Premium dining plan??? Anyone ever get this plan??

[OrangeCat04]

I can't seem to find much information on the Premium Dining Plan? What exactly is it, and what is the cost? What does it include?? I understand certain restaurants such as Fulton's are included with this plan only. Anyone else have a link with information?? For those who have used it, do you think it is worth it?
TIA!!

 

[NoodlesMom]

Take a look at this thread. There is a lot of information here. We did this in September and had a blast and will be doing it again with the kiddos in July.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2404255&goto=newpost

 

[OrangeCat04]

Take a look at this thread. There is a lot of information here. We did this in September and had a blast and will be doing it again with the kiddos in July.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2404255&goto=newpost

Thanks so much!! This thread has tons of great info, i am going to read all of it. This plan sounds so awesome, but I am a bit overwhelmed with the thought of pricing everything. Have fun on your next vaca!!

 

[7165red]

God Bless anyone who can eat all that food.

 

[TDC Nala]

Despite what the Disney website says this is not a dining plan. While it has components of a Disney Dining Plan, it includes much more than just dining - shows, tours, fireworks cruises, resort recreation (just a few of MANY offerings). There are several restaurants that will not accept Disney Dining plans, but accept Premium/Platinum dining credits. There are also other basic differences between this program and the Disney Dining Plans:

1) You cannot upgrade a free Disney Dining Plan to either the Premium or Platinum package.

2) DVC members do not have access to the Premium or Platinum packages when they book through Member Services.

3) There is no annual passholder ticketless package option when booking the Premium and Platinum packages. Anyone who books must purchase at least a one-day park ticket on the package.

4) You receive dining credits similar to the deluxe dining plan - three meal credits per night on the package that can be used for either TS or CS, and two snacks per night. The biggest difference is that ALL restaurants, even signatures and dinner shows, cost only one credit on the premium/platinum. On the platinum plan, you can go to Victoria & Albert's for one credit.

Per night costs for 2011 (just for the package add on. Does not include room or ticket costs)
Premium package: $169/night/adult, $119/night/child
Platinum package: $229/night/adult, $160/night/child

 

[Colleen27]

Take a look at this thread. There is a lot of information here. We did this in September and had a blast and will be doing it again with the kiddos in July.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2404255&goto=newpost

TY for the link, I've actually been wondering about those plans too. We're looking at options for a 10th anniversary trip in 2012 and though we haven't completely decided on Disney as our destination yet, the platinum plan keeps coming up in the conversations.

 

[Aubsmama]

I can't seem to find much information on the Premium Dining Plan? What exactly is it, and what is the cost? What does it include?? I understand certain restaurants such as Fulton's are included with this plan only. Anyone else have a link with information?? For those who have used it, do you think it is worth it?
TIA!!

We did the premium plan on our last trip (4 adults). We loved it!! We joked around that we were eating our way through Disney World. We enjoyed the tickets to the Cirque show as well. It was A LOT of food, but it was great not having to worry about whether we had enough TS credits to eat at our favorite restaurants. Since it was 4 adults on our trip we could splurge and do all the "fancy" restaurants, but I certainly wouldn't do the Premium plan with kids!

 

[Becky2005]

We did the premium plan on our last trip (4 adults). We loved it!! We joked around that we were eating our way through Disney World. We enjoyed the tickets to the Cirque show as well. It was A LOT of food, but it was great not having to worry about whether we had enough TS credits to eat at our favorite restaurants. Since it was 4 adults on our trip we could splurge and do all the "fancy" restaurants, but I certainly wouldn't do the Premium plan with kids!

I agree -- you have to decide how much other stuff you are doing. We also had age restrictions in ours for some things.

We went on the Premium plan back in 2005 (it was the year the dining plan was introduced so the Premium plan was the only way to get 3 meals/day covered and that is what DH wanted because he didn't want to mess with keeping track of credits, etc...). Oh my goodness...we spent so much time running around eating/doing stuff it was crazy. I kept track and we acutally spent $500 MORE on the plan than we would have if we paid out of pocket for everything. Now this was before they let you do Magic Your Way tickets also so we did have the Ultimate Park Hopper which raised the price. This included basically using extra adult credits to pay for my 2 1/2 year old's meals at non-buffets (I don't even know if I would be able to do that now since they are now seperated out).

We did do a LOT of stuff. We did a private boat for parasailing because we could. That would have been something like $500 but hey it was included so I said "sure, why not". My son chickened out to go but he came on the boat ride with me and DD. We went up tandem because she was too small to do it alone.

The big kids and DH went fishing. DD & DH went horseback riding. My older 2 & I took the Mickey's Magical Tour. My older 3 & I took the Family Magic Tour. We ate lots of character meals. We saw Cirque.

My daughter has specifically asked if we could please not run around trying to eat as much this time around. Not a problem since we are staying at Shades of Green and can't even get any plans.

 

[wasabi girl]

Hi there The Premium Plan is not so much a "dining plan" as it is a vacation plan. It includes many other components, recreation, tours, Cirque, etc. I used the plan back in 05 and loved it. Back then it included tip and everything except alcohol so it really made our vacation hassle free. At the time my daughters were 18 and 20, so we made great use of all of the plan. DH golfed daily, we did tours, Cirque, horseback riding and so on. But...we did joke that we were like foie gras geese, just wandering from meal to meal, being stuffed full of food.
The plan can be a good value, but it isn't for everyone.

 

[Becky2005]

Hi there The Premium Plan is not so much a "dining plan" as it is a vacation plan. It includes many other components, recreation, tours, Cirque, etc. I used the plan back in 05 and loved it. Back then it included tip and everything except alcohol so it really made our vacation hassle free.

It was nice with the tip included...for that matter my kids got the light up ice cubes but that was also when the dining plan was new and nobody quite knew what they were doing. It was really nice to just show them our card & have everything taken care of at the meals. I know at Rainforest it was scrutinzed since they don't take the regular plan (not sure they take any plan now) but it wasn't a problem.

If my kids had been older, it would have been worth it a LOT more. I think spa stuff is even included and I know my DD would have LOVED that but she was only 11 at the time.

I know we were also thinking about doing the Steam Train tours but DH didn't want to have to get up so early.

If you plan on doing a lot of other activities then it can be so worth it. Tours, golf, Cirque, fishing, sailing, spa, etc..... but if you just want to go ride the rides then not so much.

IF at the time they had the deluxe dining plan, we would have definitely done that instead.

 

[DCDisney]

We will be doing the platinum plan for a weekend of our fall trip. To purchase the platinum you must stay in a deluxe hotel for that portion of your trip in addition to the separate cost. The rest of our trip I think we are going to do no dining plan since we'll be eating lots of big signature meals and doing the dinner shows we want. I have an AP so I'll just use the extra ticket for a renewal or for one of my family members that doesn't have an AP. Definitely add up what you want to do to see if it's worth it. For our options the premium wouldn't be worth it but on the Platinum plan we are saving almost $2000 on the options we want. Just one night on the Platinum is over $1000 though when you add room, tickets, and PLat plan.