Free Dining vs. Annual Pass Discount

[Tarpon]

I am wondering which works out better. I booked AKL standard room for 6 nights with Annual pass discount for $129. That is $70 off each night. So a total of $420 is saved. Do you folks think opting for free dining for 2 adults and one 7 year old would have saved more? Also, with free dining are we allowed to dine at any restaurant in any resort? If we were to eat all our meals at AKL in Boma, etc. (won't happen since we want to try many different ones especially those in Epcot) would they be covered under the plan? Would the buffet be covered? We are not big eaters and my son is really a picky eater. Thanks.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Edit. My analysis was flawed.

I assumed you gave us net savings on the room on the ap including netting out the extra costs of the 1 day tix to get the free plan. Given the responses below, I probably should not have made that assumption.
I also assumed you already had your AP. I probably should also not have made that assumption.
My gut instinct is if you already have AP's for everyone (and wouldn't be paying more for it than the tickets you need just to get the room discount associated with it) And you did not net out the extra costs of one day You'd be better off on AP/DDE than even the free meal plan.
If however, you do not (or lets say you only have one AP or indeed none and were planning on just buying one to get the room discount and would still need to buy full length of stay tix for everyone anyway, you're better off as originally stated.
But complicating the analysis is how expensive you plan to eat. If it's at Le Cellier and other a-la-carte places where you can run tabs into the $50 per person range easily (they cost one meal) then the meal plan looks more attractive then lets say if you plan breakfast sit downs instead of dinner ones at say $20 per adult.

 

[Suzanne74]

We have the same situation as you and took the dining plan. Remember though, to get the dining plan you need to book at least 1 base day ticket to make it a package - so you need to figure in those costs.

With that said, the dining plan cost a certain amount of money normally, ($35 an adult) but you can easily eat more then that. Figure you sit down at a meal and get a $8 appetizer, a $24 dinner and a $6 dessert, a $3 soda and add tax and gratuity to it and that by far exceeds $35 and you didn't have the counter service meal or the snack.

WE chose this option because we go to WDW a lot and are always looking for a quick bite and not wanting to spend a lot on food. This time, the dining option allows us not to look at prices and enjoy some places we would otherwise have not gone to. The fact that all your food all day is included take a lot of stress away.

So if you barely plan on sitting down to eat and don't want to try some of the restaurants then maybe go with the AP but if you look around most people, including APer's jumped on it. Hurry, lots of places are sold out of that limited package already.

 

[etail]

We don't have a current AP so this is how it looked to us - 2 adults, 1 ten year old:
WDW 7 Days (8/23-29)
AP Discount Promotion
Airfare $616.20 $616.20
Room $829.56 $2,456.81
Tickets $1,088.89 N/A
Ground $325.00 $325.00
Food $650.00 $100.00
Flt. Ins. $79.00 $79.00
Total $3,588.65 $3,577.01

That assumes:
AKL standard rate.
Tickets were 2 six day PPH (Premium Park Hopper) with No Exp, plus AP plus 1 day water park for AP holder.
Food is typical though not as much as we might (we like good dinners...)
We'll eat counter service the first night since we go straight to MK.
We will probably pay for at least 2 child meals at table service to add a second signature dinner.
We may want some African wine at Boma.
We sprang for the package ins for the resort stay - easier to cancel on room only stays.

So it looks like a wash except:
The promotion rate included 7 day PPH w/ no exp.
We will get to eat a little more upscale.
Not expecting Fantasmic Dinner package...

So the left over ticket media almost adds up to half the cost of a short trip next year...

 

[skiwee1]

If you are looking to go with the AP then you should also factor in the huge discount you get if you buy the DDE card for passholders. You get 20% off your meals. I am looking at over 30 days on 3 different trips so the DDE will save me a ton of money not even including the AP discount I used.

 

[ElizabethB]

Interesting question. Exactly what I'm struggling with.

We're staying at the Grand Floridian for 5 nights in August. With AP rate, we save $425 over the rack rate required for the free dining. We also have DDE. And, we are not big eaters -- a little cereal at breakfast and one nice meal per day suffices. Our small boys eat next to nothing.

So, with DDE, I have to assume we break even unless we spend more than $500 or so on food in five days (assuming the DDE 20% discount). We did the math and don't think we will. Plus, with AP rate we can cancel up to five days in advance with no penalty -- rather important since it's hurricane season, and we were at CR last year for Charley. Cancellation with the dining package is not permitted within 45 days without penalty. The insurance is about $80 and we would need it given the time of year. So, if we stick with the AP rate, I guess we can actually spend $580 on food before we see any savings from the dining plan.

I think we'll probably stick with the AP rate. It looks to me like the dining plan is probably a better bargain if one is paying rack rate at a value, rather than rack rate at a deluxe.

Am I missing something?