MYW - What a Waste!

[psycbert]

So, I sat on hold long-distance for 45 minutes, and after weeks of planning, praying and scrimping together extra money...I hoped to add dining to our package.

Well, apparently the "longer you play, the less to stay" theory is a misnomer - you can't stay longer than 8 nights! We leave in 2 days and already booked our airfare.

The quote I recieved for 8 nights, at the POR, w/ dining and hopper/magic plus tickets for 2 adults: $2337.
Then I would need to pay $100/night (my previous discount) for my 2 additional nights and have no access to the parks unless I wanted to pay an additional $398 for a 2 2-day ticket.
I know we're going to Universal for at least two days, so I could have done w/o the tickets, but the reservation agent said that everything was booked and I'd have to let go of my previous reservation to make new ones - and I might loose my 2 days at discount.

The way I left it, I had POR at $100 a night x 10 nights: $1115, + 2 adult tickets w/ hopper/magic features @ 554 = $1669.

Sigh. Guess it's back to drinking alot of water to not get hungry on our trip!
=( Speaking of which....any suggestions on cheap ways to feed myself?

 

[dpuck1998]

Purchase the meal thing at AK (coupon at Flametree and Tusker), the best deal at Disney.....

 

[Avalanche]

Trails End Buffet at Ft. Wilderness offers the best bang for the buck. Dinner buffet is around $15.00 and has lots to choose from including chilled shrimp. They also have a breakfest and lunch buffet.

 

[psycbert]

Meal things? Explain, please?

 

[jeancbpugh]

Sigh. Guess it's back to drinking alot of water to not get hungry on our trip!
=( Speaking of which....any suggestions on cheap ways to feed myself?

Did you see The Terminal? He lives for a while on the free saltines for soup with ketchup and mustard squeezed on. Better pack a few cereal bars from home.

And there is always the student favorite: bring a hot pot and make ramen noodles.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Meal things? Explain, please?

DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM
MEAL PLUS CERTIFICATES GOOD HERE!

Guests ages 12 and up $11.99

Guests ages 3-11 $5.99

Certificate is good for:

One counter service entree plus a beverage at any of the following: Animal Kingdom
counter service restaurants:
Restaurantosaurus, Flame Tree Barbecue, Pizzafari, Tusker House.
One box of popcorn or an ice cream bar
One bottled drink (soda or water)

The certificates can be
purchased at any Animal Kingdom counter service restaurant and also
at Guest Relations in the park.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I have read that Animal Kingdom offered a "Meal Deal", where you purchase a voucher for a counter service meal, then later in the day you get a snack. The voucher is about $12 for adults, and it is ONLY good at AK. I have no idea if they will still offer it since MYW started. We will probably look into it. Check www.allearsnet.com for more info on the Meal Deal.

We have picked up some good tips for saving on meals. Order a sandwich without the fries, order a double cheeseburger and extra bun, order kids' meals without the souvenir box, etc. We are going to carry one of our refillable mugs to the parks each day so we can order a large drink and pour half into the mug for our son. We are also having a grocery stop so we can pick up some snacks to keep in our room.

If it makes you feel any better I sat and figured what our food is likely to cost each day, and we wouldn't have come out much (if any) ahead on the dining package.

 

[Teris]

We have never felt that we would eat enough per meal to warrant the dining options in the past. Weren't they alot more expensive in previous packages tho? I have one daughter who only eats salads, and the other, only pizza,,LOL,, so it would be wasted on us I think.

So far, does it still look like booking everything seperately is still the way to go?

I think I will wait a few weeks and see if people get a better deal than they seem to be getting today.

Sigh,, anyone else long for them to do a 'Fairytale' package promotion again? That really rocked

 

[Dreaming of Disney05]

Purchase the meal thing at AK (coupon at Flametree and Tusker), the best deal at Disney.....

What is this?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

From my standpoint I saved much more doing each component separately.

We are staying for four nights - not an option to stay longer, although that would have been lovely.

Used a code for hotel, saving $22 per night ($88 total).

Bought 4 Day Park Hoppers, 2 adults, 1 child. MYW with the same features (hopping, no expiration) would have cost me about $70 more.

The dining package would have had to save me more than $150 right off the bat, which it wouldn't have. Also, DH and I talked about whether we would want a meal each day that was appetizer, entree, and dessert. Maybe, maybe not, but we still wouldn't spend another $150 on food without the dining plan.

Someone else posted that most of the kids menus don't offer cheeseburgers, and DS likes cheeseburgers. With the dining option he would have been stuck with only ordering from the kids menu.

Not a good deal for us, but we would have added it if we could have kept our room discount.

 

[armomof3lvsdisney]

I agree that doing everything individually works better. I think the dining option got everybody really excited ( I know I did). But, after crunching the numbers if you get a code on your resort stay, thats usually a substantial savings, therefore the dining option becomes very unreasonable. I got really excited about all of the hype behind MYW, and at first this morning when I found out the particulars on the pkgs, I was very disappointed. But, I've got a great rate on my resort (that I will be keeping), and I'm going to Disney. Maybe some day they will come out with pkgs that are truely money saving, but until then I'm content with doing things separately and saving money.

 

[dpuck1998]

What is this?

in case you missed it, disneyjunkie explained it above!!

 

[Drizzo67]

I quess it really depends on what you are looking for. We are staying for 7 nights in February and originally purchased the DreamMaker package. There is a lot of stuff that comes with the package that we never use - especially the last day of park use - we take early flights.

Anyway just got of the phone to change ressies to MYW and saved the family $546.76. More money to be spent in Disney as we already put it aside. You really have to play around with the options a little. It will work.

 

[Mortlives]

The MYW tickets themselves are not so bad, and in future will save us a lot of money, but the dining option would be a complete waste for us. We don't tend to snack, and for the 3 of us, our meals normally run around what it would cost for the dining option for 2 of us. Personally, I've always felt that packages are about convenience, not savings.

Kungaloosh!
Morticia.

 

[Gillian]

The tickets aren't bad & the meal plan is a good deal if you eat one sit down meal a day. It's the rack rate hotel rooms that make the new packages such a bad deal!

With the tickets being available to anyone at the same price, it makes it obvious that the new packages are a rip off for many people (compared to room only code discounts or the discounted packages of the past).

 

[eeyore0062]

Eat big lunches and small dinners. You will find that the restaurants open for lunch have similar menus for lunch as they do for dinner for much less.

Eat breakfast in your room. Get a cooler and use the ice from the machines and keep milk, so you can have milk and cereal before the parks. Take your own water/juice to the parks with you, as well as sandwiches and snacks. Use the meal deal the day you go to Animal Kingdom. If you are at MK, take the boat over to Ft Wilderness for lunch at Trails End. At Epcot, we have found we can eat rather inexpensively at Tempura Kiku. At Disney MGM, eat a big lunch, instead of dinner.

Hope this helps, and sorry the MYW didn't turn out the way you had hoped!