Is free dining worth $188pp?

[superdisneydork]

So, I am taking the family on a trip in September (myself, aunt, two little cousins, this will be the kids second trip, but in many ways a first!) and Free Dining falls over our entire trip, which I've never been lucky enough to have in the past. However, I am not on a package plan! MY hotel stay is booked through a CM friend of mine for her discount, and my park tickets were purchased separately through a work program at a pretty decent discount. My understanding is that I am not eligible for FD, is this correct?

Assuming it is, I have three questions:

1) Can my CM friend book us in to Free Dining if we add 2-day park tickets to the reservation she made for us?

2) If so, is it really worth it? I believe it would cost us ~$188pp without PH to do that, is that correct?

3) If we do that, I presume the KTTW cards we get at check in will have those 2 day tickets already tied to them, and we won't be able to have Guest Services link our 5 day hoppers to the cards? (Not a big deal, just slightly inconvenient)

Thanks,
Matt

[jrtoastyman]

In a word, no.

[jrtoastyman]

Actually, as I look back on it, I may have misunderstood your post. Are you saying that it would be $188 pp to have free dining for the duration of your stay? That's a closer call. How many nights are you staying?

Regardless, I don't believe you can combine free dining with any other discounts, so you might lose the benefit of that CM discount on the room rate. Also, you might not be able to use your KTTW card to purchase food at a location inside a park if you entered using a different ticket. I don't know that to be true for sure, but it's something I'd definitely want to be sure of before trying this.

[superdisneydork]

Originally Posted by jrtoastyman

Actually, as I look back on it, I may have misunderstood your post. Are you saying that it would be $188 pp to have free dining for the duration of your stay? That's a closer call. How many nights are you staying?

Regardless, I don't believe you can combine free dining with any other discounts, so you might lose the benefit of that CM discount on the room rate. Also, you might not be able to use your KTTW card to purchase food at a location inside a park if you entered using a different ticket. I don't know that to be true for sure, but it's something I'd definitely want to be sure of before trying this.

Ah, crucial info, we will be there from 9/17 to 9/22, but 9/22 is a travel day, so probably won't make much use of the plan that day.

I didn't even consider the problem with the discount, it's definitely not worth losing that discount on the rooms! It was just a curiosity, since I realized it's available and I am cutting costs wherever I can!

Matt

[cmwade77]

I don't know if they are being offered free dining or not, but the deal we got for end of this month had a discounted dining plan (I don't know the exact discount, I just know it was quite a bit less than the advertised price) on top of the discounted room, with no tickets required. So, you may want to look into that and how much it would cost.

[TDC Nala]

Can my CM friend book us in to Free Dining if we add 2-day park tickets to the reservation she made for us?

No, the CM reservations with discounted rooms are not eligible for free dining. You can have only one discount on your room, and that can be either the CM room discount or the free dining - you won't be able to have both.

[superdisneydork]

Originally Posted by TDC Nala

No, the CM reservations with discounted rooms are not eligible for free dining.

Alright, that puts the nail in that coffin, thanks!

I'm actually a little relieved, I have so much other stuff to plan I wasn't actually looking forward to tracking dining credits either, just figured the potential savings were worth a cursory look.

Matt