Free dining offered and I saved $200

[Disneygrl71]

Was on the WD site and saw the free dining being offered, I quickly rebooked our trip for Dec.. adding the 7 day park hopper (had 6 day base before) with free dining option, staying at POP. It saved us almost $200 dollars (more if I decide to drop the 7 day to a 6).

• Stay dates: 8/21-9/30, 11/14-11/20, 11/25-11/27, 12/8-12/23/17 (for Port Orleans Riverside, dates are 8/21/17 – 9/30/17)
• Free Quick Service Dining Plan for Value and Moderate Resorts. Free Regular Dining Plan for Deluxe Resorts.
• Excluded from this offer: campsites, 3-bedroom villas, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – Little Mermaid Standard Rooms and Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows.
• Park Hopper or Park Hopper Plus tickets required (2-day minimum)

 

[LovesTimone]

Great Savings... Now you can throw in some TS or character meals...

 

[Marionnette]

Was on the WD site and saw the free dining being offered, I quickly rebooked our trip for Dec.. adding the 7 day park hopper (had 6 day base before) with free dining option, staying at POP. It saved us almost $200 dollars (more if I decide to drop the 7 day to a 6).

• Stay dates: 8/21-9/30, 11/14-11/20, 11/25-11/27, 12/8-12/23/17 (for Port Orleans Riverside, dates are 8/21/17 – 9/30/17)
• Free Quick Service Dining Plan for Value and Moderate Resorts. Free Regular Dining Plan for Deluxe Resorts.
• Excluded from this offer: campsites, 3-bedroom villas, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – Little Mermaid Standard Rooms and Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows.
• Park Hopper or Park Hopper Plus tickets required (2-day minimum)

So, you added another park day and hopping, and the QSDP and still saved almost $200? Nice job!

Out of curiosity, did you compare your price to getting a RO discount, tickets from UT and paying OOP for dining? I'm wondering how the numbers are shaking out for everyone, especially the people who stay in Moderates. The change to *free* dining for this years has only QSDP for Moderates.

My questions are purely academic. I purchased DVC so that I didn't have to chase discounts anymore. Now, I battle for availability during Fall Frenzy.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I almost thought this was a sarcastic post vs savings people have had in the past with free dining. I'm with a PP - did you check RO, b/c if you don't need the extra day of tickets or the hopper, you'd probably save more than $200...or if you don't, man, I guess fall will be more crowded than spring this year...guess with all the events, it was inevitable since it is the same weather as spring...

 

[Disneygrl71]

No, I didn't do the comparison.. but will check it out

 

[mi*vida*loca]

This new FD offer sucks compared to years past. Especially with mods only being QSDP and the ticket add on. We go late August and get a great travel agent deal for a deluxe so we will continue to do that and pay OOP for food. I will miss the moderate TS FD for a family of 4 with 3 or more Disney adults. That was an awesome deal!

 

[DisneyMandC]

This new FD offer sucks compared to years past. Especially with mods only being QSDP and the ticket add on. We go late August and get a great travel agent deal for a deluxe so we will continue to do that and pay OOP for food. I will miss the moderate TS FD for a family of 4 with 3 or more Disney adults. That was an awesome deal!

I quoted a room for SSR earlier and it gave me the full fining plan, not QS as part of my package. Didn't say I had to upgrade it or anything, it was just standard. I did choose a villa room so don't know if that made a difference.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Wow, never mind. I actually thought SSR was a moderate and just also had villas too. Didn't realize it was under the villas option, period! Ignore my previous post

 

[Hitchhiking Ghost]

This new FD offer sucks compared to years past. Especially with mods only being QSDP and the ticket add on. We go late August and get a great travel agent deal for a deluxe so we will continue to do that and pay OOP for food. I will miss the moderate TS FD for a family of 4 with 3 or more Disney adults. That was an awesome deal!

Agree, our youngest (10) is now an "adult" according to Disney. We generally stay or POR-AB so getting the free DDP with technically 5 adults was or would be an incredible savings, even though I'm not the biggest fan of the DDP. But between POR being excluded for a majority of the period and moderates being downgraded to QSDP, not quite the incentive for us that it once was. I would definitely have to crunch the numbers now a lot more than in the past. With free regular DDP compared to the moderate level resort discount, it was a no-brainer for us to take free dining, but QS vs resort discount, not so sure. Looking at renting DVC points as an alternative.

 

[Marionnette]

Agree, our youngest (10) is now an "adult" according to Disney. We generally stay or POR-AB so getting the free DDP with technically 5 adults was or would be an incredible savings, even though I'm not the biggest fan of the DDP. But between POR being excluded for a majority of the period and moderates being downgraded to QSDP, not quite the incentive for us that it once was. I would definitely have to crunch the numbers now a lot more than in the past. With free regular DDP compared to the moderate level resort discount, it was a no-brainer for us to take free dining, but QS vs resort discount, not so sure. Looking at renting DVC points as an alternative.

You're way behind the curve if you're considering a DVC rental for the fall of 2017. The time period from late Sept. thru Marathon Weekend in Jan. is the "Fall Frenzy" at DVC that I was referring to. You may be able to find scattered nights at the larger resorts (OKW and SSR), but anything near the parks -especially studios- will be very difficult to book. Fall Frenzy really needs to be booked 11 months in advance.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

This new FD offer sucks compared to years past. Especially with mods only being QSDP and the ticket add on. We go late August and get a great travel agent deal for a deluxe so we will continue to do that and pay OOP for food. I will miss the moderate TS FD for a family of 4 with 3 or more Disney adults. That was an awesome deal!

