Who is going anyway?

[sshaw0715]

Now that the dust has settled how much of a difference did free dining make? Who was going to go with or without free dining ? For us it mattered. Had we not been able to get free dining we would have went to Universal this year.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I'm on DVC reservations in the fall, so I could not have had free dining whether I wanted it or not.

 

[DisBuzz]

For us it mattered in a way. It allowed us to pick a different resort and to try restaurants we would not try paying OOP. But then again if there was no way we could have swung FD this year. We still would have gone stayed value and bought the QS plan (people say it could be a waste to pay for QSDP) but we are going on vacation and like to feel that even the food is taken care of. Overall with 4 adults we saved $2,300 just with the FD alone, because the RO would have gotten us maybe $300 savings on the room a slim saving on tickets through AAA and full price DP. For our group FD plays a big factor in where we want/can stay.

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

We were hoping for FD again this year for the end of October. It would have been a much better deal for us then RO discount because we enjoy the character buffets. However, it has not changed our plans, we are still going and doing all the meals we love. My son cracked me up when I told him they weren't offering FD for our dates. He said," well ..(big pause) that is just unfortunate." He sounded like a 40 year old man. Then his cost saving plan was for me ( notice not him) to cut down on buying souvenirs. Thanks buddy! No, momma is still getting her Pandora beads and Precious Moments!

 

[maxiesmom]

I had a packaged booked, and can't get the same or even similar resort with free dining.

 

[sshaw0715]

I went in the free dining fight knowing I would have to take whatever resort and days were available that fit what I needed. For us though we almost decided to go to Universal this year. The ticket prices are too crazy to do both with four adult tickets to buy. So for the only thing that kept us at Disney this year was free dining which saved us $1,000.

 

[Huff]

We would not go without FD. Any other savings doesn't come close to covering our expected food costs. FD saved us about $1500 this year.

 

[scard192]

our arrival date did not fall within the FD dates, Booked with a travel agent that got us a package that was still in budget; at bit more than FD but still doable.

 

[Tink&Belle's Mom]

We got free dining on the first day, and would not have been able to go this year if we had not. We are a party with 2 rooms and a total of 7 Disney adults. We went every year for free dining for the first five or six years it was offered, but have not been since December 2012. To say we are really looking forward to it would be an understatement! and, we are taking our new son-in-law for his first every trip. I would have liked some October dates, simply because it would have given us another month to save for the trip, but we can make September work, so I really can't complain!

 

[disneymom0104]

FD saved our family $2500, (2 adults, 2 Disney adult children, 1 child), I have not found another discount that comes close to that, especially with factoring dining back in- with or without the DDP we still have to eat. We actually weren't planning a trip at all this year, but got the bug just before free dining and we wouldn't have gone without it. It will be our 3rd FD trip.

 

[happymommy]

My DD and I had a value resort booked starting 8/23. So yes, free QSDP worked out for us! If we couldn't get that, we may have booked off site. We have AP's. We booked with tickets that we'll save for next trip. So, in the end, Disney wins since they KNOW we'll be back!

I am happy to get what we got. We wouldn't use regular DP ever. We don't like to make ADR's and be stuck with that whole we have to be somewhere at sometime thing. Plus she's disabled to a degree, so I never know when it's time to just go back and take a nap!

 

[Jadyreen1282]

I'm sure there are many out there that can afford Disney without the FD lottery win.

 

[LuckyBelle81]

We would not be making a trip without FD so we are super grateful for it! We were originally looking at going for Spring Break in early March 2017 and we had priced out what that trip would be (I was only using the website so I had to go with this years March rates for an estimate) and the FD, plus the fact that we are going during a slower week, is saving us about 50% on the trip. We have 2 kids aging into new ticket brackets (9yo turning 10 and 2 yo turning 3) and that is significantly changing what it costs for us to go. So for us FD is a game changer.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I don't do the dining plan, don't plan around discounts or free dining. I plan my trips when they make sense for my family. We stay off site in nicer places for less money than on site and eat whatever and whenever we want. I like my freedom.

 

[Woodmnky]

We were planning on going in the fall just before our APs expire, but we were going to stay offsite. The townhouse was going to be $750 for the week and of course that didn't include food. We booked at Pop Century for the week instead. We had to buy tickets, but we need these in January when we come back for Marathon Weekend. Overall, once we took out the cost of tickets (since we will save those for later and use our APs for this trip) the cost of Pop Century & a weeks worth of QSDP was $900 for 3 people. We debated a bit since staying offsite has much nicer accommodations, but with DH going to Disneyland for the Avenger's Half Marathon and the whole family going again in January we decided that saving money was more important. We actually really enjoy the QSDP and often forgo sit down restaurants anyways.

 

[DisneyGateway]

It was a nice thing that happened but it did not mater whether or not we got it.

It was nice to get since we ended up with a FANTASTIC deal and now I'll have more "Disney" money for another trip this year when I go back in Nov/December.

 

[mommymanda]

Now that the dust has settled how much of a difference did free dining make? Who was going to go with or without free dining ? For us it mattered. Had we not been able to get free dining we would have went to Universal this year.

I was in the same boat. I have been pricing and antagonizing over things for months and without the free dining our family of 5 would have had to spend $2900 (roughly) for a room, and than still figure out food which due to costs would have been all CS.

Being able to snag a standard room at CBR with the free dining we are paying $3500 and with my ADRs and QS plans the dining calculator has us eating roughly $2000 worth of food.

Even if some crazy way we had been able to dine for only $1000 (7nights) during our trip the cost of food OOP that extra $400 would have put my trip way to high in price to even bother. Not to mention the stress of not really knowing how much we would spend and the monster I will become at meals when someone wants the more expensive meal.

I should mention I am also in Canada, so our dollar also had a factor into OOP meals or not.

 

[loves to dive]

I don't do the dining plan, free or otherwise so it didn't matter to me. Room only discounts, on the other hand, yes those are nice. I'm going in Sept. for F&W and am waiting for the AP discount. If one doesn't happen, I'm still going and I'll just either use the general discount of find a AAA discount at Swan.

 

[disneylovinmom3]

We were going regardless, it did make a big difference in the type of trip we were going to be able to take however. Instead of taking a budget trip, eating QS and staying off site we are staying at CBR and have the dining plan. I'm one of those people that when I set a budget and won't go over it so being able to save $1500 completely changed our trip.