Free Dining vs Room Discount Offer

[Dave B]

So I have been reading A LOT of people opinions on the Free Dining Promotion vs the Room Only discount and I have to say, I was pretty surprised by the numbers. I would love for someone to let me know if I missed something here.

6 Day Trip, example dates Sept 14- Sept 20, I also did Sept 18-24 and Sept 12-18

All Star Resort Free Dining Promo-----Total Cost $3650 and that is after the $552 upgrade from the quick service to the regular dining that includes TS, this includes Park Hopper as part of the promotion

All Star Resort Room discount-------- 2613.94 add park hopper makes price 2933.16 add the Dining plan with TS and the total price was 4744.88

I did the same comparison with port Orleans and was the same savings

I am seeing that the Free Dining saves me over $1000, that is paying "Rack Rate on the Free Dining" Not sure where the argument comes that Free Dining Promo is not worth it, please let me know if I am missing something

 

[danlb_2000]

So I have been reading A LOT of people opinions on the Free Dining Promotion vs the Room Only discount and I have to say, I was pretty surprised by the numbers. I would love for someone to let me know if I missed something here.

6 Day Trip, example dates Sept 14- Sept 20, I also did Sept 18-24 and Sept 12-18

All Star Resort Free Dining Promo-----Total Cost $3650 and that is after the $552 upgrade from the quick service to the regular dining that includes TS, this includes Park Hopper as part of the promotion

All Star Resort Room discount-------- 2613.94 add park hopper makes price 2933.16 add the Dining plan with TS and the total price was 4744.88

I did the same comparison with port Orleans and was the same savings

I am seeing that the Free Dining saves me over $1000, that is paying "Rack Rate on the Free Dining" Not sure where the argument comes that Free Dining Promo is not worth it, please let me know if I am missing something

I am planning a trip around that time and did the Contemporary without the dining plan. Without the dinning plan it was $533 less. There are two of us staying 5 nights so that is $53 per person per day. Since the dining plan was 1 QS and 1TS, I didn't see those meals costing us more the $53 per person per day, so the room discount made more sense. If someone sees anything wrong with my math let me know so I can change plans!

 

[Dave B]

So I just went in and pulled the dates of 9/14-9/20 for Contemporary with Main Tower Theme Park View, it was the only category available for both Free Dining and Discount, I see this: Free Dining $ 6324------The Discount Room Offer, with Park Hopper and the dining plan is $7497, I see a $1400 cheaper package going with Free Dining, unless again, I am not doing something correct?--This is for 4 people, I just redid for 2 people and: Free Dining is $5291 and Discount room offer is: $5559 still cheaper

 

[Dave B]

Now this is comparing Apples to Apples, if you do the room discount and DO NOT do the Park Hopper, which is required for Free Dining, but add the same dining plan it is 5399.82---Free Dining is still cheaper

 

[DisneyJoe]

I am planning a trip around that time and did the Contemporary without the dining plan. Without the dinning plan it was $533 less. There are two of us staying 5 nights so that is $53 per person per day. Since the dining plan was 1 QS and 1TS, I didn't see those meals costing us more the $53 per person per day, so the room discount made more sense. If someone sees anything wrong with my math let me know so I can change plans!

The dining plan is 1 QS, 1 TS, 2 snacks per nights stay and a refillable resort mug - and if you use the snacks right, you can make some QS meals ie breakfast - but it still really depends on where and what you eat. Don't forget the alcoholic beverage that is on the 2019 plan.

 

[danlb_2000]

The dining plan is 1 QS, 1 TS, 2 snacks per nights stay and a refillable resort mug - and if you use the snacks right, you can make some QS meals ie breakfast - but it still really depends on where and what you eat. Don't forget the alcoholic beverage that is on the 2019 plan.

We are not big alcohol drinkers, and don't do a lot of soft drinks so the refillable mug doesn't get us much. The cost will probably end up being close, but by not doing the dining plan I don't have to constantly be worrying that I am using it effectively.

