When is Free Dining Better than DVC?

[buck0086]

I'm a new DVC member. We are BLT owners but our first DVC trip will be to SSR in October. With the new discounts and free dining coming out, I'm just wondering if there is any time to consider booking for Free Dining rather than DVC. In a way it seems that DVC owners don't get to take advantage of such specials. What other possible advantages/deals will come up with DVC? Thanks.

Buck

 

[Deb & Bill]

DVC members can always take advantage of all these Disney Deals. You just have to pay cash and not use your points. So you bank your points for next year.

If you are content to stay in a value resort and have older children age 10 or older, it may be more cost effective to do the Disney Free Dining Package. But if you want something more deluxe or have two smaller kids with you (age three to nine), it may be more cost effective to do DVC points and pay for dining. Just do the math.

 

[DebbieB]

Here's an example of where DVC pays off:

I have a room at BWV, 1 bedroom boardwalk view, 6 nights Dec 5 to 11, 2 adults. It is 155 points. There is a free dining deal right now for Disney Visa holders for that time period. So if I paid cash for the room at boardwalk (it would be pool/garden, cash can't get a boardwalk view), it would be $450 a night plus tax. So for 6 nights about $3,000 plus a ticket purchase. But I could get free dining! Which is the better choice? DVC for 155 points and paying out of pocket for meals or paying $3,000 and getting "free" dining. I will not consider a cheaper room, I love a BWV one bedroom. Hmm....let me think.....which deal is better?

 

[twinklebug]

If you want to bank points for a cruise or longer stay / larger accommodations for the following year and can't see yourself skipping Disney for the year it makes perfect sense to take advantage of free dining at the moderate level or below.

Personally, I'm tempted by the 40% off passholder discounts or bounceback offers we used to see for the Villa units Disney owns & rents as hotel rooms. Good thing for my wallet they haven't been around much this year

 

[Alexander]

These deals come in handy when:

1--you are out of points and want to go back to WDW.
2--you decide too late to go to WDW and cannot book a villa on points.
3--you purchase the dining plan while staying DVC and the cost equals that of a package deal which includes park tickets and other little discounts.
4--you can rent out the points you would have used for a villa stay and pay for the package, plane tickets, and still have some cash leftover.
5--you want to hang onto your points for a bigger vacation next time.

We have used the deals twice now--one was for reason #2 and one was for reason #3. For reason #2 we stayed at CBR on the 4/3 deal. It was the one moderate resort that we had never even seen. We wanted to give it a try. For reason #3 we booked the free dining package at All Star Sports--I have boys age 10 and 3 and they LOVE sports and they LOVE this resort.

 

[VLee]

We're doing it in about 4 weeks. At some point you look at the deals they're offering for cash and say "you know, for everything they're giving and what we'd be paying out of pocket even staying at DVC, it makes sense to pay cash and take the deal".

We're paying $58/person/day for room + meals + daily park tickets + a few other perks and very much looking forward to it. Just made final payment on the package - like a drop in the bucket.

You noted on your other thread about doing Pop Century instead of SSR for your trip - and that is exactly the way we're doing it to get the deal. Don't let anyone fill your head with "oh, why do you ever want to stay at a value resort I would never do that"? You're going to find that there are many types of people posting here with differing opinions/agendas and reasons for saying what they do. Some need to (mentally) justify their DVC purchase, some have overextended themselves and would never consider anything but DVC because they can't, some are on ego trips and use DVC as a way to justify their self worth.

We've been DVC members long enough to know the value of our DVC points at different times of year when we travel. If Disney is offering special deals to fill their other properties and it makes sense, we're going to take advantage of it. We love our DVC, however, we're not above taking a deal even if that means staying in a value resort - as if that's so terrible. When we're at "our home" we'd spend more time in the room and at the resort. If we're at the value resort, so we spend more time out of the room. Not a problem. The room is just a place to sleep for this trip.

Do what makes the most sense to you. You have almost 50 years to enjoy DVC, there's no rush.

Enjoy.

I so agree. Do what works for you. We have stayed in all, mostly DVC to use our points. But that was been usually due to no "great Deals" at the time we have been. On different stays, we have different plans. Some more relaxing than others and that is when the DVC Resort comes in handy.

However, I must say that my grandchildren, 9, 6, and 2 are happy anywhere and they totally adore the values. We have many years to come and intend to enjoy everything.

 

[permavac]

These deals come in handy when:

1--you are out of points and want to go back to WDW.
2--you decide too late to go to WDW and cannot book a villa on points.
3--you purchase the dining plan while staying DVC and the cost equals that of a package deal which includes park tickets and other little discounts.
4--you can rent out the points you would have used for a villa stay and pay for the package, plane tickets, and still have some cash leftover.
5--you want to hang onto your points for a bigger vacation next time...

These are great points to consider for the people who are wondering if they should take advantage of the "deals". I would add a caveat of "If you are only considering the deal because it's a deal then try to remember why you bought DVC in the first place - you're already saving money" since it seems some posters really want DVC accommodations and won't give it up (for a Value or Moderate) but also want the stuff like free dining too.

...Do what works for you...
...On different stays, we have different plans...
...We have many years to come and intend to enjoy everything.

And I totally agree with this! We actually bought into DVC so we could have it all I want the discounted deluxe accommodations AND I want to be able to take advantage of the deals. For our upcoming trip in September, we booked 8 nights at the All Stars and 5 nights at BCV - during the same time and we saved a few dollars on future park passes by doing it this way. For us, we have so few DVC points right now that the deals help us tremendously. If we had ALL the points we wanted at DVC (say 2,000 ) we would probably not take advantage of the deals anymore and that's ok too. Whatever works for each individual - I think we're lucky to have so many options.

Terri

 

[work2play]

Ours is reason #2 and reason #5! We recently joined DVC and I had called last week to see if there was any chance of using points in early December. When I called there were no rooms anywhere available for 12/6 at WDW on points!! The next day, I get an email on the VISA free dining special for December that includes 12/6 so we booked at CBR and will be saving our points for next year! Would I rather stay in a 1 BDR Villa, you bet, but this lets me get in an extra trip with a really great perk!!

 

[marx]

We cancelled our DVC points stay at AKV (in a Value Studio) and are instead staying at POP for 10 days in late August and September. We are using the saved points for a BLT stay over Christmas vacation.