We finished our 1-night Premium Plan (Sep 9 & 10) and I'd like to share some tidbits of information and a summary of our stay.
NOTE TO THOSE PLANNING TO USE THIS PLAN AT POP CENTURY: Allow for a bit of extra time at the front desk and concierge. They do NOT get many guests staying here on this plan so most CMs are unfamiliar with what it involves. Be sure to ask if there is someone on duty with Premium Plan experience -- Ryan is one.
Apparently when using Premium Plan, access to that information does not 'drop' into the computer system (is not available for view by CM) until the day of check-in.
To compound issues, I booked through Disney Travel, thus limiting access even more.
Time consuming glitch #1: We checked in room-only the afternoon before and were actually given our Spirit of Aloha vouchers at that time with instructions to pick up our
actualtickets the next morning at concierge. Since we had a tour beginning at 7:00am (the same time concierge opens) we couldn't do the exchange until around 3pm. By then we were told we weren't in the system so it was too late to print out tickets and that we'd have to go wait in the line at Poly. I knew that to be incorrect and insisted (nicely) that they check a bit further. It took nearly 30 minutes to get the tickets printed -- time I had PLANNED to be resting/changing.
Time consuming glitch #2: We received plastic cards for La Nouba that I mistakenly assumed were the actual 'tickets of admission' but found out on presentation that we had to go to the 'tickets for today's show' window and exchange them. Fortunately we were early so it only took a few extra minutes.
Summary of what we were
comfortably able to do the following on our 1-day plan and using a rental car (DH loves to
at WDW!):
Thursday, September 9:
**7:00am Bass Fishing excursion=2 hours: Contemporary dock by 6:45; were told it included danish, juice, coffee, water - only included bottles of water. Nice to be out on the lake early morning & caught/released 11 bass between the 2 of us. By our request, we ended 30 min early and were dropped at MK dock by 8:45am (gave $20 tip)
**SNACK credits: Used all 4 at Main Street Bakery for rolls, fruit, beverage.
**9:30am KTTK tour=5 hours: Townhall by 9:15am; water & coffee provided pre-tour, lunch included at CHH.
Our guide, Claire, was very knowledgable. I took tons of pictures (except backstage) and learned a lot. She ducked into a bunch of airconditioned areas as it was very hot. Only frustration is the amount of time we spent in the utilidors (probably an hour!). She got very sentimental over some of the posters & pictures, spending way too long talking about things in which our group wasn't really interested (17 total in the group). Lunch was excellent and we were given the KTTK tour pin.
**5:15pm Spirit of Aloha: @ 1 meal credit (would have been 2TS on DxDP): Check-in at Poly by 4:45pm.
Dinner of salad, bread, chicken & ribs was good, but dessert (at least ours) was yucky - some sort of chocolate cake wrapped in a chocolate gelatin? Unfortunatly with family style food (same as Ohana) the amount of food served at each table was WAY too much. I mentioned it was a shame it would go to waste and the waitress said "oh, no, it doesn't, we feed it to the animals" (Actually, it is composted - learned that on the KTTK tour today, but perhaps that is less pleasant to say. Maybe they think guests would rather picture a lion munching on their uneaten BBQ ribs.)
There is a show during dinner that is rather simple, mostly music and some activity for kids, but the after dinner show includes short but great bits of dancing by both male and female groups and an excellent fire dancing portion.
Premium plan put us in category 1 seating so we were dead center floor level, but there were plenty of people between us and the stage. Honestly, seating on the second level at front table in either of the other categories would have been better for me. I couldn't take pictures without someones head in them.
**9:00pm WISHES reserved viewing area: Enter off hub by Plaza by 8:45.
When the show consisted of just fireworks, this would have been an excellent viewing area. But with the light show on the castle, all the mature trees surrounding this area make it virtually unviewable. We found a spot to stand about 25-30 paces down the path from the entrance where we could view a good sliver of the castle. I honestly cannot recommend any advantage to using this particular 'perk' of the package. Perhaps the Epcot viewing is better???
A showing of MSEP @ 10pm was added to this night (about 1 month prior) so we forded across Main Street and found a nearly deserted area on the far end of Frontierland to sit and watch the parade. We had some time so our 'neighbors' offered to hold our spot while we went to ride PoC (twice). MSEP was amazing - glad we stayed. Slipped out through Adventureland and crowded stores. Back at POP and in bed by 11pm.
Friday, September 10: checked out of POP; moved luggage to next resort
**9:00am Segway at Epcot (changed from FW Segway due to the heat): Arrive GS by 8:45am.
This was my 4th time doing this particular tour (3rd for DH) and we have done several Segway tours in other cities across the country. We breezed through the training (total of 10 in our group) and were heading to WS by 9:45. Nice tour and informative, if perhaps a bit too chatty, guide. Rode through areas of China, Germany, Italy (free time in roped off area), Japan, Moracco and France. Didn't learn anything new, but we were doing this tour for the joy of riding Segway!
