Free meal plan question

[DarthVader]

We have a reservation for Polynesian on November 9th 2018 running through the 17th. This year the free meal plan is running November 14 - 20.

If we were to extrapolate a possible free meal plan for 2018, it would run November 13 to the 19th. since my reservation pre-dates the promotion, am I correct in reading that I'll be on the hook to pay for the non-promotion days?

If that is a correct assumption, then I'll be required to pay 69.35 x 4 people x 4 days = 1,109

Am I off base or am I missing anything?

 

[Tuvalu]

If your hypothesis occurs and you want to receive free dining, you will need to book two reservations: one for 11/9-13 (either paying rack rate or with a room discount and paying for the dining plan) and another one for 11/13-17 (paying rack rate for the room and receiving free dining.) You will also need tickets for the free dining promotion, meaning you cannot buy a 7 day ticket during the first part of your stay and then continue to use it for the second (free dining) half. This will definitely increase your cost.

This "split stay" may also require you changing rooms even if both reservations are at the Poly. Which means a day of stowing your luggage.

"Free dining" is a separate promotion so if you have booked a week at rack rate (or discount) you won't receive it nor will you be charged for the dining plan unless you add it to your reservation.

 

[DarthVader]

So what you're saying is I have to split my stay to enjoy the free meal plan, i.e., have one reservation stay completely within the free meal program date and another for the rest of our vacation? That's too bad if that's the case. Partly because the standard rooms at the Poly are all booked up and secondly its not worth the hassle.

"Free dining" is a separate promotion so if you have booked a week at rack rate (or discount) you won't receive it nor will you be charged for the dining plan unless you add it to your reservation.

Yeah I know, so I choose either or and it sounds like the room discount which tends to be more expansive may be our best bet to help save money and also keep the complexity of the vacation down.

 

[belledream]

The only way you can take advantage of the promotion during partial dates is if the beginning of your reservation falls within the parameters. So if your reservation was 11/16-11/23 for example, you would be able to take advantage of it for the entire trip. Arriving outside the date range is not the same case unfortunately.

 

[Tuvalu]

So what you're saying is I have to split my stay to enjoy the free meal plan, i.e., have one reservation stay completely within the free meal program date and another for the rest of our vacation? That's too bad if that's the case. Partly because the standard rooms at the Poly are all booked up and secondly its not worth the hassle.


Yeah I know, so I choose either or and it sounds like the room discount which tends to be more expansive may be our best bet to help save money and also keep the complexity of the vacation down.

You got it!

 

[DarthVader]

The only way you can take advantage of the promotion during partial dates is if the beginning of your reservation falls within the parameters. So if your reservation was 11/16-11/23 for example, you would be able to take advantage of it for the entire trip. Arriving outside the date range is not the same case unfortunately.

Oh, I see, that makes sense and that's why I need to "split" my stay. Ok, so we can (in all likelihood) cross this promotion off the list.

 

[belledream]

Oh, I see, that makes sense and that's why I need to "split" my stay. Ok, so we can (in all likelihood) cross this promotion off the list.

Not looking likely I guess. Some people find that free dining doesn't turn out to be the best money-saving option for them for a myriad of reasons, so maybe room discounts will end up working in your favor.

 

[DarthVader]

Not looking likely I guess. Some people find that free dining doesn't turn out to be the best money-saving option for them for a myriad of reasons, so maybe room discounts will end up working in your favor.

Yeah, hopefully the timing will work in our favor

 

[Dave B]

Not looking likely I guess. Some people find that free dining doesn't turn out to be the best money-saving option for them for a myriad of reasons, so maybe room discounts will end up working in your favor.

That's funny I hear this a lot, but I have NEVER seen a scenario where it it not a great deal, I guess if you are a party of one, maybe two, but every other scenario I run the numbers, Free Dining seems like a great deal

 

[DarthVader]

Free Dining seems like a great dea

Free dining can be a nice incentive, no question, You need to run the numbers to determine if the resort discount or the free meal plan is a better deal.

