Cast:
Me Commando Mommy
DH Grumpy
DD7 - Princess
DS5 The boy
OK, Ive crunched the numbers and here is the deal:
For 7 nights we paid $120 for the plan for a family of 2 adults and 2 kids (initially it was $630 but we got a $500 discount/promotion later, making it $120).
We got $950 worth of food on the plan. Woo Hoo! It would have been worth it even if we had paid full price. Would we have bought that much food if we werent on the plan? Doubtful, but it was nice not to have to shell out cash for every meal and not to have to worry about prices. We just ate what we wanted. Well definitely do it again.
We paid $186.10 out of pocket, including one water at a cart at MK because they didnt accept the plan, one water at the Confectionary because they didnt take the plan, 2 hot fudge sundaes and a package of Pop Tarts that were not considered snacks at the food court and one refillable mug. Glad we didnt buy more mugs because we didnt eat much at the food court and only re-filled it twice. Its a nice souvie though.
We stopped at Wal-Mart to get breakfast foods and bottled water upon our arrival so we could eat breakfast in the room rather than waste prime morning ride time at the food court, and it worked out well, except that we threw out three half full boxes of cereal when we left. Next time well buy one box instead of three.
Table Service meals on the plan - Spirit of Aloha, Hoop Dee Doo Review, Cinderellas Royal Table, Prime Time Café, Teppanyaki, and Rose & Crown.
The 2 dinner shows blew a lot of the credits. They were nice but overpriced at 8 credits or $151 for a family of four. Were glad we did them once, but would skip them next time. The boy ate the Smuckers Crustables PB&J at the luau and liked it, but would not eat the home made PB&J at the HDDR. Go figure.
CRT lunch Grumpy and I had the Major Domo and loved it. Princess ate her chicken skewers, and liked the chocolate crown in the ice cream dessert. The boy didnt eat his pretzel dog, only chocolate milk. The character interaction was good we saw Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Aurora, Belle in her blue dress and Wendy. We got a window seat yay! I dont think it took more than an hour to be seated and eat.
Prime Time lunch Good food and fun but should have paid cash for Princess to conserve credits. We paid cash for the boy to have a buttered dinner roll and a chocolate milk. It took 90 minutes from the time we entered the restaurant, wait to be seated, and to eat WAY too much time. Overheard people walking out grumpily because the restaurant was booked all day and night and they didnt have ADRs.
Teppanyaki dinner It was good but not as good as our local Japanese restaurant, so it did not measure up to our expectations. Princess wanted steak but the kids menu only had chicken, so we ordered chicken for her, and Grumpy and I got steak and chicken combos. We swapped her chicken for our steak. The boy drank chocolate milk and ate snacks I brought. We had a 7:30 seating but our bus from the All Stars was late and then broke down at the bus stop, so we had to wait for another one. I called Disney Dining (isnt it on everyones speed dial?), they put me through to the restaurant and I told them we were running late and asked them to push back the reservation. They said it was OK because they were running late anyway. We got there at 8:00. We RAN through the F&WF crowds at WS to get there! Then we waited until 8:30 to be seated. We could hear IllumiNations outside but didnt go to see it as the chef was in the midst of his thing in front of us and we thought it would be rude to get up and walk away from the table at that point.
Rose & Crown lunch Good food and atmosphere but we couldnt eat it all. It took almost two hours to eat - WAY WAY too much time. We completely missed our only chance to see any of WS because of this. The waitress said she kept us waiting because the computers were down and she couldnt process our bill.
Out of pocket TS - I know, we overbooked TS because there were so many places we wanted to try and the dinner shows used a lot of credits. We knew this would happen and figured we were on vacation so what the heck, we should enjoy ourselves, right? At least we knew it ahead of time and werent surprised.
LTT lunch - Our first time here and we were pleasantly surprised. Grumpy and Princess had the Pilgrims Feast. Grumpy claimed it was his favorite meal of the trip and would come back again next trip. Princess ate all of hers as well. We ordered the boy the Smuckers Crustables PB&J and he ate it yay! I had the Tri-Corner sandwich and it was awesome! We heard people grumbling outside about not being able to get reservations on our way in. How are you supposed to use the dining plan if you cant get into the TS restaurants . I walked to the front of the line with my ADR, thank you! Grumpy said I got a dirty look from someone behind me who didnt have an ADR but I didn't notice.
