Premium/Platinum plan - Thoughts, input, advise, have you done it?

[Princess Jes]

Hi all!
I'm not sure if this is in the best/right place, but I thought I'd try the resorts threads first...
Im playing with some ideas for my imaginary 2016 30th birthday trip and was considering a split stay (YC/BC and CSR, possibly with 4 nights RPR in between or at the end)
But I'd love to have some input from anyone who has done the premium or platinum plan as to whether it's worth doing YC on one of these plans for 1-3 nights (thoughts on how long is needed?) and CSR for the remainder (playing with ideas and cost!)
I know it's pricey, but for a couple of nights, I thought it might be 'worth' it, just to get those perks etc?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

You need a minimum 3 night stay for either package.

 

[scanmom]

If you are staying long enough, I would do disney 1st, doing the premium plan and saving my park tickets.Then Universal, going to those parks, then back to Disney with a room only ressie and use the tickets from the premium package to go to the parks.
There are a lot of things on the premium package to do that don't require you to go into the parks, so I think you could spend the 1st part of your trip without entering the parks and still have plenty to do.
I wish I could do this, it sounds great!!

 

[eliza61]

My secretary did it for her 25th anniversary and loved it.

first I think she said that you get a itinerary planner so you tell them what you want and they plan almost every thing.

next they had the platinum dining plan so it's a lot of eating.

tons of discounts at DTD stores.

 

[Spoiledraf]

We've done the premium plan several times in the past but I think at that time you could get a room discount. You can't get any discounts with either plan. Everything is rack rate.
It's a lot of eating time, usually at signature restaurants, and that really cuts into theme park time. I took advantage of the fishing, which is unlimited, and that made it cost efficient because that's over $100 an hour. So two four hour trips made up for lost room discounts and the wife and daughter went to the GF spa and a tour while my son in law and I did my thing.
I would take a look at what you want to do, where you want to eat and where you want to stay and crunch some numbers. You may come out cheaper just paying out of pocket for extras instead of the package. It was relaxing knowing everything was prepaid but I'm not sure it was worth it. If you aren't going to take advantage of the recreation, it's tough to make it worth while IMO.

Having said all that, we did do some hang gliding, parasailing, water skiing, some tours, La Nouba, and a lot of great meals, but the parks were pretty much just a few hours a day. And we only did three nights.
Have fun either way!

And I never thought about saving the tickets for later. That might work well for you to take advantage of all the recreational stuff. I just thought once you started using the extras, dining, recreation and others, it would activate the tickets as well. Hmmmm.... Have to consider that next trip! Heck, I could go fishing all day!!!!

 

[JJsmama]

Where does one find the details for these plans?

 

[TaraLovesDisney]

There is a pdf you can google of the 2014 plan. I tried to put it in here but I got a message that you have to have a min of 10 posts before you can post a link.

I don't think it changed. There have been very few changes to it over the years. We have done the platinum plan many times and if you can swing it I would say DO IT!!!
Here's my advice.

1 Do a split stay. More than 6 nights of Platinum is exhausting. We like to do a weeks of non platinum and then a week of platinum.

2 You cannot put a price on having the itinerary planner who can get all the adrs for you- still give them your choices before your 180 mark if possible to get best results.

3 Dine at Victoria & Albert's more than once!

4 If you have kids and are using the babysitting (included) ask for Trish at Kids Night Out (your planner can do this for you). She's fantastic and my kids look forward to an evening with her-they would, in fact, be mad if they did not get it!

5 Primo Cirque de Soleil seats, nuff said.

6 Make sure you do Hoop de Doo and the Luau.

7 We stay at the GF. We have always been upgraded on Platinum (we do travel off season though) The first time we went (before we knew what we were doing) we were upgraded from a reg room to Sugar Loaf. The next year we booked and paid for Sugar Loaf and were upgraded to Royal Palm Club. The next year we booked and paid for RPC we were upgraded to a fabulous Castle view! Not sure how this pans out at other hotels but I was told by the platinum planner that they always try to upgrade plat guests.

8 You may come across cast members who have no idea what it is. We have had servers not realize that it IS a dining plan. Ask for a manager if you come across one that is confused. It's apparently not seen very often.

9 Do the water activities. Call up room service, order whatever, tell them to pack in to go containers, take it out on a pontoon. We love that!

10 Look over the tour choices carefully and choose your favorites, plan park and meal accordingly.

11 If you split stay, obviously plan most of your signature dining on you pp portion.

12 Don't bother with park hoppers. Really. Don't try to do it.

13 For the fireworks cruise-use it for Illuminations-so much better than using it for Wishes. For Wishes it is the same view you would have on the beach at the Poly or on the dock at GF. For Illuminations you boat right on up -fantastic view, plus no crowd to fight after. Have dinner at Yachtsman's or Flying Fish beforehand-just make sure you allow at least 2 hours for dinner.
In Fact......

14 Don't underestimate how long meals will take. Signature dining is slow. You'll have appy, entrée and dessert. You'll have to get seated, get drinks, etc
This WILL take minimum of 1.5-2 hours. Plan accordingly.

15 Don't overdo it. Skip breakfast (unless it's character) 3 big meals a day is a lot. I know you want to try it all, we did too. But you also don't want to spend your day running from meal to meal. Plan a minimum of 6 hours between your ADR times...trust me.