The meal plan itself is not a good deal, at least for my situation. I'm better off not buying the meal plan. Thanks to the Disney Dining Calculator You can run the numbers and see if the meal plan works for you or not.

For me, and what I estimate for my meals, taking the meal plan means I'm spending an extra 1,000 dollars. That is meal plan and meal expenses that are not covered will cost me close to 3k, where as no meal plan will mean only a 2k expense.

 

[belledream]

That's funny I hear this a lot, but I have NEVER seen a scenario where it it not a great deal, I guess if you are a party of one, maybe two, but every other scenario I run the numbers, Free Dining seems like a great deal

It really depends. Personally, we love FD for our needs at the moment. But I can see the variety of reasons people say it's not for them. Mainly that it influences them to try to maximize the plan and they don't want to have to do that. I personally look at it as a treat to eat the way I normally wouldn't, but not everyone looks at it that way.

 

[Dave B]

Free dining can be a nice incentive, no question, You need to run the numbers to determine if the resort discount or the free meal plan is a better deal.

The meal plan itself is not a good deal, at least for my situation. I'm better off not buying the meal plan. Thanks to the Disney Dining Calculator You can run the numbers and see if the meal plan works for you or not.

For me, and what I estimate for my meals, taking the meal plan means I'm spending an extra 1,000 dollars. That is meal plan and meal expenses that are not covered will cost me close to 3k, where as no meal plan will mean only a 2k expense.

I just don't see how that is possible, I have run umbers so many times, I would love to see your calculations

 

[DarthVader]

I just don't see how that is possible, I have run umbers so many times, I would love to see your calculations

Family of 4 adults - two parents, two 11 year olds but they're considered adults in the eyes of Disney. 1 daily snack, 4 refillable mugs and the following meals:

As you can the cost out of pocket (no meal plan) is estimated at 2292. The meal plan (non-QS) is 2994.99 An increase of 700 dollars. My 1,000 dollar example had some other dinner shows but here's what we typically do.

 

[AndrewsJ]

That's funny I hear this a lot, but I have NEVER seen a scenario where it it not a great deal, I guess if you are a party of one, maybe two, but every other scenario I run the numbers, Free Dining seems like a great deal

Free dining can be an incredible deal as you said. Disney could starting issuing gold bullion with each package and there would still be folks here who claimed they were getting ripped off. But you, like most intelligent people do, run the numbers so you know that in your case you are saving money. It is a case by case basis. Other deals may benefit other travelers better. The "if Disney does it, it must be horrible" mentality is out of control on so called fan forums. There are just a lot of folks who had just rather complain than put pen to paper. Heck pen to paper isn't even necessary there are forms online that will do the math for you. I'm with you though. It can be a great deal and is for many families. Unfortunately they read on forums that it isn't and they take that as fact so the responsibility goes both ways I guess.

 

[MickeyMomV]

That's funny I hear this a lot, but I have NEVER seen a scenario where it it not a great deal, I guess if you are a party of one, maybe two, but every other scenario I run the numbers, Free Dining seems like a great deal

The only time I have found free dining not to be a good deal is if you are a "group" of 1 or 2 and are staying deluxe and eat light. With those parameters the 20% off room discount may save you a bit over the free dining. But I'm with you in thinking that if you are a group of 3+ and are staying value to mod I don't see how you would not save a good amount of money with free dining.

Paying full price for dining is a completely different story. We used to be big supporters for the dining plan back when you could save 30% or more. No that they only advertise a savings of 10% we don't see the value unless you get it for "free".