Received our Segway pins and headed out of the park & toward DS by 11:00.
**Hollywood Brown Derby @ 1:45pm: 1 meal credit (2TS on DxDP). It was so hot by the time we got to DS, we decided to see if we could get an earlier seating - desperately needed airconditioning! They seated us within 5 minutes.
LOVE this place. It is quiter than most places and has a very elegant feel. We were seated in a curved booth and the waiter greated us and asked if we would accept a glass of champagne. Uh, YEA, that would be splendid. (Did I meantion I was turning 62 on 9/11???) He gave us menus and returned shortly with 2 glasses of a pleasant champagne - even a fresh strawberry on the edge of each!
Nodding toward my camera, he offered to take a picture (and if I could access my photobucket I would post it!
Premium includes appetizer, entree, dessert and beverage. I have to say the presentation here was terrific with great attention to details. I only eat about 1/2 of the food served so much of my joy of eating is how it looks - and HBD has never disappointed! IMHO - the grapefruit cake served here is one of the best desserts at WDW - and we have tried a lot of them! One more kudo - Tarik was our waiter and he was perfect.
Headed to ToT for a walk-on before leaving DS. Turns out our all-time-favorite CM (T.J. - same guy they feature on the Travel Channel shows about Disney) was working that day. We traded hugs
and got our picture with him (he actually remembers us now since we always make a point to talk with him). After that we headed back to our next resort - Wyndham Bonnet Creek 2 bedroom presidential suite upgrade (really nice!)
**6:00pm La Nouba in DTD: arrive by 5:30pm. Covered some of this above, but wanted to mention we chose our seats 6 months out and specifically requested the TOP ROW of the center section. There truly are no bad seats here (except those few that are reduced due to partially blocked views) but we like to see everything without straining our necks looking up. Worked out perfect and the show was - again - supurb.
**8:35pm Jiko at AKL: 1 meal credit (2TS on DxDP). We had ADRs for both Flying Fish and Jiko, yet were still undecided until we left the parking lot of La Nouba. In retrospect, I wish we would have gone to Flying Fish.
We both LOVE AKL and stayed there concierge in 2003. This visit, though, was less than ideal. There were many people staying here on vacation from Brazil and it seems it must be illegal there to discpline children
as we were nearly trampled just getting in the front door. I will not share the entire experience (involved wet floors from late-night swiming, unflushed toilets, thrown/spilled food, lots of running and screaming children
) but suffice to say, it was not the experience we had hoped.
Our waiter, though quite professional, was not particularly friendly. We told him we had the Premium Plan plus Wine & Dine (added it specifically to enjoy a bottle of wine tonight). The food was good, but the cheese tray was delivered with no flurish at all and no card listing the cheeses - just plopped onto the table by a server.
We were never offered beverages, my main course arrived luke warm, and a bill was delivered with cost added for the appetizers and the wine! It took nearly 30 minutes after our meal was complete to get the payment transaction straightened out and recieve corrected receipts. NOT a good ending to our evening. This is the only place during our entire stay that I did not take pictures of our food (we were there 9/8-9/16 and used DxDP the last 4 days).
Savings wise, after all things were added up, if we had stayed at POP without any plan and paid OOP for the 2 things we wanted most to do (Segway and La Nouba) it would have been nearly the same cost as the Premium Plan. Total value to us to eat 3 wonderful meals (despite some complaints above) and enjoy the tours and perks: $700+
I'd say the Premium Plan-for-a-day worked out very well! We will do this plan again, maybe even doing Platinum some time. What I won't do again is go when temperatures are expected to be in the 90-100 range nor will I stay in 3 different resorts on an 8 night stay! We will book 1 resort for the entire stay. We will add a room for 1 night to buy the package but won't relocate - way too much energy wasted. Okay, yes, we are getting older (and crankier) but I'd rather pay a bit more to do a bit less!
We went on to dine at Citricos, Artist Point, California Grill, Coral Reef (all were unique and excellent), Chef Mickey's & Mama Melrose, and also took the Magic Behind the Steam Train tour - all while staying at Bay Lake Towers, Magic Kingdom view. The view from the 16th floor (Top of the World) is gorgeous - especially since they have the music from Wishes/HalloWishes piped in. It is open only to DVC guests staying at BLT, but was one of my favorite experiences of the trip.
Sorry to be so long - just couldn't stop myself. I'll be glad to assist if anyone has questions.
Good morning, everyone.
Oh, well, we're still getting quite a deal even without Cirque or the gift cards.
