Why Free Dining is such a massive saving.

[real mad hatter]

Hi Folks,Yesterday I met some friends who have just booked up for a 14 night vacation for WDW next year with free QS dining plan.So when I saw today's new prices for 2013 DDP, I thought to myself how important free dining plan can make or break you when deciding if you can afford to visit Disney.For example theres mum & dad,with a 11 year old boy & 13 year old girl,and a 5 year old boy.If they had to pay for the entire family,it works out at $2,328.00 that's £1,600. A massive saving. So how important does the free DDP make your decision on wither to go on a WDW vacation.

 

[Crush Dude!]

Hi Folks,Yesterday I met some friends who have just booked up for a 14 night vacation for WDW next year with free QS dining plan.So when I saw today's new prices for 2013 DDP, I thought to myself how important free dining plan can make or break you when deciding if you can afford to visit Disney.For example theres mum & dad,with a 11 year old boy & 13 year old girl,and a 5 year old boy.If they had to pay for the entire family,it works out at $2,328.00 that's £1,600. A massive saving. So how important does the free DDP make your decision on wither to go on a WDW vacation.

It was paramount for us this year! No free dining, no WDW!!

 

[Kandi]

We only go if we can get free dining otherwise it works out a lot of money for 5 people to eat for 2 weeks

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

It depends on your party size and resort preferences. If you're a large party (4-5 people) staying in a relatively cheap room (value or moderate), the savings can be huge. If you're a smaller party (2-3 people) and you like to stay at deluxe resorts, the 'savings' from free dining (while paying rack rate for the room) might not be as high as the savings from a room only/miscellaneous discount.

So while it doesn't work for everyone, there's definitely potential for huge savings compared to other discounts.

 

[Monty]

I will "ditto" @DonaldDoleWhip - it really does depend. Everybody needs to do the math based on where they stay, how many they are and how they eat. If the pattern of credits the plan gives you works for your eating routine and you'll actually use the credits they give you, you have enough people to negate the savings of room-only discounts at the resort level you'll be staying at, then "free" dining might be for you.

For myself and my son, even at a Value resort, "free" dining is barely a break-even proposal and we have to eat a lot more QS meals than we would normally consider. AP and TiW are a much more palatable choice for us.

 

[MITCH 112198]

We have been coming to Disney since 1999. We have had the dining plan free since 2006. and we go 1 or 2 times a year.
It's the only way I can get me DH to go , If we had to pay for it, He would never agree to go.

 

[Monty]

We have been coming to Disney since 1999. We have had the dining plan free since 2006. and we go 1 or 2 times a year.
It's the only way I can get me DH to go , If we had to pay for it, He would never agree to go.

If there's only the two of you and you go more than once a year, you should look at getting Annual Passes and the Tables in Wonderland card. Unless you only stay at Value resorts and don't use Table Service restaurants, you'll probably save more than "free" dining costs.

It could be worth doing some calculations...

 

[MITCH 112198]

It is Me, DH DS 3 And DD 8, We do stay at pop but always upgrade to the table service.

 

[wdwmagic]

The dining plan pretty much forces over-eating. I can't really imagine anyone eating the same amount if they were paying out of pocket, so direct price comparisons are difficult.

The dining plan has also led to a reduction in food quality at the restaurants, less availability, and on the whole a devaluation of food.

As you can tell, I'm not a fan LOL.

 

[eddiemcgarrigle]

Well, those of us in the UK don't get the benefit of the room discounts so free dining is a definite plus. I have paid for the DDP before and to be honest, I would pay for it again.

 

[real mad hatter]

Well our last trip in 2010 we had 5 ADRS for TS and it cost us around $800 and counter service meals and snacks added up to around $1200. But the free dining for us,a family of three,will be a huge saving.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

The dining plan pretty much forces over-eating. I can't really imagine anyone eating the same amount if they were paying out of pocket, so direct price comparisons are difficult.

The dining plan has also led to a reduction in food quality at the restaurants, less availability, and on the whole a devaluation of food.

As you can tell, I'm not a fan LOL.

