New dining options?

[elfbo]

It will be better when we get some cold hard facts! At least as cold and hard as we can get to Disney since there seems to be alot of difference in their interpertation and enforcement of rules and things =).


And Im glad someone pointed out using 2 of the dinners at a dinner show. That would make the plan work for us, and we wouldnt be losing the value of our options when we share or split meals.

 

[ilovediznee]

I was planning on using my Hotwire membershipto buy meal vouchers for our upcoming March trip, but if Disney has them and we as DVC members can buy them, then I might do that instead. We EAT our way thru the parks and mostly go to sit down restaurants. If meals were included, we would love that. The only thing that DVC doesn't have for us that the packages did were the meals.

DisneyDiane

 

[sarhenty]

I REALLY hope thats true! I would DEFINITELY eat there more often. Disney has no IDEA how many people love to eat at Olive Garden and Bahama Breeze! Wait, if this meal option turns out to be true, then yes, they DO have an IDEA!

 

[chris1gill]

I was planning on using my Hotwire membershipto buy meal vouchers for our upcoming March trip, but if Disney has them and we as DVC members can buy them, then I might do that instead. We EAT our way thru the parks and mostly go to sit down restaurants. If meals were included, we would love that. The only thing that DVC doesn't have for us that the packages did were the meals.

DisneyDiane

Okay, you had to mention the food as the ONE thing Disney didn't offer to us... I remember a time when they offered a recreation package that involved mini-golf & boating & other activities... whatever happened to that? I'd love for them to bring that back!!! I'll take this food plan if I can get it though!

 

[anabelle]

from Mousesavers:

Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining

Available only with packages that include accommodations at a Disney-owned-and-operated hotel, the new Disney’s Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining is a convenient and affordable way to experience many of the unique Disney dining locations found across the Walt Disney World Resort. The additional cost is $35 per night per adult or junior (ages 10-17), $10 per night for children (ages 3-9).

Children must order from the kids menu, when available.

For those that used to get the Silver meal plans, if your kids are 10-12 do they have to order off of the kids menu if they are paying adult prices??

 

[dizplanner]

Originally Posted by poohj80
from Mousesavers:

Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining

Available only with packages that include accommodations at a Disney-owned-and-operated hotel, the new Disney’s Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining is a convenient and affordable way to experience many of the unique Disney dining locations found across the Walt Disney World Resort. The additional cost is $35 per night per adult or junior (ages 10-17), $10 per night for children (ages 3-9).

Children must order from the kids menu, when available.

For those that used to get the Silver meal plans, if your kids are 10-12 do they have to order off of the kids menu if they are paying adult prices??

That was one thing I noticed - people with 10 and 11 year olds would have to look real carefully at the food plan to see if it made sense for them. They would have to pay the adult price on the plan, but if they went on their own to buffets, they would get the child price. Now, many 10 and 11 year olds eat off the adult menu and pay adult prices if not a buffet, so it all depends on what your child eats and where you want to eat whether the plan makes sense for you or not.

I would suspect and in fact would insist on, that if I paid the adult price for a 10 year old, he can order off the adult menu just like me. Only if I paid the child price would I expect to have to order off the children's menu.

By the way, with the Silver plan, Wishes were Wishes, regardless if you paid the adult price or child price. So you could use your child's Wishes on adult meals and just pay cash for the children meals. The reason Disney didn't lose more on this was that a family would have so many Wishes, they would have to use some of them for lower cost meals or they would be left over.

 

[Poohs Pal]

I also think the dining plan would be great. I do have a question. I thought I read somewhere that the HDD had to now be paid in advance. How would that work if you choose to combine two sit down dinners to pay for the HDD. I'm thinking you couldn't use the dining plan until you arrived at Disney. So how would you pay in advance? Susan

 

[BCV23]

We used to do various forms of the Gold Plan. For dinner shows, they took your credit card for the deposit but then when you were there with your plan, the charge just didn't go through. I would think it could still work that way now even though the full price is usually paid up front. But who knows.

I'm sure 10 & 11 yos will be able to order off the adult or child menu just as they can without the plan. It's just that you'll be paying the adult fare so it is a nice time to nudge them toward being more adventuresome.

 

[DisneyKidds]

I'd go for it if they offered it to us. For my family of 5 it would run $90 to $100 (until the kids get older). Considering that a character breakfast alone runs us between $80 and $93 I'd say it'a a great deal. We easily spend more than $90 or $100 when we eat at Brown Derby or Le Cellier. That almost makes tha counter service meal and snack free. Considering we usually drop at least $50 when we eat at Beaches and Cream and our kids always want a Mickey Cream Bar that's a great value.

