Need help/info on Premium Dining Plan?

I'm wondering if it would make sense for us to do a "split stay" with a few days premium at the beginning and then moving to a room only at another hotel. We did this with the dining plan this year, and it was perfect. We really enjoyed trying out all of those restaurants and things the first few days, and then also enjoyed relaxing in our villa (we moved to SSR) and making our own food later in the vacation. Also if we did that for say, 2 nights, we would get the free tours etc .. . for all three days?

The premium plan is too expensive for me to do a whole vacation, but I'd love the idea of eating lots of great places, seeing La Nouba etc . . on the first few days. The last few days would be even better, but if we did that we'd have to buy two sets of tickets.
 
Wow, it sounds nice, but.......for my family, the price went from $6100, to a almost $11,000 ($10,800). We do have a family of five (three kids), but I have my doubts we could even make a dent in the $4700 difference!!!! :confused3

I think it's because two of my kids count as "adults". So with a package like this, it works agaisnt you, while in figuring adding something like concierge, it benefits us (because the $100 extra per night is a flat fee, our family "benefits" more than a couple would)

It sounds great, though!

Julia
 
I am really surprised to see the premium plan quoted at $138 pp above. We are booked for 8 nights at the AKL with hoppers for $2712 (me, DH, DS13, DD7 and DD2) with the "free" dining promotion. When I asked for a quote for the premium plan, I was quoted $8,000 for the same package with premium.
 
Deidra - I plugged my 7 nights in for Oct without the plan but with the plus option hoppers for 8 days and got $2569. Then put in with premium plan for 7 nights (couldn't use what we are paying since there are no woods view rooms left) and got $4515. Subtracted the difference (1946 extra for package), divided by 7 (278)then by 2 (139).

I ran a quote for your family - just used random value season dates at AKL excluding your 2 yr old b/c it wouldn't let me book a regular room with 5 people only deluxe or concierge, plus the 2yr old wouldn't be charged anyway. It was $2914 for room and hoopers with plus option in standard room and $7002 with premium package. Cost for package is extra $4088. Cost for 3 adults at 139/night is 3336, leaving child charge at $94/night - 752. That looks about right to me still at $138/139 per person, per night.

Mickey'snewestfan - I don't think you can add extra days to your park pass if you are on the premium plan so you'd have to buy 2 sets of tickets anyway. When trying to book on the website with extra days it wouldn't let me and the the premium package brochure also states that "The duratiion of the Magic Your Way Premium Ticket must equal the number of nights of your Disney Resort stay, plus one day."
 

Julia M said:
Wow, it sounds nice, but.......for my family, the price went from $6100, to a almost $11,000 ($10,800). We do have a family of five (three kids), but I have my doubts we could even make a dent in the $4700 difference!!!! :confused3

I think it's because two of my kids count as "adults". So with a package like this, it works agaisnt you, while in figuring adding something like concierge, it benefits us (because the $100 extra per night is a flat fee, our family "benefits" more than a couple would)

It sounds great, though!

Julia


If your kids that are considered adults don't eat like adults then it isn't worth the $, but that also holds true for adults that don't eat that much either. It also only saves you money if you would do most of the stuff anyway. If you planned on eating 3 meals a day and taking in some recreation already - that $4700 would disappear quickly. Assuming you're staying 7 nights and eating at sit downs for dinner you could easily spend $300 per dinner ($2100) add on parasailing just once and an hour for everyone on water sprites and that's about another $1000. Figure $100-150 for sit down lunch (700- 1050) and $50-75 for breakfast, more if character breakfast (350-525). At the low end this means you spent about 3800, at the high end you've spent 4700. Again, this plan isn't for everyone, especially if you don't plan on taking advantage of most of what the plan offers. This post wasn't mean to convince you of using it, just showing you that you could get to 4700 on a 7 night trip - again guessing at 7 nights based on 139/adult, 94/child.
 
Did a little research and found pricing for last year's Gold Plan which is the same as this years Premium Package. On Dreams Unlimited it listed the add on price as "Add $139 per adult & Jr & $94 per child - per night" on top of the basic DreamMaker package. That seems to match up pretty well with my estimates.
 
honeymo, yes that is about right. The Premium Plan is a separate package, not an add-on so that is why you have to do some math and comparing to get an exact per person figure.

We rather stay a moderate resort on the plan than a deluxe with no plan. It is far to great in value. We could never have had the outstanding experiences we have had without it. I still believe you get extra perks for using it as it is the ULTIMATE in Disney vacation packages. I could go on and on with the perks we have gotten...ranging from front row center at the Hoop Dee Do...to seats at La Nouba that were 9 rows from the stage (and free!)...can't say enough!
 
Your math is right.....is just looks like a HUGE amount of money. I know we all have different priorities and different ideas of what represents value to us-- but I just can't imagine getting my "money's worth" with the premium plan. Of course, we would never go parasailing at Disney (but we loved it in Hawaii at a 1/3 of the price) or rent water equipment there. Frankly, we don't even go to water parks. We find that 4 theme parks and the resort we stay at are plenty to keep us constantly on the go. I can't imagine how we would have any time left for the parks on the premium package!
 
