Sell me the benefits of on-site without dining plan?

[Ridersmom]

I have stayed on propertu at least 20 times and never paid full price. There are always discounts to be found. Discounts are often much closer to the time of booking than 1-2 years out. Have an offer on my kitchen table for up to 30% off rooms next month through the end of August. I think the card came about a month ago.

We have never done a dinning plan becuase we do not eat as much food as a plan would offer, so we can eat on site fairly inexpensively-lots of shared meals.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by JohnnyBravo

Hi all. So we're in the early stages of planning a trip to Florida for the 2 of us looking at late 2021, and have done an estimate based on Nov/Dec 2020 for 2 weeks i-drive and a week at Caribbean Beach, primarily to take advantage of the Skyliner. Just the accommodation at CB is coming in at 50% of the whole holiday (ie can stay at Floridays for the other 2 weeks, and flights, for the same money as 1 week at CB!).

Given that we won't have the free dining plan included, apart from the transportation (Skyliner does look great, but for other trips we're just as happy to use Uber), what are the benefits to staying on-site in your views that justifies the extra expense?

Thx

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We are onsite in September and will not have a dining plan as we booked late. The advantages of 60 day fast passes and early mornings were the main pull, people booking at 30 days will not get onto newest attractions. I did think about staying at a partner hotel that offers the same benefits but we don’t want to drive so it wasn’t practical.

I am ok about the dining situation, although obviously it would have been better to have free dining. But I have booked places that are not on the dining plan to try and we don’t like eating main and dessert anyway and now we can have what we like (e.g. starter and main) without feeling wasteful.

[Saratoska]

We are dvc members so always on sight, we never do the dining plan
Part of the fun is trying all types of restaurants all over Orlando

[Tinkerbell]

Personally I wouldn’t stay onsite again even though I’ve done it many times

It is does for me depend on where you are staying moderate and below , then no I don’t think the added expenses are worth it sky-liner or no sky-liner
Remember as of end of this year, parking at resorts is no longer free so that’s an additional cost as you’ll need a car if you are going to eat off site. Yes you can use Uber of course.

I’ve always said without free dining I don’t see any huge benefits from staying onsite apart from the fact you are “in” Disney


Such a personal choice

[Andybear]

Once free dining ends on 3rd October next year there will be a 10% discount on the room until just before Christmas. Perhaps they'll do a similar thing for 2021.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by scoobydooby

Look for a room only discount. For two people that’s a good saving and for two people at a deluxe can just about match free dining. The Dibb doesn’t seem to like me keep saying this but it is true! Basically you need to do the total maths. Offsite will involve care hire and parking costs or Uber/taxi costs. On site will not. Off site food is majorly cheaper. For food costs off site is a no brainier. But then how do you eat? My DH and DS love the dining plan and eat every morsel. Me and DD can happily share meals, eat snacks and get a much cheaper stay with room only and paying for all our food eating on Disney property. The boys however without free dining May bankrupt me. Then there’s the value you personally attach to to the convenience of staying on site. That’s worth whatever it’s worth to you personally. For me it’s worth a lot. The purpose of the holiday is to be in the Disney bubble. That’s not for everyone though. Do your sums. But never pay full rack rate for a room at Disney unless you’re also getting free dining.

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I don’t think it’s that “the Dibb doesn’t like it” it’s more that it’s dependent on the room discount and the hotel. I’ve said this many times before but last year when booking with free nights we got £476 off AKL for a week and DDP for 2 of us was around £700. No other deluxe hotel was in our price range taking into account what a moderate with free dining would have been, or OKW/SSR, and many weren’t included in the free nights. Those that were it tended to only be expensive room categories available. You may get something with the US offers but the pound is so weak against the dollar that again this seldom works out.
A room discount vs free dining only works if you would have spent less on food than the money you’re getting off the room.

[sunjue100]

Only time we stay on-site is if we rent DVC points as we are doing in September for a split stay . First 5 nights at Disney the rest is split between staying with DSIL and then a hotel in lake Buena vista.

The Disney stay means we get the benefits of 60 day fast passes , EMH etc but at a discounted price through renting dvc pints from one of the fab DIBB members (Mezzy) otherwise wouldn’t stay on site at full price.

[NewtoOrlando]

We have 5 nights onsite at Disney this year, this is our 3rd trip and we've always had the DDP. This year however, we don't. I did a spreadsheet based on buying the DDP and paying OOP, and it still worked out cheaper for us paying OOP. We have a car so will be nipping out on a few occasions for offsite eats, I've booked 3 x ADRS. Rainforest Café (Landrys card $25 off) Yak & Yeti (landrys card $25 off) and 50's PT café. We will grab snacks, got to Blaze at DS which is very good value and have a few QS meals.