Deluxe or Platinum

[whit8960]

Fi and I are trying to decide between getting the deluxe or premium dining package for our honeymoon next year. We will be staying for 7 or 8 days (not sure yet). What is attracting us to the premium package are the unlimited water recreation and the Cirque du Solei tickets. Is it cheaper to price these things out individually and just stick with the deluxe dining package? Any advice is greatly appreciated! TIA!

 

[Mary2e]

Unless the deluxe package has changed to exclude Cirque, I think the 2 packages are very very similar.

We did the deluxe two years ago and are doing the platinum this month. The reason we went with the Plat this time is because they were discounting it 25%.

The platinum includes absolutely everything - all the tours (deluxe excluded a few), spa treatments, and even V&A.

However, unless you are very frequent visitors and plan to spend your time doing the activities included in either of the 2 packages, I wouldn't spend my money on it.

We spent very little time in the parks outside of tours. Our upcoming trip has even less park time scheduled because of the extra things included in the plat plan. You won't get your money's worth if you plan on hitting the parks in a big way.

Do the math and see if you will make use of all the extras included in the packages. You may be better off just doing the things you like a-la-carte.

 

[Pygoplites]

It really depends on if you want to do a lot of tours, watersports, etc., or just have your meals covered. I always do Premium or Platinum because I like the unlimited tours, parasailing, cruises/boat rentals, etc. If you don't want to commit to a bunch of Table Service meals, then these plans may not be the way to go. I'm a big advocate of intense pre-planning, and I always get waaaay more than my money's worth by doing Premium or Platinum. If you don't like the idea of having your days fully planned out (other than meals...which you NEED to plan for), then stick with deluxe and do the other activities a la carte.

For a long trip such as yours, Premium may be a better value than Platinum; the differences between the two are minimal and the cost for 2 adults for 7 days will be about $700...just to get a spa treatment, dinner at V&A, and a few other perks. The upside, however, is that you get access to a personal vacation planner and they are really terrific in guiding you through the process.

A final bonus (which doesn't apply to me) is unlimited golf. If you are golfers, then by all means go for Premium/Platinum.

I'm doing Platinum for my trip next week, and will save hundreds of dollars over buying everything separately; even though I'm only there for 4 days.

Keep in mind that things like parasailing, Segway rides and the longer tours are usually $80-$100+ per person and dinner at a signature restaurant can be $80+/person, so it is very easy to get your money's worth. But if you do cheaper meals and don't partake of the extras, then you won't come out ahead.

Hope this helps.

 

[trappednabox]

we did the platinum plan on our 1st trip to WDW, and we loved it, if planned right you will have time to do what you want. We did the parasailing a few times, we did the fireworks cruise (which was included not sure if it is now) we went to see Cirque, spent plenty of time in the parks, and had tons of meals, and the messages were heaven! We LOVED it!! We also have a couple of the tours planned, but ended up canceling them. We were able to do all that in only 5 days while still getting tons of times in the parks.

Wish we could do it again, maybe on the next trip

 

[CindyKansas]

We have done the Platinum plan 3 times and we love it, BUT we have been to the world quite a few times so we do a lot of the tours, spa treatment, go parasailing, rent other watercraft, etc. We always have a fantastic time but not a lot of park time.

 

[whit8960]

FI is a WDW virgin and I have been a few times but have never stayed on site. Do you happen to know where I can find the prices for the water recreation and Cirque du Solei. We are also big foodies so we really do want the deluxe package at least. I am just worried that we will be wasting our money by not utilizing EVERYTHING in the premium package b/c we really have no desire to do any tours as of yet and really want to enjoy the parks.

 

[Mary2e]

Check www.allears.net under the "beyond the parks" section. They list all the activities and prices. If you have AAA or a Disney Visa, there are discounts available for the tours. Usually they are 15% off.

When you see everything you can do, you'll see that it's almost impossible to take full advantage AND get on rides in the various parks, particularly during busy times. If you go in the summer when the parks are open very late, you're a bit better off, but you'll be in constant motion. In addition, we found that knowing the property very well and where things are located in relation to one another makes scheduling a whole lot easier.

I remember telling someone they were going to spend all their time in-transit when she posted her schedule AND meals.

As someone noted above, you are heavily scheduled when on one of these packages. I use a calendar software package to keep track of where I have to be and when. On some days, we have 2 tours scheduled. On others, just the spa and parasailing - of course, along with meals.

We find that a big time saver is to have room service breakfast every morning.

Oh, if you're big foodies, WDW is not the place to go. While the signature restaurants are higher quality, they are not real high end restaurants. V&A is the exception, and is not included in the premium plan. However, the signature restaurants are far better than the regular ones.

Remember, you're paying for atmosphere Over the years we have found that 1 week in WDW can easily cost as much as 10 days in Hawaii - with the Hawaii hotels being far nicer.

 

[TagsMissy]

Just the one thing I need to say... I am only speaking on the food is do you want your dining reservations to rule your vacation? We had the regular dining package that was just 1 table service a day and we found we were stressing to get to point a.. point b... had to plan our days around reservations rather than just go with the flow. It was manageable but I, personally, couldn't imagine having more than 1 TS a day. Meals can take 2 hours if you take your time to enjoy the food and conversation... so that is 4 hours of park time for lunch and dinner alone (brekkie say is 1 hour) plus add on any transportation -- depending on what time of year you go to WDW and if you have a car or not not very much park time left.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not telling you to either of these plans just putting another perspective on it if your goal is a lot of park time.