What’s the value of free dining?

[3gr8boys]

Yeah the dining is definitely a "your mileage may vary" situation. The WORST thing you can do is opt for the free dining and then try to force yourself to eat in a way that makes it worthwhile. We (like PP) ran the numbers for our last family trip and dining plans would have been much more expensive than the way we normally eat. My work-around was to buy Disney gift cards for our food budget, so that those expenses were covered and separate from other trip spending. It wasn't any different from having a pre-paid dining plan since the money was already spoken for in the gift cards, we just had a LOT more control over how it was spent.

I come from a similar angle....paying OOP means we don't have to order a certain way......I will often have apps instead of an entree, my 10 year old is still happy with a kid portion and we rarely order desserts. To have that already paid for feeling so we didn't have to focus prices, last trip we set aside in a savings account what the dining plan would have cost. We ate well, including several TS and AYCTE character meals, and charged it, via magic band, back to my cash back credit card knowing there was $ waiting to pay the bill.

That said, if free dining was available for a trip, I would run the numbers vs room discounts to make sure I could still expect to come out ahead skipping it

 

[Fangorn]

When questioning the "value" of the dining plan, the first (possibly the only) question that needs to be asked, is "value" to whom? The fact that Disney offers it and promotes it so blasted heavily should tell us that the value in this proposition goes to Disney big time.

Steve

 

[Nancyg56]

When questioning the "value" of the dining plan, the first (possibly the only) question that needs to be asked, is "value" to whom? The fact that Disney offers it and promotes it so blasted heavily should tell us that the value in this proposition goes to Disney big time.

Steve

Actually, I believe that The only question to ask is if the plan has value for my family? It matters not why Disney promotes a plan, or if the plans are valuable to Disney. They only consideration any person should have is if there is a value for them. And unfortunately there is no hard and fast rule other than everyone needs to do their own math based on their family dynamic and dining preferences.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

My prior experience was YES to FD. A few years back we had 4 adults one room. The FD for 4 of us who all wanted one sit down meal everyday was well worth it over the small 20% discount room discount. This was when you still got Sit Down meal plan staying at a MOD resort which is no longer the case.

 

[AllyReggie]

Okay, took me awhile to finally post this. LOOOOONG Mathsy post incoming:
--------

I think the math here is most important, but you have to do it from the perspective of what you will want to eat on your vacation, what you think you could afford out of pocket and then see where they numbers lie. I'll give you a 7 day 6 night example rundown with the DDP (1 TS, 1 QS, 2 SNK):

Step 1: Pick the restaurants you want to go to during your trip.

For a 7 day, 6 night trip I'd spend 1 day in MK, AK, EPCOT, DHS and 1 day at Disney Springs. Counting arrival day, and my last day there would be kinda miscellaneous or departure. I decide preliminary if I want to eat 3 meals in a day, or what foods are must do. I don't worry about snacks at this point (most of the time if you are going to IFWF, its better to pay OOP for snacks and use the Snack Credits there).

Arrival Day:
Lunch/Dinner: Hotel Food Court

For MK Day:
Breakfast - Main Street Bakery
Lunch - BOG
Dinner - Skipper Canteen

For AK Day:
Breakfast - Creature Comforts
Lunch - Flame Tree BBQ
Dinner - Yak & Yeti

For EPCOT Day:
Breakfast - Akershus
Lunch - IFWF Booths
Dinner - Le Cellier

For DHS Day:
Breakfast - Woody's Lunchbox
Early Dinner - Hollywood Brown Derby Fantasmic! Package

For Disney Springs Day:
Breakfast - Hotel Food Court
Lunch - Morimoto Asia
Dinner - Wolfgang Puck Express

Departure Day:
Breakfast - Hotel Food Court


Step 2: Read each menu, find two "meals" you'd buy and average the costs to get your "estimated price".

Pretend you'd be eating their tonight. What would you get? For best results, remember that a meal can be any combination of things (aps, entree, sides, enhancements, drinks, alcoholic beverages etc...) don't limit yourself to simply what would be permissible with the Dining Plan. Write down the average price for each restaurant for yourself, and then multiply it by the number of people who will be eating (this is a crude estimate of your costs) DO NOT include tax or gratuity (these costs will have to be considered later as tax would be an included costs in the Dining Plan and Gratuity would be considered OOP. For my calculations, I tend to call them a near wash, and then just tack extra onto my totals at the end. For hotel food courts, I ended up picking 3 different food courts (a value, moderate and deluxe) and choosing two meals from each and averaging all of that. It's not perfect but it works.

Note: I am aware there are calculators available on the internet, however there calculations/prices seem to be off which leads me to believe the people who say they have not been updated for some time. YMMV.

Arrival Day:
Lunch/Dinner: Hotel Food Court: 20.35

For MK Day:
Breakfast - Main Street Bakery: 8.79
Lunch - BOG: 35.49
Dinner - Skipper Canteen: 51.00

For AK Day:
Breakfast - Creature Comforts - 8.79
Lunch - Flame Tree BBQ - 19.24
Dinner - Yak & Yeti - 58.47

For EPCOT Day:
Breakfast - Akershus: 48.00
Lunch - IFWF Booths: 48.00
Dinner - Le Cellier: 62.50

For DHS Day:
Breakfast - Woody's Lunchbox: 11.27
Early Dinner - Hollywood Brown Derby: 67.87

For Disney Springs Day:
Breakfast - Hotel Food Court: $14.41
Lunch - Morimoto Asia: 114.50
Dinner - Wolfgang Puck Express: 28.50

Departure Day:
Breakfast - Hotel Food Court - $14.41

Total Cost (Per Person): $591.24

Step 3: Find the "Cost" of the Dining Plan

If you are doing free dining, subtract the cost of Room only discount package (normally 20-30% off rack rate) with the tickets you want from the cost of the free dining package you need.

