Free Dining vs. Room Only Discount

It is entirely dependent on party size, desired resort and eating habits of those in the group. If my entire family is going, free dining may be the better option. If we prefer a deluxe resort and fewer are going, the RO discount is more desirable. I've found that free dining with the values (because it's CS only) doesn't benefit much at all.

Yep, it 100% depends on who is travelling, and what type of resort they are staying at.

Generally, the most "Disney adults" (kids 10+) that are in a room, the better deal free dining is. For a single or couple, especially at a deluxe resort, a room discount is usually better.

missymouseworld;2455187 wrote: After reading about all the interest in the Free Dining Promo that was just released, I was wondering which discount is more popular and cost effective?

This is always the question. As other have stated, the answer is "it depends".

For US, the answer is usually free dining, but we love eating at table-service restaurants, and there are usually five or more of us. Just to show you how we figure it:

8 days, 7 nights at Caribbean Beach in September for three adults and two kids with Park Hoppers and the Disney Dining Plan is $5531.43. If we were to get a 20% room discount, that would save us only $308 over a week. Whether that room holds one or five, it's the same price @ $220/night. Even if it were a 30% discount (which it never is for a moderate), that only saves us $462 for the week. So, if we are going to get the Dining Plan anyway, our total price with a 20% room discount is $5222.98.

Our price for five people paying rack rate but with free dining? $3698.90. It's a savings of $1832.

Yeah. No brainer for us on this trip.

For us, the DDP doesn't make sense. Our kids are 3 and 5 and just don't eat that much. But we would be forced to pre-pay for the DDP for them, and I know they won't eat a third of that.

When they are older, and considered "adults" I think the DDP may be a better bet for us. We usually like to stay at Deluxes though, and I still have not been able to crunch the numbers to where we would ever come ahead with the DDP and full room rate.

It really depends on which resort you want, and how many / how old your guests are. And how much you eat.

As the others have stated, it's best to do the math. For our group when we stay at a value, the RO discount even at 30% (which it never is that high) on a $150/nt room would be $45. Could I feed my family on $45/day? Obviously this becomes a greater value w/ the more people in your room. But for a family of 4, two CS per day would cost way more so FD even CS is the better value. My family would stay value and get free CS dining then go to one or two TS out of pocket.

Since the moderates and deluxe offer the regular TS plan, you need to think about if you would want to eat at a TS each day. We go for two weeks and love the time to stop and relax and eat. So the additional cost to stay at a moderate can be worth it. You need to decide what is best for your family and weigh out the options.

magicofdisney;2455192 wrote: It is entirely dependent on party size, desired resort and eating habits of those in the group. If my entire family is going, free dining may be the better option. If we prefer a deluxe resort and fewer are going, the RO discount is more desirable. I've found that free dining with the values (because it's CS only) doesn't benefit much at all.

And now that I've made this declaration, I've discovered the free dining WILL benefit my family at a value resort. Go figure. Although we've received free dining, it's more like getting free tickets once we crunch the numbers.

So, I think it comes down to number crunching always. In our case, what we believed to be true, turned out false.

The other caveat / wrinkle you have to contend with is resort availability when booking either of these right now. If you have a particular resort you "have" to stay at and as well as a room type, such as staying at the WL and you want a courtyard room with a bunk bed the free dining may be available where as the 30% RO may not. What I do to calculate the best value for our family is run a series of "build outs" at the Disney site choosing the promo, the date range, then specify the resort and check availability to see what rooms are open. If the room I want is there then I'll select and build the rest of the magic your way plan, tickets, meals, memory maker to give me a finally price. Then I will go back to the room selection page and at the top you can select the other promo and see if rooms are available under that one if so then I build out as well and compare pricing.
Like others have said the best deal is usually based on family size and preferences. Free dining normally is not the best for us as there is only I, the DW and the DD, BUT in this instance they have not only giving free dining you get park hopper or water park for free and if you want both then it's only $83 more to add. That normally cost our family almost $300 additional to add to park tickets. So in this instance the free dining offer saves us almost $500 more than the RO discount and I wouldn't have known unless I took the time to check out both.

Hope this helps!