Free dining vs. Summer promotion 1 QS wonky math - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Hi all,
I don't normally consider myself math challenged, but when it comes to Disney prices I sure am!
We booked ASM in August with the "1 free QS meal". We then upgraded to the regular dining plan to add on the sitdown meal, snack and refillable mug.
Now as a Disney Visa card holder I can book for almost the same dates the free QS meal plan but we'd still be upgrading to the regular dining plan. We would have to lose one day of dining as the first day we arrive would be a "Room only" reservation (our flights are already booked and plans set). We would also have to change restorts from AS Movies to AS Sports or Music. Not that big a deal but our kids would love Movies more.
What I am trying desperately to find out is how much am I acually saving with the upgrade to free as I still have to pay the upgrade to regular dining but did have one free QS meal per day. We are 4 Disney adults and 2 Disney kids.
Confused? I sure am which is why I am reaching out to the experts here!
Thanks
Jill
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It is my understanding that for the "free" dining promotion there is no upgrading without going to a resort that offers the standard dining plan. If your resort offers free QS that is what you get. Which complicates the math even more. Do you really want a sit down every day? IF not then it would be cheaper to pay out of pocket for the sit downs you want than to upgrade to standard dining plan. Remember nothing is free at disney.
So basically my advise it to run the straight numbers, room+ standard dining plan and compare that to room+QS. and room+"free QS". Usually the rooms at the free dining locations are more expensive so it may all be a wash and really look at how you thing you're going to eat in hot August. The stanard dining plan is a lot of food.
It is my understanding that for the "free" dining promotion there is no upgrading without going to a resort that offers the standard dining plan. If your resort offers free QS that is what you get. Which complicates the math even more. Do you really want a sit down every day? IF not then it would be cheaper to pay out of pocket for the sit downs you want than to upgrade to standard dining plan. Remember nothing is free at disney.
So basically my advise it to run the straight numbers, room+ standard dining plan and compare that to room+QS. and room+"free QS". Usually the rooms at the free dining locations are more expensive so it may all be a wash and really look at how you thing you're going to eat in hot August. The stanard dining plan is a lot of food.
Thanks!
I would have thought you COULD upgrade the dining plan but perhaps not. I will have to look into that for sure. Yes, we plan on one sit down a day...we consider that our "break" as we don't go back to the resort during the day and it gives the little kids and my mom a break. Disney dining is also part of the fun! I'll have to try running the numbers as you suggest and try not to factor the one free QS into the math and just go from there.
Thanks!
Remember when you have a "free" dining option, you are generally paying rack rate for the room. If you don't get that dining option, there is likely a room only discount rate that you might be able to get.
Remember when you have a "free" dining option, you are generally paying rack rate for the room. If you don't get that dining option, there is likely a room only discount rate that you might be able to get.
Thanks for that suggestion! I just checked and ballparking (since I had to select two weeks after for the free dining offer for price comparision) the price for the room discount was about $100 less that what I would pay to get "free" dining. I am sure this is because we stay at the All Stars so the room discount isn't that great?
I appreciate all the feedback and suggestions as they help me think of things I hadn't considered!
It is my understanding that for the "free" dining promotion there is no upgrading without going to a resort that offers the standard dining plan.
Actually, anyone staying at a resort with free dining can upgrade. I have a friend who likes deluxe but stays at Pop, and he does it.
For us, three adults in a value room (Music), the free dining saves us much more than we would with even a 30% room discount (I've had as high as 40% off). So we book with free QS dining when possible, but just pay OOP for the two or three TS meals we do each trip.
Also consider in your comparison that "free" dining has a ticket add on requirement that I don't believe the 1QS meal had (adding either the park hopper or WP&M option).
I'm not a TA, so my Disney math is based on some online research. Here goes:
I'm assuming you are staying in 2 rooms at a value, since you are a group of 6 people. I'm guessing you are staying 7 nights, since that's typical (but not typical for me - I ususally stay about 3 to 5 nights).
