Tips for first time free dining packages. Getting the most out of your dining experience

[wendow]

Yea I have never really tried to compare each deal by numbers (30% off rooms ect)... I really enjoyed the free dining and personally the much needed table sit down to take a break from the park for an hour or so. You could probably come out ahead though taking a different discount and eating on a budget

We come out a lot ahead BUT we also do not eat like the person that FD'ing benefits...don't drink soda or eat many desserts, don't mind sharing meals, my teens (who disney calls "adults" many times are happier to order off kid's menu, don't want a TS everyday (but we stay deluxe room)...so many reasons it is not a fit for us but I don't fault anyone who feels it is a better deal or knows it's not but just enjoys the convenience.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[love4wdw]

Honestly, there are websites where you can figure out the best bang for your buck on the DP for QS/TS/Snack credits. I have used them more than once to see what I enjoy already and if it makes the grade.

We've crunched the numbers more than once, and we never really "save" any money. We would never buy a dessert with every QS meal etc, so a lot of what we get is so much more than we would ever pay OOP for.

Also, the 100% best thing about the DP is just the feeling of it being all inclusive. Sure, you can tap your band and charge to the room, but it is nice picking what you want as long as it has the DP symbol next to it and just tapping the band. No more thought to it than that.

 

[LuckyBelle81]

This will be the second time my family has reserved the free dining plan... Here are some personal experience tips I recommend if this is your first time

1. Make sure you take advantage of the free refills in the resort area's. We usually filled our mug up with coffee every morning before we hit the parks.
2. Book your reservation for sit down meals 180 days out because these fill up very fast.
3. Take advantage of the character Dining with your dining credits. This can save you so much time waiting in line at the parks to get your books signed.
4. Research what items are available with snack credits and what location they are... We wasted a ton of snack credits on small items not knowing that Disney offers some great snacks for the same credit
5. Research what lunch item to buy.. This is another area you can take advantage of the best bang for your buck.. Some lunch places offer better/more food for the same amount of lunch credit.


Research and try to be as organized as possible... If anyone else has tips I would love to hear them.

I think you've made some great points, Tmesser. While it is true that some people go to WDW solely to be in the parks and see the characters there are also those of us that go for the parks and characters but ALSO for the food so FD is a big deal to us and it is wise to take advantage of it in the best ways that we can. Our trip in Dec will be our 3rd time using the DP but only the 2nd with FD. We had FD last year and upgraded to the Deluxe. This year we will stick with the DDP bc even tho we LOVE to eat and try new restaurants, we found that we were spending too much time sitting in restaurants eating. FD is huge for us bc its allowing us to go for half of what we figured it would cost us the next time we went since we have 2 kids that will be aging into different ticket categories (9yo turning 10 and 2yo turning 3). We got a great deal on the room at CBR and the convenience of the DP is invaluable with 3 kids. Having the ADRs made and then just having them scan the magic band at the restaurant are 2 small things we can do to reduce our stress levels once we're in the parks. And you are absolutely right about doing your research. Knowing what you're doing before you get there saves time and sanity for tired parents who are just trying to keep it together to make sure their kids have a good time. Taking advantage of the character meals is also a great idea to allow your kids to see the characters they want to see (not all of them are at character dining locations many of them are) without spending half your day waiting in line for a signature. Is it true that in planning you have to decide what your priorities are and proceed accordingly but thanks for speaking to familes like ours that DO value FD.

 

[ellie05]

Yea I have never really tried to compare each deal by numbers (30% off rooms ect)... I really enjoyed the free dining and personally the much needed table sit down to take a break from the park for an hour or so. You could probably come out ahead though taking a different discount and eating on a budget

http://www.distripplanner.com This Disney dinning calculator is great! We always do at least one TS a day and don't eat on a budget we get whatever we want.

