MYW Premium: Please Help

[cpanagiotakos]

I am 17 years old and am trying to plan a trip for june. As I am only 17 I have never done this before. These Message Boards have been really helpful thank you!
But I still have a couple of questions. I have been trying to decide between the plus dining package and the premium package. There will be ten 18 year old girls going and i dont know which would be best.What are the restrictions of the premium package? Are you allowed a certain number of table service and a certain munber of counter service like the dining plan or can you eat wherever you want whenever you want? One more with the premium do signature dining experiences require 2 credits?
Thanks in advance!

 

[scouthawkk]

Here is a link to the WDW site about the premium package. They have a link on the page that you can use to get a download of package details.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/tickets/packageDetail?id=PackageDetailMYWPrem05Page

Basically, the package includes B, L & D per person, per night. No credits to count or worry about. It does have the same type of exclusions as the regular MYW dining package: no room service, no McDonalds, no Swan/Dolphin rest's, and that kind of thing. It does seem to include more options for eating.

The premium package also includes tickets to Cirque (Cat. 2 seats, if I remember correctly). Plus other entertainment and recreation like parasailing and other water activities, golfing, horse back riding, tennis, bike rental and the like. It also includes the add on of the Plus options, giving you a certain number of visits per person (depending on length of stay) to pleasure island, the water parks, disney quest...Also includes select tours.

DH, and I are using this package the first week of August. I booked it mainily for not having to worry about meal credits (3 meals included) and having the Cirque and recreation included. I know for us, it is more convient, but Disney will probably be making money off it from us, because we are not staying long enough (by my standards) to take full adavantage of all the recreation options. We are using the Cirque tickets, have several nice rest's booked for meals (not having to worry about saving TS to be able to eat at the "signature" places). We have also booked a tour at Epcot, but that is pretty much all we are taking advantage of. No time for anything else.

I will add that we are also planning another trip for July 2007 (taking us that long to save because we will have 3 kids with us-our DS who will be 4 at time of trip, and his two aunts, ages 11 & 13 at time of trip). I think for that trip, unless the girls can convince me that they will actually want to do something other than swim at the resort and hang out at the parks and arcades, I am really only planning on the base package with the dining add on. None of them eate much now, and can't imagine them eating enough to take full advantage of the meal part of the premium, not to mention the recreation (although, DH said he is interested in taking DS on one of the fishing trips that are included). Just not worth the extra money if you are not going to get use of much of the options included.

 

[rantnnravin]

you'll each get a breakfast, lunch and dinner per package night (ex: 3-night stay = 3 BFs, 3 lunches, & 3 dinners) You are not restricted to use regarding counter vs table service.
Sig vs regular dining is not differentiated, if you want to do Hoop De Doo, it simply uses one dinner credit. same goes for california grill or narcooses. you can also use the myw premium for the fantastic dinner package (can't do that w/reg "plus dining")

 

[rifamtrav]

It seems like the premium package offers so much that you couldn't possibly do everything within the time allotted. Does anyone know how the park tickets work for this package? Is it bacically the same as any myw parkhopper with plus options? I was wondering if it made sense to book the premium package for a few nights (maybe at a value to keep the price down) then switch to another hotel and assuming you spent most of your time on the days while on the premium package using all of the included extras and maybe not even go to the parks for some of those days, could you then have the remaining days and plus options available for the later days when you're not on the package. It just seems like enjoying all of the restaurants and activities doesn't leave much time for the parks, but after a few days you'd be so full and tired of eating, you'd be ready to just concentrate on parks. Any premium package veterans know how it works?

 

[jana]

It just seems like enjoying all of the restaurants and activities doesn't leave much time for the parks,

The premium package offers some outstanding activities and restaurants, however 1) it's not cheap 2) it's hard to get the full value from the package unless you make sacrifices in the amount of time you allocate to the parks. If I were to take out a premium package I would try to max out on the cirque, tours, recreational activities and the top restaurants.

For the OP, unless you know for certain you have 10 very well off families able to foot the bills for each person it might put some of the girls/families in a difficult/embarrassing situation. IMHO it's unlikely to be affordable for everyone in your group. The regular dining package offers good value and has the advantage that most of the food is paid for upfront.

 

[cpanagiotakos]

Thank you all very much. This will really help us make our decision!

I have another question. I know this has been asked many times throughout the boards but no two answers are the same. Can I use my AAA membership to get discounts on my package or just the resort? Do I need to go through a AAA agent to do this? If it is just the resort would it be benefitial to book the package and the resort separately?

 

[indigoxtreme]

You will have to go through AAA to get the package. Speaking from experience in traveling with many teenagers over the years. I was a chaperogned many times for band trips. I would just go with the MYWD and let the girls eat breakfast bars etc in the room. Then you will each have 1 counter 1 snack and 1 ts meal each day. I would also be sure to make the TS reservations before your go. Have everyone write down 2 ts restaurants on the plan and then make your decision based on the mutiple request.

 

[NYMomof4]

Just from my experiences at Disney, I always "think" that we'll have time for all the extras and then we don't!lol Between eating, the parks, pool, etc...it might be hard to do much else.