Free Dining? Should you do it?

Well, the word has leaked today that Free Dining has been extended into December at Walt Disney World.

Not familiar with Free Dining? Here's a quick summation:

When you purchase a full price resort room package of at least 3 nights plus a 2-day theme park ticket, you can get a Magic Your Way Dining Plan for free.

If you stay at a Value Resort, you can get the Quick Service Plan for free. If you stay at a Moderate, Deluxe or Deluxe Villa Resort, you get the regular Dining Plan for free.

Now the question becomes: Is this a good deal?

Here are 5 things you need to ask yourself:

1. What's my total out of pocket cost going to be?
Crunch your numbers! There are many people out there who have crunched the numbers and found that the "free" dining you are getting is not offset by having to pay rack rate for the room you are staying in.

As always, your mileage may vary. So crunch the numbers and don't get caught up in the buzz of getting free food.

2. Be aware of the cancellation policies of packages.

Unlike room-only reservations, package reservations require payment in full 45 days in advance. And unless you buy trip insurance, you have to cancel more than 45 days in advance if you decide not to go.

3. Can you get a better deal with a room-only discount?
Many times, room-only discounts come out and are 20%-40% off rack rate. This can be a greater savings for you overall, depending on how you like to dine. There aren't any of that type of public discount out right now, but if you sit tight, you might get one.

4. Are you really going to use all those food credits?
People go for the dining plan for convenience or because they feel like they are getting a "deal." I know two families, personally, who did their best to use the dining plan to its extent and still had oodles of snack credits left on departure day. One family used their credits on some fruit to take with them on the plane, but they had so many credits leftover that they left my family a full grocery bag of bottled waters just so they could use up the credits.

Again, don't get caught up in the "deal" just because it's "free."

5. Do you want to be tied to a meal schedule?

This kind of goes with #4. I'll be the first one to tell you that I have done trips where I did schedule our touring plan around where we were eating.

This was before the dining plan was born.

When you have all these credits and you are trying to get the most our of your free dining plan, you may have to sacrifice touring time to waiting for your ADR, leaving a park early to meet an ADR, or getting out of line for an attraction to meet an ADR.

Only you can decide if you want to be ruled by your dining plan.

Bottom line: Look at the big picture. Take the emotion out of this decision. In these economic times, it's so easy to just jump on the first thing that says "FREE" on it. Like everything else, you need to look at the fine print. With this free dining offer, you need to assess how well it will work for your individual travel party.