Was the AP rate last fall still a better deal than free dining?

[Fionasmommy]

I finally cancelled my MYW package for a AAA room-only, planning to upgrade to an AP if rates came out for our stay in early May. I had literally spent hours running the numbers and bugging you all with questions before deciding that DDE and AP was better for us than DDP this time around. At the time, I figured we'd go back in December and aim for the AP rates again.

Now I find out that my child has talked her grandfather into going to Disney World. We always camp with him and ever since she found out there was camping at WDW, she's been on Gramps to come along. Now, suddenly, he's on board. With our next trip already planned, and him going on vacation soon as well, we're thinking about August or September in a FW cabin.

Should be great because I'd love to try FW and I was planning to go back again this year to make use of the AP and I don't mind going sooner. But... there's always a but, isn't there? Now I'm wondering if they'll offer free dining again - the months we're looking at are right in when the promo was offered last year.

Did anyone go last year and use the AP room rate in lieu of the the free dining promo? Did they even offer AP rates at the same time? I heard of some people just booking a MYW package at rack and buying 1 day tix, but doesn't that pretty well take away any savings you got by buying the AP in the first place?

I guess what I want to hear is that AP is still better due to the room discount, but I have a feeling that probably isn't the case. I just don't want to have to re-plan everything all over again - my poor travel agent is going to kill me if I do!

 

[BillSears]

I have the free dining bounce back offer booked for this September and I have an AP. So here are my numbers:

With an AP I expect I'd pay about $115.00-$120.00 per night(after taxes) at CSR. On my most recent trip I spent about $60.00 per day on food/tips/tax/snacks after my DDE discount. So for me the cost OOP for just me on a solo trip would be about $175.00-$180.00 per night. To book my bounceback it cost me $170.04 per night(after taxes) and that included the one day ticket I can save for the future.

So for me at CSR on a solo trip I saved about $10.00 per night and will have more food available to me. Not that much a difference really in this situation.

Now for someone at a value resort the discount for the AP is less so free dining is a better deal. For someone at a deluxe the AP discount is more so they don't get as good a deal with free dining. For someone with 4 adults in their room the free dining is a huge savings over the AP discount for almost all resort options.

It all comes down to how you eat, where you stay, how many people are in your party, and the ages of the guests. So crunch the number both ways and see how it turns out for you.

 

[Fionasmommy]

Thanks so much for sharing your breakdown with me! I wish we'd been there for the bounceback offer, I'd have booked it in a heartbeat! The numbers look pretty close, but it does seem to favor the free dining. It's probably silly of me to even consider basing our plans on an offer that isn't even a real offer at this point, but I can't help worrying that as soon as I go for that AP, they'll release it!

I'm going to take your advice and crunch our numbers for both trips and see how it looks. Maybe since we're staying at WL in May and then probably FW in the fall, the AP will still work out for me. I hope so, I was really getting used to the idea of two TS meals a day!

 

[Mickeyluver37]

We actually stayed in August 2005 during the free dining period, but went the AP and DDE route instead. Our room discount was $75/night for YC, and we saved around $400 using the 20% DDE discount. We did normally tip 20% though, so if you look at it as DDP has tips included, not really a savings, I guess? Although, we did have total flexibility in what we ate and had alcohol with every meal that it was available, which would be an OOP cost on the DDP.

We are looking to go again this year during the same time, and I plan on holding out for free dining this time.

 

[dopeyfanatic]

Thanks so much for sharing your breakdown with me! I wish we'd been there for the bounceback offer, I'd have booked it in a heartbeat! The numbers look pretty close, but it does seem to favor the free dining. It's probably silly of me to even consider basing our plans on an offer that isn't even a real offer at this point, but I can't help worrying that as soon as I go for that AP, they'll release it!

I'm going to take your advice and crunch our numbers for both trips and see how it looks. Maybe since we're staying at WL in May and then probably FW in the fall, the AP will still work out for me. I hope so, I was really getting used to the idea of two TS meals a day!

You don't get two TS meals a day. You get one CS, one TS and one snack. Keep that in mind. Also, would you normally eat that many sit down meals? If you normally eat CS, it might be cheaper to pay for your food and get an AP discount on your room...

 

[Fionasmommy]

You don't get two TS meals a day. You get one CS, one TS and one snack. Keep that in mind.

Oh, I meant having two TS meals a day by using the DDE card. We've done the dining plan twice and although I loved the convenience, I did not love all the CS meals! I would much prefer to have TS lunch and dinner, and when I crunched the numbers we're not looking at much more each day to do that - probably $10-$20 more per day.

 

[Tara8595]

We had 5 adults and one child for 10 days last late August in 2 rooms at Pop. I could've gotten a discount on the rooms, but used AAA instead and the free dining deal was awesome. Though we already had our park hoppers purchased when it came out, we bought single day tickets and still came out way ahead because our stay was so long.

 

[frannn]

I guess it is all or nothing. I love eating, especially at WDW, so the free DP was a great opportunity to try new places. Only issue was that we seemed to always be preparing for a meal, eating a meal, or leaving a restaurant. Took away a decent amount of park time. I could run all day and all night, to "make up" the park time lost due to all those reservations, taking advantage of all EMH in every park, but DH and DD4 insist on their downtime. Guess I'll start my "free dining" diet now, just in case. Only 8 1/2 months to go, but who's counting?

 

[jcemom]

It really depends on what category resort you'll stay at and how many people will be in your room. Free dining was the better deal for us (DS 13 and I) since we stayed at Pop and the AP discount was only about $15/night. Food for two adults would have cost more than that even after figuring in the cost of the two one day tickets we purchased. Had we been staying in a mod it would have been closer to even though, and if we went deluxe we'd have been much better off with the AP discount.