 

[cjack300zx]

I booked a 8 night and 8 day trip to allstar sports in September with free quick service dinning. It ended up just about $150 cheaper than booking through Expedia and purchasing tickets and a quick service dinning plan

 

[DisneyJoe]

FYI - sorry to pick nits! It's dining, not dinning, LOL

 

[danlb_2000]

FYI - sorry to pick nits! It's dining, not dinning, LOL

Doesn't change the price.

 

[danlb_2000]

So I just went in and pulled the dates of 9/14-9/20 for Contemporary with Main Tower Theme Park View, it was the only category available for both Free Dining and Discount, I see this: Free Dining $ 6324------The Discount Room Offer, with Park Hopper and the dining plan is $7497, I see a $1400 cheaper package going with Free Dining, unless again, I am not doing something correct?--This is for 4 people, I just redid for 2 people and: Free Dining is $5291 and Discount room offer is: $5559 still cheaper

You are right it's cheaper to take free dining over the room discount with the dining plan, but this assumes you are going to get the value of the dining plan.

 

[cjack300zx]

Well I can't blame it on typing too fast I made the same mistake twice lol

FYI - sorry to pick nits! It's dining, not dinning, LOL

 

[donnylambb]

we always take the discount because we get a villa and eat breakfast in room and throughout week some lunches. We did the math and it would not work for us.

 

[monothingie]

I am planning a trip around that time and did the Contemporary without the dining plan. Without the dinning plan it was $533 less. There are two of us staying 5 nights so that is $53 per person per day. Since the dining plan was 1 QS and 1TS, I didn't see those meals costing us more the $53 per person per day, so the room discount made more sense. If someone sees anything wrong with my math let me know so I can change plans!

I’m going around the same time 9/21-9/30 going solo. @wannabeBelle helped me book my trip and did the analysis that the free dining doesn’t make sense for me as compared to the discount I’m getting compared from the rack rate. Further as an AP holder I can apply the cost of the tickets to my AP renewal, but even then I still save more with a room only discounts coupled with an AP room discount.

I would recommend using a TA such as @Kingdom Konsultant (Official TA of WDWMAGIC) who’s specialty is WDW to help anyone plan and crunch the numbers. These guys are experts in booking and planning and can help you make the best possible desicions for your trip budget. Plus it is totally FREE for you, they do not charge a penny for their services.

I’m not trying to shamelessly plug them, but Marrie @wannabeBelle and Pam @Kingdom Konsultant are really great people to deal with. They are super friendly and knowledgeable and make planning a trip a pleasure.

 

[Hcalvert]

I booked the free dining offer this time as it ran cheaper for me by $500 (2 adults, 1 child) at CS. I was planning on getting hoppers anyways and my husband wanted the dining plan. I ended up paying extra to move from QS to TS too. On the other hand, my cousin is a veteran and the room discount is a better deal for her as her tickets are half the price.

I was planning on going in June, but when I priced it, it was still cheaper to go with the free dining planning offer in July. I believe it also depends where you're staying. For instance, WL only has a 15% discount on rooms with the room discount offer and the free dining offer would be better if you have multiple people. However, most moderates have 20% off and some deluxes have 30% off the room.

I would gladly spend extra to stay in a deluxe, but my brother cannot afford to with him having to pay for 6 people (2 adults, 4 kids) and the free dining promo was the better deal for him and also me taking one of his kids in my room too so he could book a 5-capacity room. I am willing to make concessions for my nieces and nephews so that they can go to WDW for the first time. I was able to get his costs down to under $6000 with the standard dining plan for 8 nights, a room at POR, and a 6-day hopper. I am thinking that is pretty good.

 

[msmm12]

So I have been reading A LOT of people opinions on the Free Dining Promotion vs the Room Only discount and I have to say, I was pretty surprised by the numbers. I would love for someone to let me know if I missed something here.

6 Day Trip, example dates Sept 14- Sept 20, I also did Sept 18-24 and Sept 12-18

All Star Resort Free Dining Promo-----Total Cost $3650 and that is after the $552 upgrade from the quick service to the regular dining that includes TS, this includes Park Hopper as part of the promotion

All Star Resort Room discount-------- 2613.94 add park hopper makes price 2933.16 add the Dining plan with TS and the total price was 4744.88

I did the same comparison with port Orleans and was the same savings

I am seeing that the Free Dining saves me over $1000, that is paying "Rack Rate on the Free Dining" Not sure where the argument comes that Free Dining Promo is not worth it, please let me know if I am missing something

Your math is sound, but you are sort of missing the point of the "is free dining worth it?" debate. If you are determined to get the dining plan regardless, then yes, free dining is almost always going to be better than the room only discount.

