Premium?

[cookie334]

Right Joolz, I've gone through all the restaurants we want to eat at, worked out costs etc, what vouchers to use etc, switched some restaurants etc and am about to post a new post with my proposed meal plans. I decided to start up a new thread as I'm going to ask for opinions as well as I'm not sure if what I've done is right as my head is now completely mush

 

[joolz1910]

Right Joolz, I've gone through all the restaurants we want to eat at, worked out costs etc, what vouchers to use etc, switched some restaurants etc and am about to post a new post with my proposed meal plans. I decided to start up a new thread as I'm going to ask for opinions as well as I'm not sure if what I've done is right as my head is now completely mush

Brilliant. I will be reading this very carefully.

 

[J Marley]

me too

 

[cookie334]

Brilliant. I will be reading this very carefully.

me too

What have we started?

 

[StuandNic]

I can't rate highly enough the value of the premium vouchers we went for a special christmas trip and went all out and got them. To be honest we would have spent much more if we hadn't. We stayed from Xmas eve to 29th so had 4 meals on voucher as Christmas eve was excluded from half board meal plan (not quite sure why as prices didn't seem any different from normal but maybe it was to encourage you to book one of thir special meals).

Anyway this is what we did with them if any use (I spent ages thinking it over like you!!)...

24th Auberge de Cendrillon (Princess meal) fantastic meal and great to meet the princesses but only if your kids aren't fussy with food. The voucher at any other time would have covered this meal. It included wine (which was topped up - my DH is a guzzler! ) and DD got a souvenir wand. This cost us 144 Euros for 2 adults, 1 child as we couldn't get hb at all for xmas eve.

Christmas Day Walts - Very nice menu (service not brilliant - but another thread) the head waiter did say though that going 'off-plan' wasn't worth it here so somewhat limited to set menu to get best value for money. Not quite sure if a drink was included here. I think not. Recommended though.

Boxing Day Cafe Mickey - Brilliant - we didn't like the scrum for characters in the park and the character interaction here was unrivaled. We were allowed to chose any starter, main course and pudding from the whole of the menu and a soft drink without paying extra. Would go again and again here even though the food is not to the same standard as somewhere like california grill.

27th California Grill - wonderful food, although if you went off plan you would almost certainly need to cough up a bit of cash for this one to still have 3 course meal. They did make a fuss of DD and the meal definitiely felt special. They let us have 2 puddings for DD (she wanted to do the Mickey puzzle but doesn't like white chocolate) and only charged 3 Euros for the second pudding - cheap when you consider the bottle of house wine we got was 30 Euros (it was nice wine but come on!!!) there were other bottles for more than 100 Euros!

28th Sunday Brunch in the Chicago - less said about this the better (shall post on the restuarant section) and we felt we would have wasted our vouchers on such a disappointing meal.
Used our vouchers instead to go to the Buffalo Bill Wild West show - no extra charge for 2nd category seating - food was OK and plentiful, beer was included (once the show started (not in the bar before)) and topped up regularly - well worth it for the show and not paying anything except using the voucher. That said I wouldn't pay full price for it as it is a tad costly for the standard of food. But a memorable meal/show that we all enjoyed.

29th Didn't have a voucher but ate at lunchtime (well 3pm) at Annettes and cost us 66 Euros for a childrens meal, two basic burger meals, a side and 1 milkshake and a coke. I though that was a hell of a lot of money for a burger meal but the food was delicious and would go back as there was anywhere that was that cheap to eat - so in relation to elsewhere in the park the cost was fair. We then had a meal on the train in the evening on the way home.

I would say that I don't recall the childrens menu changing for the different levels of half board in the places we ate - but I don't think there is much difference in price so didn't bother us.

Drinks are expensive and a pint of larger was 6.90 Euros pretty much everywhere, an alcoholic cocktail in Cafe Mickey was 7.50 Euros, the SL bar they were 10.50 Euros(from my DH memory!)

Lastly, we ate a late breakfast after doing EMH which filled us up until dinner with just a couple of snacks (which we brough with us) during the day (their breakfast consist of rolls, meats, cheese and croissants so felt a bit like a brunch anyway). We took cereal and UHT milk for DD to have when she woke up in the room. Found this worked reall well so the money we spent was a a couple of popcorns the extra I said above during meals and drinks and in the shops.

Enjoy!

 

[joolz1910]

Thank you for that. Did you review The Steakhouse brunch? I was thinking of trying it. Not sure now. Was there a set menu for premium vouchers at Walt's?

