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View Full Version : Free Dining really free?



PoohRules
08-02-2009, 02:29 PM
I jumped at the chance to book an early December trip, that was unplanned, due to free dining. I am staying at a moderate resort, so I quailfy for basic dining plan. However, I am curious, if it is truly free dining, shouldn't the trip price be what it would cost to quote w/out any dining? This is not the case. If I attempt to book via Disney website for the same number of days and ticket setup (same room type and resort), but w/o a dining package, it is $300 less!

What am I missing in the fine print of the so called "free dining"?

W24toISMdirect
08-02-2009, 02:51 PM
Your not giving a lot of info such as how many people/how many days or how you booked, so it's hard to tell how much your saving, or even if you booked the free dining correctly and didn't just buy a regular dining package. More details are needed here.

I LoveJack
08-02-2009, 02:57 PM
Right now you can either get the free dining OR get a discount on your room rate. Depending on how many are in your party and where you were planning on eating it may or may not be the better deal. There are 4 of us in my party and since 3 are classified as adults(even though DD is only 11) we can split some of the meals and shouldn't have to pay a lot of extra costs out of pocket. Plus saved a bundle since she is classified as adult pricing now.
:mickey:

Live4WDW
08-02-2009, 03:30 PM
:mickey: Well sorry, but the so-called free dining is actually free dining. What you probably forgot to do is minus the water park and more option, and the park hopper options from the price. Ex Free dp at CBR for 4 nights $1258.20. That is from the page for the free dining promotion. Doing the same trip minus free dining on the regular package page automatically gives you waterpark and more option, with park hopper tickets already figured in with price, at $1471.24,so as you see, yes free dining is free dining. Easily mistaken. Thanks WDW we all appreciate it.:mickey:

Strmchsr
08-02-2009, 03:37 PM
The fine print is that with "free" dining you're paying rack rate for the room, which is considerably more than you usually pay for a room.

With a value resort the "free" dining promotion is a pretty decent deal (though not so much with the QS deal currently being offered). With moderate (and especially deluxe) usually a room discount is as good or better. This is why I HIGHLY recommend using Magical Journeys to book trips. They do all the math to figure out how to save you the most money.

BluewaterBrad
08-02-2009, 04:08 PM
NOTHING in life is FREE!!!:mickey:

ibelieveindisneymagic
08-02-2009, 05:40 PM
In our case, the "free" dining has always saved us some money, but it isn't 100% "free". Still, I'll take what I can get...every little bit helps :mickey:

Hammer
08-02-2009, 05:44 PM
The fine print is that with "free" dining you're paying rack rate for the room, which is considerably more than you usually pay for a room.

With a value resort the "free" dining promotion is a pretty decent deal (though not so much with the QS deal currently being offered). With moderate (and especially deluxe) usually a room discount is as good or better. This is why I HIGHLY recommend using Magical Journeys to book trips. They do all the math to figure out how to save you the most money.

Not necessarily. It also depends on where you like to eat and what you would usually spend for food. In the original poster's example, they said the difference was $300 for a moderate resort. Now, I can't speak for everyone, but I know the way we dine would cost much more than $300.

Definitely work with MJ as they will help to determine what will work best for your situation.

PAYROLL PRINCESS
08-02-2009, 06:16 PM
You do pay rack rate (regular price) for the room. However if you have 4 in your room and the dining plan cost roughly $39 per day per person, it would depend on where you are going to eat. I personally saved about $500 by myself last year on the dining plan. We made the most of the best restaurants, places we wouldn't normally eat at. So you figure if you each saved about that much, and the room would cost $50 less per night with a discount, that's only a savings of $350 for a 7 night stay, but you've saved about $1500 on the free dining plan leaving you with a total savings of $1150 by going with the free dining rather than a discounted room rate.

sisterdisco
08-02-2009, 06:20 PM
On the regular dining plan last year, that was "free". We spent $400 in tips. We tipped about 25 to 30%.
BUT.....the bills manytimes were over $200 for 4 of us. We had great meals. Would do it again if we got the chance.

BMan62
08-02-2009, 06:53 PM
On the regular dining plan last year, that was "free". We spent $400 in tips. We tipped about 25 to 30%.
BUT.....the bills manytimes were over $200 for 4 of us. We had great meals. Would do it again if we got the chance.

And what would you have eaten and tipped if you were NOT on the 'Free' DDP? You tip at ALL TS locations, whether you are on the DDP or not, so IMO that should not even be considered in this discussion.

The question is: Would you have eaten at TS establishments if you did not have the DDP, and how much would you have spent at CS locations?

Strmchsr is correct in saying that the 'Free DDP' is NOT free in that you must pay rack rates for the room and purchase at least a one day, one park MYW ticket. However, you must weigh these costs versus any discounted room rates for your time frame.

Figure $40 time the number in your party over age 10 plus $10 times the number in your party under age 10 versus the $$$ of the nightly discount on room rate for the resort you are staying at to get a 'ballpark' figure.

For us, two adults staying at Pop Century, the 'Free DDP' is ALWAYS a better deal. But, that's just us.

sisterdisco
08-02-2009, 07:52 PM
[QUOTE=BMan62;1932757]And what would you have eaten and tipped if you were NOT on the 'Free' DDP?

If the the DDP was not "free" when we went, we would not have gotten the DDP. We would have gotten a room w/ a kitchen. The "free" DDP was a great treat. We still had an awesome deal even w/ the tips.

HOWEVER, we did overhear other guests on the Free DDP who were "not tipping" and our waiter at LeCellier told us that he was "stiffed" by 4 different parties earlier that week of "free dining".

So if you add up the extra cost of a rack rate and then add in your tips, you need to weigh the $$$ advantage and see if it works for you.

TheDuckRocks
08-03-2009, 11:00 AM
Our up coming trip which included the DDP was completely paid in full when the new free dining deal came out. With one easy phone call to Disney I was able to have the free dining added to our reservation and they refunded to us $799.80, the complete cost of the base DDP $39.99 X 2 for 10 nights. We weren't changed anything extra.