"Free" dining offer a joke

[DisneyBamaFan]

Remember, when calculating your savings, you need to consider the way that you normally eat at WDW, not the way that you can eat because of the plan. Example:

My family only eats at TS restaurants 2 or 3 times over a two week stay. All of our other lunches and dinners are at CS restaurants. We eat breakfast in the room (things that we bring from home). We are not big eaters, so we often skip lunch altogether. We stay in value resorts (have stayed in most resorts over the years, but have decided that longer trips in Values is better for us than shorter trips in Mods or Deluxes).

The result, we average spending about $70 per day for a family of 4 (me, wife, DS 12 and DS 9). So, we spend about $700 on food in a 10 days trip. This includes all meals and an occasional ice cream/dole whip.

We are going in a few weeks with free dining, and (based on menus) we will likely spend $350 on tips during our upcoming trip.

So, for us, when you remove the room discount, the free dining is a break even proposition, except that we will be able to eat in nicer restaurants than we usually do. In other words, it doesn't change our costs for this trip by one cent - it just changes where/how our money is spent.

There is no way that we would ever pay for the DDP. It is far more costly than our normal eating pattern, more than double when you add in the tips.

We are happy to try free dining this year, but all of those TS meals also means less time to enjoy the parks, so there is a trade off. We will decide whether or not it works for us after this trip, but it clearly is not "free" for us.

 

[Tiffany]

I am so disgusted. We are booked at WL Nov 29-Dec 5, bunkbed room, woods view-reserved thru AAA. When I got the email from Disney Visa last week offering "free" dining, I called AAA immediately. Here I am thinking, we're a family of 4 and the dining plan costs roughly $100/day for us-so I should be getting a credit of $600 or so. When she repriced my package, there were no rooms in my same category, so I could still get the bunk bed room but with a courtyard view, which is a little more expensive. My package with "free" dining is now more than my original package-how can that even be? Disney is offering nothing free. They just make something "free" and you pay more for your room. I love Disney more than anything but come on, what a joke-do they think we're dumb enough not to figure this out pretty quickly???

The free dining promos have always been that you pay rack rate for the room and get the dining free so depending on you being able to get a room discount it might not work for some folks.

 

[MartDM]

Free dining is free dining and should be a bargain regardless of where you stay.

Your logic is flawed. It's free with a full priced room, which may or may not be a bargain depending upon what other discounts are available to you.

If it's not the best deal for you, simply pass on it. Getting angry is pretty illogical. Do you also get mad when an item you want isn't on sale at the grocery store?

 

[DonaldTDuck]

Tricia, the 'mob' would be the ones calling those of us using free dining 'dumb.' I just booked POP for Dec for 6 nights 7 days with free ddp (upgraded at 10 bucks a day) for under $1200 for 2 adults. I've never gotten a pin code with 14 trips including 5 on property and since I'm a single male, probably never will. So deals like fd, or the 4/3 deal I used in Jan are what I need to stay on property and eat at the places I want.
And BamaFan, I don't compare the cost to what I would eat if not on the plan because part of the upgrade is getting to eat at better places. Why not compart your whole trip to what you could pay at Knight's Inn and eating at McD's every meal? After all, if that's what you could afford, that would be your cost.

 

[Lehuaann]

I disagree with the comment and OP. My sister and I are staying at the WL and booked the dining plan. Free dining saved us over $800. There were not any AP or room only rates available for my stay, so $800 is better than no dollars. The room rate would have been another $130, but in light of saving $800+, I am not complaining.

Disney does not have to offer anything at all.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Personally I appreciate people sharing thoughts against the DDP to avoid the mob mentality that the DDP seems to invoke. It's important that everyone look at it and research for themselves. As much as it seems like it should work for everyone, the free DDP simply does not work for everyone.

And I, personally, wish that the DIS had at least one Moderator on the Dining Board that didn't have a bias against the DDP or even (heaven forbid) someone who might have a positive review of it.

 

[Tricia1972]

The OP assumed that the Free DDP was the best deal for them. An assumption that could easy to make after reading the 99% glowing reviews that the Free DDP gets. Yes you should research for yourself, but the DIS serves as a research point for many. Thus the OP fell into the Mass(mob) mentality that free DDP was the way to go.

I feel that all opinions, good and bad, are valid. It can, however, be frustrating to read "Free is Free" and "What's not Free about it?" when many posters (mods and otherwise) have already said free dining isn't always the best deal, and gave examples of when it works well and when it doesn't work well. (Values and Mods vs Deluxe resorts - depending on circumstances)

It's not that the DDPs are bad, they're great for some people, and not great for others. Just like Free DDP works for some and doesn't work for others.