The reason why Disney dinning plan doesn't work for us are

• We don't eat dessert with every meal and if we do we usually split it.
• We don't like the limited menus in certain locations. Or be limited to pick items that are on the DDP.
• We rarely if ever drink soft drinks. We always drink either water or beer/cocktail.
• I don't want to be obligated to choose an entree. For example last week we were at the brown derby I didn't want an entree instead I had the Cobb salad and the crab cakes as my meal. Same at Kona we had sushi.
• During F&W or F&G we do the kiosks and that usually replaced either lunch or dinner.
• We are not big into snacks.

Even with all that and adding a BOG breakfast on the spur of the moment we still came ahead of the price of DDP last weeks trip and there was quite a few beer flights and cocktails purchased. RO discount it is always better for us.

 

[Ptaylor81]

If you want to bash the DDP and people who use it start a thread called "reasons not to use the DDP" that is your prerogative. If someone's ideas are different than yours that's ok, but I for one get tired of rude people on here who speak of "the kind of people who would benefit from FD" go ahead and eat your sushi and drink your water I have no problem with that, but if the dis boards are where you go to to prove your superiority then you are truly pathetic. Posting thousands of messages here does not make you an expert on anything. Maybe you can start a nice thread on "packing your whole foods lunch and daily yoga routines at WDW" it may appeal to "the kind of people that would benefit from that"

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

I know you are not alone in wanting to maximize free dining. Plenty of people plan their entire trip around it and even change their dates just to get it.
Plus people make reservations 180 days in preparation to eat there. Dining is definitely on people's minds!

If I ever got free dining, I would book my favorites and not waste my snack credits on drinks. We carry reusable water bottles and flavor packets as it is.

I would also share qs lunches in order to have some extras built in. I have no problem with sharing on my own dime, I would feel the same on Disney's.

It can be a toss up on what discount works best for your family. Some prefer the room only, but if you are family of 4 disney adults I can see how free or freeish food would be favored.
One more th5, don't forget alcohol and tip money.

 

[shoney]

We had free dining once. It was great. Our boys were 10 and 12 at the time.
If we chose the room discount it would have been around $450 off. We thought a weeks worth of dining was better.

However, we did learn that we would never pay full price for it. Way to many QS credits and not enough TS for us.
My son really enjoyed the assortment of desserts on the table each night. I don't eat dessert. I also order wine or some type of adult beverage, so my soda was not really needed. My kids sometimes order a shake for their beverage and had my soda too.

We split a meal and only used 1 credit between my DH and I.
My 10 yo ordered kids meals that we paid OOP for and used his meal credits for additional TS.

 

[ellie05]

If you want to bash the DDP and people who use it start a thread called "reasons not to use the DDP" that is your prerogative. If someone's ideas are different than yours that's ok, but I for one get tired of rude people on here who speak of "the kind of people who would benefit from FD" go ahead and eat your sushi and drink your water I have no problem with that, but if the dis boards are where you go to to prove your superiority then you are truly pathetic. Posting thousands of messages here does not make you an expert on anything. Maybe you can start a nice thread on "packing your whole foods lunch and daily yoga routines at WDW" it may appeal to "the kind of people that would benefit from that"

First of all no one is bashing the DDP that is the reason I shared the calculator. Second this is a message board were everyone can give their opinion that is what I clearly stated FOR US in my post. If you only want people with your views a message board is not the place for you. Also if you feel that because people don't share your views they are proving their superiority this can't be further from the truth. It is hard for many first timers to sort through Disney pricing and pointing out that FD is not always the best deal is just fair way to make an inform decision specially in the budget board. I never said the kind of people and honestly don't see why that is a problem. Some people benefit from the DDP some don't it is just that simple.

I don't think anyone here said they were superior or any post here came that way to me, that seems more of a you kind of deal, after all only you can control how you feel. Now I don't know how whole foods, yoga and sushi has anything to do with anything. I think it says a lot about someone when they need to start name calling. Anyway off I go to yoga...

Ps(I don't do yoga. It is not my kind of exercise. But other people love yoga and I am ok with that).

