First Disney Trip and full of questions???

[disney virgin..ians]

This is our first DW vacation. We're staying at Coronado Springs from July 11-17. I'd prefer a different time of year, but it was this or nothing. We are under the gold plan. I am just wondering if there are any hidden or unexpected costs that we should be aware of. We upgraded to gold for the meals and other perks available. We have a teenaged son who eats like a horse, so we figured it would probably be worth it just for him. This is such a major event and it's so tough to decide what to do and when. Thanks for all the great advice I've gotten so far!

 

[CarolA]

You might try posting this on the Resorts board.

Personally you need to EAT three BIG meals a day to make the Gold package worth it and I don't want to spend that much time on meals. LOL

 

[whedrick]

Do yourself a favor and see if the gold package is really worth it. You might be better off getting a 5 days plus ticket. You can spend 5 days at the park and one day at the water parks and one day at DTD shopping and DQ...etc. You'll also find out that you probably won't make it to too many sit down lunches. Your son will be dragging you all over the place to different things. You'll be having chicken strips and cheeseburgers for lunch more often than not. Showtimes will also dictate when you can eat. I don't know what you paid but you can probably save $500-$1000.

 

[dansyr]

We've done the gold plan before and are planning on doing it again. If your son is a big eater and you don't mind alot of sit down meals it is worth it. Oh....and it sounds like you like having it all pre-paid. There really aren't any hidden costs. The only thing we ended up spending extra money on was alcoholic drinks and souveniers. If we had good service we left a few extra dollars for the tip. I think your wishes cover a 15% tip on meals...My advice is research your restaurants first....if it looks like you'll be doing alot of counterservice or buffets...the gold plan may not be a good deal.
We personally like eating at the nicer restaurants and make use of a couple of tours or renting water mice and such and we actually saved money. We also like having everything pre-paid so we're not worried if we brought enough spending money.

 

[MK Familystone]

TEENAGE BOY! WHOOO!
If you son he is sports nut then suggest you monitor his water intake for a normal 6 day period now until departing for the BIG WDW. Buy a case 20oz. sport bottle of water on the way to CS.
I am not formilar with the Gold Plan but I have two pint size(10,12 year olds) and they can cost me alot for that 20 ounce water bottle at the parks.
Food is managable with teaser but :"Ma I need a drink!", how can you say"WAIT!"
If the Gold Plan has good sit down meal eateries then It is a good oppitunity for you to introduce him to a fine dining experience which WDW does opitune on a small scale and he will have a basic for life.
Even though he will hate the experience at the moment!
Suggest you research the plan as thorough as possible and share your findings with members on the Disboards, who are the most MAGICALLY informed individuals in cyber space.

"ENJOY!!!"

"THE MAGIC HAPPENS!!!"

 

[Grand2me]

It will be my first adult trip to Disney and I am very excited. Has anyone bought tickets off EBay? How reliable is that? Any other discounts would be great!

 

[CharlesandCamilla]

I just looked into the plans and we got the silver. If you decide to use them only for meals and use counter service you will lose out. You need to go to a sit down restaurant. Most of the restaurants cost 1 wish each with just a few costing two. You can also use them on theme dinners at the various resorts such as the luau. This is where you'll see a great saving. You may also want to look for a list of buffets in the parks. They are much faster meals. I saw one on a site somewhere so I know it's out there.

We plan on using ours for parasailing and watercraft rental as well. With so few wishes how will we do it? We plan on splitting meals. We have never been able to finish a meal at Disney. The wish also gets you an appetizer and dessert so we figure on one meal feeding two people.

Planning meals is difficult though. You have to try to plan your days out now (which parks on which days and meals) to take care of priority seating (call 407-wdw-dine) or you'll be waiting for a table most of your stay (as much as 2 hours in some places at peak times). The character meals also require a little bit of planning so you don't find yourself eating breakfast at 11 one day and lunch at 11:30 the next. I just tried to get a priority seating of 12:00 for a character lunch 89 days out and had to pick a different time. These things fill up fast.

Think of priority seating as a fastpass for meals. It can get you to a table quicker than waiting in the standby line. You can start making arrangements 90 days out for most restaurants and 120 for themed meals.

Priority seating does not mean that you are locked in. You don't want to use it just don't show up. They try not to advertise this because some people will try to make multiple priority seatings for the same meal in different parks. There are ways to do this.

 

[Disney Fool]

for Grand2me: BE WARY of purchasing tickets off EBay. There is no way to tell if the ticket is all used up or not. The only way to tell is at the gate --and that's too late!

 

[CharlesandCamilla]

That's right. And they aren't nice about it. I've witnessed someone being told there weren't any days left on tickets she claimed she had just purchased from someone who said they had to leave Orlando early. And I can imagine that woman and her family were really pissed. They thought they were going to spend the day at Epcot.