New to Disneyland Planning...

[StephaniexMarie]

Hi there We are thinking of making a trip to Disneyland in late 2012 (Far away, I know) but I'd love to start learning about everything the place have to offer! We've only been to WDW so we're not quite sure how certain things work in CA...

1) How do the meal plans work? We want to do mainly CS while we're there with maybe 1 or 2 character meals. Is it anything like the DDP?

2) Do they have any sort of room discounts? I googled stuff earlier trying to find out and I saw they had 30/35/40% off last fall-winter around the time we wanted to go so I'm wondering if they have this every year?

Thanks in advance!

 

[DLR29]

First and foremost, read Hydroguy's "DLR for WDW vets" post: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599. You'll really learn a lot about what DLR is about and how it differs from WDW.

As for your specific questions:
1) Unlike WDW, DLR's dining plan is not worth it because:
a) It doesn't save you any money; the best you can do is break even.

b) You do not get a set amount of meals, you get a set amount of $5 ("snack") and $15 vouchers and when you use those vouchers you don't get change. So for example if you want to pay for something that costs $4.95 with a $5 voucher, you will lose 5 cents. That's not a big deal, but if you have run out of $5 vouchers, you need to either pay in cash (which defeats the purpose of a dining plan) or pay with a $15 voucher and lose $10.05 (which can add up significantly). Disney also prices the dining plan so that you pay exactly for the amount of voucher $ that you get. So by buying that thing for $4.95, you are already losing money. You would have to buy things that cost exactly $5 or exactly $15 in order to stay even. Or you can buy things that cost more and you can break even, but you would have to be paying out of pocket.

c) You can't use the vouchers at Downtown Disney restaurants, which is where a large variety of the DLR restaurants are.

Instead, if you still want to prepay for meals, the recommendation is to put money on Disney gift cards. That way, you know you won't be losing money. You can use them at DTD or snack carts too, so you'll have a wider variety to choose from also.

2) Yes, you can sometimes find room discounts at the DLR hotels during the fall/winter. HOWEVER, in my opinion (and some others), the DLR hotels are overpriced especially because they lack in benefits compared to staying onsite at WDW. For our family, we stay across the street at a regular hotel for about $100 a day or less. The walk to the parks from many offsite hotels is shorter or the same as the walk from DLH or PPH.

The main reason why people DO advocate for staying onsite is the "immersion factor". If you are used to being immersed in the Disney magic like at WDW, then the extra cost per day may be worth it to you. It's all a bunch of tradeoffs.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hi there We are thinking of making a trip to Disneyland in late 2012 (Far away, I know) but I'd love to start learning about everything the place have to offer! We've only been to WDW so we're not quite sure how certain things work in CA...

1) How do the meal plans work? We want to do mainly CS while we're there with maybe 1 or 2 character meals. Is it anything like the DDP?

2) Do they have any sort of room discounts? I googled stuff earlier trying to find out and I saw they had 30/35/40% off last fall-winter around the time we wanted to go so I'm wondering if they have this every year?

Thanks in advance!

The dining plan works completely differently at DLR. It is basically vouchers and same as cash. No real discounts. I have never seen anyone recommend it. There are numerous character meal options.

Discounts tend to be more off-season. Last year there were general discounts and the best I have seen because of the economy. They do not happen every year.

2012 will be a great time to go with CarsLand complete. If you want to start boning up on DLR read "A DLR Guide for WDW Vets" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599. It has become the default starting place on this forum for WDW vets. Last I checked it has had 43,000 views. And I always agree with the author.

 

[lurpee]

Thank you for the question and the answer! I will be putting money aside for the gift cards rather than the dining plans!
Thanks again!