Dining Plan

[rayraygreen]

I’ve never booked with the free dining plan but I’ve been considering it for 2022 (if they bring it back obviously!) does anyone know how much the packages usually are? Is it the same you’d pay for a moderate stay normally or do the prices increase because of demand?

[Gill H]

You will pay the rack rate, the normal price it would cost without any other offer.

Someone on here has tracked prices over the years. Disney do not put prices up when free dining is on. However, they do tend to have a couple of price rises every year so the rack rate becomes more expensive once that kicks in.

For some people it may be cheaper to book when there is a ‘free nights’ offer and pay for your food directly.

[Donaldfan]

Originally Posted by Gill H

You will pay the rack rate, the normal price it would cost without any other offer.

Someone on here has tracked prices over the years. Disney do not put prices up when free dining is on. However, they do tend to have a couple of price rises every year so the rack rate becomes more expensive once that kicks in.

For some people it may be cheaper to book when there is a ‘free nights’ offer and pay for your food directly.

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For what should have been this year's trip I priced my room the day before free dining hit. It was £200 cheaper than what I paid with the free dining offer. So they do put the prices up with free dining in some cases.

[Gill H]

That may have been because the annual (or these days more than annual) price hike kicked in just at that point. That happened a couple of years ago as I recall.

If the price hike had happened a few weeks earlier, people wouldn't have noticed.

[Donaldfan]

Originally Posted by Gill H

That may have been because the annual (or these days more than annual) price hike kicked in just at that point. That happened a couple of years ago as I recall.

If the price hike had happened a few weeks earlier, people wouldn't have noticed.

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It's happened each time though. This would have been the third consecutive year if it had gone ahead. On each occasion I've priced it up the day before free dining hit and it was always more expensive with free dining. And I mean pricing it up literally the day before free dining hit. It's not just me either. I've known plenty of other people who've found this to be the case over the years.

[rayraygreen]

Thank you all! I’ll have to have a snoop about for previous years prices and see if it would be best for us!

[may]

Based on my previous experiences Gill H is describing the situation very clearly.

[sha9]

In my experience the prices can go up slightly, go down slightly or stay exactly the same. It depends on resort and dates. As previously mentioned there was one year that the annual price increase was loaded with free dining instead of before it so it looked like a price hike. Other than this year I’ve never noticed it to be a significant change either way.
In recent years only higher priced room categories have been released initially so again it looks like a price increase.

[Shooby doo]

Now not saying that it's always the case but, & particularly more so in recent years, it's very hard to do a "apples to apples"- especially in the Deluxes. As Sha has stated, any difference could be something as simple as room category, very few actually have been Standard rooms plus any discounts are removed eg. Non Dining offers usually have some form of pass discount plus anytime I've looked there's been a small package discount( outside of Free Nights). I'm not a lawyer but I'd imagine than legally they can't advertise "Free Dining" & then put the price of rooms up higher than their stated price(without discounts) but the basics are full rack rate & no pass discounts.
Now I always state that you never save as much as they state but I've yet to see a year where I wouldn't have saved more without the deal IYKWIM
All that being said I'd be surprised if it's back for 2022, I think it's too early for a UK deal, generally April/May but wouldn't rule out a US offer
SD