what's the big deal about free dining????

[SmallWorld71]

It depends on the hotel & how many people in your party.

We were going in Sept no matter what because the rest of the year is way to busy for us with school activities & holidays.

Booking with the free dining saved us $700. That is a lot of money.

Totally agree! The cheaper your resort and the more people you have, the more $ you save with free dining vs. a room discount. We are going with 2A2C value this year and are saving about $500 over what we would have paying with our 30% off code and paying for dining. Last year, we stayed at POR with 3A(one 11 yr. old) and 2C. Again, we could have used a discount code. But, by using the free dining we saved over $600.

 

[SmallWorld71]

i think everyone is missing my point. i paid $2250 last year for 4 w/ the dining plan in nov. i priced out a trip with free dining and it came to $2050 in sept. my point is there are almost as good of deals at better times of the year. don't be fooled to going a time of year that you didn't want for free dining. now if sept was your choice month...then you are getting the best deal!!!

I do get what you are saying. I can only go at certain times of year, late August being one of them, so free dining is a no brainer for me. If I could go at any time of year, I would love to see those Christmas decorations......

 

[esdras]

i think everyone is missing my point. i paid $2250 last year for 4 w/ the dining plan in nov. i priced out a trip with free dining and it came to $2050 in sept. my point is there are almost as good of deals at better times of the year. don't be fooled to going a time of year that you didn't want for free dining. now if sept was your choice month...then you are getting the best deal!!!

Would you mind posting the details of your ressie last November - such as ages of the group, whether you were there during Value Season, which resort, number of nights, etc.

The only way to do an EXACT comparison is if the trip is essentially identical - for example, we are saving MORE with Free Dining this year than we did in '06 because our youngest was under the age of three that year - she didn't have to pay for tickets or dining. This year - we would have to pay for her dining plan, for 7 nights, we just saved $70 more this year - yet we still had to "pay more" because we now have to buy her base ticket.

To only save $200 vs. a trip last year seems a little low, especially for a family of 4. If each member is of an age requiring them to purchase the dining plan, about the lowest cost per day would be just under $70 where one adult in bringing three children ages 3-9. That would save just under $210 on a three night stay.

Anyway, if you don't feel comfortable posting your ressie details - no problem - I just can't fathom how the savings are so low without having the details to run the figures myself.

Cheers!

 

[Holly81]

Free dining saves us around $450. But that's because we're staying in a value resort this time around. If we were staying Deluxe, a discount code would have been a better deal.

As others have mentioned, the number of people in your party and the category of room you're booking determine how good of deal free dining is. For four adults (two parents and two teens, for example) staying in a value resort, there really is no better discount. There are just two of us, but as I mentioned, we're staying in a value, so it's still the best discount in our case. Plus, September is a good time for us to travel this year.

 

[christa112]

We are traveling as a group of 7 with 3A & 3C (9, 7 & 4). 2 Rooms at the POP for 8 days/9 nights, Park Tickets with Water Parks and Free Dining we are saving about $1400.00. That is a lot of $$$$

That is the big deal about Free Dining

 

[esdras]

Free dining saves us around $450. But that's because we're staying in a value resort this time around. If we were staying Deluxe, a discount code would have been a better deal.

As others have mentioned, the number of people in your party and the category of room you're booking determine how good of deal free dining is. For four adults (two parents and two teens, for example) staying in a value resort, there really is no better discount. There are just two of us, but as I mentioned, we're staying in a value, so it's still the best discount in our case. Plus, September is a good time for us to travel this year.

Exactly. With the age of our kids, we can only go very late August or early September - they can only miss so much school.

On the other hand, we are paying WAY more this year than in '06 - BUT, in '06 (as mentioned) our youngest was there on the totally freebie system, and we had two preferred rooms (connecting) at ASMo - one of the two rooms was on the CAA/AAA 20% off rate, and we were there for 6 nights.

This year - our youngest has to pay, we are in the Family Suites and staying for 8 nights (only one of which is a room-only ressie subject to a 20% discount - the rest of the nights in the Suite are RACK).

The cost of the trip is roughly $600 more than in '06 - but, we are still "saving more" than we did in '06.

It's somewhat confusing - I think. Maybe.

 

[mafibisha]

i think everyone is missing my point. i paid $2250 last year for 4 w/ the dining plan in nov. i priced out a trip with free dining and it came to $2050 in sept. my point is there are almost as good of deals at better times of the year. don't be fooled to going a time of year that you didn't want for free dining. now if sept was your choice month...then you are getting the best deal!!!

Exactly.

"If its free, they will come."

There is nothing free in WDW!

Been there and remember its terrible - the heat and hurricane season. Disney knows it.

They are the masters of marketing. They offer free - and people come.