 

[Ptaylor81]

First of all no one is bashing the DDP that is the reason I shared the calculator. Second this is a message board were everyone can give their opinion that is what I clearly stated FOR US in my post. If you only want people with your views a message board is not the place for you. Also if you feel that because people don't share your views they are proving their superiority this can't be further from the truth. It is hard for many first timers to sort through Disney pricing and pointing out that FD is not always the best deal is just fair way to make an inform decision specially in the budget board. I never said the kind of people and honestly don't see why that is a problem. Some people benefit from the DDP some don't it is just that simple.

I don't think anyone here said they were superior or any post here came that way to me, that seems more of a you kind of deal, after all only you can control how you feel. Now I don't know how whole foods, yoga and sushi has anything to do with anything. I think it says a lot about someone when they need to start name calling. Anyway off I go to yoga...

my post had nothing to do with you post, but enjoy yoga. You would not have to read very far to see that though. I have no problem with other opinions I stated that very dearly. The topic for the thread was clear though and some were way off topic, and mean. I felt your post was great, very helpful , and fit the topic well

 

[sunshinemelody]

Dang guys.

 

[ajwolfe]

Wowsers, I feel like this is taking an ugly turn...

We love the DDP but I don't judge others that don't. There are lots of reasons we love it and will continue to do it when we stay on property but it's not a perfect fix for everyone.
If you are looking for good values on snack credits I, too, would refer folks to the listing under the Restaurants board - it has some great ideas on there!

 

[Sagginit]

Ah free dining, the great Disboard divider. I am in the camp of for free dining in the case of myself. I vacation with my mum and went to DL with my husband. I think if I did DW with him I would go for FD with him too. It works for us as my mother prefers fish and I am gluten free. Salmon can be one of the more expensive meal options and being GF I don't get an upcharge with with the dining plan (although I have heard they rarely do it but technically can like any other restaurant). We naturally get our money's worth out of it. We also stack the credits for signature dining which we would go to anyway. As adults we like the parks, but the food is part of it. Its like a cruise, if we are going to be on site and eating 2-3 times a day we want to enjoy it. Also we use our meals and snacks wisely, so we don't ship food or cases of water there at all. On that note here are my tips:

- Make sure you know what is current. I haven't done FD in 3 years so the terms of meals may have changed. Always double check what you read to ensure its up to date.
- Research what comprised a meal at the locations you book. For QS they sometimes let you swap out desert for another drink (so I get two bottles of water) or get fruit. Fruit such as apple slices or grapes in bag can be saved as a snack for later. You also may be able to get the carrot sticks as a side instead of fries. So I have ordered a giant sandwich before at QS and gotten it with a side of carrots and two waters. I leave with the carrots and water as a snack for later. I found out about a lot of the swaps as when ordering an allergy meal it is quicker and easier for you to get a side of packaged fruit/veggies than it is for them to have to bake fries for 20 minutes so it is always offered.
- People rarely take a doggy bag since you are in the parks. We have taken desert to go on a few occasions when possible though. We did this once when we had the Fantasmic dinner package to get there earlier and then had dessert right after (we could have eaten during I guess but we wanted to use a table and were full anyway).
- If the mug comes with it you can use this as your drink with meals at your resort and for your drink take a bottled drink for later. In fact we found we liked having lunch at the resort QS rather than in the parks. This way we could easily take anything we didn't want to eat back to the room. We would go for a break typically after lunch anyway and the QS at the resort was dead compared to at the parks. I also found the QS at the resort often had more options.
-Another odd thing is people leave things behind (packaged food). The kids breakfast was coming with a side of unsweetened applesauce when I was there. No one wanted it so they were left on tables all the time. We had mornings when we sat down to a table with half a dozen left behind. When eating breakfast I would pick up 1 to eat as I was trying to keep up my fruit and veggie intake which can be hard there and if going back to my room might take 1 or 2 of the abandoned ones for a snack later on. We also had a nice family offer us one of their deserts once as they realized they wouldn't eat it and didn't want to waste it. My mother had a packaged desert option so she took the cake to eat then and had hers later. You can't count on it but chances are if you have FD others have it too and a lot of people end up with lots of food to spare.
-Snack credits are there for a reason, so no reason to hoard them lol. We mostly used ours on water, I know some don't think its maximum usage but not having to schlep a reusable water bottle everywhere makes it more worthwhile to us. If you do have some left you can use them for souvenir treats to take home.