Sci Fi Dinner - I was nervous after all the reports here but it was fine. Cool atmosphere and lots of fun. I had the Reuben yum! Grumpy liked his steak. He got a strawberry banana shake that was to die for. Princess ate her grilled cheese. The boy claimed he was hungry so we got him home made PB&J which he didnt touch. I have no idea why we did that. I carried it in a Styrofoam container all night and threw it out when we got back to the room. We had a 5:45 ADR but we waited a half hour to sit in a car. While we were waiting they announced to some walk-ups that they were booked all night so if you didnt have an ADR, dont bother. It didnt take too long to actually eat, but by the time we got out and walked to Fantasmic it was 7:30, which was too late. We got standing room only at the back and werent too impressed. Maybe its better up close? We were glad we didnt wait 90 minutes for it but upset we didnt do TOT instead as it was our last day at MGM.
Crystal Palace breakfast Princess said it was her favorite meal, and the boy actually ate the Pooh waffles and some bacon wow! I got my $$s worth by going up twice. The french toast puffs were the best! It was nice to have a big breakfast for a change, after eating cereal in the room all week. The character interaction was good the kids liked skipping around the room with Pooh and Tigger. It was a beautiful setting for breakfast with the sun shining through the windows. Once again, we heard lots of mumbling at check in from folks not having ADRs. The CM said Do you have a reservation? to me with an attitude. I said YES!!!!!! and she lightened up. She must have already had to tell a bazillion people without ADRs bad news that morning.
Snacks: We used all but four credits, and thats only because I didnt have enough hands to carry more Mickey Rice Krispy treats out to the car on our last day. We mostly used them for water and Mickey bars in the parks and a few Rice Krispy treats at the food court. The chocolate covered ones ROCKED! The bottled waters are huge, so we would get two at a time and share them between the four of us. Also, we would get four waters at CS meals and share them two during the meal and two to carry until they were gone. If we got soda we couldnt carry them around. We were allowed to bring bottled water on rides but not sodas, I guess because you can close the top on the bottle but you cant close a paper cup with a flimsy top on it. At least not inside your backpack.
CS: We ended up with 5 extra credits at the end of our stay.
On our first night we got four meals at the All Star Sports food court. GrumpyY and I liked what we got but the boy wouldnt touch his kids spaghetti & meatballs and Princess only ate half her kids turkey dinner. I ended up eating both their leftovers. After that we decided to get two adult meals and share them.
The only problem we encountered with sharing meals was when we wanted different things on the menu and therefore we couldnt share. We did that a few times but shared whenever we could.
When we got desserts, we usually took a bite or two and tossed the rest. It was just too much food. It was nice to try the desserts but I would not have bought the dessert if it wasnt included in the combo.
We ate twice at Cosmic Rays the chicken strips were fantastic.
Pecos Bills was OK - nothing special but nothing to complain about either. I had a chicken wrap that was huge and ended up eating about 2/3 of it.
Flame Tree Barbecue We ordered four meals there because everyone wanted something different and we had plenty of credits, but it was way too much food. The baked beans were really good. Grumpy liked his ribs. My pulled beef sandwich was very good. We couldnt eat all the lemon ice desserts. The kids meals came with applesauce and since the boy doesnt like it I gave his and one of the lemon ices to a Dad and his daughter as we were leaving. They were holding a table for their DM who was getting their food. I figured it would keep the DD busy.
We got breakfast at the food court on the 2nd to last day after I realized we would have extra CS credits and wanted to use them. Grumpy had a croissant sandwich that he liked and I shared a platter with the kids. It was better than fast food but not great.
On our last day I grabbed three wrapped sandwiches, three Mickey treats and three bottled waters from the food court for the plane ride home. I also bought lunch for a couple behind us. I would have grabbed more treats but didnt have enough room for them in the bag. If there had been more people behind us I would have bought for them too, as we still had 5 credits left.
Bottom line:
It was a great deal for us, and I would do it again in a heartbeat, even if I paid full price for it. Next time I would do one TS per day with an early dinner ADR to try to cut down on time spent in the restaurants and split the CS credits between breakfast and lunch by sharing meals. If we ran out of CS credits at the end we would share OOP CS meals.
CS meals are great because you can eat faster and spend more time on rides, but part of the Disney experience is eating character meals and eating at fun places like PTC and Sci Fi. I would never want to do all TS or all CS meals, so the plan is a great split. However, I bet a lot of people end up in our situation paying OOP for some categories and still having credits left in others. I think it would be a great idea to just have a bank of credits that you can use however you like for whatever type of meal you like. For example:
Snacks 1 credit
CS 2 credits
TS 3 credits
Dinner shows 4 credits
You would get 6 credits per day to use however you wish, whether it be 6 Mickey bars or 2 TS meals, etc. That would be Magic Your Way! Some people would eat all TS meals and some would eat all CS meals and I bet some people would still spend some $ out of pocket, but probably not as much as with the current plan. The bottom line is the plan keeps people in the parks, which is what Disney wants, but they should make it a little more flexible so people can eat where they want.
