Just back from WDW using MYW dining plan

[jjohnson]

dumb question..BUT are the meals limited to certain things on the menu,,OR can u get what u want? FOR example..DH and I wanna do BOMA one night(buffet) FANTASMIC dinner deal one night(TS) and Capn jacks our first night in at DOWNTOWN DISNEY,,well boma i know is like 25 bucks a person and capn jacks had 15 dollar appetizers(gads I rarely spend that on my entitre meal),,,,, thanks again!!!

I could be wrong (hope I am) but I read the FANTASMIC dinner plan is not included in the MYW dining plan.

 

[MrsKreamer]

Dessert is included with counter service and sit-down meals.
I am so glad to hear that you had a good trip and that the dining plan worked out for you. My husband and I leave for our honeymoon in 8 days and will be using the dining plan. We have extra dinners planned-hoop, V&A's, and FPD at the BD, so we are going to pay for those, but it still works out better. My husband and I could easily spend $35 a piece on one meal, let alone 2 meals and a snack! I do know that you can use the counter service for breakfast, there's no dessert though. I am having trouble fitting in my counter service meals but I am still working the kinks out!
Thanks for all the info!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have a follow-up question from page 1 about the grouping of the meals. You said you had 24 of each since there were 4 of you. If you had wanted to go to a signature restaurant, could you have paid in cash or room charge for your kids and used the 4 sit-downs for you and hubby as opposed to using 8 sit-downs? It seems as though paying cash for the kids would be preferable at the signature restaurants.

Good question. We didn't do any signature restaraunts but in the brochure under Signature restaraunts here's what it says:

The Disney Dining Plan can be used for participating Disney Signature restaraunts at the WDW Resort. This selected group of restaurants provodes unparalleled cuisine served in elegant and relaxed surroundings.
Your Signature Restaurant Meal includes:
One (1) appetizer
One (1) entree
One (1) dessert
One (1) single serving non-alcoholic beverage

Your server will redeem two (2) Table Service meals for each person dining at a Signature Restaurant.

** Children must order from the child's menu where available.

So I don't know if they have a children's menu but I'd imagine they do, like everywhere else. So rather than using two each you could pay cash if you wanted, sure. Just tell the server how you want to do it and they'll ring it up that way.

One other thought: there really is so much food it might be just fine to use two each on one day, saving another day as a "grazing" day. We really had no room for some of our favorite things throughout the parks, we were that full. For the first time ever we had virtually no food charges on our bill when we checked out!

 

[MrsKreamer]

Is the FDP included? I just assumed it wasn't???

 

[allisonwonderland]

I could be wrong (hope I am) but I read the FANTASMIC dinner plan is not included in the MYW dining plan.

ohh nooo....then we may not do this.mmmmm...well the only thing i can think of is that the places that u eat for the Fantasmic show WAS inlcuded sooo,,I guess that is why i just thought that it would be......anyone know for SURE????oooohh nuts,,I hope I can use it for that.............thanks for the heads up just in case

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I could be wrong (hope I am) but I read the FANTASMIC dinner plan is not included in the MYW dining plan.

When I called for PS for our MGM day I asked about it and I'm pretty sure she said we could use the package, but that it would be two meals like at the Signature Restaurants. You could call 407-WDW-DINE to double check.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Dessert is included with counter service and sit-down meals.
I do know that you can use the counter service for breakfast, there's no dessert though.

Maybe they'd let you get a fruit cup or a yogurt?? We found some of the workers at Pop Century gave us some tips like getting our dessert in a "to go" container so we could eat it later if we wanted. I'm sure they see it a lot. I bet if you explained what you're doing they'd let you have them. Some of the cashiers were laughing right along with us at how much food we got!!

P.S. Have a great wedding and honeymoon!!

 

[MrsKreamer]

Then I think it might just be worth paying for that and saving the table service choices for another day. the BD is what 36.99 per person...so divide that by two and you may as well use the table service options elswhere. That is OK b/c I planned on paying for this anyway.

 

[jjohnson]

When I called for PS for our MGM day I asked about it and I'm pretty sure she said we could use the package, but that it would be two meals like at the Signature Restaurants. You could call 407-WDW-DINE to double check.

I'm going to call & find out. I could see charging 2 for BD but not MM or HV. You would be better off paying out of pocket.

