Would you upgrade for free dining?

[Wall-e]

We are currently booked at POFQ for 10/1-10/7. I am hoping that free dining is offered, but I am not holding my breath. Karen at Magical Journey's is keeping an eye our for me and has said that I need to give her permission for certain things up front so she can jump on deals as soon as they come available. I currently have a standard view room which I am perfectly happy with. She wants to know if there are no standard rooms available with free dining would I be willing to upgrade to a view (+$72) or river view (+$171) in order to get the free dining. I feel like if I start paying extra to get the "free dining" it has lost some of it's luster. I am debating moving to POP if free dining is offered and just upgrading to the Regular dining plan. What are your thoughts? Am I missing something?

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

This is always a tough decision.

For me, we'd eat more than $72 worth of food, so it would still be a big savings. I love POFQ way more than POP ... and at POP you'd still have to pay to upgrade the dining plan, again more than $72.

I wouldn't go for the river view, those rooms (although lovely) are some of my least favourites, as they can be far from the main building, or way too close to the noise of the boat dock.

It really comes down to a numbers game. Will you save more (even with the upgrade charge) with free dining, or is there a room-only discount that is better?

For my family, free dining works out to be a savings, but I know that isn't true for everyone.

[momof3+twins]

I would upgrade...don't go down to the Values. You will like the moderates. Also, give permission to change to CBR or Coronado. They are really nice also and Port Orleans is really popular so you might need to change resorts.

[buzznwoodysmom]

I would not go down to the values for free dining. Years ago we played with numbers with a free dining deal, and the cost to upgrade to the basic dining plan at a value was just about equal (give or take a few bucks) to upgrade to a moderate resort and get the basic dining. For basically the same cost I would always go with the moderate resort. Of course resort rates have gone up considerably since, so your mileage may vary.

I would upgrade a view to get free dining if that's the discount I was hoping for.

[RedSoxFan]

I also would upgrade or switch to another moderate resort for free dining. We had to switch to POFQ to CBR one time for free dining. Worked out fine for us.

[Cinderelley]

Will you be doing a lot of table service meals? If so, the cost may be worth it.

I don't have a problem with going to a value if I am going to be doing all counter service meals. If you plan on table service though, I wouldn't pay to upgrade the dining plan.

If I remember correctly, POFQ wasn't available for the last discount. You may have to switch resorts.

[Imalismom]

I would sit down with menus and see what the actual cost would be to eat if you were paying for it yourself out of pocket,

Then see what it would cost for a non discounted room - as the free dining plan does not discount the room.

Which way will you be saving money? Free dining with full room rate, or discounted room with you paying for food? Then decide.

[azcavalier]

Yep, run the numbers. For us, we have a party of five (two little kids), and so picked a mod with the newer murphy beds. We are also hoping to snag free dining. We love eating at Table Service restaurants...it's part of the experience. For our group of five (one kid is actually 10, so is considered an adult on the dining plan), we figure that the way we eat, the dining plan vs paying out of pocket is a wash, and the free DDP saves us about $2000 - $2500.

So, for us, worth the upgrade to snag the dining plan? Yeppers.

[Wall-e]

Thanks for all of your replies! I think I will go for the upgrade. As one poster commented eating table service is part of the experience. My kids still talk about some of the places we ate during our first trip almost 5 years ago. "We need ketchup!"

[scooterca42]

Just be certain to watch for which resorts actually offer free dining. We were booked at POFQ but they didn't offer it last year. Karen will let you know, I would think!

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

From what I seem to recall, especially in the last year or so, POFQ is almost always excluded from the free dining offers. So definitely decide ahead of time if resort choice is a deal breaker or not.

The other thing to factor in is the age (and number) of your kids. If you have a kid 10 or older, they are treated as an adult for the DDP, so the value becomes much better. If your kid(s) is under 10, you may find that a room discount is a better deal for you.

[BigRedDad]

First off, don't confuse the Free Dining Offer with "free". You go from a discounted rate to a rack room rate for the room.

Second, how much do you eat at each meal and can you recover the cost? I looked at the QS dining for our trip ($42 per adult). For the sake of easier math, assume a snack is $4. This leaves $18 per counter service meal to just break even. Most QS meals are only $10. We do not drink soda or anything with all that added sugar. If you do, add $4. That gets you to $14. Then the dessert is another $4. This gets you to $18.

We can never make the dining work for us. We always end up with a large bag full of Mickey Rice Krispy Treats. I for one get sick of them after 2 and when there are 30 more in the bag, you look at how much you wasted. For 3 of us, we can share a meal, a snack, and maybe a dessert at each meal. We get free water (good water) too. That is 3 people eating for about $20 tops for a QS meal.

[EeyoresBestFriend]

Also keep in mind if you downgrade to POP, the free dining doesn't include TS.