JMHO
Find the entire Trip Report here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=10270529#post10270529
Me Commando Mommy
DH Grumpy
DD7 - Princess
DS5 The boy
OK, Ive crunched the numbers and here is the deal:
For 7 nights we paid $120 for the plan for a family of 2 adults and 2 kids (initially it was $630 but we got a $500 discount/promotion later, making it $120).
We got $950 worth of food on the plan. Woo Hoo! It would have been worth it even if we had paid full price. Would we have bought that much food if we werent on the plan? Doubtful, but it was nice not to have to shell out cash for every meal and not to have to worry about prices. We just ate what we wanted. Well definitely do it again.
We paid $186.10 out of pocket, including one water at a cart at MK because they didnt accept the plan, one water at the Confectionary because they didnt take the plan, 2 hot fudge sundaes and a package of Pop Tarts that were not considered snacks at the food court and one refillable mug. Glad we didnt buy more mugs because we didnt eat much at the food court and only re-filled it twice. Its a nice souvie though.
We stopped at Wal-Mart to get breakfast foods and bottled water upon our arrival so we could eat breakfast in the room rather than waste prime morning ride time at the food court, and it worked out well, except that we threw out three half full boxes of cereal when we left. Next time well buy one box instead of three.
Table Service meals on the plan - Spirit of Aloha, Hoop Dee Doo Review, Cinderellas Royal Table, Prime Time Café, Teppanyaki, and Rose & Crown.
The 2 dinner shows blew a lot of the credits. They were nice but overpriced at 8 credits or $151 for a family of four. Were glad we did them once, but would skip them next time. The boy ate the Smuckers Crustables PB&J at the luau and liked it, but would not eat the home made PB&J at the HDDR. Go figure.
CRT lunch Grumpy and I had the Major Domo and loved it. Princess ate her chicken skewers, and liked the chocolate crown in the ice cream dessert. The boy didnt eat his pretzel dog, only chocolate milk. The character interaction was good we saw Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Aurora, Belle in her blue dress and Wendy. We got a window seat yay! I dont think it took more than an hour to be seated and eat.
Prime Time lunch Good food and fun but should have paid cash for Princess to conserve credits. We paid cash for the boy to have a buttered dinner roll and a chocolate milk. It took 90 minutes from the time we entered the restaurant, wait to be seated, and to eat WAY too much time. Overheard people walking out grumpily because the restaurant was booked all day and night and they didnt have ADRs.
Teppanyaki dinner It was good but not as good as our local Japanese restaurant, so it did not measure up to our expectations. Princess wanted steak but the kids menu only had chicken, so we ordered chicken for her, and Grumpy and I got steak and chicken combos. We swapped her chicken for our steak. The boy drank chocolate milk and ate snacks I brought. We had a 7:30 seating but our bus from the All Stars was late and then broke down at the bus stop, so we had to wait for another one. I called Disney Dining (isnt it on everyones speed dial?), they put me through to the restaurant and I told them we were running late and asked them to push back the reservation. They said it was OK because they were running late anyway. We got there at 8:00. We RAN through the F&WF crowds at WS to get there! Then we waited until 8:30 to be seated. We could hear IllumiNations outside but didnt go to see it as the chef was in the midst of his thing in front of us and we thought it would be rude to get up and walk away from the table at that point.
Rose & Crown lunch Good food and atmosphere but we couldnt eat it all. It took almost two hours to eat - WAY WAY too much time. We completely missed our only chance to see any of WS because of this. The waitress said she kept us waiting because the computers were down and she couldnt process our bill.
Out of pocket TS - I know, we overbooked TS because there were so many places we wanted to try and the dinner shows used a lot of credits. We knew this would happen and figured we were on vacation so what the heck, we should enjoy ourselves, right? At least we knew it ahead of time and werent surprised.
LTT lunch - Our first time here and we were pleasantly surprised. Grumpy and Princess had the Pilgrims Feast. Grumpy claimed it was his favorite meal of the trip and would come back again next trip. Princess ate all of hers as well. We ordered the boy the Smuckers Crustables PB&J and he ate it yay! I had the Tri-Corner sandwich and it was awesome! We heard people grumbling outside about not being able to get reservations on our way in. How are you supposed to use the dining plan if you cant get into the TS restaurants . I walked to the front of the line with my ADR, thank you! Grumpy said I got a dirty look from someone behind me who didnt have an ADR but I didn't notice.