I hope it pans out, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[NMW]

With all the other plans: Gold, Silver, it had to be for every person staying with you for every night of your trip. I believe the new plan is this way also. If they offer it to DVC it will probably be the same thing (every person for the legnth of stay). Still a great deal. I don't know what would happen with DVC people switching resorts.

 

[patsal]

Since the switching resorts thing makes it essentially two trips, you would most likely have the option of adding it the first stay but not using it the second, etc. I usually do a week stay do Universal for the weekend and then another week stay--I would expect to have to set it up as two separate. Occasionally to squeeze an extra trip I will stay the weekend at PC--I would think I'd have to add the package to each segment and have some freedom with that.
I hope they let us use the food portion--We spend nearly $100 for the four of us to have a character breakfast with tax and tip for $115 I'd get the sit down meal plus a fast food and snack--definite savings here and the combining wishes for the more expensive meals would be perfecte for the times I'd cook.

 

[lllovell]

no cooking on vacation and a "reasonably" priced day of eating for my family of 4....where I paid up front and didnt have to budget (i.e. guess) for food....it would be heaven!!!

 

[MrsM]

I'm curious to see what kind of restrictions are applied to the new dining plan. I haven't seen anything in writing yet stating specifically if any character meals, restaurants, etc. will be excluded. Obviously places like Victoria & Alberts won't be included, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were quite a few exceptions.

 

[DisneyKidds]

As for switching resorts and such, I wouldn't be surprised if they handled the meals like Ultimate Park Hopper (LOS) passes which also have to be purchased for the entire length of stay. They will let you drop a day on these passes (for day of arrival or departure) and it would make sense to do the same with the food thing.

As for restrictions, I doubt there will be any restrictions placed on restaurants that are included on the list for each type of meal. For instance, 1900 Park Fare is listed as a table service restaurant included in the plan. All they have are character meals, so I expect they will be covered. Same should be true for any other establishment listed as table service that has a character meal. Mousesavers has a listing of the various restaurants included here http://www.mousesavers.com/DisneyDiningPlanLocations.pdf

All of that assuming they even offer us the plan.......and I'm still not holding my breath

 

[crisi]

That's an interesting list.....

Signature dining (worth two sit down meals) includes places like Jiko and Flying Fish. V&A's isn't included. It also includes Bistro de Paris, Coral Reef and Alfredo's in Epcot.

Rainforest Cafe isn't included - at either location - the only DTD restaurant included is Capt Jack's.

Which all makes meal planning more important - knowing what you get where.....

BTW, the way we travel, we'd end up shelling out for a few meals anyway.....but we'd still save money.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I'm curious to see what kind of restrictions are applied to the new dining plan. I haven't seen anything in writing yet stating specifically if any character meals, restaurants, etc. will be excluded. Obviously places like Victoria & Alberts won't be included, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were quite a few exceptions.

Beaches and Cream is listed on the counter service and snack options. I'm sure the Kitchen Sink will be one of the restrictions.

 

[lenshanem]

Wow, $90 for our family of four. $450 for a five day trip. Looks like a deal to me!

 

[chris1gill]

It's 90.00 for a family of four if both children are 9 or under... I think it's a great deal... Unfortunately children (juniors) are charged the adult rate even though they still generally order off the children's menu... I'd rather see the juniors charged 20 or 25.00 a day versus the full adult rate of 35.00.... It'll be interesting to see if we are offered the food plan & if the junior rate stays the same as the adult rate...

 

[pkitty]

My assumption would be that since I will be able to purchase the passes starting January 2 for my stay at Saratoga with no restrictions, that I will be able to purchase the meal plan add on also.Why should I be restricted from utilizing a program a program like this because I am a DVC owner? Doesn't make it very attractive to own now does it....better to stay at the all star for $79/night then! Just a thought!

 

[denecarter]

It's 90.00 for a family of four if both children are 9 or under... I think it's a great deal... Unfortunately children (juniors) are charged the adult rate even though they still generally order off the children's menu... I'd rather see the juniors charged 20 or 25.00 a day versus the full adult rate of 35.00.... It'll be interesting to see if we are offered the food plan & if the junior rate stays the same as the adult rate...

Juniors would have to be redefined if they were to drop in price... my DD17 has had a healthy appetite for years. While there are exceptions, most of the 7th & 8th grade students I teach eat like adults.