So, as an example, My current stay at Coronado Springs (with Upgraded DDP - we will set aside DxDDP for now) is:

$3207.24
-$2435.76 <--- Cost of a Room/Ticket package w/ 25% discount on room only
_________
$771.48 Difference or "cost" of Free Dining (for two people)


Step 4: Compare the cost and Convenience

Now, your numbers may look different from mine, so I'll also show you a "per credit" breakdown but unfortunately with the DDP it is a little complicated.
However, in this step you simply take the estimated/averaged cost of food from your chosen restaurants, add about $25 for "taxes" and then compare that number to the "cost" of getting the Free Dining promotion (upgraded to DDP)

$616.24 pp = $1232.48


$1232.48 OOP Meal Cost (not including Gratuity)
-$0771.48 Cost of Free Dining Promo w/ Upgrade
__________
$0461.00 SAVINGS


As you can see in this instance, preliminarily, the Dining plan saves this family of two a fair chunk of change on all the food they might eat. If they ate less, the numbers might be less significant, but it is still a fair example. But now we have to find out what the DDP will pay for and what will still be OOP.

Step 5: Plug in your credits

Now you get to see how many credits you will use, and what might be an OOP expense. For simplicity (and we will cover it below) we will assume that the meals at each TS/QS are completely covered by a credit and we will include variance later.

Arrival Day:
Lunch/Dinner: Hotel Food Court - 1QS (5 Remain)

For MK Day:
Breakfast - Main Street Bakery - 1SNK (11 Remain) OOP $4.29
Lunch - BOG - 1 QS (4 Remain)
Dinner - Skipper Canteen - 1 TS (5 Remain)

For AK Day:
Breakfast - Creature Comforts - 1SNK (10 Remain) OOP $4.29
Lunch - Flame Tree BBQ - 1 QS (3 Remain)
Dinner - Yak & Yeti - 1 TS (4 Remain)

For EPCOT Day:
Breakfast - Akershus - 1 TS (3 Remain)
Lunch - IFWF Booths - 8 SNK (2 Remain)
Dinner - Le Cellier - 2 TS (1 Remain)

For DHS Day:
Breakfast - Woody's Lunchbox - 2SNK (0 Remain) OOP $4.25
Early Dinner - Hollywood Brown Derby Fantasmic! Package - OOP $67.87

For Disney Springs Day:
Breakfast - Hotel Food Court - 1 QS (2 Remain)
Lunch - Morimoto Asia - 1 TS (0 Remain)
Dinner - Wolfgang Puck Express - 1 QS (1 Remain)

Departure Day:
Breakfast - Hotel Food Court - 1 QS (0 Remain)


As you can see, there is one meal paid for OOP, along with a few items from breakfasts. To be more thorough, however, we now have to verify that the food we would choose out of pocket and the food we can have on DDP match up. For me this is the most difficult part. Since some of the sides, enhancements and extras might not be included in your DDP, there is a margin of error for amounts you will have to pay out of pocket that vary depending on what you chose in your averages so...

Step 6: Realize that these estimates are very rough and gauge your comfort level with the results being off by $100 per individual.

After doing this a couple times, I am fairly confident that the average amount of variance for a week long stay is around $100. And, once you factor in the savings on snacks (which increase a LOT as you use snacks at the IFWF) that variance tends to wash. But if you want to be sure you are doing your due diligence, just apply a negative of $100 per individual to your savings to ensure your numbers are closer to accurate. Or you could go through and figure out what is covered and what you'd be paying out of pocket and get a closer to exact amount... your choice!


CURRENT SAVINGS: $0461.00 SAVINGS
SUBTRACT OOP: $0161.40
SUBTRACT VARIANCE:$0200.00

ACTUAL SAVINGS $0099.60


BOTTOM LINE: Using these examples, I was able to see that, at least roughly, the Dining plan could save me about $100 for 2 people. So that would make it a good deal. However, there are opportunity costs, potential dissatisfaction with the meal options and other variables to think about, but this step by step is a good base line for seeing if the DDP works for you.

 

[Dashzap]

The DIS recently posted an article addressing whether Free Dine offers are "worth it" at https://www.wdwinfo.com/walt-disney-world-free-dining-plan-basics.htm
From the article:
"Is it worth it?
Free Dining is generally a great deal. BUT - the catch is that to take advantage of this discount, you will pay “rack rate,” or full price, for your hotel room. So, you’ll have to do the math and see if it works out for you. How do you know if it’s a good deal for your family?

• Check to see if there are any current room-only discounts (without needing to buy tickets or dining) available and if so, will booking one of those be a bigger savings than the cost of the dining plan? This is particularly true when staying at a deluxe resort with only 2 people or with 2 adults and 2 small children. The room discount is often a higher savings than getting the Dining Plan for free.
• Free dining becomes more of a “deal” the more people you have in your room. So, if you are a family of 2, you won’t save as much money with Free Dining as a family of 4 or 5 will. That being said, depending on where you’re staying, you can still end up with a substantial savings.
• An important factor will be the room category you choose. For example, if you stay in the lowest-priced category room (standard view), the Free Dining promotion does end up saving you money. However, if you stay in a Savannah view room, you would actually be paying more for your vacation using the Free Dining promotion than if you were to take advantage of a Room Only discount (typically 30% at a Deluxe Resort) and buy your seven-day tickets and food out of pocket."