Agreed. We got the same TA deal for a deluxe (assuming anyway) but we loved staying at POR with FD. Just loved the convenience of the dining plan.
But this year when we priced out FD ad POR for the same dates, upgrading the QS to regular dining plan - we would pay about $500 more than for FD at POR last year! No thanks.
Could get wilderness lodge for a couple hundred more but.. it will still be cheaper to pay for food OOP and stay at the Polynasian.
Just have to wrap my head around how to budget and plan for the dining.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Agreed. We got the same TA deal for a deluxe (assuming anyway) but we loved staying at POR with FD. Just loved the convenience of the dining plan.
But this year when we priced out FD ad POR for the same dates, upgrading the QS to regular dining plan - we would pay about $500 more than for FD at POR last year! No thanks.
Could get wilderness lodge for a couple hundred more but.. it will still be cheaper to pay for food OOP and stay at the Polynasian.
Just have to wrap my head around how to budget and plan for the dining.

Paying OOP had us try places we wouldn't have on the FD plan since it wouldn't have been "worth the credits." Beaches and Cream was a favorite. What we did was buy giftcards leading up to the trip. Every month we would buy $200-300 worth of giftcards. I believe we went with 2K in gift cards. It didn't sting as much that way.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Paying OOP had us try places we wouldn't have on the FD plan since it wouldn't have been "worth the credits." Beaches and Cream was a favorite. What we did was buy giftcards leading up to the trip. Every month we would buy $200-300 worth of giftcards. I believe we went with 2K in gift cards. It didn't sting as much that way.

That's what I'm thinking too... we always eat at the most expensive restaurants with the Dining Plan, but I have wanted to try less expensive options such as Kona Café for breakfast, Via Napoli Pizza etc.
We still want to do Ohana and Be our Guest though so those will be pricy. I do like your idea of buying gift cards as we go along over the next few months (our stay is mid August) I just have to figure out if we can buy them in Canada to use in US for sure. I just read on a different thread that you can but need to go to a Disney store here and double check.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

That's what I'm thinking too... we always eat at the most expensive restaurants with the Dining Plan, but I have wanted to try less expensive options such as Kona Café for breakfast, Via Napoli Pizza etc.
We still want to do Ohana and Be our Guest though so those will be pricy. I do like your idea of buying gift cards as we go along over the next few months (our stay is mid August) I just have to figure out if we can buy them in Canada to use in US for sure. I just read on a different thread that you can but need to go to a Disney store here and double check.

We love VN and when on FD we would pay OOP for VN so in all actuality we were spending more. We also did Ohana and BOG OOP. So worth it!

 

[OhMari]

You can pay for the upgrade to the regular Dining Plan. As for comparison's. I have done it twice now, paid out of pocket. The first time, I came out even, the second time, I paid more. Disney food prices are expensive.

 

[mercydisney]

For me it worked. It is just DD and me this trip. Was pricing ASMusic. I paid $17. more then I would if I would of gotten a discount and we are eating for free. I already had reservations for Ohana's, Bon Voyage and Boma's. I was planning to pay oop but then I realized for $211. more I might well go ahead and add DDP.
Last night my DD asked if we could eat in Cinderella's Castle. I did not think I would be able to get reservations. But I DID!!

 

[angierae]

The thing for me is I will take free dining over a better discount because if I have to pay cash for meals, I will get there and start canceling sit down meals because I go "Well, we could spend $150 on dinner, or we could do X" and suddenly we're missing out on something I really enjoy at disney (the dining) because the numbers just break my brain.

(For example on our last quick trip I cancelled two meals we'd planned because I just couldn't stomach the prices. We were there during FD, but couldn't get it because we weren't staying enough nights.)

 

[PghDisneyDarling]

Free dining worked out for us at POP, too! This was my first time trying to get FD, but we were able to add a night to our stay, add an additional day and park hopper to our tickets, and saved $200 overall. It works for us because now we have 4 park days instead of 3, and can relax a little more knowing we have more time. We had to move our dates around quite a bit to get FD, from an early October stay to a late August stay, but that also means I don't have to miss classes now, so it's a win all around!

I wasn't expecting to get anything for FD because of all the hype around it, but I was able to book it online at 6 last night with no hassle at all, and availability for the dates we needed at a few resorts.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The thing for me is I will take free dining over a better discount because if I have to pay cash for meals, I will get there and start canceling sit down meals because I go "Well, we could spend $150 on dinner, or we could do X" and suddenly we're missing out on something I really enjoy at disney (the dining) because the numbers just break my brain.

(For example on our last quick trip I cancelled two meals we'd planned because I just couldn't stomach the prices. We were there during FD, but couldn't get it because we weren't staying enough nights.)

For me personally and from reading other people's comments that is actually something that deters them from the Dining Plan in general (free or otherwise). The exploration of options without the concern of "is this on the Dining Plan?" "is this a good place to use the credits?" "do I feel the need to order X in order for me to perceive I am getting my money's worth with the Dining Plan?" can be freeing.

Obviously it works for some and not for others so I'm not saying anything towards you about your choice to opt for free dining.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

For me it worked. It is just DD and me this trip. Was pricing ASMusic. I paid $17. more then I would if I would of gotten a discount and we are eating for free. I already had reservations for Ohana's, Bon Voyage and Boma's. I was planning to pay oop but then I realized for $211. more I might well go ahead and add DDP.
Last night my DD asked if we could eat in Cinderella's Castle. I did not think I would be able to get reservations. But I DID!!

I'm planning a mother daughter trip for next year. I priced out some options and Pop with upgrading dining plan isn't a bad deal. I'm usually not for values since we need queen beds (family of 4) and prefer a pool slide but for just DD and myself double beds wouldn't be a problem. I normally would book the travel agent deal for end of August at a deluxe but this is something I will have to think about next year if they offer it.