I used the previous incarnation of the Platinum plan last year, and even though I loved the unlimited recreation and the unlimited tours, I wouldn't do it again because it was WAY too much food. To get your money's worth you need to stick with the table service restaurants for all your meals. Think about it: breakfast buffet at your hotel, table service lunch (appetizer, entree, AND dessert), table service dinner (again 3 courses) plus a snack. My stomach hurts just thinking about it. I priced it out a la carte when I got home, and it was nearly break even, but I know we ordered more food than we would have normally - even by "we're on vacation!" standards.

I would go with concierge over Platinum any day.
 
honeymo78 said:
If your kids that are considered adults don't eat like adults then it isn't worth the $, but that also holds true for adults that don't eat that much either. It also only saves you money if you would do most of the stuff anyway. If you planned on eating 3 meals a day and taking in some recreation already - that $4700 would disappear quickly. Assuming you're staying 7 nights and eating at sit downs for dinner you could easily spend $300 per dinner ($2100) add on parasailing just once and an hour for everyone on water sprites and that's about another $1000. Figure $100-150 for sit down lunch (700- 1050) and $50-75 for breakfast, more if character breakfast (350-525). At the low end this means you spent about 3800, at the high end you've spent 4700. Again, this plan isn't for everyone, especially if you don't plan on taking advantage of most of what the plan offers. This post wasn't mean to convince you of using it, just showing you that you could get to 4700 on a 7 night trip - again guessing at 7 nights based on 139/adult, 94/child.

I priced it just because it sounded neat. Reading thsi thread made me think, "maybe that would work for us!!"

The point I was trying to make (obviously unsuccessfully :) :) ), was that this might be the type of plan that doesn't benefit a family, especially one with children that are priced as adults.

In my case, I have a plan that offers 2 meals a day, concierge lounge snacks, and park tickets. So, essentially, the plan pays for an additional meal per day (as well as the ability to eat wherever we want, not limited to CS or TS or 1 or 2 credits) and the recreation (including kids clubs).

Those are nice perks, but the point I was trying to make is that a family like mine (with kids priced as adults), $4700 is a big difference. Many families with 10, 11, 12 year olds won't get the benefit. Many families won't eat sit down meals for most, if not all their meals, three times a day. Their 10 year old won't parasail. At 10, many kids prefer the kids meal offering over the the most expensive entree. Many (although I'm sure not all) will choose a character meal and counter service, rather than a sit down breakfast at the Kona Cafe, lunch at Alfredo's and dinner at Citricos (for example)

The comparison I was trying to make was with concierge service. With a solo traveler, or a couple, the additional $100 is a big difference each night. With a family of five, like mine, the difference isn't so great, because you have 5 people eating the morning b'fast, kids eating snacks and having drinks in the lounge, as well as the adults enjoying the evening beverages.

It's kind of similiar to this plan. For two adults (like a couple on their honeymoon!! :love2: ) the additional $280 makes it worth it, when dinner might be $200, and you want to eat at table service for most (if not all) of the meals. And at places like California Grill. And if you'll parasail and use the water sprites.

I was just trying to share my comparison of plans, in case someone else like me read these posts. I wasn't trying to cricitize the plan or anyone on it. I was just offering a comparison as to why the benefit (financially and usage wise) may really differ.

Julia
 
I think it depends alot on the ages of everyone going. For us, DH, myself, DD (20) and DD (17). We are looking forward to golf, lessons, behind the scenes tours, horseback riding, Cirque de Soleil, maybe parasailing, time to relax and enjoy the table service meals along with being at WDW. For us it is a win-win thing. We enjoy having nearly everything pre-paid. We like the flexibility...for us it is a good value. If my DDs were younger, and I had to pay adult prices for meals and other options they wouldn't use let alone enjoy, I probably wouldn't do it. If we were thinking of only the value of meals...probably wouldn't do it either. As it is, for our situation and interests, its great. I can see why others wouldn't choose the Premium Plan, but I'm glad that Disney offers it. I'm thinking that next time I might like to try Platinum! I saw they are offering it again for 2006!
 
wasabi girl said:
I think it depends alot on the ages of everyone going. For us, DH, myself, DD (20) and DD (17). We are looking forward to golf, lessons, behind the scenes tours, horseback riding, Cirque de Soleil, maybe parasailing, time to relax and enjoy the table service meals along with being at WDW. For us it is a win-win thing. We enjoy having nearly everything pre-paid. We like the flexibility...for us it is a good value. If my DDs were younger, and I had to pay adult prices for meals and other options they wouldn't use let alone enjoy, I probably wouldn't do it. If we were thinking of only the value of meals...probably wouldn't do it either. As it is, for our situation and interests, its great. I can see why others wouldn't choose the Premium Plan, but I'm glad that Disney offers it. I'm thinking that next time I might like to try Platinum! I saw they are offering it again for 2006!

