Which is better? Free Dining or renting DVC

[Alfiesmum]

I’m looking at prices for 7 nights, 2a and 1c for August 2020 at the Beach Club. Booking direct with Disney with tickets and free dining the cost is £4,318. I’ve priced up the same stay (BC Villas) renting DVC points and park tickets which comes to £3,190 This is a difference of £1,128. My question is which would Dibbers say is the best way to go? We love the free dining but is it really worth £1,128?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[MariaLynda]

4318 with the free dining, is that figure right? you haven't got a difference of 1128 above.

[mike4scuba]

Originally Posted by Alfiesmum

I’m looking at prices for 7 nights, 2a and 1c for August 2020 at the Beach Club. Booking direct with Disney with tickets and free dining the cost is £4,318. I’ve priced up the same stay (BC Villas) renting DVC points and park tickets which comes to £4615. This is a difference of £1,128. My question is which would Dibbers say is the best way to go? We love the free dining but is it really worth £1,128?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

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I work that out at £297 difference or am I missing something

[Alfiesmum]

Originally Posted by MariaLynda

4318 with the free dining, is that figure right? you haven't got a difference of 1128 above.

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Oops! I’ve put the wrong figures in. Thanks for pointing it out.
Edited now with correct figures.

[Alfiesmum]

Originally Posted by mike4scuba

I work that out at £297 difference or am I missing something

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Yep, you’re right. I’ve put the wrong figures in!
Now updated with correct prices!

[loola30]

I think a lot depends on whether you are going to eat in the parks? I think your calculation makes the dining plan about £53 per day per person. Have a look at some of the park menus perhaps and see if you think you would be spending that per day for the equivalent of 2 snacks, refillable mug, 1 quick service meal and 1 table service meal (if you would even eat all that if you were paying out of pocket?).

I know we've done the calculations as we are hoping to rent DVC for next year and it is worth us buying the dining plan on top. However, we eat a lot of steak / dessert so it was value for us. It really does depend on your individual circumstances / eating habits.

The other thing to consider is if there is a difference between the DVC rooms and hotel rooms at BC. I don't know the answer to that but I'm sure someone will be able to offer advice.

[Shooby doo]

First the easy one, yes there is a difference:
Standard room will be 2 queen size beds
DVC Studio will be 1 bed & either a sleeper sofa or murphy bed plus kitchenette with micro,toaster & coffee maker

As to value, all depends on where you are going to eat? Onsite, then Disney is expensive so FD probably a better option, offsite then I would go the DVC route & as an aside if you are going to have a car then BC you will have $27/night parking charges & BCV would be free as DVC owners ( you would be staying on someone else's points) pay for parking in their dues.
Sd

[Alfiesmum]

Originally Posted by loola30

I think a lot depends on whether you are going to eat in the parks? I think your calculation makes the dining plan about £53 per day per person. Have a look at some of the park menus perhaps and see if you think you would be spending that per day for the equivalent of 2 snacks, refillable mug, 1 quick service meal and 1 table service meal (if you would even eat all that if you were paying out of pocket?).

I know we've done the calculations as we are hoping to rent DVC for next year and it is worth us buying the dining plan on top. However, we eat a lot of steak / dessert so it was value for us. It really does depend on your individual circumstances / eating habits.

The other thing to consider is if there is a difference between the DVC rooms and hotel rooms at BC. I don't know the answer to that but I'm sure someone will be able to offer advice.

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Great advice Loola, thanks!
When we stay at Disney we do prefer to eat on site so dining plan or not we would eat on site at all times.
I looked at menus of our favourite restaurants and priced up a rough estimate of prices. With 5 table service meals, which includes 2 signatures, QS meals & 2 snacks per day. I’ve worked out that it would come to approx. £1100.
Personally I think we would be better off doing DVC without the dining plan. If we didn’t have free dining I doubt I’d eat anywhere near as much! However my husband really likes the dining plan and feels like we get our money’s worth.

[Alfiesmum]

Originally Posted by Shooby doo

First the easy one, yes there is a difference:
Standard room will be 2 queen size beds
DVC Studio will be 1 bed & either a sleeper sofa or murphy bed plus kitchenette with micro,toaster & coffee maker

As to value, all depends on where you are going to eat? Onsite, then Disney is expensive so FD probably a better option, offsite then I would go the DVC route & as an aside if you are going to have a car then BC you will have $27/night parking charges & BCV would be free as DVC owners ( you would be staying on someone else's points) pay for parking in their dues.
Sd

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Some great advice here Shooby Doo, thank you.
If staying at Disney we would be eating all meals onsite whether we had free dining or not. Previously we’ve stayed at Saratoga Springs and I really liked the kitchenette area there so I’d appreciate this at BC.

Can I ask a couple of questions?

Are DVC villas bigger than the other standard rooms?
Do they all have balconies or patios?

I will look at costs again and factor in parking charges if we go for free dining. I’m wandering if it might workout cheaper booking DVC and paying for the dining plan.

[Shooby doo]

A standard DVC studio is generally bigger, the anomalies are resorts where they have been converted from a standard Hotel room. Yes to next question, although I did somehow find the one room in Wilderness Lodge that didn't !
Be careful as adding the Dining plan to a DVC booking has to be at the US price so $76/person/day & that's nearly £10 more than current UK price due to FX rate!
Free Dining is a hard one, we aren't dessert people so generally we wouldn't have one but obviously this is factored into the plan. We do like the snack options but we would just pay OOP for these & probably not have as many. We have worked it out both ways but FD for us is slightly cheaper but that also factors in the Gift card. When we stay at our DVC we 90% of the time eat offsite, generally better value & in most cases better meals.
I'm not a fan of using 2X Ts credits for Signatures & would argue that if someone was paying OOP for DDP, they would never "waste" 2 credits to do it, it's basically the cash equivalent of $90 (each TS credit is approx $45) plus another night where you have to pay for a meal IYKWIM
SD