Anyone Find Silver Add-On to Package a Good Deal???

[kandmwedding]

Originally posted by pampam
We'd like to do the silver add on but are small eaters. Would it be possible only order 1 meal and share, leaving an extra wish to do a tour, spa, or something else? I realize it would not be possible to share the Hoopde Doo, character meal, etc., but I was thinking of perhaps regular meals in the resort, or Le Cellier etc?

While dh and I didn't use any wishes on meals (so I'm not speaking form experience), lots of Disers have reported that they've split meals using one wish. So I don't think you'd have a probably with that. And, if you look back to the first two responses to this thread you'll see that most of the servers to their best to help you get your money's worth, since they're tipped based on the total cost of your meal.

 

[DeterminedOne]

Originally posted by flyball
We opted not to do the silver plan for some of the aforementioned reasons (too much food, too much calculation, whatever). Does anybody else think this is pretty complicated? I wish Disney would come out with something comparable that would be easier on the brain!

We will never go to Disney again without the Silver. We love it and don't think it's complicated at all. We know up front how many wishes are available, so from there it's just a matter of choosing what we want from the list. Maybe by complicated you mean cumbersome, which could be the case for someone who doesn't like to plan. And the wishes can be used for more than food, so if too much food is a a problem choose something else. The way I look at it, we have to eat at least once each day. And with the Silver we're not stuck eating counter food for a week.
We leave Thursday (can't wait) and I am so looking forward to the Silver Package. Right now I'm thinking of a few things I know for sure we wouldn't have done without the Silver - Golf at Magnolia, Keys to the Kingdom, Portobello, Narcoosee's and on and on..

 

[pplasky]

We used the silver plan, me, DH, DS and 2DDs. All kids were under 9, so they were a little cheaper. It was definitely worth it. We used the wishes for dinner shows, cirque, character meals and kids club as well as meals. When we ate at restaurants, we never wasted wishes on the kids. We never worried about how much things were going to cost, and kids loved going to kids club a couple of nights, while DH and I splurgedat gourmet restaurants!

 

[yellowfish78]

I also find the Silver plan to be worth the money. For me it's the only way to go. It's not that much planning in my opinion, and it's nice to know that my food is paid for in advance and that it is not going on a credit card. Eating two meals a day in Disney is PLENTY or else you do eat too much! With my experience most CM's try to load you up on food and "bonus's" like a side of shrimp or lobster tail anyways, partly because (in my opinion) their tip is included in the plan. I like knowing that I don't have to eat a $5 hot dog and a $2 soft drink instead of wondering if by eating the filet minon that I'll have enough for goodies to buy in the gift shops. The silver plan is the only way to go for me. If I'm paying almost $2000 on a vacation, I want everything possible to be included and I'm gonna eat good!
On a side note, if price is a big issue with this, I know LOTS of people that will do a one night hotel, then start their package with the silver plan, then another night hotel at the end of their package just to save $300 right off the top of the silver plan package.

 

[drumflower]

We used the silver plan and loved it!!! Remember it includes tax and tip !! One thing I would do differently is I would pay for your kids meals(most around $5-6) and save their wishes for something more expensive. Another fun thing is that you can use their wishes for the kids clubs. You and you DH can have a little alone time if you wish! We used our extra to get a picture tile at Epcot! This year we are going to find it ! What fun. One tip I would say is plan enough time between meals. ( there is so much food) Some people save the dessert to eat later in their hotel room. It was nice not having to worry about the money since it is prepaid. Have fun!

 

[MissUssH]

We are leaving this Saturday at 7am from Cold Cold Michigan !!
Soooo excited Travelling with a family group of 10 of us !!
I love hearing all this great in-put AND we do have the Silver Add-On Wishes..........
Great Idea not using a Wish for my 3 and 6 year old DD's who eat like little birdies............Here is What our Party Has in Store for Next Week....
We have booked 2 Character Breakfasts, Princess Norway Storybook and Cafe' Mickey, Hoop Dee Doo and Spirit of Aloha Dinner Shows, Keys to the Kingdom Tour (for Adults), Family Magic Kingdom Tour (scavenger hunt), PS's at Japan, 50's Prime Time Cafe', Biergarten and Whispering Canyon Cafe' !!
MY DH is Golfing a couple of times AND......WE have PREFERED VIEWING AREA via our "free" VOUCHERS for Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade at AK, for WISHES Show in MK and for Illuminations at EPCOT...........Included at no extra fee AND you DO NOT use a Wish.......We arrive only 15 minutes before parade/firework time and have special "VIP" area without the hassle of finding a spot early and just waiting !!!
NOW We would not have planned most of these things unless we had the SILVER Add-On.....My Mom , Sister and I might even sneak a SPA in one morning !
AND Its is really nice to know it is already done & paid for in advance INCLUDING the Tax & Tip !!
I'll report back after our vacation and let you know how it all added up !!

 

[jenjersnap]

Does anyone know which wishes activities can be planned somewhat last minute. i.e., once we arrive? We have several wishes left even after making PSs for two yummy sit down meals every day. In addition we are doing a sleigh ride, HDD, and the Luau. We have no interest in golf and the spa offerings are a joke (my only wishes grumbling so far). With two small kids, the tours are too much walking. We thought the kids might not sit through Nouba. However, we might want to decide last minute to go parasailing or put our ODS into an activity center or rent a boat. It all depends on our schedule since we don't want to over-schedule the kids. Do these generally book up months in advance?

 

[spagheddie]

We're going in a few days and decided not to do the Silver Plan.

Looking at the menus of where we wanted to eat, we came to the conclusion that we would be ordering food just to get our money's worth. We might normally split an appetizer and not even get dessert.

Second, even if we didn't use the wishes on meals, since our DS2 will be with us we aren't planning on doing a lot more than touring and eating.

Also, I don't find the (merchandise) lanyards, etc. to be of any value in pricing the package.

That being said, friends of ours just came back, used the Silver package and made out by $100-$200. So there you go.

 

[lawyergirl]

Chiming in for all the Canadians on this board...

I went to Poly Concierge last May with 4 of my buddies (we had just graduated from law school) and the wishes were a GREAT GREAT GREAT deal for us, because we got them at the at-par with Visa discount. We wound up being $1000 ahead at the end of the trip (to be fair, we had been there for 9 nights)!

So my advice to all Canadians - the silver dream-maker package is a TERRIFFIC DEAL!

For people who can't benefit from that deal:

One of the main tricks that we used to get so much out of our wishes was to pay for all of our counter-service meals. That way we could go and eat at Citricos and the Coral Reef and see La Nouba and not have to skip meals.

And yes, we did get a ton of food, but at the same time, it was such good food that we didn't care. What amazed us all was how good the food was in many of the restaurants! I didn't remember WDW having that much good food, but some places mightily impressed even the foodies in our group!!!

Finally - oddly enough, givenhow much we walked when we were there, we didn't gain an ounce (and some people even lost weight - go figure!)