Free Dining Or Resort Discount...

We always go for the room discount. When we did a dining plan we always went with the deluxe because we tend to eat most of our diners at signature restaurants. Since we have tried the TIW card we have not booked a meal plan. The TIW card works better for us. But, when we did use a dining plan I ran the numbers more times than I care to admit. The room discount more than covers the cost of the deluxe meal plan. When Disney offers the free dining plan you do not receive the deluxe plan for free. You would still have to pay the difference in price. My numbers are based on the way we do Disney though. Each family has to run the numbers based on how they stay, eat and number of people in their party. Mine are based on staying in a deluxe resort, two people and staying for a week. I imagine that even staying in different deluxe resorts could make a difference between which discount works best.

I've never felt that the QS or Regular DDP actually save me any money. What they do is provide me an easy way to budget and make sure everything is pre-paid for my trip. I do however believe that the Deluxe DDP saves me money. If I were just looking at monetary considerations, I would take the room discount.

I think it all depends on how many people are in your group, where you're staying, and how you eat. When we crunched the numbers, our upcoming September trip with myself, DH, and my two sisters, we would save a significant amount more with free dining. In fact, with the free dining, we would upgrade to a moderate, eat at more expensive restaurants, get dessert and snacks, and each order our own meal and we would STILL be saving more money then if we got a room discount at POP, split meals, and ate mostly QS. You really have to be willing to put in the time to calculate for yourself which would be cheapest for your family.

For a short cut way to do this, there's an awesome spreadsheet someone put together where you plug in the number of people in your party, the percentage of meals you'd order apps/desserts/drinks, etc. and what restaurants your planning on eating at, and it will calculate for you approximately how much the dining plan would cost you and how much you'd have to pay out of pocket. Pretty nifty!

http://seeyareelsoon.wix.com/seeyareelsoon#!calculator-download/c16yz

If I had to choose, I would probably choose a room discount. I've changed eating habits since we last visited the world and dessert every single night is a big no-no. I'd rather pay for exactly what I want and not feel bad for wasting food. I always feel bad wasting a drink because I only drink water - no soda or tea. I tried to get coffee, but sometimes restaurant regular coffee is blah! I'd rather save $$$ on the room. Disney always offers a military discount year round and I think it's 20% off deluxe, but I ran the numbers and renting DVC was still cheaper.

Since we are at POFQ and have been told that they are never included in the resort discount, we will be grateful for the FD. Last time there was only the resort discount so we changed to Coronado. I am glad we got the discount, just not thrilled with the place.

I guess I am grateful for what ever the Disney gods decide!

As a solo traveler, I'd probably prefer the room discount over free dining. I mean, with the exception of deluxe DP, the QS and regular are in the hundreds while most of lodging is almost always in thousands. But I would prefer more flexibility when it comes to eating and even though I would love to try more TS places, it's not at a point for me where I would want to eat a TS place practically every day so I'd say no to the DDP for me even if it was free.

Seems that the rule of thumb for best value is:

moderate resort = free dining
deluxe resort = room discount

A study done last year: http://www.disneydining.com/free-disney-dining-plan-or-a-room-discount/

Based on eating habits between my sister and I, I know a room discount would save us far more than the dining plan. I prefer apps to desserts (and WDW has so many dessert-like snack options, I'd rather just grab one of those later when I was actually hungry for it), and then my sister doesn't eat much. Like, at all. I'm convinced at some places she'll be getting kids meals or ordering things a la carte, so it definitely wouldn't benefit her to have the DDP. We're also going to have our own bottles of water with us, so drinks aren't needed at our mostly QS meals.

I've crunched the numbers a lot and I just have more peace of mind cost-wise with a room discount and ordering tickets through Undercover Tourist over a "free" dining plan.

The highest night at Pop for our December trip is $183. At 20% off we would save $36.60 for a good room discount. Free dining would save us $80 a day. We would pay the extra 40 a day to upgrade to the DDP but that still has us as a party of two at pop up 40 a day. But if we are being honest every dime of that savings goes right into our shopping budget. I'm happy any way disney wants to get me to spend.

I don't get an option for either one because we are dvc and use points for our room and are not offerd free dinning, but if I had a choice I would probably take the room discount.

I have to come to the conclusion that I am a grateful person....what ever you give to save money is fine with me!

I agree with you oldtink.

I also agree with oldtink.

LOL There is a doomsayer on one of the other sites that claims we shouldn't be booking resorts in Sept/Oct because Disney won't offer their traditional free dining, or they will leave out the popular resorts.

Good Grief, it's DISNEY folks, why so negative? What will be will be and somehow, I have NEVER seen a time where there isn't some promo going on that saves a few. They know that if you are staying in "the bubble" you're going to spend it anyway.

Lol...Hmmm...I wonder what site that was.... ...The Doom and Gloom Buggy express...

Now now folks - no bashing on other sites!

Most of us have had less than fantastic experiences on other Disney message boards, but we don't want to bring that negativity here. Everyone in allowed to enjoy Disney in the manner they see fit. There are so many wonderful ways to experience it, why would we ever want to stick with just one!?

Keep it friendly

I was laughing as I read it....most of us are not going to wait because we WANT that resort. I just thought it was funny. Sorry if I "crossed a line."