 

[jjohnson]

Just got off the phone with WDW dine. CM wasn't sure & put me on hold to check. She came back & told me FDP is NOT included.

While I was on the phone I told her I understood my entire family has to be on the plan & I would be paying $35.00 for my 11 DS but he still eats off the kids menus & could I pay for his meal seperately. She said I most certainly could. This is great news for me!

 

[DisDarling]

When I called for PS for our MGM day I asked about it and I'm pretty sure she said we could use the package, but that it would be two meals like at the Signature Restaurants. You could call 407-WDW-DINE to double check.

Did you feel that your kids ate their worth of food? I think thats the catch! I know my 4 year old wont eat half of the food given to her, and my 11 year old will eat, but nothing I feel worth either.
Any advice on this? Its too bad my husband and I couldnt just get the meal plan.
D.D.

 

[DisDarling]

What a great plan! You get a ton of food, almost more than we could eat! Had some really nice meals. Here's where we ate, in order of favorites:

Dinners:
Boma
Ohana
Hollywood and Vine
Cape May Cafe
Liberty Tree Tavern
50's Prime Time Cafe


Lunches:
Pepper Market
Flame Tree BBQ
Pop Century food court
Casey's Emporium
Electric Umbrella


We had the MYW base tickets (no hopping) which worked out fine for us but to keep things fairly simple we ate in or near the park we were in each day. We did have a car but mostly used Disney transportation to get around.

We found that many of the CMs still were unfamiliar with the MYW dining plan so it's helpful to learn about it yourself before you use it. For instance, at the Pepper Market, standing in line with our food, we were told by the cashier they "didn't take that" when I presented our room key with Dining on it. Luckily, a manager was nearby and he overheard and corrected the cashier. Of course, I knew they took it, but had he not been nearby it would have been quite a hassle. We were told we were the first to use it there.

Most of the other CMs did know about it but some weren't sure how to ring it in. At MGM one CM rang in each snack on each card requiring 4 signatures, etc...(and majorly holding up the line) but others seemed to know it only required one main (adult) card. We were also told at the front desk to make sure they know we have MYW dining or it might be rung up as a room charge which I could see happening. They did give us a brochure at the front desk explaining the rules of MYW dining as well as participating restaraunts and I would suggest keeping it with you at all times. When you get your receipt it shows you how many of that type option you have remaining. e.g. for a 6 night stay we had 24 of each (4 people X6 nights) snack, counter svc and dinner so they subtracted from those each time and it showed on the slip.

One thing that I was a bit uncomfortable with was the tipping process with the MYW package, primarily because many of our servers were unfamiliar with the package and still included the "tipping sheet" with our bill stating the tip was not included. I explained to each server that the main (15%) gratuity was included, though we added another $5 to each to make 20%. I didn't want anyone to think we left without tipping. The only time the tip was listed on the bill was at Ohana and when I asked the server about it she said they were supposed to do it that way! So, yes, a lot of inconsistencies in implementing the plan, but still a good plan.

Here's a sample of one day's totals. Since we payed $90/day (2 adults and 2 seven year olds) it was a nice savings.

4 popcorns@ $2.75 each: $11
4 counter service meals w/ dessert: $45
4 dinners with appetizers, desserts and gratuity: $114
Total: $170 (an $80 savings).

Lastly, we found that having a big lunch around noon, then a big dinner at 6ish was kind of a lot. Spacing it out more would be better, if possible. And though we never tried it, I wondered if you could make breakfast count as one of the counter service meals instead of lunch, I bet you could. (We had bought some breakfast items for our room. Also, we had to change many of our dinner PS's because when we got to the resort some of the previously published Extra Magic Hours days had changed so we had to change most of our dinner times and not all hours were available at that point).

If I can answer ?s I'll try. Overall I'd recommend the plan!

Questions:

Did you feel like you HAD to eat all the time to make sure you got your moneys worth?

Did you have to use them every day- or was it whenever you felt like?
Meaning, you didnt have a snack MOnday, can you have two now on Tuesday?

How did this affect your PSs- you still had to make your own, correct??

From what I read, its just your hotel key which has DINING written on it? And each person gets this?

Were you given something at the end of your trip that said where you ate and how much or did you keep track of it yourself?