Also, where the standard DDP and the DxDDP don't work for me, it may be interesting to know that we plan to try the QSDP next trip. We ran the numbers and it looks like it may be a good fit for us. TDC Nala is also using the QSDP on an upcoming trip. I don't see that we have an inerrant bias against it. We've used it in the past and it didn't work for us. Doesn't make the plans bad, they just don't work for us. They do work great for others, and that's cool too.

Hopefully the QSDP works well for us and I have a positive dining plan experience to share in February

 

[mrstamil]

We had our last vacation 2 years ago. Our package was $1995 for 13 nights WITH park tickets (economy resort). We easily ate over $2,000 in food. We find the dining plan to be a GREAT savings. One thing I always do is check all of the different options. You usually only need 1 day of tickets per person to get the free dining. Tickets for more days work out to cheaper per day, but you may not need that many days. If you cut down the amount of days, remove park hopper, only add water parks if needed... the price can really change. I click around on the Disney site multiple times BEFORE I contact my travel agent.

 

[MarkinNM]

Remember, when calculating your savings, you need to consider the way that you normally eat at WDW, not the way that you can eat because of the plan.

Agreed as I know we would not be eating in some of the places that we are if it were not on the DDP.

So, for us, when you remove the room discount, the free dining is a break even proposition, except that we will be able to eat in nicer restaurants than we usually do. In other words, it doesn't change our costs for this trip by one cent - it just changes where/how our money is spent.

That is a GREAT way in putting the “free” DDP offer, a proposition to try some great places in a great place, DISNEY!!!

There is no way that we would ever pay for the DDP. It is far more costly than our normal eating pattern, more than double when you add in the tips.

We are happy to try free dining this year, but all of those TS meals also means less time to enjoy the parks, so there is a trade off. We will decide whether or not it works for us after this trip, but it clearly is not "free" for us.

Maybe, but my family’s eating pattern IS cheaper on the DDP then paying OOP as we enjoy some kind of breakfast, and good lunch and a good dinner, I know I will be paying for some food OOP but that will be limited. Tipping is a all together different subject, I know we are not allowed to talk about tipping here but that is all dependent on the service we get and NOTHING is given because one is supposed to tip, work for it and you shall receive…..

Less time in the parks, not really as your going to eat anyway, CS is a bit faster but usually your fighting for tables or they are outside……….So why not enjoy a nice sit-down meal in an Air-conditioned place, just how much can one loose in the park in 1 hour, 12 spots in the SM line???

Disney does not have to offer anything at all.

You want to make a bet on that one!!!!

Didnt you see that Walt Disney Co reported a 26 percent drop in third-quarter profit....

26% DROP!!!!

OUCH.....................

Revenue fell 7 percent for the quarter and report declines in fourth-quarter bookings at theme parks.

You better believe they have to offer SOMETHING!!!!



I am grateful WD Co is offering deals like the 4/3 & FREE DINING as I am lucky enough to be able to take advantage of “something” has Disney offered, and will continue to offer with financial reports as bad as the last one….

 

[Rockmtn]

I originally had a steep room discount until free dining became available for our dec trip.
With the dining package I am paying about $550 extra for our 10 day trip then I would for room and tickets only. That works out to $55 a day for food.
I would end up spending alot more then that but now I get to have a nice sit down dinner every night if I want and it would cost more then the $55 just for the dinner.
So all in all it is a bargain for our family.
Yes it is not free in a sense but it does save us $$$ in the end.

 

[dopeyone]

I'm an AP holder , so I had to purchase at least a 1 day park ticket. Here's why Free Dining worked for me. We are a family of 5, that's $200 a day for the DP x's 7 days = $1400 for just dining , no room.
I paid $1578 for FreeDining package w/room at a mod. POR. The math says it costs me $178 total for my room for 7 nights (take into account i would've had to pay $1400 for dining). I don't think there was any other discount out there that would get me 7 days dining and 7 nights at a mod for $1578. Well worth it for me, I can also apply funds for my unused park day toward my annual pass renewal. I got a feeling after I do that it will cost me less for this entire package, then the dining alone would've cost! This is my situation, having the AP really helps to make this a great deal for me . As previously posted there are a lot of different situations out there, only you can determine if the Free Dining is right for you.

