Platinum Plan -Squeezing out the Value

[naturalinsp]

My family has been to WDW many times and are looking for a very different experience. I am looking at the Premium and Platinum plans. I plan to do a 3 night stay and do 5 tours.

I think the food will be a little much, but when I price out the tours separately, the high end plans seem to make some sense. If I buy the Platinum plan and just do some para-sailing and eat at V&A's, I'll be saving money or breaking even.

Has anyone tried something like this. I know over at mousesavers the webmaster went on a one night Platinum blitz (when they allowed one night reservations). She felt she had trouble fitting things in, but she tried golf and spa treatments. I'm looking at tours, some exclusive dining, and a few recreational things.

 

[Tasmen]

I did the platinum plan about 7 years ago. My DH and I didn't go on a ton of the tours, but we did go to V&A, the fireworks cruise, and used the spa treatments.

I would say if you plan to go on a ton of tours, go for it.

I know you mentioned that's a lot of food, and it is. But you might find you like not having to worry about where you are going to go and try some places you haven't in the past.

 

[2Tiggies]

Perhaps not much help to you from the point of view that I decided against it for this year, but asked the same question a few months ago when I was. Basically, like you, it was the experiences we wanted that made it attractive. I didn't worry too much about the dining because I figured we could squeeze in the few TS we wanted to do into the days with the plan. The deal breaker for me was that it had changed and the minimum number of nights we could book it was 3 (I'm pretty sure it was 3 but don't know if this is still true). Ideally two nights of it would have put us ahead but the third night meant an additional hefty outlay and I was scraping ideas together to try break even for the cost of the third day. These plans are not about the dining but more about the experiences. It almost worked for us and I could have made it work - but it wasn't really a saving with the minimum nights we had to take it.

 

[cmwade77]

We did the premium plan for a 10 day trip a few years back. We enjoyed it, we did it for the tours.

If you want to do a lot of tours and Cirque, it is definitely worth it, but you WILL have extra credits left over since everything is only one credit and you get three per day, as well as two snacks. Then add in the fact that most tours include food as well, it is A LOT of food.

Honestly, it would be ideal if there was a tour plan add on to the regular dining plans.

 

[naturalinsp]

Thanks for the response.

I was wondering if the Cirque certificate was dated or if it could be redeemed outside of the reservation days? I saw on the brochure, it says it must be taken to the ticket office.

 

[naturalinsp]

I have read that Platinum or Premium Plan guest are treated a little better than other guest. Maybe seated quicker, better table, etc. Just wondering if anyone has experienced this.

 

[waitomo]

We used the Platinum Plan last December--it was wonderful! We did receive rather remarkable extra help. Our plane was late and we had an early dining time for candlelight processional package at Chefs de France, as the late times had not been available when we booked. We called the concierge at GF and they called Chefs de France, who let us come "whenever we get there" and switch to the last candlelight processional time. It saved the day that we thought we were going to have. The receptionist at Chefs de France originally looked a bit disbelieving when we told her we had had 430 reservations, but were told to come when we can. It was about 730 or 8pm when we got there, but the minute she asked someone about us, they immediately smiled and led us to a table!

 

[CindyKansas]

We have done the Platinum plan a couple of times. We always do the tours, spa treatments, fireworks cruise, Cirque, boating, golfing, etc. We always book a room only reservation on the last day so we have extra time to enjoy the perks of the plan.

You will get assistance with booking items.

In 2007, we had para-sailing booked, it was too windy so we had to cancel. Luckily we had booked a room only reservation for a few additional nights and we were allowed to do the para-sailing on another day.

 

[naturalinsp]

Thanks for the information. Sounds like there is a little special treatment

 

[waitomo]

One other note about the food part of the Platinum Plan-we did not go out of our way to try and maximize the value, although we did eat at V and A twice during the time. As you can spread the credits over 4 full days if you wish, we ate two meals a day with one extra left over on our last day. We used that to buy a counter service meal that we saved for the next day and had a wonderful time eating it on our flight home!

 

[eyehartdisney]

Does the platinum plan include tickets to MNSSHP or MVMCP?

 

[waitomo]

No, and you must also buy at least a one day ticket.

 

[DCDisney]

I felt like I got plenty of value out of our platinum plan plus yes we did get lots of special treatment including an upgrade to concierge level magic kingdom view at WL. We did not use the park tickets included with the package except 1 day at epcot needed them for the tours I think and saved them for our room only stay after the package. We were able to carry over meals and boat rentals into that next day too which helps maximize the value. We did all signature meals except a lunch when we did our spa stuff and there wasn't a signature avail for lunch. We always got seated right away at the best tables in restaurants too. Everything was wonderful and whenever there was a glitch I felt like it was dealt with quickly and mostly to my satsifaction.

 

[waitomo]

Hi DCDisney!
Can I ask you when you went? We are doing platinum next month with our kids in a separate room but also platinum package. I have been booking meals on our own, did you have platinum planning do that? Just wondering how the restaurants knew you were platinum to seat you at good tables?

 

[DCDisney]

It was about 18 mos ago we last did Plat. Yes I had the IPO make my dining reservations so there was apparently some VIP notation they made. In the past you also had a gold key to the world card not sure if now you get a special color magic band?

 

[tinkerbell7749]

How many days must you book? What is the cost? What level Resort must you Book. Very new. Thanks for help

 

[mercydisney]

How many days must you book? What is the cost? What level Resort must you Book. Very new. Thanks for help

I am also interested...I got a birthday coming up.

 

[purple figment]

Some general information here and a link to the brochure:
http://allears.net/pl/packages.htm#plat

 

[GWhitten98]

Do you have to stay at a delux to do this? For example, could you book at a moderate with free dining and then upgrade to one of the plans?

 

[purple figment]

Deluxe resort or villa. Everything I've read said you cannot upgrade from free dining or any other special. Most have said it is a rack rate room, although some have reported getting a AAA discount on the room portion when booking it with AAA. Here's the page on the Disney website:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/vacation-packages/2014/platinum/