Premium or platinum packges, are they worth it?

[asmit4]

I could see us now- room service at 7am, then off to the parks with a buffet lunch somewhere or CS, then have 2 snacks in the mid afternoon and then back to the room at 8pm for a room service dinner!

The way to "work" these gratuities for these plans is to eat Buffets, shows, CS and room service all week!

It would be easy for us to rack up $150 at a place like Narccoossees for dinner- that's 30 bucks in tips! If we did that each day even once, that's 210 extra bucks in tips. That's insane when you are paying so much already for the premium and plat plans!

 

[Mary2e]

Exactly. The premium and platinum plans were truly all inclusive for a completely thought free vacation.

I have no intention of working the package and not doing what I really want to try to make the most of it.

I will just continue to do as I like and pay for it OOP and also take advantage of the AAA discounts.

 

[honeymo78]

See, to me an extra $40 a day in tips isn't a big deal to us - we'd still spend about $200 a day on food with or without the package. Its less than $300 extra for week long trip and we spend way more than the actual cost of the package b/w dining, tours and recreation. We'll still save more with the package than paying for everything separately.

3 1hour jet ski rentals - $750
1 parasailing trip - $190-240
1 tour - $120
$200 each day for food = $1200 ($40 char bfast, $60 TS lunch, $100 dinner)
Total for 6 nights = $2260
Premium addon price for 6 nights for 2 adults = $1800
Even with $300 in tips we'd have to pay either way, its still cheaper for us to use the package. We don't have AAA so no discount there and the best discount code we've gotten was for free "plus" features on our tickets.

And yes, DH would still want to rent jet skis in warm weather with or without a package. The recreation estimates above are actually much less than we usually end up with. DH prefers to leave the park most afternoons and come back to do watersports. He would rent jet skis everyday if I let him.

 

[Mary2e]

I haven't done the math this closely, but we neither parasail nor get jet skis. The most expensive single thing we did was go fishing (my first time). We did take tours every day. If I deduct the AAA discount from all that we did, it probably would come to a substantial amount.

I'll revisit. For now, I have a room only reservation at the Cabins (our first time). I've always wanted to try out FW. We're considering the DP only because we will arrive very late the 1st night and can use the extra credits at Signature restaurants.

 

[NMW]

Well, I can only speak for our family...I don't think the prem/plat plans are worth it (for us). We don't rent things, go on tours, use child care centers, etc. We JUST want the 3 meals a day. So, for us the deluxe dining plan is a fabulous deal-the food with out paying for the extras we don't want. It's a perfect plan for our family.

We did the prem plan in 2003 (then called gold plan) and while I enjoyed it, we never used any of the recreation, we just used it to eat. Then we bought DVC and couldn't get a meal plan for about 3 years. Even when we could buy it, it was only the regular dining plan when usuing DVC points, we couldn't get the prem/plat plans.

About 6 months ago we sold our DVC, (mostly because we missed the deluxe hotels -but that is a whole other topic!!), and booked our old fav the BC, with the deluxe dining plan for may 08. I already have our POLY 09 trip planned out! I hope the deluxe dining plan stays exactly the same! Well, if they want to put the automatic tip into it, that's okay.

The bottom line is if you use a lot of the extras in the pem/plat plans than it may be worth it. If you just want the 3 meals a day, then go the deluxe dining plan.

 

[honeymo78]

The advent of the deluxe plan is wonderful. I wish it had been around in March - we opted for the DDP because our only other option package-wise was premium and we didn't plan on doing any extras.

I agree NMW, prem/plat definitely aren't a value if you are only getting them for dining and its a godsend that disney finally offers a package with more food options than just the DDP.

Slightly off topic but I find it interesting that you got rid of DVC in part b/c you missed the deluxe hotels. Friends, family, etc keep telling us that we should invest in DVC but we don't want to give up MK view at CR and all the other benefits of actually staying in a deluxe room, not in the villas - plus not being able to add prem/plat. I'm glad we aren't the only ones who don't think DVC is the right fit even though we spend enough money to justify purchasing it.

 

[Cass]

We did the platinum plan last year, it was a lot of food. The weather didn't cooperate with our recreation plans, so some things we had booked we could not do. (ie) sleigh rides at WL

We had problems with the snack credits, they were not recognized and we had to keep paying and then getting reimbursement later from the concierge.

It was neat to try it and I'm glad we did, but I would have to say the snack problems were a total hastle and wouldn't do it again.

 

[honeymo78]

Yeah - right now on plat the snack credits show up as meal credits - as in 4 meals a day - and getting CMs to figure out how to charge one for a snack can be difficult. However, next year it will be going to 2 snack credits per night and those credits will be categorized the same as the DDP snacks which will make them much easier to use since the computers know how to process them.