And above all....ENJOY!

 

[Spoiledraf]

Where does one find the details for these plans?

Go to the Disney web site. Click on "Things to do" near the top. Scroll down to "Dining Plans" and click that. a list of each plan comes up and you can choose which ever you want. It will bring up the explanation of all benefits for every plan.

 

[Spoiledraf]

Here's a link to the Platinum Plan

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/m...og/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2015Platinum.pdf

And the premium
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/m...log/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2015Premium.pdf

 

[MakiraMarlena]

While the package plans include a dining plan, they are not part of the same program as the three Disney Dining Plans that include only dining. Sometimes the difference isn't noted in practice and someone has difficulty realizing that you are using a premium/platinum and not a dining plan. Even Disney lists them along with the dining plans (likely for ease of reference), although they are different. Now that everything is encoded electronically and accessible via the magic bands, it ought to cut down on that, at least when it comes to payment.

The dining component is very similar to the deluxe dining plan, except that on premium/platinum all restaurants are one credit - there are no 2 credit restaurants. Victoria & Albert's is included in the platinum plan only.

You can't upgrade a free dining package to either premium or platinum, and the package plans are not available to DVC members booking through Member Services, although the dining plans are.

 

[White Rose]

We did the platinum plan in 2003, 2008, and 2013 for our honeymoon, 5th and 10th anniversaries. WOW. What a trip. If you USE the features of the trip, if you plan your days, go on tours, eat breakfast lunch and dinner table service, use room service, eat at Victoria & Albert's at least once, have a lot of energy, you can get a value out of it, but it's almost to the point of needing a vacation from your vacation...but I would not have it any other way. We found ourselves eating small meals at buffets and using it as an opportunity for great character interactions! As said above, use the fireworks cruise for Illuminations - it's the best, and sometimes you can get a boat ride down to Hollywood Studios to see fireworks there, too. It can be a bit of a pain to get back to your resort if it's not on the lake around the beach/yacht club, so make sure to plan how you are getting back to your resort.

I love being able to do anything I what when I want!! It's supposed to be a once in a lifetime trip, but I'm spoiled!! We did platinum plan 3 times and were upgraded once - poly theme park view concierge, right in the middle of everything, you can not beat the view. Please do NOT expect an upgrade, and we went in early Oct during a supposedly slow time. Expect to get what you have reserved and paid for, which is quite a lot to experience without wishing for an upgrade!

WE have done nearly every tour except the steam trains one... We do the dolphin tour every time, and I do the snorkeling by myself with the tour group too. It's not a bad value, but it was better when the tips were included! (in 2003.)

 

[waitomo]

We did the platinum plan in early December in 2013 (as a couple) and it was so much fun that we did it last summer with our three teenagers! My suggestions are:
1. Take full advantage of the concierge pretrip planning.
2. Do it far in advance. The second time we did it only 5 months ahead and could not get onto either the dolphin or aqua tour. But the first time, when our requests were in a few weeks before the 6 month date, we wet even able to get the chefs table at Victoria and Albert !
3. IMHO, my favorite thing to do was parasailing! It is so much fun, not scary and even my fear of heights husband loved it. We did it twice each time we were on platinum.
4. I completely agree with earlier post-if you like amazing food, go to victoria and alberts twice! Once we did the regular menu, the second time, the vegetarian menu. So much fun!!!!

 

[hpfan100]

I've done the platinum pan twice now. Once as a solo traveller at the AKL for 3 nights and once on my honeymoon with hubs at Poly for 5 nights. I booked a savannah view room at AKL and got that with no additional upgrades. I did not get the best person in the IPO office to help me so I had considerable problems with booking reservations for dining and recreation. On the solo trip I did 3 tours (dolphins, aqua seas, backstage at AK), parasailing, wishes cruise, mani/pedi service, cirque show and loads of great food. I only did one day in the parks during that trip. I had a rental car which helped getting around to all the activities quickly. If I did the package at AKL again I book all my reservations myself direct through Disney to avoid dealing with the same IPO again.

On the honeymoon trip, I booked a standard room at the Poly. We were upgraded to club level room. We didn't use the food offerings too much but it was nice to have somewhere close to grab cokes and water. We did watch the fireworks from the club lounge along with the electrical water show. That was a great time. We used the club level staff for bookings needed once we arrived. I had booked a few things ahead of time before our arrival. It was easy to go to the first floor and see a real person that could book things for us. On this trip we did 1 tour (backstage magic), parasailing, jet skis, water mice rental, mini golf, illuminations cruise, Spirit of Aloha show and loads of eating. We spent two days in the parks-one at AK and one at EPCOT. This was a great trip with no issues on the platinum plan.

If we ever go back to WDW we are considering the premium plan at Coronado or the platinum plan at Contemporary.

General advice---if not staying at the resort that houses most of the places you plan to go then I would look into getting a car rental or planning you days out by zones. Such as day 1- EPCOT zone, day 2- MK resorts zone and day 3- DTD zone. Also, use the plan on the days that you will have the most time available to you. If you are not checking into the hotel until 5:00 pm then having the plan start that day is not the best use of your time/money.

Hope that is helpful!