 

[mafibisha]

I think it all balances out in the end. DH and I just came back from a 9 day trip, deluxe resorts booked on the 40% off code....saved us about $900 or so...we spent that much on food and snacks. If we booked the free dining we would lose our discounted room rate but still save on the food...more or less.

I prefer to go when it is cooler, the F&W thing going on and get the big room discount.

Yep, us too. Its just downright unpleasant when its that hot. Plus we wouldn't spend that much on food anyway. The free dining makes people eat, or so I've heard here on the dis.
But everyone is different....

 

[mikesdisneymom]

This time around we are saving around $900.00, it is a savings for us.

 

[planplan]

Would you mind posting the details of your ressie last November - such as ages of the group, whether you were there during Value Season, which resort, number of nights, etc.

The only way to do an EXACT comparison is if the trip is essentially identical - for example, we are saving MORE with Free Dining this year than we did in '06 because our youngest was under the age of three that year - she didn't have to pay for tickets or dining. This year - we would have to pay for her dining plan, for 7 nights, we just saved $70 more this year - yet we still had to "pay more" because we now have to buy her base ticket.

To only save $200 vs. a trip last year seems a little low, especially for a family of 4. If each member is of an age requiring them to purchase the dining plan, about the lowest cost per day would be just under $70 where one adult in bringing three children ages 3-9. That would save just under $210 on a three night stay.

Anyway, if you don't feel comfortable posting your ressie details - no problem - I just can't fathom how the savings are so low without having the details to run the figures myself.

Cheers!

8 nights pop, hopper and dining plan 2 adults and 2 kids,6 and 7, standard room, mid november 2007, $2248, this year sept during free dining, $2050 exact same stuff...

 

[chrismom3]

It really is based on individual circumstances. I was booked for August already with a AAA discount. Since I'm also going in April, we decided to get an Annual pass. So, when the free dining came out I was really excited until I figured out everything. As others do, I make my schedule (AR's) before I leave for vacation and have a good idea what we would spend on meals since we do alot of the buffet character meals - even 2 a day sometimes. I compared the 2 scenarios (AAA, AP meal discount - which is 20% with the Dining card costing $65 flat fee vs. Free Dining which is making you pay rack rate and purchase a 1 day pass for everyone) at the Polynesion for 3 people and I would have been paying $300 more with the free dining!

It just bugged me that I wouldn't be getting the "free" promotion but in reality it wasn't "free" at all (in my case).

 

[Darcy03231]

I didn't book free dining either because it wasn't worth it for me. We're 1 adult, 1 child. I got a 40% off room code for the third week of October. The cost of my package, including room, park tickets and dining was only about $80 more than what the same package with free dining was in September. Based on the cost difference and the fact that I couldn't get the ADR's I wanted, I stuck with the October reservation. For the $80 it just wasn't worth it for me to be there when its that hot and humid and the restaurants are so crowded.

 

[DisOrBust]

If I had the 40% off I would have done that! But my family is saving 1600 with FD so it's Sept for us.

 

[HM]

i think everyone is missing my point. i paid $2250 last year for 4 w/ the dining plan in nov. i priced out a trip with free dining and it came to $2050 in sept. my point is there are almost as good of deals at better times of the year. don't be fooled to going a time of year that you didn't want for free dining. now if sept was your choice month...then you are getting the best deal!!!

I think the key thing here, is that a lot of people have not been able to get other discounts at other times, so this one (open to everyone) works well for them. I haven't been lucky enough to get a % room discount for quite some time. I got offered the free waterparks and more tickets for this Spring, but that wasn't enough of a discount for me to look into.

The free dining plan is working for me because I can take my DD's friend with us and know exactly what she'll need in terms of $$ for the trip. If we had just a room discount (I have AAA) and had to pay out of pocket for the food, I'd have to estimate and we might come up short during the trip.

 

[esdras]

8 nights pop, hopper and dining plan 2 adults and 2 kids,6 and 7, standard room, mid november 2007, $2248, this year sept during free dining, $2050 exact same stuff...

Thanks, I'll give this a shot.

If you were there mid November, I'll assume that you left before Nov. 24/07 - which is later in the month and the day it switched back to Value Season.

So, this will be estimated on POP, Regular Season. I'll do both Standard and Preferred rates since you didn't specify.

Pop Standard in '07 was $111.38/niight - $891 for 8 nights
Pop Preferred in '07 was $124.90/night - $999 for 8 nights
Pop Standard in '08 was $92.25/night - $738 for 8 nights
Pop Preferred in '08 was $105.75/night - $846 for 8 nights

Dining Plan in '07 was $38.99 adult and $10.99 child
(Total for your family for 8 night stay, $623.84 + $175.84 = $799.68)

Dining Plan in '08 is $37.99 adult and $9.99 child - although you get this for free, I'm adding this up for factoring the difference in cost.
(Total for your family for 8 night stay, $607.84 + $159.84 = $767.68)

Tickets are hard to estimate - there were a couple of price hikes in '07, and it depends on when you booked your package.