 

[wendow]

Goodness, I don't know why this topic is so divisive! I am probably the OP of the comment that there is a certain kind of person that FD'ing is best for. I stand by that. That isn't opinion. It's fact. You either eat all the food/drink it includes or you don't. Nor superior, nor inferior...just your eating/drinking habits...and that is perfectly ok.

And I still agree with my first comment that another important tip is to relax and enjoy. One thing some people on the DDP have said is that they can feel stressed trying to make sure they ate 'their money's worth'. So, you don't want to fall into that trap either.

Never done yoga or eaten sushi...but it's perfectly ok if you do...

 

[powellrj]

The last time free dining was worth it for us was when the appetizers and tips were included.

We only eat very few table service meals because I don't like deciding where to eat 180 days ahead of time. I just decided what we are having for dinner 15 minutes ago for tonight! We also get tired of QS meals very quickly. We have been going for food and wine, so many of our meals are the snacks we get at the booths.

Neither of us drink soda or coffee, so the mugs are wasted on us.

I am very frugal and I feel like I get more bang for my buck in an off-site condo. I got a 2 bedroom condo for what I would be paying for one night in any of the rooms left when I checked into free dining for our dates. I got my tickets at parksavers before the price increase and am using the savings to spend at the f&w booths!

I have never packed my own lunch to take and will never do yoga because I am in a wheelchair, but I do like my water and sushi and wasn't bashing anyone, just explaining why the dining plan isn't for us.

 

[wdwrule]

This will be the second time my family has reserved the free dining plan... Here are some personal experience tips I recommend if this is your first time

1. Make sure you take advantage of the free refills in the resort area's. We usually filled our mug up with coffee every morning before we hit the parks.
2. Book your reservation for sit down meals 180 days out because these fill up very fast.
3. Take advantage of the character Dining with your dining credits. This can save you so much time waiting in line at the parks to get your books signed.
4. Research what items are available with snack credits and what location they are... We wasted a ton of snack credits on small items not knowing that Disney offers some great snacks for the same credit
5. Research what lunch item to buy.. This is another area you can take advantage of the best bang for your buck.. Some lunch places offer better/more food for the same amount of lunch credit.


Research and try to be as organized as possible... If anyone else has tips I would love to hear them.

Thanks for posting this on the budget board, where people are looking for ways to save or budget for their trip, find deals on gift cards, etc. We learned through experience and time how to maximize our snack credits during "free" dining. It's nice to let people know that for example, they can get a large frozen Starbucks drink instead of an orange. We're the type of family that eats fairly healthy but love to splurge on "cost" and calories during vacation. Whether the dining plan is "free" or not for us it's a convenience that we don't have to sit and calculate if our meal would be too expensive and as a result skip dessert or something. Our kids talk about the restaurants and yummy snacks just as much as they talk about the rides. Another snack credit that we love to use is the huge ice cream cookie sandwich. I heard there's a new cracker/cheese/meat platter at Writer's Stop at HS that is a snack credit. Otherwise $7.49! We bring filtered water bottles to refill instead of using our snack credits on soda.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Another one who agrees with Marionette. We have only used the dining plan when it was "free". Even then, we ordered what we wanted to eat, not what was priced the highest on the menu. Why eat something you don't want?

BTW, does nelson84 have a twin?

 

[wdwrule]

This will be the second time my family has reserved the free dining plan... Here are some personal experience tips I recommend if this is your first time

1. Make sure you take advantage of the free refills in the resort area's. We usually filled our mug up with coffee every morning before we hit the parks.
2. Book your reservation for sit down meals 180 days out because these fill up very fast.
3. Take advantage of the character Dining with your dining credits. This can save you so much time waiting in line at the parks to get your books signed.
4. Research what items are available with snack credits and what location they are... We wasted a ton of snack credits on small items not knowing that Disney offers some great snacks for the same credit
5. Research what lunch item to buy.. This is another area you can take advantage of the best bang for your buck.. Some lunch places offer better/more food for the same amount of lunch credit.