Things that won't change if you switch to Free Dining:
you are paying rack rate on the room with both the 1 free meal deal and Free Dining, so the base room rate stays the same
The upgrade to the regular dining plan will cost the same either way: $19 per adult per night, $3.50 per kid per night.
Things that will change:
You have to add either the Park Hopper or Waterparks Fun and More to your tickets to get Free dining. Adding PH would cost about $408 ($68 per person). I didn't check how much WF&M would be.
The QS plan is $44 per adult/$19 per kid per night. That's about what it costs to feed anybody at WDW. If somebody really works the plan and gets all steaks and character buffets, it's worth more. If they eat salad and usually skip soda and dessert, it's worth less. What I mean is, paying out of pocket for those other meals on the 1 Free QS deal probably would come out the same as if you paid for QS dining out of pocket.
A typical QS meal is worth $18 (according to WDW Prep School), so that's what I'm basing the Free 1 QS savings on - $18 per person per day - although most kids meals probably only cost $10, so savings could be somewhat less.
So, you are now saving $756 for a 7-night stay
With Free Dining, you'll save about $1275 for a 6-night stay
That first night, you could get a room-only discount, which is 15%. It's about $20 per room per night, for two rooms, so $40.
So, currently, you are saving $756
With Free Dining plus one day of room discount, you save 1305, but subtract $408 for the park hoppers, if you don't already have them, so then you're saving $900.
So if you are getting park hoppers anyway, Free Dining is a great deal. If you weren't planning on getting hoppers, then it's a somewhat better deal than you have now, depending on whether your family really maximizes meal credits.
I'd love to hear somebody challenge my math - I'm always wondering if I get this stuff right.
I'm not a TA, so my Disney math is based on some online research. Here goes:
I'm assuming you are staying in 2 rooms at a value, since you are a group of 6 people. I'm guessing you are staying 7 nights, since that's typical (but not typical for me - I ususally stay about 3 to 5 nights).
Things that won't change if you switch to Free Dining:
you are paying rack rate on the room with both the 1 free meal deal and Free Dining, so the base room rate stays the same
The upgrade to the regular dining plan will cost the same either way: $19 per adult per night, $3.50 per kid per night.
Things that will change:
You have to add either the Park Hopper or Waterparks Fun and More to your tickets to get Free dining. Adding PH would cost about $408 ($68 per person). I didn't check how much WF&M would be.
The QS plan is $44 per adult/$19 per kid per night. That's about what it costs to feed anybody at WDW. If somebody really works the plan and gets all steaks and character buffets, it's worth more. If they eat salad and usually skip soda and dessert, it's worth less. What I mean is, paying out of pocket for those other meals on the 1 Free QS deal probably would come out the same as if you paid for QS dining out of pocket.
A typical QS meal is worth $18 (according to WDW Prep School), so that's what I'm basing the Free 1 QS savings on - $18 per person per day - although most kids meals probably only cost $10, so savings could be somewhat less.
So, you are now saving $756 for a 7-night stay
With Free Dining, you'll save about $1275 for a 6-night stay
That first night, you could get a room-only discount, which is 15%. It's about $20 per room per night, for two rooms, so $40.
So, currently, you are saving $756
With Free Dining plus one day of room discount, you save 1305, but subtract $408 for the park hoppers, if you don't already have them, so then you're saving $900.
So if you are getting park hoppers anyway, Free Dining is a great deal. If you weren't planning on getting hoppers, then it's a somewhat better deal than you have now, depending on whether your family really maximizes meal credits.
I'd love to hear somebody challenge my math - I'm always wondering if I get this stuff right.
I'm not really awake enough to do all of the math, so this is just an FYI to add to the conversation/Disney math class. When we booked at AoA with the Summer Meal deal, the cost to go from that (1 meal per day) to the full QSDP was about $25/day/adult. and about $45/day/adult to upgrade to the DDP. Not sure if that helps anyone or just makes things fuzzier...
I'm not a TA, so my Disney math is based on some online research. Here goes:
I'm assuming you are staying in 2 rooms at a value, since you are a group of 6 people. I'm guessing you are staying 7 nights, since that's typical (but not typical for me - I ususally stay about 3 to 5 nights).
Things that won't change if you switch to Free Dining:
you are paying rack rate on the room with both the 1 free meal deal and Free Dining, so the base room rate stays the same
The upgrade to the regular dining plan will cost the same either way: $19 per adult per night, $3.50 per kid per night.
Things that will change:
You have to add either the Park Hopper or Waterparks Fun and More to your tickets to get Free dining. Adding PH would cost about $408 ($68 per person). I didn't check how much WF&M would be.
The QS plan is $44 per adult/$19 per kid per night. That's about what it costs to feed anybody at WDW. If somebody really works the plan and gets all steaks and character buffets, it's worth more. If they eat salad and usually skip soda and dessert, it's worth less. What I mean is, paying out of pocket for those other meals on the 1 Free QS deal probably would come out the same as if you paid for QS dining out of pocket.
A typical QS meal is worth $18 (according to WDW Prep School), so that's what I'm basing the Free 1 QS savings on - $18 per person per day - although most kids meals probably only cost $10, so savings could be somewhat less.
So, you are now saving $756 for a 7-night stay
With Free Dining, you'll save about $1275 for a 6-night stay
That first night, you could get a room-only discount, which is 15%. It's about $20 per room per night, for two rooms, so $40.
So, currently, you are saving $756
With Free Dining plus one day of room discount, you save 1305, but subtract $408 for the park hoppers, if you don't already have them, so then you're saving $900.
So if you are getting park hoppers anyway, Free Dining is a great deal. If you weren't planning on getting hoppers, then it's a somewhat better deal than you have now, depending on whether your family really maximizes meal credits.
I'd love to hear somebody challenge my math - I'm always wondering if I get this stuff right.
Wow! This is the kind of math I can understand! Thank you! I'll bet you were great at the "if a bus leaves Minneapolis at 9pm" type of math questions!
Yes, we were planning on getting park hoppers anyway so it looks like according to the math that we come out ahead enough to make it worthwhile to change resorts and do a room only for the first night, get our tickets added a day early etc. Even paying out of pocket for what we will eat on the room only day won't make that much of a difference.
And if I understand it, all of my ADRs will still stay with me correct? I put down credit card info with each reservation with the exception of CRT since that one didn't ask for it since I was on the dining plan. Do I need to worry about that one?
I'm not really awake enough to do all of the math, so this is just an FYI to add to the conversation/Disney math class. When we booked at AoA with the Summer Meal deal, the cost to go from that (1 meal per day) to the full QSDP was about $25/day/adult. and about $45/day/adult to upgrade to the DDP. Not sure if that helps anyone or just makes things fuzzier...
This does help! I was having a hard time figuring out exactly what the value of that one meal was versus the rest of the QS/Reg dining.
Thanks!
Wow! This is the kind of math I can understand! Thank you! I'll bet you were great at the "if a bus leaves Minneapolis at 9pm" type of math questions!
Yes, we were planning on getting park hoppers anyway so it looks like according to the math that we come out ahead enough to make it worthwhile to change resorts and do a room only for the first night, get our tickets added a day early etc. Even paying out of pocket for what we will eat on the room only day won't make that much of a difference.
And if I understand it, all of my ADRs will still stay with me correct? I put down credit card info with each reservation with the exception of CRT since that one didn't ask for it since I was on the dining plan. Do I need to worry about that one?
Actually, I was terrible at those math problems. Maybe if they were about Disney, I would have done better!
Also, funny you should mention Minneapolis. I live near there. But I'm from New Jersey.
Be sure to call and check the cost and availability before you cancel your current deal.
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