 

[J Marley]

Thanks for telling us all about your dining experiences Stu andNic

 

[StuandNic]

Will do the review for Steakhouse bruch later but we arrived there for 1.30pm and felt that we were a bit of an inconveniance. The food was quite nice but evrything was running out and they didn't seem that bothered about replacing the food. The cold buffet section was lovely but for main/hot we had a choice of dauphinoise potatoes (mmm) or chips, slightly overcooked lamb rack chops, very overcooked chicken portion and very undercooked beef carved but someone at the buffet. I like my steak rare and I struggled with the centre part of my beef (2cm steak) as it was still a little cool where the heat hadn't quite got through. Other than that the only other hot selection when we went up was rice (with some veg surrounding it in the tray) and I think scrambled egg. I felt the dessert seklect was poor. Wine and coke and orange squash was free but they ran out of the wine we wanted and had to ask three times before anyone changed the barrel (begrudgingly). We felt that asking a question (we were just given a glass of fizz at the door and shown to our table with no further explanation) was a bit of an inconvenience and I was trying to speak french. There were a lot of French people in the resterant and did feel that we were a little overlooked. Had we come in at 12 noon - when I think the brunch starts it may have been different experience.

When we arrived there was a lady doing balloons but she never came to our table, another lady was walking around singing french songs a la kareoke and character-wise we saw mickey, minnie, and goofy.

We normally don't complain even if we have poor quality food but DH hovered on our way out to 'give feedback' but gave up as there wasn't anyone about.

I don't want to put you off but I think it depends why you want to eat there. If it is for characters - go to cafe mickey, if it's for the food go early or go to somewhere like Inventions or California Grill if you have half board premium.

The lady when we arrived said we couldn't use half board premium - which we could have used as face value - we didn't argue at the time and ended up paying and using our vouchers elsewhere.

For Walts there was a differnt menu for half board plus and another for half board premium. DH main course on the half board premium was nearly 30 Euros alone - so I think it took the premium dishes from their main menu so you got best value for money.

 

[cookie334]

I can't rate highly enough the value of the premium vouchers we went for a special christmas trip and went all out and got them. To be honest we would have spent much more if we hadn't. We stayed from Xmas eve to 29th so had 4 meals on voucher as Christmas eve was excluded from half board meal plan (not quite sure why as prices didn't seem any different from normal but maybe it was to encourage you to book one of thir special meals).

Thanks for this, great to hear it from someone that's already done it I'm really in 2 minds about the Auberge, I really don't think my kids will eat much but DD has just turned 7 and is definitely nearing the end of her princess stage.

 

[joolz1910]

Will do the review for Steakhouse bruch later but we arrived there for 1.30pm and felt that we were a bit of an inconveniance. The food was quite nice but evrything was running out and they didn't seem that bothered about replacing the food. The cold buffet section was lovely but for main/hot we had a choice of dauphinoise potatoes (mmm) or chips, slightly overcooked lamb rack chops, very overcooked chicken portion and very undercooked beef carved but someone at the buffet. I like my steak rare and I struggled with the centre part of my beef (2cm steak) as it was still a little cool where the heat hadn't quite got through. Other than that the only other hot selection when we went up was rice (with some veg surrounding it in the tray) and I think scrambled egg. I felt the dessert seklect was poor. Wine and coke and orange squash was free but they ran out of the wine we wanted and had to ask three times before anyone changed the barrel (begrudgingly). We felt that asking a question (we were just given a glass of fizz at the door and shown to our table with no further explanation) was a bit of an inconvenience and I was trying to speak french. There were a lot of French people in the resterant and did feel that we were a little overlooked. Had we come in at 12 noon - when I think the brunch starts it may have been different experience.

When we arrived there was a lady doing balloons but she never came to our table, another lady was walking around singing french songs a la kareoke and character-wise we saw mickey, minnie, and goofy.

We normally don't complain even if we have poor quality food but DH hovered on our way out to 'give feedback' but gave up as there wasn't anyone about.

I don't want to put you off but I think it depends why you want to eat there. If it is for characters - go to cafe mickey, if it's for the food go early or go to somewhere like Inventions or California Grill if you have half board premium.

The lady when we arrived said we couldn't use half board premium - which we could have used as face value - we didn't argue at the time and ended up paying and using our vouchers elsewhere.

For Walts there was a differnt menu for half board plus and another for half board premium. DH main course on the half board premium was nearly 30 Euros alone - so I think it took the premium dishes from their main menu so you got best value for money.

Thanks! Don't like the sound of The Steakhouse. It worries me that you can be given the wrong information by CM's and it ends up costing you money. Look at what happened to Cap'n Jack. I hadn't realised that Walt's had a premium menu - sounds really good. I'm just concerned now that we might not be able to divide up the vouchers - as in pay for a meal for 4 of us with 2 adult vouchers.