 

[Funky Chicken]

Hi-first post.
We got a pin number via email that offered free dining. We were looking at going to the beach here in NC for the week of 9/13-money is tight and we thought that would be the cheapest way to get away.
Instead, we got a 5 night stay at ASM, 5 days of one day one park passes, and free dining for two adults and one child, all for $1138.
I look at it this way-
$82 per night x 5 nights hotel plus taxes/fees
5 Days of single park admission @ $250 per day
at full price I'm at almost $1700 and I haven't eaten as much as a single turkey leg.
So for around $225 per day we eat, sleep, and play. This won't be a top shelf Disney experience but it's still 5 days at WDW in a year where my income is down 50%. We are about 9 1/2 hours away so we will drive straight thru, and we are actually kind of excited about seeing how cheaply we can do this. We are going to get as many character dining experiences as we can for our little girl and treat those as special attractions-then we will work around whatever adr's we can get and be flexible with the other meal credits.
I can't find a way to complain about this-I'll let you know after we get back how things worked out.

 

[missmouse1975]

Family of 8 - 2 rooms at POP. 7 nights, 8 days at parks.
$3,200 for rooms, food, military tix, and one day tix (covers all of us for whole week)

Cost per day per person = $50.

If it is not the best deal for your family, don't do it. A value room at 40% off would only save us a few hundred dollars, not $1,600. Even if we were to eat cheaply (like my family used to when I went as a child), the trip would only be a few hundred dollars cheaper than we're paying. For me, it is invaluable to say to my children, "order whatever you want". The only time they hear that is at Disney...that's a good deal.

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

Family of 8 - 2 rooms at POP. 7 nights, 8 days at parks.
$3,200 for rooms, food, military tix, and one day tix (covers all of us for whole week)

Cost per day per person = $50.

If it is not the best deal for your family, don't do it. A value room at 40% off would only save us a few hundred dollars, not $1,600. Even if we were to eat cheaply (like my family used to when I went as a child), the trip would only be a few hundred dollars cheaper than we're paying. For me, it is invaluable to say to my children, "order whatever you want". The only time they hear that is at Disney...that's a good deal.

That's the priceless thing about the DDP!!! If not on the DDP, I'd get the cheapest thing on the menu or try to split meals. The DDP gets me FILET!!!!!

 

[April.Wood]

Just thought I would let you know that if your DD is turning 10 on your trip, she can still be a child. My girlfriend's son turned 10 last Oct. while we were in the world and as long as they are 9 on day of departure they are still considered a child. Hope this helps save some $$.

 

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

I've never gotten a pin code with 14 trips including 5 on property and since I'm a single male, probably never will.

You do know there are codes available online don't you? You don't have to get a pin code. I've never gotten one either, and with the exception of the FDDP trips, we have NEVER paid rack rate for any trip! Theres an AP code, a FL resident code, a Friends of Florida code (NC, SC, GA, and somewhere else I think...) and there are others from time to time. The best place to find them is (IMHO) Mousesavers.
And I'll add that the last several times I logged on here there were some great deals from the official WDW website that popped up in a banner ad while I was here. So as much as I can't believe I'm actually saying this..... look at the banner ads on this site.

 

[jlearn]

I booked my land & sea vacation and purchased the DDP at the time of booking it. I have not paid the balance for the trip yet. I am staying in the Poly for the 4 days of our land vacation. Should I be entitled to the discount now that the extended time of the dining plan covers my trip date?

 

[disneyjanet]

I was just wondering if the op didn't realize that they had a discount allready due to booking through AAA. I think it is 25% off for packages with a deluxe room and was then thinking that Disney artificially inflated the prices before offering free dining. That would have made me angry too. It seems that in their case the AAA discounted package was a better deal than free dining. I would also reccomend checking out it some of the other specials like the 35%off are a better deal.

Janet

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I was just wondering if the op didn't realize that they had a discount allready due to booking through AAA. I think it is 25% off for packages with a deluxe room and was then thinking that Disney artificially inflated the prices before offering free dining. That would have made me angry too. It seems that in their case the AAA discounted package was a better deal than free dining. I would also reccomend checking out it some of the other specials like the 35%off are a better deal.

Janet

The AAA discount is 20% off the room rate, not the package. Also, Disney did not jack up the prices before the FD discount was released. The room and package prices have been the same rate the entire year.

 

[curious3069]

I booked my land & sea vacation and purchased the DDP at the time of booking it. I have not paid the balance for the trip yet. I am staying in the Poly for the 4 days of our land vacation. Should I be entitled to the discount now that the extended time of the dining plan covers my trip date?

This is off topic, but call Disney and request an adjustment to your reservation. I have a trip booked beginning October 4th, paid in full with the quick service dining plan. When they announced additional free dining I called and they were able to cancel the quick service plan and add free dining. I should be seeing a refund soon for the difference!!!