If Free Dining Does Not Return...

[hjanea46]

We were hoping for 3 weeks at POR next year with free qsdp upgraded to ddp.
My dd and I sat down yesterday and worked out our 'Must do if possible ' ts meals and then worked out the cost of the other qs meals and snacks for 2 adults and one child. We probably over estimated but it came to a couple of hundred pounds more than buying ddp.
So we then looked at resorts and have agreed (if possible) on a split stay between AOA and POR to save some money towards buying the ddp to cover the three weeks as I'm told this should be possible as it is not free dining if that makes sense.

[Hannah]

I don't eat that much and quite often my daughter and I share meals, so we don't get the best value from a dining plan, although if it's offered we would take it, and stay depending on price. If not then we've done value before and it was fine. Don't think moderate is worth it without the free dining. We went to Universal last summer (other parks but no Disney) and for 1 adult 1 X 8 year old I spent about £600 over the 2 weeks on food.

I like staying onsite as I don't want to drive over there.

[gjdjud]

Its something I'm really looking at. We tend to do split stay between Disney and Universal so the universal bit I'm sorted with. I always said we'd go to a Value and buy the QSDP if free dining finished. It would be a little more in cost than a moderate without any food. But although I love the look of All stars I'm concerned by the size of the room for my rapidly ageing daughters. Free dining at a moderate was so more attractive! We are very much a resort place family and Villa's don't appeal. I'm looking at Disney Partner hotels but none of them instantly grab me. More attractive is somewhere like Floridays but then no Disney perks. It's a really tough decision!

My personal opinion on free dining is that if they were ever going to end it for good then now is their chance. I hope not but who knows. They might be desperate to get us going back over the next few years.

[DisneyS]

We're two adults staying at CBR with Free dining upgraded to full dining and were meant to be going this year.

We have rescheduled for next year and have decided to pay out of pocket for the Standard Dining plan... this is our first trip to Disney World since 2014 and we love the food and theming in a lot of the sit down restaurants. We're also really bad at budgeting so in our case, having all of our meals and snacks paid for in-advance helps us in the long run!

If this is a 'once in a lifetime' trip, or you do not plan on going back for a considerable length of time, we believe its worth paying for, to get the 'full Disney experience' (personal opinion of course!).

[natanddaz]

I would love the option of staying in a value but as a family of 5 it just doesnt work for us as we need a suite in the value resorts and typically these come in more expensive than the moderate hotels. We have done 2 trips with free ddp in the last 3 years and any future trips will have to be offsite maybe one of the springs hotels if they were offering a good deal. We have flights booked for feb 2021 and if prices remain what they are now we will be doing a split stay 7 nights near seaworld and then 8 nights near universal. Never done any of those parks before so will be a new experience for us but i think we will miss disney.

[mostlybobbins]

Originally Posted by hjanea46

We were hoping for 3 weeks at POR next year with free qsdp upgraded to ddp.
My dd and I sat down yesterday and worked out our 'Must do if possible ' ts meals and then worked out the cost of the other qs meals and snacks for 2 adults and one child. We probably over estimated but it came to a couple of hundred pounds more than buying ddp.
So we then looked at resorts and have agreed (if possible) on a split stay between AOA and POR to save some money towards buying the ddp to cover the three weeks as I'm told this should be possible as it is not free dining if that makes sense.

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Yep, I got you! I think that's one way I may have to approach it with my wife, that we either split stay, or try AoA. We were due to be at CBR and be on the Skyliner routes. Staying at a moderate probably a bit more luxurious than we need, but it gave us the free dining...maybe we can compromise, it's just a place to put your head at the end of (long) day.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Minniesmiff

Quick Service
Table Service
Quick Service Dining Plan

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On the menu on the right, there is an abbreviations option.

[KRBarnard]

When I look at what accommodation you can get offsite, there isn't any chance I'll stay onsite again without free dining as an incentive and the other perks such as EMH and fastpass which have been scrapped, at least for the time being.

We were booked to go in October at SSR with the free DDP. SSR was run at a 40% discount alongside the free DDP which is pretty standard most years, so the 2 bed villa with tickets for 4 adults and 1 child for 7 nights was £5400.
The price for room only for 27th February for a week is £5054. Even if Disney offered a 35% reduction on that it would be £469 a night or £3285! Given the price increase in tickets for next year too, right now we would be paying £7229 - add on the £1840.65 for the DDP we'd buy and we're at an eye-watering £9070 for a week 😲

We could get two cheaper rooms at a moderate, the cheapest being CSR, but that's still £1400 per room, so £2800 for what is essentially just two bedrooms on par with most motels/hotels in the area, and no kitchen space, no in-room laundry (I have a toddler), and no outside space.

We have looked and there are some stunning villa's for our whole 3 week trip that come in at £4K or less, some in new communities with their own small waterparks onsite, and less driving time to Animal Kingdom than SSR!

[MrsBC]

We usually stay at Y&BC with free DDP. We've discussed it and the cost for just 2 people in a room with no dining would be over what we want to pay. We would look at Moderates and pay for dining, or price up the Disney Springs resorts, Swan / Dolphin as (currently) they get the 60 day FP perk - but that might change. We used to enjoy villas years ago, until there was only 2 of us going, so this is another option too.

[Guest]

Probably stay at art of animation again or get a villa