 

[cookie334]

Thanks! Don't like the sound of The Steakhouse. It worries me that you can be given the wrong information by CM's and it ends up costing you money. Look at what happened to Cap'n Jack. I hadn't realised that Walt's had a premium menu - sounds really good. I'm just concerned now that we might not be able to divide up the vouchers - as in pay for a meal for 4 of us with 2 adult vouchers.

Yeah that's what's worrying me now too.

What happened to Cap'nJack?

Thanks for that info StuandNic, That's a shame that you didn't get very good service at the Steakhouse. I do think it all comes down to chance sometimes though. We went to Walts in June and didn't have an enjoyable meal. I was really disappointed as it'd had such good reviews on here, but for us the food was cold and we were still hungry after the meal. I think it was just down to being unlucky though and we will definitely try Walts again, but not this time as it's only our 2nd time and I'd like to eat at all different places to last time.

 

[StuandNic]

I hadn't realised that Walt's had a premium menu - sounds really good. I'm just concerned now that we might not be able to divide up the vouchers - as in pay for a meal for 4 of us with 2 adult vouchers.

I have to say we felt there was a general lack of understanding/ inclination from CMs to exchange HB vouchers at face value - let alone enter the real of colective use/face value for the party.

When we dared to suggest we might want to eat off plan and use the 44 Euro face value the initial response was that we couldn't. We didn't get to the point of needing to insist as we always found something we wanted to eat from the set menu - which from what I understand is better value. Our half board premium meal at Walts would have been a good 60 Euros each.

 

[StuandNic]

I do think it all comes down to chance sometimes though.

I agree it does seem down to chance and personal taste - DH liked Walts more than I did but his steak was cooked better than mine. Despite reviews about how DLRP tend to cook steaks much less than you would expect than managed to cook mine medium when I wanted rare. Still nice though.

I think all food is overpriced in DLRP and if you can get over that frustration before you go then there should be too much disappointment.

The Steakhouse brunch was more about the staff than the food. I would imagine with better service we would have felt different. That said we don't much like buffets so it was probably doomed from the start. I just felt our other dining experiences outshone this one this time round.

 

[joolz1910]

Yeah that's what's worrying me now too.

What happened to Cap'nJack?

Thanks for that info StuandNic, That's a shame that you didn't get very good service at the Steakhouse. I do think it all comes down to chance sometimes though. We went to Walts in June and didn't have an enjoyable meal. I was really disappointed as it'd had such good reviews on here, but for us the food was cold and we were still hungry after the meal. I think it was just down to being unlucky though and we will definitely try Walts again, but not this time as it's only our 2nd time and I'd like to eat at all different places to last time.

He was given the wrong information about annual passes and his parents ended up having to spend an extra £150 (I think) because the CM insisted she was right and wouldn't check her facts. Turned out Cap'nJack was right.

I have to say we felt there was a general lack of understanding/ inclination from CMs to exchange HB vouchers at face value - let alone enter the real of colective use/face value for the party.

When we dared to suggest we might want to eat off plan and use the 44 Euro face value the initial response was that we couldn't. We didn't get to the point of needing to insist as we always found something we wanted to eat from the set menu - which from what I understand is better value. Our half board premium meal at Walts would have been a good 60 Euros each.

The CM's reluctance to exchange the vouchers for face value worries me. I wouldn't want to be landed with a big bill or lose vouchers.

 

[cookie334]

I agree it does seem down to chance and personal taste - DH liked Walts more than I did but his steak was cooked better than mine. Despite reviews about how DLRP tend to cook steaks much less than you would expect than managed to cook mine medium when I wanted rare. Still nice though.

I think all food is overpriced in DLRP and if you can get over that frustration before you go then there should be too much disappointment.

The Steakhouse brunch was more about the staff than the food. I would imagine with better service we would have felt different. That said we don't much like buffets so it was probably doomed from the start. I just felt our other dining experiences outshone this one this time round.

I guess when you depend on so many things - staff, food, atmosphere, timing etc, it makes it more of a game of chance.

Had to laugh about the steak typical eh?

I agree about being prepared for the price of food. We weren't last time and were watching the pennies the whole time. I don't want to be like that this time, so I'm going expecting each big meal to be around £100

He was given the wrong information about annual passes and his parents ended up having to spend an extra £150 (I think) because the CM insisted she was right and wouldn't check her facts. Turned out Cap'nJack was right.

I would've been raging. That is terrible. From what I've read on here I don't think half the CM's know what they're doing half the time, which is definitely worrying.

The CM's reluctance to exchange the vouchers for face value worries me. I wouldn't want to be landed with a big bill or lose vouchers.

That's what's worrying me too. If we upgrade, it's going to take up most of our spending money so if we then can't use the vouchers, or we don't use the value of the vouchers, it would definitely be a huge mistake.

