There are many times throughout the year where WDW will offer a "free" dining promotion
or a room only discount to the general public - no pin required.
If you elect the "free" dining offer, you pay rack rate for your room, and you have to purchase a MYW ticket (most recently at least a 2 day MYW ticket). Also, if you stay at a value, the "free" dining plan is the QSR plan. Moderate and deluxe get the regular
DDP with one TS, one QS and a snack. My understanding is you can pay the difference to upgrade your dining plan.
You should do the math to see which discount is better for you before being overwhelmed by the "free" dining hype on these boards. If you are staying in a value, the $$$ savings over paying for the dining plan, and maybe paying OOP for food, is likely to be better than a room discount. If you are staying at a moderate or deluxe, you may spend less money taking the room discount and either paying for the dining plan separately, or paying for your food OOP.
When you are running the numbers, the question to ask yourself is: What would you really eat if you didn't have the dining plan? You shouldn't calculate your savings based on what you "save" by not paying for the plan, you should calculate based on what you would really spend on food if you didn't have the plan, add that to your hotel with the discount, then figure out if paying rack rate for the room and getting "free" dining is a better deal. Don't forget the plan doesn't cover gratuities, so you have to add that in if you are doing TS meals. It may very well be less to take the room discount and pay OOP for food than what you would save taking "free" dining.