I did the math on "free dining" and room discounts

[WDWCrazyKaren]

We've already booked our trip for January 2012 with the free dining. Yesterday, I decided to do the math on what it would be for free dining vs. room discounts. For two adults at a value resort for 7 nights, with *free* dining, and two 7 day park hopper tickets, it's $1600.

Same time frame, same tickets, value resort with room discount instead of free dining, it was $1300. So that basically makes our food $300 for the week if we went with the *free* dining.

Well, I don't know about you, but DH and I certainly would spend more than $300 for the both of us for a weeks worth of food. Other than *beverages* (:marg::beer:), we don't spend food money outside of the dining plan, so really, it works out to be a very good deal. I guess everyone needs to work out the figures for each separate scenario, but *free* dining is a good deal for us, it seems!

[buzznwoodysmom]

When I've run the numbers in the past I only came out a tiny bit ahead if we would have been staying at a value resort. The moderate resorts were pretty close to a wash, most of the time. When pricing a deluxe resort the better discount was just about always the room discount. Rack rates at a deluxe resort can be high, much higher than the cost of food for our family.

[jillluvsdisney]

I came to same conclusion. 4 of us are staying AKL next month. Each of us saved 300 dollars when we rebooked with free dining.

[brivers222]

for us the 30% discount at the poly and Bwi with deluxe dinning full price worked out to be about 1000.00 cheaper than the same place with Free Dining.

and yes $300 for the dining plan is way worth it... especially for 7 days eating disney priced meals!

[vicster]

Depends on where you stay and family size. Last year My husband and I stayed at WL with a 40% room discount which was much better than free dining.

[Gator]

With money really tight these days, the only way I can get back to WDW is with some sort of discount. The room discount is OK, usually saving $300-400 on the trip. But when they offer free dining, it's hard to resist. That's so much more in savings for me and my family. I'm trying to get back next year in Nov or Dec, but if they don't offer free dining, I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull the trigger.

[WDWCrazyKaren]

Depends on where you stay and family size. Last year My husband and I stayed at WL with a 40% room discount which was much better than free dining.

You are totally right. We are at a value with only two adults. I would suspect every scenario is different, given that the discounts vary by resort category.

[TheVBs]

We've discovered the same thing and we're a family of four staying at value. The free dining, even with it being QS this time, saved us much more than what the value room discount would have. :thumbsup: