Silver Plan Worth It?

[flyball]

For those of you who have done the silver plan, do you think it was worth it? We're a family of four: DH, DDs (11 and 13, who are very good eaters and choose from the adult menu), and myself. Can somebody describe how this works and how to ensure that you don't waste money using the plan?

 

[hogie1]

Silver plan gives you 2 "wishes" per person, per day. So you need to use them wisely to make them work well for you. For one adult, it costs $68 per day. So you can use them for a variety of things, meals & 125 counter service & sit down restaraunts, activies like fishing, tours, spa treatments, etc. We planned it out & we're doing a lot of stuff. For instance, we'll do a quick breakfast of juice & bagel out of our own $$, but we'll plan for sit down meals at lunch & dinner. You get 1 non alcoholic drink, 1 appetizer, 1 main meal, and a dessert. But some places, the high end ones, you have to use 2 wishes for one place. But if you spread it out you can do really well.

 

[TooBoyz4us]

Hi flyball !!

We always book the silver plan.My DH will not do Disney any other way.My boys are about the ages of yours this year (10&12)and they are BIG eaters.
We always use our wishes for meals, and I become a planning FREAK so that I make sure we get variety, but still get our money's worth from every wish.

Breakfast buffet's are really not a good wish value at all.So we use our wishes for early lunches and late dinners.
A couple of the places we have found that you can really use a wish wisely are :
RainForest Cafe
Maya Grill
LeCellier
Cinderellas Castle
Fultons(2 wishes per person)

and there are many others.

My best advice is, look over all the menus carefully and plan.That way your sure to use wishes wisely.

Chris

 

[jcemom]

I remember seeing this discussed before but don't know the answers...won't the 11 year old be considered a child and be limited to ordering from the child's menu if using wishes? Anyone know from firsthand experience?

I think you need to evaluate the cost of the plan (ie the wishes) and see if you would normally spend that much anyway. Would you normally eat a large lunch and dinner with appetizers and desserts each? If so, that may be a good deal for you. I'd recommend reading the advice from Mousesavers on maximizing the value of your Wishes. You can also check out the Menus of the restaurants you're interested in at allearsnet to see if what you would normally order would add up to enough $$$ to get a good value from what you'll be paying for the wishes.

Edited to add: FYI you can also use the wishes for other things: activities, Cirque, spa treatments, etc.

 

[montessori]

Hi flyball,
I don't know the answer to your question but...

you are in the Dis Class Yearbook!!!

Your yearbook picture is on page 172

Have a great Disney vacation!

 

[flyball]

Originally posted by montessori
Hi flyball,
I don't know the answer to your question but...

you are in the Dis Class Yearbook!!!

Your yearbook picture is on page 172

Have a great Disney vacation!

Hi montessori,

Thank you for letting me know! I don't quite know what the Dis Class Yearbook is, being fairly new to these boards, but I can't help but feel honored!!!

Thanks! (And thanks to everyone else for helping me sort out all of these options; it can be very confusing!)

 

[buzzlady]

Originally posted by jcemom
I remember seeing this discussed before but don't know the answers...won't the 11 year old be considered a child and be limited to ordering from the child's menu if using wishes? Anyone know from firsthand experience?

An 11yo is a Jr. (ages 10-17) and pays the same price as an adult for the Silver Plan. Therefore, also orders from the adult menu. I do know this for a fact because last July DS was 11 and we used the Silver Plan. I don't know why they bother to call it Jr. when paying the same price. We found using the Silver Plan worth it for us. DS11 is a good eater and ordered filet mignon many times. If you plan out the places that you want to eat and check their menus I think you will do fine.

 

[jcemom]

Thank you buzzlady!!!

 

[DrKnow77]

I am getting the silver plan in September and have been calculating alot of figures to see if it is worth the price. Each magical wish is worth $34 and you get two per day per person.

If you figure on spending more than $34 per person per meal (or $136.00 for four), then it is worth it. Now, that sounds like alot of money per meal to make the break even point, but take this into consideration:

If you go to Akershus, for example, which is a buffett, you will spend about $25 per person (after tax and tip) without the silver package. This seems like it wouldn't be worth it; however, the real savings are in the "big" restaraunts, like Cinderella's Table, where you could spend $175.00 - $200.00 for four people.

What I find most intriguing about the silver plan is being able to go to any restaraunt and choosing whatever I would like to have, without worrying about the cost, because it is already part of the package that I paid for.

Good luck!

 

[flyball]

So what you're saying is that you have to spend $34 or more per person per meal for it to be worth your while. Breakfasts are probably not a good use of wishes, then.

