new prices for character meals

[mechurchlady]

so as a deluxe AP holder, is it a 10% discount off the listed price?

we are planning to do 3 character meals in early may...and i was just wondering what the discount is as a deluxe AP holder compared to buying vouchers from GAT...

Get Away Today (GAT vouchers save you about money especially if you are not an AP. There is that $10 fee added on. If you are ordering 3 sets of meals for 4 people then you are paying less than $1 extra per voucher.

Are you a premium AP?
Then you are saving 15% and that would be the better discount.

Are you a non-premium AP?
Subtract 10% from the total of all the items you are buying and write that number down. Now go to GAT and see how much the same items would cost with the fee included. For one person getting one character dinner they would pay at least $5 more for the voucher. Unless you are buying a lot of vouchers you would not be saving money. Do the math. They do not charge to your credit card or what ever if you play with their system.

If you are not an AP then you would still save more buy getting at least 3 vouchers but few than that would only break even or loose money.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

glad we are getting the meal package they come with what we need

 

[northshoremama]

Aloha girl! Long time no chat.

Deluxe is definitely 10%. Not sure the answer to which is cheaper, but I do know the deluxe vs. premium on the discounts. Glad to have my premium, as there only used to be two or three places to get the 15% up until last year.....

mahalo for the info. i guess i need to do some researching. it'll be just for 2 adults, cause dds are not even 3 years old yet. we are deluxe ap holders, so i need to figure out if GAT can still save us a few $$$$$.

 

[northshoremama]

Get Away Today (GAT vouchers save you about money especially if you are not an AP. There is that $10 fee added on. If you are ordering 3 sets of meals for 4 people then you are paying less than $1 extra per voucher.

Are you a premium AP?
Then you are saving 15% and that would be the better discount.

Are you a non-premium AP?
Subtract 10% from the total of all the items you are buying and write that number down. Now go to GAT and see how much the same items would cost with the fee included. For one person getting one character dinner they would pay at least $5 more for the voucher. Unless you are buying a lot of vouchers you would not be saving money. Do the math. They do not charge to your credit card or what ever if you play with their system.

If you are not an AP then you would still save more buy getting at least 3 vouchers but few than that would only break even or loose money.

thanks! we are deluxe AP holders...so i'm gonna go do some research and some math too! LOL!

 

[lntsmom]

I was planning our WDW trip! I had three character meals booked and ended up cancelling two of them. Between the time I booked the meals and the time of our trip they raised the price three times!

Last weekend I talked with my boys about this. They'll be 8 and 13 this trip. If Ariel's still had the characters they had in '05 I would have done that again. It was the only meal that really tempted us.

Instead of doing a Disney character meal we're going to dine with Shamu at Sea World.

Seeing this news about the new prices makes me glad we'd already made that decision!!!

 

[perlster]

Don't forget the best deal out there for most visitors: vouchers at Ares (hoping that gigantic URL still works).

Even after adding $1 to each meal price to cover the service charge, your savings can be substantial compared to DLR non-discounted prices.

 

[hlbrink]

This is so ridiculous!! If my daughter wasn't so intent on eating at Ariel's Grotto next week, I would cancel our reservations!

Has anyone used these prepaid vouchers during a peak time? You print them at home and just take the printout to the restaurant? They don't have any blackout dates or anything? And do you feel strange not tipping?

Thanks!

 

[pixiewings71]

This is so ridiculous!! If my daughter wasn't so intent on eating at Ariel's Grotto next week, I would cancel our reservations!

Has anyone used these prepaid vouchers during a peak time? You print them at home and just take the printout to the restaurant? They don't have any blackout dates or anything? And do you feel strange not tipping?

Thanks!

Tax & tip is included with your voucher so no, I've never felt odd not leaving an additional tip. And yes, we've used the vouchers during peak and off seasons and had no troubles anytime. You'll enjoy AG meal, it's really very tasty!

 

[Sherry E]

I wonder what the ramifications of these increases will be. I do think it will backfire on Disney a bit because this is just not the right time to be raising already-expensive prices without giving the people 'more' for their buck, even though the seasonal increases are normal for them. And if they do have to raise the prices seasonally, then they should add more characters at Goofy's and Lilo and Stitch, add in a character dinner buffet as well as the breakfast buffet at Storytellers, make Minnie and Friends an all you can eat with better food choices, etc. This will probbaly turn off a lot of people who make PS's and plan their meals in advance, or people who have already done enough character meals to last a while. Perhaps they are banking on getting hungry walk-in customers who are new to character dining and have no idea about prices as the core of their business.

 

[northshoremama]

so does this sound right? i just got off the phone with disney dining and the CM told me to just subtract 10% from the price that includes tip and tax. so for lilo and stitch, it's $27.25 (since we're going in early may)...if you take 10% off of that price, then it's $24.53....which is cheaper than GAT or Ares.

even during high season, the 10% deluxe AP discount is better than the GAT or Ares vouchers. the only one that we could save a bit on is Ariel's....we'd save $3.35.

 

[mmlover74]

When does the higher amount start? I have PS for Goofy's and would really like to got here.

 

[MichaelColey]

We went to dinner at Goofy's Kitchen on Sunday (3/22) and were charged $117.61 for two adults and two children. When I made the ADR, they told me that the total price including tax and tip would be $39.64 per adult and $17.34 per child (minus 10% for AAA, Disney Visa, or AP), which should have been $102.56.

When I discussed it with the manager, she credited me back $13.68, which still wasn't what I was expecting but was much closer.

It looks like they charged $35.99 + tax + tip for adults and $15.99 + tax + tip for the kids. The tip was 15% of the pre-discounted amount. The 7.75% tax was charged on both the meal and the tip. (HUH? Is that a California thing?)

By those calculations, without a discount it would have been $44.60 per adult and $19.81 per kid, which match with the High Season price on the page referenced by the OP. (I think that page has a typo, as it lists the normal dinner price as $32.64 rather than $39.64.)

 

[northshoremama]

When does the higher amount start? I have PS for Goofy's and would really like to got here.

The increased spring break prices are in effect March 20 - April 26th, and are 13-23% higher than the base pricing.

It looks like they charged $35.99 + tax + tip for adults and $15.99 + tax + tip for the kids. The tip was 15% of the pre-discounted amount. The 7.75% tax was charged on both the meal and the tip. (HUH? Is that a California thing?)

HUH???? yeah, is that a california thing? or a DL thing? they taxed the tip????????

 

[MichaelColey]

From the receipt:

2 *ADULT ADM DINNER 71.98
2 *CHILD ADM DINNER 31.98
10% AAA 10.40-

SUBTOTAL 93.56
Gratuity 15.59
TAX 8.46
AMOUNT DUE 117.61

$8.46 is 7.75% of $109.15, which was the total after the tip.

 

[northshoremama]

From the receipt:$8.46 is 7.75% of $109.15, which was the total after the tip.

what da?!!?!?! makes no sense to me!

 

[jemilah]

OK here is my dilemma we are going to celebrate ds 10th b-day so if we go the day we arrive he will be almost half price but the next day !

 

[pixiewings71]

I have never noticed tax on tips when we've eaten anywhere else. Sheesh, that doesn't sound right at all!!!!

 

[lola415]

Oh, now I'm just mad at myself. I was going to buy tickets through Ares, and then spaced it. We are going to be there in two weeks.

 

[perlster]

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