That's exactly it......my kids are 8, 11 and 13. While one table service a day is okay, they also really like counter service. They wouldn't be that into the tours, and I wouldn't let them parasail!! :teeth:

On the other hand, I would LOVE :love: to try out the plan with dh......I'm not sure we'd even make it to the parks!!!! :rotfl2:

Have an awesome trip!

Julia
 
Wasabi - we are looking into the Platinum plan for our next vacation - in 2004 it was $60 more per person/ per night than the Gold Plan - so hopefully the pricing stays similar. We really want to do Dolphins in Depth - my mom offered to pay for it on the honeymoon but I said I'd rather have her help out with the cost of the wedding. We also want to take the Illuminations cruise or Wishes cruise that is included. And can we say room service - we would definitely prefer that some mornings for breakfast. Depending on whether we buy a house in the next year we might try it out for our 1yr anniversary (can I start planning now, lol)


Blueroses - we never found it was too much food, but then again at home we eat appy, entree and dessert most of the time when we go out to eat or at home we have salad, entree and some dessert with most meals. Hmm maybe thats why I'm constantly trying to lose weight :rotfl:

Julia M - I'm sorry it sounded like I didn't understand you. To this day I can't really figure out why we went on this plan when my brother and I were younger (then again all the grandparents would come too so I guess that made up for the 2 kids/"adults"). But by the time my brother middle school it was a good thing we were doing it cause he could eat us out of house and home (definitely worth the adult price there). I can completely understand how/why it doesn't work for everyone. I was just showing how you "could" spend the money. Sorry if it came out sounding wrong :blush:
 
Mickey'snewestfan - I don't think you can add extra days to your park pass if you are on the premium plan so you'd have to buy 2 sets of tickets anyway. When trying to book on the website with extra days it wouldn't let me and the the premium package brochure also states that "The duratiion of the Magic Your Way Premium Ticket must equal the number of nights of your Disney Resort stay, plus one day."[/QUOTE]

We just got back from Disney, and used the MYW dining plan for the first three nights. Then we switched to a new hotel and didn't get the dining plan. When we got to the second hotel we had them add days to the MYW ticket -- it was easy. I wonder if you could do that with the Premium plan?

Alternatively, I wonder if I could do premium for 1 night (2 day ticket) then move to another hotel for 3 nights. I don't think I'd use the ticket on the premium days -- too many other things to do, so I'd have it for two days later, plus I'd have the pluses as well.

I'm just dreaming anyway, if we go again anytime soon it will be a quick budget trip, so no premium (sigh).
 
The dining add on allows you to have a different number of days than your hotel stay but the Premium is not really an add on so it is treated differently and requires the tickets to match the stay.

You certainly could could do the premium for 1 night (getting 3 meals to use b/w the day you arrive and the next day when you check out, plus recreation and tours those 2 days). Then move to another hotel with your longer tickets.
 
honeymo78 said:
The dining add on allows you to have a different number of days than your hotel stay but the Premium is not really an add on so it is treated differently and requires the tickets to match the stay.

You certainly could could do the premium for 1 night (getting 3 meals to use b/w the day you arrive and the next day when you check out, plus recreation and tours those 2 days). Then move to another hotel with your longer tickets.

Just curious,

If I did something like this, could I still save park days and plusses from the premium days for later? Or would they expire when I checked out? I think one thing that would make the premium plan more "worth it" would be if I actually used those plusses. However, I don't see how I could use the plusses on a day when I already had, say, a park tour, a couple of sit down meals and cirque de soleil.

BTW I'm not planning on doing any of this, or at least not anytime soon. I'm just having fun dreaming.
 
The Premium Plan is not an add-on or park ticket so you can't save unused days. It runs from your first night until last night of reservation in the resort.
 
Just curious, for those that have gone on the premium and earlier similar-type plans, have you ever overscheduled yourself? I've got (or will have when I go) ADRs for nearly all of our lunches and dinners, I'm pretty well scheduled daily. mostly it is because we all have different morning plans and are using lunches as our mid-day meet up...then we'll touch base, go off and maybe spend the afternoons together (or not) and have dinner together. It seems like a reasonable plan, but, I hardly know what I'm doing for dinner tomorrow...and here I have 8 days of planned events...so I just wondered, have you ever felt too scheduled?
 
Would I be able to buy the Premium Dining Plan if I had an Annual Pass, or are park tickets automatically part of it?

Thanks!
 
Wasabi - we don't feel overscheduled and we are not really scheduled people at home (don't know what we'll have for dinner tonight and it's 5pm). But at disney I like to have a game plan so I will be sure to get a chance to do what I want. We have favorite places to eat and made ADRs for there (we generally know what times we are hungry - plus if it's not busy we'll go earlier or call and get something later if we're not hungry at that time).

Lulu - you cannot use the premium package with an annual pass - it requires room reservations and length of stay passes.
 


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