Meal plan + Concierge = smart?

[texhanddoc]

We are staying at the Polynesian concierge this october. There will be four. Myself, my wife, dd 4.5 and ds 2. I was considering getting one or two meal plans to cut down on some costs. I am not sure whether we should just leave the whole meal plan thing alone since we are concierge and will have the advantage of having food out for us.

What do you all think?

 

[pennyplanner]

I do not believe you have the option of getting just one or two meal plans. Your party would be charged for the number of qualifying guests (I know there is a kid cut-off for the really young ones!) according to the number of nights you are staying.

Personally, it sounds like too much food if you frequent the concierge lounge offerings.

Sounds like a great trip!

--penny

 

[MomofKatie]

Unfortunately, you are required to purchase the DP for all members of your party ages 3 and up for the number of nights on your reservation. So, for your family, that means you'd have to get 2 adult and 1 child DP.

If you plan on utilizing the Conciege offerings, you probably will end up wasting food on the DP- you really do get A LOT of food.

Bottom line- unless you are HUGE eaters, don't bother with the DP if you are staying concierge- or don't stay concierge if you really want to try the DP. If you are out to save $$, I'd opt for a non-concierge room and the DP. JMO, however- I know some really love the concierge experience.

 

[theostwalts]

We did the meal plan and concierge our this past October and we are doing both again on our next trip. The only real meal benefit from concierge was breakfast. I would take our two youngest daughters (7 & 9) to the lounge for breakfast and my wife and oldest dd (14) would get ready and meet us there. We would grab some snacks at times. For me the biggest advantage to the concierge services is pre-planning. It was nice to email them our dining plans and times and have an itinerary sent back. We made some changes before we left and they took care of everything.

 

[Threehearts]

We are normal to fairly hungry people and after having a light breakfast, we found it to be way too much food to eat. Keep in mind- We never share meals and really do have hearty appetites. The big thing for us is that we normally would not eat breakfast, have a big lunch with dessert and then a sit-down dinner, soup to nuts. How anyone could truly eat that volume of food and not have serious indigestion is beyond me. Plus, if your child is young enough(10-12), they will never eat that much food and you could share their appetizer and dessert under normal circumstances. If you are very concerned about "getting your money's worth" you may feel nauseated by the end of the vacation. If you don't mind nibbling on the appetizer or dessert portions and then leaving them behind, you'll do well on the plan. Of course, this is JMHO and you may have people with HUGE appetites. Oh, don't forget about all of those snack coupons that you'll feel you need to use. Good luck! Threehearts

 

[disneyfreakk]

My DH and I had this discussion last night. Say you are staying 6 nights. You use your dinning plan credits on signature dinning or character meals ( which require 2 points each ) for 3 of those days. Then "eat" at the concierge the other 3/4 nights depending on what meals you choose to use your credits on ( breakfast or dinner ). Keep in mind that the concierges can usually get you those hard to book ADRs too. then eat counter service for lunch, and use the snack point for a drink while you are in the parks. Save the sweets for dinners or concierge. My plan seems to only work if you are staying for a even number of nights and if you dont plan on eating at the 2 point meals I dont think its worth it.

 

[Stepht5]

We are staying at the Polynesian concierge this october. There will be four. Myself, my wife, dd 4.5 and ds 2. I was considering getting one or two meal plans to cut down on some costs. I am not sure whether we should just leave the whole meal plan thing alone since we are concierge and will have the advantage of having food out for us.

What do you all think?

FWIW Concierge food offerings do NOT replace meals! We stayed concierge in Oct (and are staying concierge next week) and yes.... it was nice having snacks out at different times but, it in NO way would replace meals (except breakfast).

 

[Judique]

We are staying at the Polynesian concierge this october. There will be four. Myself, my wife, dd 4.5 and ds 2. I was considering getting one or two meal plans to cut down on some costs. I am not sure whether we should just leave the whole meal plan thing alone since we are concierge and will have the advantage of having food out for us.

What do you all think?

For how long are you staying? If you are really looking to cut costs, and you are staying for a week or more, perhaps you should consider an annual pass and a disney dining experience card. You may be able to get a passholder rate on your concierge room and the DDE card would save 20% on many of your sitdown meals. There are lots of possible cost cutting options. My very first Disney stay was a concierge room at the Poly and I loved it! I did not get a meal plan. We just grazed in the lounge and made dinner reservations at our choice of TS restaurants. We returned a number of times and then became vacation club members, which is a whole other world, but I still remember the Poly fondly.

Whatever you decide on, have a wonderful vacation!

 

[hmp2z]

It depends on whether you're planning on going to restaurants that use 2 points instead of 1, and whether you like to return to your resort & snack, or eat breakfast there.
We always stay concierge, and the year we had the dining plan, there was just WAAAAY too much food for us. We are people who love to go back to our resort, to see what surprises are there, so we'll eat a light breakfast at concierge, then return in the evening for wine & cheese, and maybe even in the afternoon for the brownies or tea. We don't replace meals with concierge, but, with all that snacking, we're too full to order huge, full meals at restaurants with apps, entrees, etc. I usually end up getting a light lunch then 2 apps for my dinner, and I never, ever feel hungry (I guess I'm a piggy - just keep snacking, though I'm not hungry at all!)
In my opinion, if you like to snack like we do, it wouldn't be worth it, unless you save your wishes to do the nicer restaurants.
Cheers!
Heather W

 

[MomofKatie]

character meals ( which require 2 points each )

The only character meal that is 2 TS credits is CRT (as of 2/1/06). All of the others are 1 TS credit each.

 

[disneyfreakk]

sorry, I meant only do meals that require 2 points.

 

[Allison]

FWIW Concierge food offerings do NOT replace meals! We stayed concierge in Oct (and are staying concierge next week) and yes.... it was nice having snacks out at different times but, it in NO way would replace meals (except breakfast).

I think this is a good thing for people to know. Concierge food offerings are not meant to replace meals except if you are light breakfast eaters. The food is supposed to provide snacks/extras for everyone staying concierge, it's not meant to be a meal replacement plan.

 

[N.Bailey]

I'd look at the menus available and decide exactly what type schedule your family would do without the plan. IMO, if you'd still do 1 full service per day, you'll probably make out on the plan. If not however, I doubt you'd make out well enough to include it.

One thing you can do though is make 2 separate reservations if you don't want the plan for the entire trip. Whether that would be worth it or not would be up to you to decide. I'd imagine the length of your stay would be a huge factor when deciding that.

 

[JayCT]

We just did this. We stayed at the Poly Concierge and did the Meal Plan. We found that it was way too much food for us and we are BIG eaters. We used all of our table services off the meal plan mainly because we used two of them for Hoop Dee Doo. But when we checked out we had six counter service meals left and a number of snacks. We went into Captain Cooks and picked up a big batch of unpopped popcorn bags and other snacks for home. We like concierge because of the ease of getting breakfast in the morning and the ability to use it for a light dinner at night if we had a big meal in the afternoon. Next time I think we will just do Concierge and pass on the meal plan. It was worth it alone but not really with concierge. JMHO Jay