Free Dining and YOUR trip plans

[draybook]

I hope this is the right sub-forum, since it actually had to do with planning. If Disney were NOT to offer Free Dining, how would it affect your trip plans?

Personally speaking, we would either have to switch to offsite lodging or cancel Disney and go to Uni/Sea World instead.

 

[Poofiesdream]

We don't use free dinning, we have AP and don't want to buy tickets to get it. We like the room discount better.

 

[Tinkerbell 8]

I try to always go during either free dining or the room discount, or else I would have to stay for a shorter amount of time or wait longer between trips. I have done the math after getting home from each trip to see if the dining plan saved us money or we broke even, and each time we have saved over $1,000 by having the free dining. Once I saw that I started to upgrade to the deluxe dining plan and we still end up saving a ton of money (we really like to eat and I have no problems spending time away from the parks for a good meal). I'm hoping for either free dining or a room discount for our planned trip in December.

 

[draybook]

I don't think we could utilize the deluxe plan, but we love the table services.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

If free dining wasn't offered I'd take another look at September at WDW. With free dining? Not a chance.

 

[RedDad]

We've done free dining once, and it saved us a huge chunk for that particular trip. However, we've found recently that the room discount is a better overall deal for us than free dining. I personally liked the dining plan the couple of times we've done it - mainly the convenience, but my wife can't stand it, so it doesn't affect our planning these days.

We just budget for a large amount on food, because that's one of our favorite parts of WDW!

 

[disneygirl76]

I hope this is the right sub-forum, since it actually had to do with planning. If Disney were NOT to offer Free Dining, how would it affect your trip plans?

Personally speaking, we would either have to switch to offsite lodging or cancel Disney and go to Uni/Sea World instead.

We do room only with a AAA discount but still stay on property. We do this bc the discount is a nice one with AAA. We have done offsite twice and we won't do it again. There are too many additional perks other then free dining that make us stay on property.

 

[UPbeekeeper]

I did a lot of planning around historic dates when FD was offered in the past. I know there is no guarantee that it will be offered, but I am hoping that by using a reasonable thought process regarding timing that I have increased our chances of going when there will be a FD offer.

Having said that, yes, I already booked my trip, so we are going regardless of the offer. However, our plans will change a lot, if we have to pay for dining. We will be eating QS, with only 1 TS dinner for my daughter's birthday, as opposed to TS for every dinner. I will pack more snacks. We will probably have less free spending money for souvenirs. When push comes to shove, if I have to downgrade from a moderate to a value, I will do that as well.

Bottom line, if I have pay for meals, my spending in other areas will be less. The trip will still happen, but I will not be spending money as freely as I would if I had FD. Feeding 2 adults & 2 older teens is costly in WDW.

 

[hiptwinmama]

it wouldn't change a thing for us

 

[JimJam]

We use the 30% Room Discount to it's full potential

 

[Club Cooloholic]

When I went to Disneyworld two years ago we got Free Dining in June. Well that seems done for but we are still going this spring with the room discount. Sure we saved more with free dining, but a few things I am looking forward too. I think the crowds won't be as bad since there are folks who will not stay without free dining. Another is I am not making a million dining reservations, I have made a few, but I think the restaurants won't be as crazy and I would rather go on the fly a little more. I don't plan to eat as much, I won't order steak 3 times just because I can and I might only do one buffet. I might not even order an entree and instead try apps I have never experienced.

 

[Alison1975]

I hope this is the right sub-forum, since it actually had to do with planning. If Disney were NOT to offer Free Dining, how would it affect your trip plans?

Personally speaking, we would either have to switch to offsite lodging or cancel Disney and go to Uni/Sea World instead.

yep.. no free dining means we dont go plain and simple. I've done the math...two vacations with free dining..it is beyond a doubt the best deal for us..

 

[ShookieJones]

We've only had free dining a couple of times, but we have had a 30% room discount every year (except the first year we went).
However a lot of the time the discounts have come in as a pin after we've booked. So the discount has always been an added bonus and in one case
made us decide to upgrade to a Deluxe.

WDW hasn't priced us out of staying on property just yet. So we are fortunate enough that at this juncture free dining doesn't make a difference.

 

[RandomPrincess]

We don't use free dinning, we have AP and don't want to buy tickets to get it. We like the room discount better.

If I was AP Holder I would be all about the tables in Wonderland Card. Discounts on Food and alcohol? Yes, Please!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We also try and plan as if there are no discounts to be offered. i.e. we don't bank on any of it. That being said, I prefer a room discount over free dining any day. We don't do well on regular DDP as we like TS breakfast and dinner each day, we find most QS spots offer portions suitable for sharing, we don't consume a ton of snacks, and we prefer an appetizer to a dessert. On top of that,things seem to be less hectic with ADRs and people trying to get walk ups if you go during a time where there's no free dining. Sooooo, lack of free dining is kind of an incentive for us. Mind you- I won't turn it down if it's the only discount being offered since we can at least make use of some of it, but it's certainly nothing I plan on.

 

[Monty]

Haven't used dining plans in years. With only my son and I we basically break in a Value resort using free dining, but are stuck eating to their plan rather than our own. With an AP room-only discount and TiW, we save as much or more and can eat the way we like.

At a Moderate or Deluxe it's a no-brainer - "Free" dining would cost us a lot more. We did an 8-night stay at Beach Club and the AP discount covered my AP, a TiW card, my son's park hopper and everything we ate and drank the whole trip. It was like rack rate, but all-inclusive [plus I got quite a few extra trips on the AP ]