Yes! This is the part of the equation I think a lot of people mix. In order to accurately compare the DDP to out of pocket expenses you need to go through the menus of the places you plan to eat at it calculate exactly what you think you might order if you were paying out of pocket. For instance, I am almost never hungry for dessert by the end of a big meal, yet the one time I did the dining plan I was forcing myself to eat dessert every night because it was "included." If you otherwise wouldn't eat dessert, then when you compare the costs of the DDP versus out of pocket, you have to consider that and not count it in your out of pocket calculations.

Then you have to weigh the free dining savings against any room discount you might get (because with free dining you have to pay rack rate for the room). Given that they make you buy park tickets, it's never the best deal for someone with an AP.

 

[plaz10]

The dining plan pretty much forces over-eating. I can't really imagine anyone eating the same amount if they were paying out of pocket, so direct price comparisons are difficult.

I agree 100% that the dining plan forces over eating. After a big steak dinner - I'm very unlikely to order a dessert but since it's "free" - I've gotta eat it. But I wouldn't eat "as good" of food in terms of quality if I didn't have the DDP. I'd be trading in my ADRs for counter service burgers and chicken tenders.

For us - we look at the "free" dining this way - we would spend X amount on a trip with a room rate + food or X amount on the dining plan + nothing. We find the cost is about the same - but with the DDP we can eat at table service restaurants and try more expensive dishes we would scoff at if we were paying out of pocket. I think I like the freedom of it - that I can order whatever I want. And that I can eat wherever I want. If we didn't have DDP - we'd eat way more counter service/bring snacks from home/share meals/etc...I enjoy the sit down meals that I normally wouldn't experience without the DDP. So I'm by no means saying it's free (price wise) but we enjoy that the same amount of money gives us some better options to more enjoy our vacation.

But food is very important to us. It makes or breaks a good vacation. My fiance says its one of the #1 reasons he loves going to Disney World. So the DDP allows us to eat more table service which greatly enhances our vacation experience. But to each their own!

 

[Monty]

For me it's the QS credits that make DDP not worth it. I prefer eating TS and end up forcing myself to eat QS to use up credits.

It really comes down to how you eat, where you stay and how many are in your group.

 

[dreamfinder]

The dining plan pretty much forces over-eating. I can't really imagine anyone eating the same amount if they were paying out of pocket, so direct price comparisons are difficult.

The dining plan has also led to a reduction in food quality at the restaurants, less availability, and on the whole a devaluation of food.

As you can tell, I'm not a fan LOL.

Ditto and ditto. If we ate the way the dining plan is set up, then it may make sense. But we get maybe two snacks during the whole trip, never do desserts, share drinks at lunch or drink water, etc etc, it just doesn't make sense. On paper yeah, its a $55 savings per person (or whatever the cost is), but for 1 TS and 1 CS (whats included on the normal plan) my normal daily tab would be around $30. Throwing TiW discount on that, free dining ends up pretty much being a wash for us, even at moderates.

 

[wdwmagic]

On the subject of the snacks, a very common sight is to see the DDP holders scrambling to just burn up credits towards the end of their trip. In some cases they are really just getting food the heck of it. I'm not saying this is the case for everyone, but in some cases it is just an absolute complete waste of food.

 

[Pooh Lover]

Since we always stay at the WL in September, there is usually both the free dining promotion as well as a nice room discount promotion available. For just my husband and I the room discount would most likely be the better deal overall but, since we usually bring our 14 year old niece, the free dining works out to be the better deal. But I will agree that free dining for us is definitely more food than we would have without it. I would never order a dessert for either lunch or dinner without it and might rely more on QS to take advantage of more park time, resort time or DDT time.

 

[real mad hatter]

Also I prefer QS to TS for these reasons. I would have to do 14 ADRS therefore my whereabouts in the parks is governed by where we will be eating each night,also I do not think I could eat 14 days of gourmet cusine,I'll end up looking like Tweedle Dee,and finally,tipping! For our 5 ADRS on our last trip,I tipped almost $200. That's £140 in our moneyAnd for a Scotsman that's a lot of Dosh.

 

[The Mom]

To answer the original question - free dining has no impact on any decision to visit WDW.

 

[real mad hatter]

To answer the original question - free dining has no impact on any decision to visit WDW.

I do agree. Our last 4 visits,all in July,we never got the chance of free DDP so we just winged it,but it wouldn't stop me going,but I wouldn't pay for the DDP,it would cost me $1700 for the three of us for two weeks.