is around 1100.00 from Columbus to Orlando.

 

[Princess Sara's Mom]

It's the DEAL OF THE YEAR! You can NOT beat the following equation:

You get a room at Value Resort for $79 a night (and you have a good chance of being upgraded to a moderate or DVC property at no additional cost).

+

Then you buy park tickets that never go on sale anyway which you HAVE to have or just buy a 1 day ticket to qualify for the package if you already have non-expiring tickets or AP.

+

FREE FOOD for the length of your stay.

=

ONE SUPER CHEAP, SUPER FUN, SUPER GOOD DEAL!

Makes my heart twitter

==

Quick question:

What do you mean you have a good chance of being upgraded? How does that happen? Do you ask at check-in?

I haven't done the free dining before. Last year we went around 9/25 and folks kept talking about free dining this and free dining that. Finally we asked this nice family what they meant and that's how we found out about it!

Thanks for your help!

 

[TDC Nala]

Last year over Labor Day weekend at least one of the value resorts was oversold and many guests ended up being upgraded to Saratoga Springs. I don't know if you can count on that happening again.

 

[Princess Sara's Mom]

Thanks!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

What is DDE? I keep seeing that referred to n previous posts?

 

[TDC Nala]

DDE - Disney Dining Experience. It's a discount program that is available to AP holders and Florida residents. Good for 20% off full bill (including alcohol) at most WDW table service restaurants and a few counter service.

 

[eeyoregon]

There is no way this can include airfare and if so, WHAT carrier?!!! Our airfare for 4 of us is around 1100.00 from Columbus to Orlando.

Yes, it includes airfare. We are flying Delta for $260 per person ($780 total for 3 adults) roundtrip. The difference is that we only needed 2 days of parks tickets, instead of 6, for each adult as we have some left over non-expiring to use up.

 

[eeyoregon]

Yes, it includes airfare. We are flying Delta for $260 per person ($780 total for 3 adults) roundtrip. The difference is that we only needed 2 days of parks tickets, instead of 6, for each adult as we have some left over non-expiring to use up.

P.S. If I can change to a non-preferred room our cost will be about $95 less for the package .

Friends, family and co-workers often ask me why we fly all the way from Oregon to Florida when Disneyland is so close . The answer is we can't afford Disneyland!! If the 3 of us purchased airfare, stayed at a Disney resort at Disneyland, bought park tickets and had to pay for food we would easily spend over $3,000!! It's crazy but true. Plus WDW is WAY MORE FUN...4 parks and 2 water parks just can't compare!

$260 is the most I have ever paid (this is my 11th trip to the world) for airfare. Typically pay around $220 per person. But with the cost of fuel and the economy I don't think it will go any lower.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

Yes, it includes airfare. We are flying Delta for $260 per person ($780 total for 3 adults) roundtrip. The difference is that we only needed 2 days of parks tickets, instead of 6, for each adult as we have some left over non-expiring to use up.

That is a great deal. How do you get such inexpensive airfare? I'm willing to drive down and fly out of Portland if I can find tickets for $260. As of now, I'm looking at $317 a person from PDX to on Delta. When are you traveling?

 

[eeyoregon]

That is a great deal. How do you get such inexpensive airfare? I'm willing to drive down and fly out of Portland if I can find tickets for $260. As of now, I'm looking at $317 a person from PDX to on Delta. When are you traveling?

We bought the tickets 3 days ago for travel September 5 and back September 12. Booked directly thru Delta. I see today that the rates have gone up from $260 to $272 per person, but still not too bad.

If you go to Delta's website click on the expanded search option and put your dates in and then click on the 3+/- days for each leg of your trip. It will open up the dates all around your deisered dates and show you the cheapest days to travel. One day different can make quite a difference $ wise.

I was going to book w/ Southwest Air as I have a credit voucher with them but they STILL haven't opened up booking past August 22. They typically are the cheapest but not always and I didn't want to gamble and wait.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

We bought the tickets 3 days ago for travel September 5 and back September 12. Booked directly thru Delta. I see today that the rates have gone up from $260 to $272 per person, but still not too bad.

If you go to Delta's website click on the expanded search option and put your dates in and then click on the 3+/- days for each leg of your trip. It will open up the dates all around your deisered dates and show you the cheapest days to travel. One day different can make quite a difference $ wise.

I was going to book w/ Southwest Air as I have a credit voucher with them but they STILL haven't opened up booking past August 22. They typically are the cheapest but not always and I didn't want to gamble and wait.

Thanks. I'll check it out.

 

[DaParkers]

DDE - Disney Dining Experience. It's a discount program that is available to AP holders and Florida residents. Good for 20% off full bill (including alcohol) at most WDW table service restaurants and a few counter service.[/QUOTE
You do have to pay for the card, right? And when did DVC become free? You said you are not paying out of pocket. Isn't the dues out of pocket? Or do you have it free?

 

[eeyoregon]

And when did DVC become free?

I was wondering about that myself ?! The last time I inquired about DVC I was quoted a cost of $15,000+...gonna have to say my $82 a night room and free food (free is better than 20% discount in my math world) is a much better deal

 

[sunny_]

We always get cheap airfare. One year we paid only $49 per person. We can't find it that cheap anymore. We paid $50 something per person last year.... People really are amazed how cheap Disney trips can be!

 

[TDC Nala]

DDE - Disney Dining Experience. It's a discount program that is available to AP holders and Florida residents. Good for 20% off full bill (including alcohol) at most WDW table service restaurants and a few counter service.[/QUOTE
You do have to pay for the card, right? And when did DVC become free? You said you are not paying out of pocket. Isn't the dues out of pocket? Or do you have it free?

My dues are paid for the full use year. This is not the only trip I am making on those dues. This use year I will have 9 separate DVC stays (one of those at Disneyland). I am not writing a check or charging anything specifically at the time of any of my DVC trips except for food expenses -will not receive a bill either right before or right after the stay for the cost of the room or the ticket as the room is already paid for and would be paid for no matter what kind of package discount came out. DDE costs $60 for a year's membership for AP holders, quite easy to make up and much better than purchasing the dining plan for 8 separate stays. It is completely not worth it for me to book a package for just myself, or myself and a friend, including room and tickets just to get the free dining, when I have a room and tickets already paid for and I don't have to pay all that much for dining (I pay only for myself). Most posters are not in this situation, they have a family to provide for, which usually means coughing up accommodations, ticket and food for at least three people. But there seems to be some incredulity on this thread regarding how ANYONE could choose to pass up the free dining offer. And if you've already paid for DVC, there's no way that booking a package to get the free dining plan is a better offer (unless you have several people on your reservation.) If you want it just to have it, fine, but I can't imagine how it's a deal.