Gold Plan Questions

[ksy8384]

I have a DS 9 and DD 7 (at the time of our trip) and do they have to be included on the Gold or Silver plan too? They hardly eat a kids meal between the two of them so I am afraid it would be a waste of $$. How do you do it with the smaller kids?

Kalen

 

[ksy8384]

Forgot to ask above...sorry....

Do they discount the Siver/Gold pkg's like they do some of the others? We are thinking about going deluxe but really want the discount and I am wondering about doing a mod instead and then adding silver or gold.

Kalen

 

[StaceyA]

Originally posted by ksy8384
Forgot to ask above...sorry....

Do they discount the Siver/Gold pkg's like they do some of the others? We are thinking about going deluxe but really want the discount and I am wondering about doing a mod instead and then adding silver or gold.

Kalen

Any of the codes that work for the Packages work for the add ons too, last year we did the pay for 5 stay for 7 deal with the package and this year we booked through AAA and got about 500.00 off the package (we are booked at the Boardwalk right now)

I do know that all that are staying in the rooms have to be added onto the packages, so the kids would have to be added on, I don't know how they price the kids though...if anything I would say go with the Silver, the wishes, although cheaper for the kids, just all go together in a pool and can be used by anyone...you can go and see Cirque for 2 wishes each and eat at some of the nicer sit down restaurants and use the kids wishes for yourselves (go to some 2 wish places) and pay seperate for the kids...I have never done this (no kids) but have heard about it being done where the parents pretty much use the wishes for themselves and the kids meals are paid for seperately.

There are lots of things you can use the wishes for other then eating so don't just go by that....there is some recreation, that might be fun for your family...and probably even some kids things that your kids could use thier wishes on...here is a link to the brochure:

http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/m...pecific/eng/nontheme/tickets/F_SilverWDTC.pdf

I looked and there is a Childrens Activity Center, it is one wish per child ages 4-12 from 4:30 to midnight at select resorts, the kids enjoy games and activities, dinner is included, while you get to have some grown up fun.

There are also a tour you can do with the kids, the Family Magic Tour, it is one wish.
And there is some merchandise you can get with the wishes....

Hope this helped!!

 

[StaceyA]

For my part in this thread, we have decided to stay with the Silver for our upcoming trip, this will be the girls only trip, me and my mom (65) and we thought about it, that the extra $$ you pay for Gold wouldn't work for us since she really isn't into alot of the side activities that come with the Gold, now if it were my DH and I we would be Gold all the way!
He would go on a fishing excursion everyday if I let him..LOL

And we would definitely get our $$'s worth on food with him!!

I think the next time DH and I go, we will go for the gold, but for mom and I the Silver is our best bet....I would feel the "need" to make the gold plan work for us, and we would push ourselves and I don't want that to happen.

Im glad that this thread has helped some other folks that are considering both plans!!

 

[ksy8384]

Thanks for the reply. I am looking and since the kids are so young they aren't able to do most of the tours that would make the Gold a good bet for us. I think the silver would make more sense.

Kalen

 

[StaceyA]

Originally posted by ksy8384
Thanks for the reply. I am looking and since the kids are so young they aren't able to do most of the tours that would make the Gold a good bet for us. I think the silver would make more sense.

Kalen

I think you would get your $$'s worth from the silver rather then the gold, I would double check on paying for your kids meal seperately just to make sure im correct.

Im almost 100% positive I read that here somewhere on the board that you can do that.

Happy Planning!!

 

[Chicago526]

I think that for both the silver and gold plans, weather or not they are good deals depends on how you will use them.

If you are only using the plans for meals, then both are a bad deal. For a 7 night stay for 2 adults, the silver plan is about $1000 more than Dream Maker, and for Gold, it's about $2000 more. BF and I are not doing a package, and have more or less planed out our meals, and we've budgeted $1000 for 8 nights/9 days (including several high priced places and character meals), the same as what the Silver plan would cost us for 7 nights/8 days. But the silver plan, if only used for meals, only gives us two meals a day, and our budget is planed for 3 a day. With Gold, it's even worse a deal.

However, if you plan on using A LOT non-park activities (golf, fishing, boat rentals, kids centers, Cirque, park tours) and plan on dinning in sit-down places at least 2x a day, then you'd break even or maybe even be a little ahead.

What I'd do (what I did, really) was sit down and figure out EXACTLY what we'd be doing each day for non-park activities and park tours, and all meals (I already know what restaurants we want to eat at so that helped a lot) and add up all the prices of activies and estimated meal costs for the whole stay. Add that amount on to the hotel/passes/transfers to get a grand total. Then compare that to the Silver/Gold plans. If the numbers are close, then I'd go with the plans, if a la carte is signifigantly cheaper, then I book a la carte but make sure to save enough money for meals/activities in time for the trip. Then simply charge EVERYTHNING to the room, and settle up at the end of the trip.

To me, there's no differance to charging to the room, or using my room key for the silver/gold plans. They're the same thing, just one is pre-paid, the other isn't. As long as I have the money before I leave for the trip, I don't have to worry about running the credit card up, and I'll have more money to buy treats with since I saved over paying for the silver/gold plans. Plus, I don't get the "use it or lose it" feeling. If we aren't hungry for 3 meals one day, we just don't eat, and use the money for shoping or just not spend it.

A la carte is almost always cheaper, and with a little planning and budgeting, you'll get more bang for the buck.

 

[zipDdoodah]

I think the best way to sum it up is - To Each His Own.....

I find that if we save the money and plan everything a la carte we end up spending it on completely different things than we planned before we arrived. We end up eating as cheap as possible so we can buy more treats. That's just us.

For me, I like to have it all handled before I go on the trip. Then, when we're spending $150-200 for dinner I won't feel like I'm detracting from the treat budget. With 3 young kids, they would spend the WHOLE budget on treats if they could. The whole idea of the Gold Plan for us is like it's a treat and a time not to have to worry about the budget. I think we've definitely gotten our money's worth out of it when we've used it though.

That being said, there are definitely others who would NOT spend the money on all that extra stuff. I know lots of people think we're crazy for spending that much on a trip. I totally see the sense in planning it all yourself and not doing any plans, and I agree it can be a waste of money to get these plans if they aren't used to their fullest.

So, I think it kind of depends on whether you wanna "go all out" or "plan to get the most for your money." I think it varies for everyone, and we all have our own reasons about why we would or wouldn't purchase these plans.

I'm goin' GOLD