At the moment, I cannot figure out how you got those prices the '07 prices. The price for '08 seems about right if you got the trip insurance automatically added on by Disney.

I must ask, did you have ANY sort of discount on your trip in '07? Essentially, if you take the best case scenario, subtracting the cost of a standard room in regular season and the cost of the dining plan in '07 only leaves you just over $500 for your PH tickets - and that just doesn't work.

If you had a discount in '07, you need to remember how much you saved than - my guess at the moment looking at past costs is that it was probably about $400 - $500.

In that case - since you are trying to say you are ONLY saving $200 more than what you paid in '07, that's $200 on top of what you saved in '07.

You have to essentially compare savings to rack rates - and this is hard in your case since I think you were in regular season in '07 and value season in '08.

It's hard to get an apples to apples comparison in this case.

 

[goofy4tink]

I was booked at POP, room only, with AAA discount, had to get passes for my dd...total, with food, was $850 for three nights. With the free dining, the total is now $548...dd has her passes (she will use one of the three one day passes each day..dh and I already have passes.) I save $300....I'm happy.

 

[Baby Yeti]

Just did a comparison on prices for our trip. We have 2A, 3C (10,8,6) staying at a YC with Deluxe Dining. Either way, whether we went with Deluxe Dining or just the Dining Plan, it saved us $937.49. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

i think everyone is missing my point. i paid $2250 last year for 4 w/ the dining plan in nov. i priced out a trip with free dining and it came to $2050 in sept. my point is there are almost as good of deals at better times of the year. don't be fooled to going a time of year that you didn't want for free dining. now if sept was your choice month...then you are getting the best deal!!!

We are a family of 6, 2 adults - 1 disney adult- 3 kids. Last September we stayed at POP with TWO rooms, 8 day hopper passes, 48 table service meals, 48 counter service meals and 48 snacks for a grand total of $2,600.00. That saved us $1300.00. We are going to go this year in December and have a 40% discount code that will save us a few hundered dollars. A room discount code will never save us as much money as the free dining promo - EVER.

 

[disneychick0412]

We did FD last year (labor day week) and did not find the crowds to be
very bad. This year we are going in November and when FD came out I had to think really hard about switching. Yes, we would save quite a bit of money, but I can remember being very happy that I was at Disney, but unhappy because of the constant stream of sweat rolling down my back. I don't do well in the heat! Also, when it is that hot, I really don't feel like eating very much! So I decided to stick with November. We would have saved about $700 dollars with the dining plan, but if I'm miserable, what's the point????

I am glad that they are offering the FD though, so that others can get to experience more on their trips!!

 

[planplan]

Thanks, I'll give this a shot.

If you were there mid November, I'll assume that you left before Nov. 24/07 - which is later in the month and the day it switched back to Value Season.

So, this will be estimated on POP, Regular Season. I'll do both Standard and Preferred rates since you didn't specify.

Pop Standard in '07 was $111.38/niight - $891 for 8 nights
Pop Preferred in '07 was $124.90/night - $999 for 8 nights
Pop Standard in '08 was $92.25/night - $738 for 8 nights
Pop Preferred in '08 was $105.75/night - $846 for 8 nights

Dining Plan in '07 was $38.99 adult and $10.99 child
(Total for your family for 8 night stay, $623.84 + $175.84 = $799.68)

Dining Plan in '08 is $37.99 adult and $9.99 child - although you get this for free, I'm adding this up for factoring the difference in cost.
(Total for your family for 8 night stay, $607.84 + $159.84 = $767.68)

Tickets are hard to estimate - there were a couple of price hikes in '07, and it depends on when you booked your package.

At the moment, I cannot figure out how you got those prices the '07 prices. The price for '08 seems about right if you got the trip insurance automatically added on by Disney.

I must ask, did you have ANY sort of discount on your trip in '07? Essentially, if you take the best case scenario, subtracting the cost of a standard room in regular season and the cost of the dining plan in '07 only leaves you just over $500 for your PH tickets - and that just doesn't work.

If you had a discount in '07, you need to remember how much you saved than - my guess at the moment looking at past costs is that it was probably about $400 - $500.

In that case - since you are trying to say you are ONLY saving $200 more than what you paid in '07, that's $200 on top of what you saved in '07.

You have to essentially compare savings to rack rates - and this is hard in your case since I think you were in regular season in '07 and value season in '08.

It's hard to get an apples to apples comparison in this case.

that was a visa package discount that i received that rate with last year. i thought it was a great deal for the 2nd week of nov. it was opened to the general public also like every other discount. Going again in 2009 and looking forward to planning another trip!