Thanks for any answers you can provide
D.D.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Did you feel that your kids ate their worth of food? I know my 4 year old wont eat half of the food given to her, and my 11 year old will eat, but nothing I feel worth either.

My 7 yo twins don't eat much but yes, I do think they ate at least $10 worth of food each per day. It would be another story if they were 9 or older and had to pay full price. I know they wouldn't eat $35 worth of food each.

They definitely ate their snack every day. At counter service meals they ate about half or less of what they got, sometimes saving their cookies for later, but drinking their whole drink. And at dinner they ate off the buffets pretty well as well as some of the meals like mac n cheese or pasta and sauce. We seemed to like the buffets better as a family because there were more choices for all of us and everyone was happy.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Questions:

Did you feel like you HAD to eat all the time to make sure you got your moneys worth?

Did you have to use them every day- or was it whenever you felt like?
Meaning, you didnt have a snack MOnday, can you have two now on Tuesday?

How did this affect your PSs- you still had to make your own, correct??

From what I read, its just your hotel key which has DINING written on it? And each person gets this?

Were you given something at the end of your trip that said where you ate and how much or did you keep track of it yourself?

Thanks for any answers you can provide
D.D.

1) LOL, yes, I did. But I'm a compulsive bargain hunter and I didn't want to waste any of our options (which we didn't). I bet there will be people who don't use all their options.

2) Yes, you can use them up from your "bank" however you wish until they're gone. From the brochure: "use your meals and snacks in any order and in any amount throughout your package stay until your total is depleted".

3) Yes, we made our own PSs.

4) Yes, Disney Dining is inscribed on everyone's room keys with the dates of your stay.

5) Each time you get a receipt it says how many "coupons" you have remaining for that portion of the dining plan.We kept a running total in our heads because we ate one lunch and one dinner per day anyway. The snacks we had two on some days and none on others. I saved all my receipts because I wasn't sure how it worked at the beginning.

Funny, I just pulled our some receipts and noticed on some of the sit down meal receipts it did say gratuity included which I hadn't noticed before. Seeing that would have made me feel better about the whole tipping thing.

I also just noticed I must have gotten charged for the popcorns at MGM which were rung up separately on each card. I'll have to check my bill. The man at the stand really was unsure about the whole thing and I was a bit stressed with 6 people behind us in line. I guess that's why they say make sure the clerks know ahead of time you're using the MYW plan (which we did) and to check all receipts when you get them. I think things will get better as time goes on.

 

[Liz]

Thanks for answering all these questions! Did you see anything in the pamphlet to indicate sharing meals isn't allowed? Sounds like a ton of food!

Thanks again!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Thanks for answering all these questions! Did you see anything in the pamphlet to indicate sharing meals isn't allowed? Sounds like a ton of food!

Yes, it was a lot of food! Once you get your food there's no reason you can't share. My kids easily could have shared their meals, but there really wouldn't have been enough time to use up their other options and they often like different things anyway so they each got their own meals.

 

[SALLYSUNSHINE]

Thanks to all for all this great info!! I am new to this sight, and we are going in June w/the MYW-Dining option and I have been really worried about it!! Seems as though overall everything should run pretty smooth!! Hopefully what kinks are in the system should be worked out by June!!

 

[suzannews]

You said you had 24 of each since there were 4 of you. If you had wanted to go to a signature restaurant, could you have paid in cash or room charge for your kids and used the 4 sit-downs for you and hubby as opposed to using 8 sit-downs? It seems as though paying cash for the kids would be preferable at the signature restaurants.

Yes, you can pay cash for the kids meals and since its alot of food anyways, they could just share your apps and desserts if you wanted. Just make sure the server knows you will be paying cash for the kids meals, you will receive a seperate check for this and you should be all set. This happens at my restaurant all the time with packages.

 

[LSUDis]

Pea-n-me,

Maybe you can help some of us on another thread.....did your brochure on the Dining Plan specify what snacks were available? Was anything available at the Main Street Bakery? In other words, what can you tell us about snacks? Thanks!

 

[Nik's Mom]

Good question about the snack items. I received an e-mail from WDW that says we can use milk as a snack, but everything else I read says only pop corn, ice cream, soda or water. Not much of selection.