Hi Betsy!
Welcome back to the Moms Panel! I'm so happy I could help!
'Free dining' is a promotion that Walt Disney World periodically offers. With a Magic Your Way ticket and room package you get the
Disney Dining plan FREE!
For each NIGHT of your stay you get (for each person 3 and over):
1 Quick service meal (combo meal, OR non alcoholic drink, entree, and dessert)
1 Table service meal (entree, non alcoholic drink, and dessert--keep in mind, gratuity is NOT included)
1 snack
So, if you have 3 people staying 7 nights you'll get:
21 QS meals
21 TS meals
21 snacks
These can be used in whatever manner you wish. If you'd like to use 3 TS credits a day, you can! The key is budgeting the credits correctly for your trip. After each meal (or snack) is purchased, they'll be a credit balance printed out on your receipt.
I strongly suggest getting advance dining reservations for your TS meals, as they can fill up quickly during 'free dining' promotion periods.
As for park hopping...we are park hoppers. We enjoy the flexibility that it gives us, so for US, it's worth the extra expense. We enjoy hitting a park, heading back for nap, and then hitting a 'new, fresh' park after nap. It also allows us the ability to go back and revisit another park again rather than being locked into the same park we visited earlier in the day.
I hope this helps!
Amanda