Research and try to be as organized as possible... If anyone else has tips I would love to hear them.

Another tip: a lot of WDW restaurants serve filet mignon which my family including the kids love. It's nice for them to order a filet mignon with an elaborate dessert instead of the typical chicken nuggets with a chocolate chip cookie. Otherwise we would've picked one of the cheapest meals and pouted lol! We don't pick it because it's the most expensive.....we pick it because it's what we'd love to have. Grand Floridian cafe has an incredible filet mignon. Fantasmic packages are great too because it's one table service and includes an appetizer. Can you tell we're foodies?! We start almost a year out having fun planning the restaurants, looking at menus, and seeing who has adventurous snacks. Makes for fun family dinner table conversation.

ETA- oops had accidentally hit quote for 2 people. It's fixed now.

 

[mousefan73]

We love FD and for us it's worth it! We are 2 adults and 2 Kids ( Disney adults) and for us in a moderate the best cost saving..
We maximize the FD benefits by enjoying the ridiculously prized character meals.

1. DS loooves Chef Mickeys. the buffet is ok, not 5 star Quality but has a lot of choices and we plan a later breakfast.. Stuff ourselves and are good to go until evening. then we do a QS in a park.
paying CM alone would be 160.00 plus tip.. That alone is over 50% of what a moderate room ( even best catagory) would be. My tip is to go crazy and use your TS credit for These insanely priced places... non-alh. Drinks are also included. We may also be so stuffed that later we share QS. We always book Boma, Cape May, Tusker, Chef Mickeys and this year 1900. OOP for These alone would be about 700.00.

2. Share QS.. sometimes you can Substitute the Dessert with a soup or other side item. So ex. we get 4 QS and do 2 Desserts and 2 sides.. this makes it a bigger meal if super hungry.. we never at 4 Desserts.. usually we'd pick at it and leave half.. so we would subsitute and get Dessert to share. Also we would maybe only get 2 QS share and get sides...

3. Not sure if this had changed, but there was a QS loophole.. 1 QS credit was either adult or child. So I would get in line and order the adult boundy platter for breakfast, a side and then the Kids would share. by doing this over a week, we ended up with extra QS.

3. Dinner Shows have tip included!!!! Though they are 2 TS.... we did this alot with the Hoop Dee Doo. 1. we love the Show. 2. love the Food. 3. free Bier, wine 4. tip included.... we didnt Count our credits as individual credits but as meals per day.. by sharing QSs. we would hoard enough eating credits to make up for the double TS

4. If eating QS breakfast at Resort use your drink mug and use the meal "drink" credit for a bottle of water, Juice, Soda.. These we then took with to the parks.

 

[jenf22]

2. Share QS.. sometimes you can Substitute the Dessert with a soup or other side item. So ex. we get 4 QS and do 2 Desserts and 2 sides.. this makes it a bigger meal if super hungry.. we never at 4 Desserts.. usually we'd pick at it and leave half.. so we would subsitute and get Dessert to share. Also we would maybe only get 2 QS share and get sides...

3. Not sure if this had changed, but there was a QS loophole.. 1 QS credit was either adult or child. So I would get in line and order the adult boundy platter for breakfast, a side and then the Kids would share. by doing this over a week, we ended up with extra QS

We share a lot too. We generally only get the QS plan because we stay at Values, but we always share meals to maximize credits (we're 2 adults and an 8-year old, so we generally use 2 credits per meal). To do that the most effectively, I research the places with the biggest meals. We love to take a break at the Contemporary and their meals are huge.

I think a kid QS is still the same as an adult QS. Last time we went though I paid to "upgrade" our kiddo to an adult just so I didn't have to worry about it. We only had 3 day passes so I think the difference was less than $20. I realize it wasn't necessary, but it eliminated any possible ethical issues.

 

[sunshinemelody]

BTW, does nelson84 have a twin?

So glad I wasn't the only one thinking that! Phew!