What you need to figure out is how much you would spend on a food per day, without the dining plan. In your example, there is a $1,037 difference between the free dining quote and your room discount quote before you added the dining plan. That means you would need to spend over $172 on food per day for the free dining to be worth it. If there are only two people in your party, that might be tough to do. If there are 4 people in your party, then it would make more sense.

So to sum up, if you think you would spend less than $172 per day on food if paying out of pocket, take the room discount. If you think you would spend more than $172 per day on food if paying out of pocket, then take the free dining.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Most people I know, if they take the room discount rarely get dining. The DDP would cost quite a bit more than we generally spend on meals.
What is the standard price now about 75.00 per adult?
No way would we spend 225.00 every day on food.

 

[Dave B]

I would have to say that we are a family of four, so I agree it might not be worth it for a party or 1 or 2, but with the TS, QS and all the snacks, plus the refillable mug, we come out way ahead every time, now we could save a lot of money doing just the room discount and shopping at Target or Publix and not eating at the parks or hotel, and save even more staying off site, but it really is not the same experience

 

[graphite1326]

So I have been reading A LOT of people opinions on the Free Dining Promotion vs the Room Only discount and I have to say, I was pretty surprised by the numbers. I would love for someone to let me know if I missed something here.

6 Day Trip, example dates Sept 14- Sept 20, I also did Sept 18-24 and Sept 12-18

All Star Resort Free Dining Promo-----Total Cost $3650 and that is after the $552 upgrade from the quick service to the regular dining that includes TS, this includes Park Hopper as part of the promotion

All Star Resort Room discount-------- 2613.94 add park hopper makes price 2933.16 add the Dining plan with TS and the total price was 4744.88

I did the same comparison with port Orleans and was the same savings

I am seeing that the Free Dining saves me over $1000, that is paying "Rack Rate on the Free Dining" Not sure where the argument comes that Free Dining Promo is not worth it, please let me know if I am missing something

I figured it the same as you and also thought it was a better deal than the discount on the rooms.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I would have to say that we are a family of four, so I agree it might not be worth it for a party or 1 or 2, but with the TS, QS and all the snacks, plus the refillable mug, we come out way ahead every time, now we could save a lot of money doing just the room discount and shopping at Target or Publix and not eating at the parks or hotel, and save even more staying off site, but it really is not the same experience

Very true but again it depends on what a family's normal practice is. For example, almost 20 years going to the world we've never done the refillable mugs.
for us its also about how we eat. for example we generally go when it's Africa hot outside, so there are days when we have a ts meal and it's a bunch of appetizers. We never do desserts preferring to get ice cream at the end of the night. so TS credits would be wasted on us, we would have to pay out of pocket for appetizers and would probably order meals we really didn't want to get the "full" value of the meal.
I just took a look at a summer trip we trying to decide on. since we are saving our points for galaxy's edge it's going to be oop.

5 night stay AKL 3 adults with the park hopper option from disney would be ~3429.00.
5 night stay AKL 3 adults with park hopper tickets from undercover tourist (188 bucks savings) ~3259.00
5 night stay AKL 3 adults free dining 4639.00

and again most folks I know who take the room discount have other discounts (APs, dvc) which gives breaks on meals. but even without the breaks a difference of ~1400.00 comes to a little under 300 bucks a day. we simply don't spend that much on food and we have ts's every day AND that's including us starting our day with breakfast at Ihop or Denny's (there are both 7 minutes from Disney springs)

 

[JIMINYCR]

For a lot of people, the Free dining sounds better so they jump at the chance and dont bother to do the work to see the comparison. It says FREE so its got to be a great bargain doesnt it? I dont think most people even consider the option for room discount. Weve been going enough times to know our likes & dislikes to the menus and what we will be ordering. There have been times the dining has saved us but there also has been times it just didnt work to our advantage.