Disney likes to make you think you are getting a great deal with "free" dining but in reality if you only have 2 people in a room it's really not "free". For example, I have a room booked at AKL the first week in December that is not included in the "free" dining period. This morning I looked into switching to the following week to get "free" dining. The catch was Disney jacks up the room rates during "free" dining periods (at least in my case with AKL, didn't check other resorts). The room rate during "free" dining was $50-60 more per night AND you have to get park hopper tickets. Not a good deal for us and not even worth changing our dates. Hoping for a room only discount to be released for that time period in a few months.

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Posted by convertedtiger

Baton Rouge

Member since Aug 2010

2786 posts

Posted on 4/25/17 at 2:10 pm to LSUfan4444

quote:
TiW can be purchased by those with an AP and is good for 20% off almost everywhere and includes alcohol.

Yeah, I was talking about TIW that is available for AP holders. Not getting 20% just for having an AP.

We HOPE to be finished with the rebuild by June and will be going inside "The Disney Bubble" in October as our way of getting away from everything for a couple weeks.

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Posted by LSUFanHouston

NOLA

Member since Jul 2009

37140 posts

Posted on 4/26/17 at 12:17 am to ell_13

We are booked at Pop checkin on Nov 18 and out Nov 24. We booked Sunday and then went Monday morning to add the offer. What a joke that was. The online system basically crashed right at 5 am when the offer loaded, then at 6 am, phones went nuts. Finally got a CM on the phone and by the time everything was updated, it was 7:45 am.

I would never, every pay for the dining plan, but free dining makes sense for us. Thanksgiving week also makes sense for us (my wife the teacher and the kids are out of school the entire week), weather is nice, crowds are manageable. We generally always stay on property at value, so hotel percent off discounts are worth less to us.

We are doing something different this time. In the past during free dining, we always paid to upgrade to table service plan. This time, we are sticking with the free quick plan. The quick meals are not distinguished between adult and child like the table meals are, so 4 of us there for 6 nights getting 2 quick allotments a day = 48 quick meals. My kids are at an age where they can share an adult sized quick meal, so really, we will be able to use 3 credits for the four of us at each meal. Which will cover 16 meals for us.

Since we always do Ohana, we will just pay for that.

The meal plan, again, isn't really worth it if you have to pay for it. But if it's free or reduced, and you plan right, it can save some money for sure.

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Posted by LSUfan4444

Member since Mar 2004

53937 posts

Posted on 4/26/17 at 5:25 am to lsu1980

quote:
Not a good deal for us and not even worth changing our dates

For the most part, the only people who truly benefit from free dining are those who already have all the criteria planned before free dining is released. Extending stays, adding tickets, upgrading resorts, etc all bring extra costs especially this year with regular dining only being offered at deluxe resorts its going to help very few.

Free dining is all about filling resorts so they offer it on the resorts and the type of rooms at those resorts they need to fill. So essentially, its not designed to help those who already have something booked and if you're adding things to get free dining, you're not saving in the long run anyway.

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