Value of 'free' dining

[Julie_Mouse]

I've seen SO many posts about whether or not free dining will be offered this year (crossing my fingers for all of you that are traveling in the fall!), but I have a question about the value of this promotion.

I’ve seen many Intercot-ees say that guests choosing a value resort will see the biggest savings on this promotion, whereas guests choosing a moderate or deluxe resort are not really getting a deal – except having everything paid in advance. Why is this? I’m sure I could figure it out if I checked into the intricacies of the promotion, but with 2 finals this week, my brain is feeling a bit fried ! I’m just wondering

[sydzach]

I will be checking the replies to this thread, we have never used free dining but hope it might be an option this fall. We know our dates, give or take a day in November but are waiting to see what if any discounts are offered as if we stay on property, it will be at a value resort. Some have suggested I go ahead and book and I probably should but it just seems so far away, I hate to do it. I had planned to wait until June/July to book. I am curious as to what the responses will be to your post.

[KylesMom]

You have to pay "rack rate" for the room in order to get free dining. So for a value, you aren't spending a huge chunk of change on your reservation. However, for the Mods/Deluxe, which could go anywhere from $180-$360+ per night full price, the price of the "Free" dining becomes negligible. There is much speculation on whether or not Disney will offer any free dining this year, or if it will be on a "tiered" basis (none for values/QS for Mods/Regular Dining Plan for Deluxe bookings). Typically some type of ticket media purchase is needed as well to access the "free" dining.

[faline]

Oftentimes, you will make out better if you get a room discount rather than the free dining (or perhaps just break even).

I don't always eat as much as the dining plan allows in any given day so you're almost forced into eating more than you might otherwise eat. Also, when figuring out costs, folks take the value of what they've eaten on the dining plan to figure out if they've broken even or not. However, is I take into account several desserts and a number of snacks that I would not have purchased except that it was included on the dining plan, am I really breaking even and/or saving money or just eating too much to get full value from the plan?

[mook3y]

By our math, the more the room costs, the less of a good deal "free dining" becomes.

We saved over $170 a night on our room at the Poly and the regular dining plan is costing us just under $120 for our family.

So, going this May was approx $50 a day cheaper, paying for our dining plan, than it would cost us in September, with the assumption that there will be free dining then.

[PopPhan]

I look at it this way:

The Free DDP offer is generally (not always) made in a Value Season - cheapest room prices, least busy times of the year.

Cost of Standard DDP: $42 (approx.)

Cost of Least expensive room:
DELUXE: AKL - $240 | Poly - $365 | GF - $410 | CR - $440
MODERATE: CB/POR/POFQ - $149 | CS - $154
VALUE: $82

Typical Room Only Discounts range from 20% (Value); 30% (Moderate); 40% (Deluxe).

Assuming that you will partake of all the meals allotted:

The Free DDP is always a better discount than the Room Only discount for the Value resorts.

The Free DDP is a wash with a 30% Room Only discount for ONE person.

The Free DDP is NOT a better deal versus a 40% discount on Room Only.

You can adjust the above numbers depending on the level of room/view booked and number of people in the room (Adults/Children.)

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Just to give a simplified answer...

Free dining is not a good deal at Moderates or Deluxes (as explained above) ONLY if there are other discounts (ie room percentage discounts) that are available at the same time.

If free dining is the only discount Disney is offering that you qualify for, then free dining is most certainly a good deal not matter how you crunch the numbers!

I think a lot of people on this board operate with the assumption that nobody ever takes a trip that is not discounted in some way. I have done so twice, and while Intercot has opened my eyes to a lot of potential missed opportunities, not every trip made to WDW is going to have a menu of discount options available for you to chose from.

[danicafan]

I received an email this morning about free quick dining now through August. Also told my friend about it who is going and she actually received a postcard flyer in the mail, so she just added it to their reservations for July. Wish they would have had this last July when I went. Now I wish I could go this year. Hoping maybe they will offer it again in December.

[Belster]

I also think that it depends on how many are in your family. Free dining for a family of 5 can save a ton of money.

[Alaska Disney Fan]

We already booked for September (4 adults) w/quick service dining and possibly upgrading to regular dining plan. After booking I received a pin code for 30% off moderate resort stay. Sent it to Kathy at Magical Journeys and it saved us $400. If they do free dining in September and we opt for that (which we would) instead of the room discount, we are looking at saving $1400. Sounds like a pretty significant savings to me......