Sci Fi Dinner - I was nervous after all the reports here but it was fine. Cool atmosphere and lots of fun. I had the Reuben yum! Grumpy liked his steak. He got a strawberry banana shake that was to die for. Princess ate her grilled cheese. The boy claimed he was hungry so we got him home made PB&J which he didnt touch. I have no idea why we did that. I carried it in a Styrofoam container all night and threw it out when we got back to the room. We had a 5:45 ADR but we waited a half hour to sit in a car. While we were waiting they announced to some walk-ups that they were booked all night so if you didnt have an ADR, dont bother. It didnt take too long to actually eat, but by the time we got out and walked to Fantasmic it was 7:30, which was too late. We got standing room only at the back and werent too impressed. Maybe its better up close? We were glad we didnt wait 90 minutes for it but upset we didnt do TOT instead as it was our last day at MGM.
Crystal Palace breakfast Princess said it was her favorite meal, and the boy actually ate the Pooh waffles and some bacon wow! I got my $$s worth by going up twice. The french toast puffs were the best! It was nice to have a big breakfast for a change, after eating cereal in the room all week. The character interaction was good the kids liked skipping around the room with Pooh and Tigger. It was a beautiful setting for breakfast with the sun shining through the windows. Once again, we heard lots of mumbling at check in from folks not having ADRs. The CM said Do you have a reservation? to me with an attitude. I said YES!!!!!! and she lightened up. She must have already had to tell a bazillion people without ADRs bad news that morning.
Snacks: We used all but four credits, and thats only because I didnt have enough hands to carry more Mickey Rice Krispy treats out to the car on our last day. We mostly used them for water and Mickey bars in the parks and a few Rice Krispy treats at the food court. The chocolate covered ones ROCKED! The bottled waters are huge, so we would get two at a time and share them between the four of us. Also, we would get four waters at CS meals and share them two during the meal and two to carry until they were gone. If we got soda we couldnt carry them around. We were allowed to bring bottled water on rides but not sodas, I guess because you can close the top on the bottle but you cant close a paper cup with a flimsy top on it. At least not inside your backpack.
CS: We ended up with 5 extra credits at the end of our stay.
On our first night we got four meals at the All Star Sports food court. GrumpyY and I liked what we got but the boy wouldnt touch his kids spaghetti & meatballs and Princess only ate half her kids turkey dinner. I ended up eating both their leftovers. After that we decided to get two adult meals and share them.
The only problem we encountered with sharing meals was when we wanted different things on the menu and therefore we couldnt share. We did that a few times but shared whenever we could.
When we got desserts, we usually took a bite or two and tossed the rest. It was just too much food. It was nice to try the desserts but I would not have bought the dessert if it wasnt included in the combo.
We ate twice at Cosmic Rays the chicken strips were fantastic.
Pecos Bills was OK - nothing special but nothing to complain about either. I had a chicken wrap that was huge and ended up eating about 2/3 of it.
Flame Tree Barbecue We ordered four meals there because everyone wanted something different and we had plenty of credits, but it was way too much food. The baked beans were really good. Grumpy liked his ribs. My pulled beef sandwich was very good. We couldnt eat all the lemon ice desserts. The kids meals came with applesauce and since the boy doesnt like it I gave his and one of the lemon ices to a Dad and his daughter as we were leaving. They were holding a table for their DM who was getting their food. I figured it would keep the DD busy.
We got breakfast at the food court on the 2nd to last day after I realized we would have extra CS credits and wanted to use them. Grumpy had a croissant sandwich that he liked and I shared a platter with the kids. It was better than fast food but not great.
On our last day I grabbed three wrapped sandwiches, three Mickey treats and three bottled waters from the food court for the plane ride home. I also bought lunch for a couple behind us. I would have grabbed more treats but didnt have enough room for them in the bag. If there had been more people behind us I would have bought for them too, as we still had 5 credits left.
Bottom line:
It was a great deal for us, and I would do it again in a heartbeat, even if I paid full price for it. Next time I would do one TS per day with an early dinner ADR to try to cut down on time spent in the restaurants and split the CS credits between breakfast and lunch by sharing meals. If we ran out of CS credits at the end we would share OOP CS meals.
CS meals are great because you can eat faster and spend more time on rides, but part of the Disney experience is eating character meals and eating at fun places like PTC and Sci Fi. I would never want to do all TS or all CS meals, so the plan is a great split. However, I bet a lot of people end up in our situation paying OOP for some categories and still having credits left in others. I think it would be a great idea to just have a bank of credits that you can use however you like for whatever type of meal you like. For example:
Snacks 1 credit
CS 2 credits
TS 3 credits
Dinner shows 4 credits
You would get 6 credits per day to use however you wish, whether it be 6 Mickey bars or 2 TS meals, etc. That would be Magic Your Way! Some people would eat all TS meals and some would eat all CS meals and I bet some people would still spend some $ out of pocket, but probably not as much as with the current plan. The bottom line is the plan keeps people in the parks, which is what Disney wants, but they should make it a little more flexible so people can eat where they want.
JMHO
Find the entire Trip Report here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=10270529#post10270529