 

[joolz1910]

I think we should get our heads together tomorrow. I will phone tomorrow and pm you. It seemed simple for a minute or two, didn't it?

 

[cookie334]

I think we should get our heads together tomorrow. I will phone tomorrow and pm you. It seemed simple for a minute or two, didn't it?

It really did I thought I had it all sussed and my mind was just about made up

Ah well, you know what's going to happen tomorrow now though don't you? One of us will come back saying you can split them and the other one saying you can't . I'm off to bed now though, although this is probably going to be whirling around in my head for a while. Speak to you tomorrow

 

[mummyal]

Will do the review for Steakhouse bruch later but we arrived there for 1.30pm and felt that we were a bit of an inconveniance. The food was quite nice but evrything was running out and they didn't seem that bothered about replacing the food. The cold buffet section was lovely but for main/hot we had a choice of dauphinoise potatoes (mmm) or chips, slightly overcooked lamb rack chops, very overcooked chicken portion and very undercooked beef carved but someone at the buffet. I like my steak rare and I struggled with the centre part of my beef (2cm steak) as it was still a little cool where the heat hadn't quite got through. Other than that the only other hot selection when we went up was rice (with some veg surrounding it in the tray) and I think scrambled egg. I felt the dessert seklect was poor. Wine and coke and orange squash was free but they ran out of the wine we wanted and had to ask three times before anyone changed the barrel (begrudgingly). We felt that asking a question (we were just given a glass of fizz at the door and shown to our table with no further explanation) was a bit of an inconvenience and I was trying to speak french. There were a lot of French people in the resterant and did feel that we were a little overlooked. Had we come in at 12 noon - when I think the brunch starts it may have been different experience.

When we arrived there was a lady doing balloons but she never came to our table, another lady was walking around singing french songs a la kareoke and character-wise we saw mickey, minnie, and goofy.

We normally don't complain even if we have poor quality food but DH hovered on our way out to 'give feedback' but gave up as there wasn't anyone about.

I don't want to put you off but I think it depends why you want to eat there. If it is for characters - go to cafe mickey, if it's for the food go early or go to somewhere like Inventions or California Grill if you have half board premium.

The lady when we arrived said we couldn't use half board premium - which we could have used as face value - we didn't argue at the time and ended up paying and using our vouchers elsewhere.

For Walts there was a differnt menu for half board plus and another for half board premium. DH main course on the half board premium was nearly 30 Euros alone - so I think it took the premium dishes from their main menu so you got best value for money.

Oh no, sorry you didn't have a nice experience at the Steakhouse. We were there the week before you (21st) and we really enjoyed it. I don't know whether being there earlier (12.30) made a difference or not but I would've thought 1.30pm isn't that late?! We also ate at Inventions & CG and we thought that the meal at the Steakhouse was the best of the lot, esp variety wise. I don't like my beef rare, so I didn't touch the beef but DH said it was very good and very tender. He even liked the steak tartare . I thought they had quite a bigger dessert selection compared to Inventions.

I also agree that everything just depends on your 'luck' at the time. DH & I thought that our main courses at California Grill weren't that great and CG is a 'top' restaurant at DLRP. We just put it down to the chef having an off-day lol.

 

[joolz1910]

Hi there,
well I phoned two CM's and they both said no! I asked if we could pay for 1 adult and 1 child at Auberge and then combine the face values of the remaining adult and child voucher as part payment towards a meal at another restaurant. The answer was no. I also asked if we could eat at the Steakhouse brunch (35e per adult and 10e per child) and pay with 2 adult vouchers (88e) and pay the extra 2e. Again I was told no. She explained that you are paying for the menu/buffet with the voucher. I queried the 'monetary value' statement in the brochure and she said this applied to a la carte, where you eat from the extended menu and pay the difference.

It looks like other people have been lucky, perhaps with the 'kids eat free' deal they had to offer recompense for the 'lost' child vouchers? They also said there were no 'kids eat free' deals now.

Part of me thinks, is it worth the hassle trying to ask about face values at the restaurants when we get there, especially as I don't speak french? On the other hand, is it worth taking a gamble? Because I want to take my middle DD to Auberge, it might be worth upgrading as the meal would cost £42 in real money, as opposed to £83 usually. I would also consider the Wild West show, but my Dh said that would be crazy with our 15 month old. I would also consider Inventions. You obviously get a better menu with premium, but do I really want to spend £84 on a meal? Especially when we can have the hb plus menu for £52?

 

[A Small World]

We had the half board plus and didnt have any problem using them as face value. We did this in cafe mickey and paid the difference and in silverspur I ate off the set menu so mine was covered whereas DH didnt so his was face value and we paid the difference