Does anybody know if the restaurants that charge two wishes require you to cash in two wishes per person for each meal? For instance, we're planning on eating at the Calif. Grill. Would we cash in eight wishes for the four of us to eat dinner?

I'm sorry I'm so dense!!! Believe it or not, we have been to DW on multiple occasions and I have read about this plan, but I'm still having trouble getting the details through my thick skull!

 

[GailT]

I thought each wish per person was 68 dollars, Boy am I confused

 

[DrKnow77]

Flyball, yes, you would use 8 magical wishes for dinner at California Grille for 4 people.

GailT, each wish is worth $34. Each person gets two wishes per day, which is $68 per day. You could, for example, use one wish for lunch and one wish for dinner.

Or, if you would like to eat at one of Disney's fine dining restaraunts (like California Grille, Citricos, Yachtsman Steakhouse, etc.), each person would have to use 2 magical wishes for one meal.

 

[DrKnow77]

Here are some interesting links regarding the Silver Plan:

Disboards Thread
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=566014


Silver Package Info:
http://allearsnet.com/pl/tip39.htm


Silver Package Brochure (PDF Download):
http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/m...pecific/eng/nontheme/tickets/F_SilverWDTC.pdf

 

[jimmalru80]

We are getting ready for our 7th trip, and for each of them, we have used a dining plan (most recently the Silver Plan) or some variation of it in the past. It started when our twin DD's were six and DS was twelve. They are, and have been good eaters, and have always ordered off the adult menu. (They are year round multi-sport athletes, so the calories don't show on them). We love the Silver Plan, and have found that as the years go by, we spend the vast majority of our time planning our trip around the meals. The twins are now 14, and DS is 20 and we are looking forward to our July trip where we will enjoy the Silver Plan again.

 

[GailT]

Thanks DrKnow77 , I think I've gpt it. I thought one wish was 68 dollars, that is 2 wishes. Wow, I think this is a great plan, now I am real excited about it. Looking at the menues even the few resturants that want 2 wishes still can be a great deal

I can't believe it, I finally understand how it works and all because of DrKnow77

 

[DrKnow77]

No problem GailT. I have done quite a bit of research on the silver package, since I was thinking about purchasing this for our September trip. We did decide to purchase the plan.

Good luck!

 

[CharlesandCamilla]

But many of the two wish restaurants aren't a deal. Some, like Coral Reef and Bistro de Paris, cost on average around $15 more per person than comparable restaurants.

Fulton's (a 2 wisher) gets rave reviews from people on plans but horrible reviews from those who aren't. I guess the price makes those people who have to pay expect more, and not having to pay makes the people on the plans love it just because they're feel like they're getting their money's worth.

We'll stick to the one wish restaurants.

 

[flyball]

Thank you Drknow77! Just one more question. If we went to the Hoop De Doo, would it be wise to cash in three wishes and pay for my DD11? Her admission would only be $24.81, so would probably not be a good use of a wish. I'm using this as an example to further understand the nuances of this plan. We are planning on eating at some of the more expensive restaurants (FF, Calif Grill, Jiko, etc.), but I'm still not sure we'd be able to use all of our wishes effectively.

 

[jcemom]

Originally posted by flyball
Thank you Drknow77! Just one more question. If we went to the Hoop De Doo, would it be wise to cash in three wishes and pay for my DD11? Her admission would only be $24.81, so would probably not be a good use of a wish. I'm using this as an example to further understand the nuances of this plan. We are planning on eating at some of the more expensive restaurants (FF, Calif Grill, Jiko, etc.), but I'm still not sure we'd be able to use all of our wishes effectively.

Yes, that would be a good idea. As explained by Mary at Mousesavers:

"So if you have kids included in your package, you may want to think about the value of your wishes based on the average price overall. In this example, if you had 2 adults and 2 kids for 5 nights, the cost is $68 + $68 + $35 + $35 x 5 nights = $1030, divided by 40 wishes, for an average of $25.75 per wish.

Generally speaking, it's not a good use of wishes to "spend" them on meals or admissions for kids. Even though you're paying less for the kids' wishes, the value of kids' meals and admissions is a lot lower than those for adults. So try to use the wishes for the adult meals and admissions."

 

[chilis]

Thanks for the great info, but I have another question. Are all the wishes lumped together? We have a 4 y/o who is a very picky eater so, obviously, we won't be using her wishes for dining. She can't golf, parasail, etc. What I want to know is, what can we use her wishes for? Adult dining, activities??? I thought I had this figured out, but obviously not! Thanks!

Lisa