[DVC2004]

Well we usually use our DVC points and don't add dining plan. However we booked a package in December at a Mod with free regular dining. For us it was a good deal, because both of my kids are now considered adults and we do eat at least 1 table service per day any time we go to WDW. Eating at our favorite TS's is part of why we go on vacation. In our case it saved us alot and meant we didn't need to cough up a whole lot of extra cash right before Christmas. Sure we still spent some out of pocket for a beer or glass of wine and of course the tip. However, I agree it does depend on the accomodations too (probably better used staying at value) and your eating habits, and probably your kids ages. Like mine were 11 and 12 so paying OOP for the dining plan would have been expensive.

[azcavalier]

We are a family of 5, so we CAN'T stay at a value resort (unless we stay at ASM in a suite, which is more expensive than a moderate). We also have 2 kids age 10 or over, so the dining plan is over $170/day for us. Free dining REALLY helps. If you don't have many adults/juniors it's not as good a deal.

We're having a family reunion there this fall, and if we can get free dining, we'll save $3500 for a party of 14 (11 adults > 10, and 3 children)! Please , please, PLEASE have free dining!!!

[septembergirl]

Three years ago this fall, we went for the free dining promo and got two connecting rooms at Pop for the value season rate for my family of 6. Since 5 of us were ten and over, the dining plan would've cost us around $1100 for the five nights we stayed. The free dining plan allowed us to try restaurants that we couldn't have afforded any other way AND let Mom have a carefree vacation! With 3 teenage boys, food (and lots of it!) is a pretty big deal for us so the dining plan was a great. Without free dining, we would have had to breakfast in the hotel rooms and pack lunch to take into the parks every day, which is still would've necessitated a budget of about $75 per day for one other counter service meal. Even at that budget, given free dining, we would still be saving about $500 including the breakfast and lunch groceries for the same five day trip.

We are going next month but having to stay off site in a villa mainly because of the cost of food. A free dining promotion would've tipped the scales for us in favor of a Disney resort, which, of course, we would prefer!

Disney keeps raising prices and making it harder for people to afford to visit and stay in their resorts but still seem to go unaffected by the economy.

[azcavalier]

You have to pay "rack rate" for the room in order to get free dining. So for a value, you aren't spending a huge chunk of change on your reservation. However, for the Mods/Deluxe, which could go anywhere from $180-$360+ per night full price, the price of the "Free" dining becomes negligible. There is much speculation on whether or not Disney will offer any free dining this year, or if it will be on a "tiered" basis (none for values/QS for Mods/Regular Dining Plan for Deluxe bookings). Typically some type of ticket media purchase is needed as well to access the "free" dining.

As my DW posted above (on my account), this all depends on the size of your family. For us, a family of five, it has *always* been cheaper to do free dining than a room discount, and it is even more so now that two of our children are over ten, and so have to order off of the adult menu. We don't have a large family....three kids. But that means that we can't stay in a value resort. It means staying at POR or a Deluxe that allows five (or a family suite at ASM). So, by our calculations, staying at POR is the cheapest option, and in the value season (the fall) that's $149/night. So, for a typical 7 night stay, that's gonna be just over $1100 (w/ tax). The DDP costs $40 - $43 a day for an adult, and $11 per child. So, for our family, that's $183 a day.

Resort stay (7 days) = $1100
Food (7 days) = $1281

Free dining for a week for us is obviously worth about $1200. A discounted room (let's say 40%) is only worth $440. That's a big difference.

But, of course, it depends on your eating habits (we love one sit down a day), and the size of your family.

Like my DW said in the previous post under my account, this fall we're having a family reunion at WDW. 14 people. 11 "adults" as far as dining goes. So here's the math:

DDP = $495/day or $3465 for the week.
POR Resort = $450/day (3 rooms) or $3150 /week.

Free dining is obviously worth $3465 for this group. A 40% discount at POR is only worth $1260.

So, the point is, do the math for your family, and see what's better.

[Rekenna]

Disney keeps raising prices and making it harder for people to afford to visit and stay in their resorts but still seem to go unaffected by the economy.

Thank you ma'am!

We are a family of 5 and we love WDW (as we all do here at Intercot), if they don't offer specials, send out PIN codes-whether for meals or for rooms, then there is just no way we can go. I would think WDW would want some of my money every year instead of none. I know it's a business, but my family is a business too.

Here's keeping my fingers crossed that we all receive a deal that works best for us!

[RaRaRoundTheWorld]

Every time I've calculated the savings of free dining vs. a percentage off the on the room rack rate, the free dining offers didn't have the same impact in the overall cost.