 

[Dave B]

Family of 4 adults - two parents, two 11 year olds but they're considered adults in the eyes of Disney. 1 daily snack, 4 refillable mugs and the following meals:

As you can the cost out of pocket (no meal plan) is estimated at 2292. The meal plan (non-QS) is 2994.99 An increase of 700 dollars. My 1,000 dollar example had some other dinner shows but here's what we typically do.
View attachment 225376
View attachment 225375

Not sure where you got your numbers, I just went to the Disney website and for your dates you plugged in, 11/9-11/17

QS Plan is $1542
TS plan is $2219
That is for 4 adults ( two kids 13 and 11)--adults in the eyes of Disney

BOTH save you money on your itinerary

 

[Dave B]

Family of 4 adults - two parents, two 11 year olds but they're considered adults in the eyes of Disney. 1 daily snack, 4 refillable mugs and the following meals:

As you can the cost out of pocket (no meal plan) is estimated at 2292. The meal plan (non-QS) is 2994.99 An increase of 700 dollars. My 1,000 dollar example had some other dinner shows but here's what we typically do.
View attachment 225376
View attachment 225375

TS plan would save you $75 the QS plan would save you almost $750

I would also say on the plan you can eat Steak and Lobster, vs Hamburgers and hot dogs, that really ups our experiences

 

[Weather_Lady]

We had this happen on our last WDW trip. We were arriving one day before the eligible date for "free" dining, so here's what we did:

Our 7-night room-and-ticket package (with 8-day tickets) became:

(1) a one night room-only package; plus
(2) a six-night room-and-ticket package (with 8-day tickets) with free six nights worth of free dining.

As of the time we visited (November 2016), WE COULD USE OUR TICKETS from the second part of the split stay during our first stay. Specifically, at check-in for the first leg of the split stay, a CM could activate our tickets for "up to three days prior to the check-in date" for the second stay. That meant we didn't have to purchase a second set of tickets in order to get into the parks the first day. The DOWNSIDE to that because you can't get "early activation" for your tickets until you check in for the first leg of the split stay, you won't be able to make Fastpasses for those pre-checkin-days until that time. (You'll be able to make advanced FP+ at 60 days out for your second leg of the stay, however, as normal.)

In our case, we had to upgrade our room (from standard to preferred) and tickets (from MYW to parkhopper) to be eligible for free dining, and of course we had to pay for our first couple of meals out of pocket, since our first day wasn't covered. We still saved a few hundred dollars off of our overall trip cost, however, so it worked out well. We were also pleasantly surprised at the quality of FP+ we were able to get, day-of, when we checked in and got our tickets activated. (The CM who activates your tickets can immediately make FP+ for you for the days that you couldn't pre-reserve. Ask them to do it, as they can easily view ALL of the remaining inventory and can tell you exactly what's available for your desired park/attractions/times, and get them for you in seconds, as opposed to the minutes you'd spend fussing around on MDE.)

 

[DarthVader]

QS Plan is $1542
TS plan is $2219
That is for 4 adults ( two kids 13 and 11)--adults in the eyes of Disney

BOTH save you money on your itinerary

Yes, if all of my family's eating needs could fit within 1 QS and 1 table service each day. My family tends to eat 3 meals a day, so that other meal needs to be paid out of pocket. Gratuities is another factor, the meal plan does not cover it and that when your TS meals easily goes over 100 dollars, it adds up very quickly.

The meal plan does not always represent a good deal, the free meal plan can. I can make the meal plan work if my kids were considered kids. They eat kids meals still, and its a waste to pay for them as adults but only eat a little, or choose the kids meals.

By the way my actual costs for my reservation was 2416, which aligns with this site's calculator

 

[MickeyMomV]

The meal plan does not always represent a good deal, the free meal plan can. I can make the meal plan work if my kids were considered kids. They eat kids meals still, and its a waste to pay for them as adults but only eat a little, or choose the kids meals.

Keep in mind you don't always have to use the adult credits on the younger kids. The credits are issued to your meal plan as a overall number and are not assigned to each person. It takes some thought but depending on your meals you can always pay OOP for the kids and save the adult credits for another time in your trip.

So if on one day you eat a QS Breakfast and lunch and a Table service dinner you may pay OOP for the breakfast and the kids lunch and use QS credits for your lunch. The next day you can use your TS credits for a character breakfast and do QS for lunch and dinner. Well now you have left over adult QS credits that your kids did not use the day before and you can use them for lunch and dinner instead of paying OOP for the extra adult QS meals

On a side note you can use the snack credits to buy breakfast items and save some OOP cash.