We ate/drank whatever we wanted- a first time review!

[taramoz]

So now for my financial analysis of the upgrade to APs and purchasing the TIW card.

Going into this trip we had bought 6 day MIW tickets with the undercover tourist discount, no hoppers. On our first night at DW we went into HS with the tickets we had bought and headed straight to Guest Relations to do our upgrade. Having used the tickets we were able to apply the current value of the tickets to the upgrade to APs (current value was more then we had paid).

So, the numbers, it cost us an extra $793.43 to upgrade to annual passes. Now we have a return trip in October and looking at undercover tourist (which is where we would buy tickets otherwise) 5 day MIW would cost us $716.85 (no hoppers), so we spent an extra $76.58 for AP's vs. buying MIW for next trip. On top of that we bought the TIW card for $75, so we are $151.58 behind as of purchase.

Now our original tickets were non-hoppers, and on this trip we didn't hop, so we wouldn't have had to do any upgrades- no savings here. Assuming we don't hop in Oct we need to save $151.58 between both trips in discounts related to AP discounts or the TIW card to break even. On our Dec trip we saved $124.78 with the TIW card. In addition we did some shopping and got a discount with our APs, very minimal, but should be included, $10.20. This brings our total savings this trip (from TIW and APs) to $134.98.

Conclusion, we didn't break even on the upgrade this trip, but if we save a mere $16.60 in October with TIW and/or APs we break even! Any saving beyond $16.60 go straight to our pockets! This is great news, I am happy with doing the upgrade. Plus, if we want to park hop we can without issue with APs. We didn't hop this trip, but maybe we will next time (note, hoppers cost another ~150 over MIW tckets for the 3 of us, so this is great optionality!)

Important Note: upgrading to APs worked for us because we are doing 2 trips in 1 year, you would have to work your math to see what works best for you, based on your personal data, I just wanted to share my outcome!

 

[Euphoria027]

So *that's* where the buffalo chicken sandwich is... Studio Catering Company! I went to Fairfax, Backlot, Catalina Eddie's and Min and Bill's and couldn't find it so I just gave up. At least you weren't big on it... So I don't feel like I missed out on something special.

 

[stephielela]

I think your math is awesome as far as the AP goes. I had planned on doing that as well since we went twice in 2010, but we ended up with free dining dicounts which require you to buy park tickets anyways.

 

[pumba]

again a great review and all your math skills for us.

I love Le Cellier and could make a meal of just the bread sticks and soup......BUT I love a good piece of meat too.....

A relative of our family was the person who wrote O Canada. I love to tell that to people.. And our neighbor;s son who is an avid hockey player (ten years old) can sing it in French and English....This is a good Maine Canada relationship.

Thanks again for your great reviews and photos....I loved them all

 

[taramoz]

So *that's* where the buffalo chicken sandwich is... Studio Catering Company! I went to Fairfax, Backlot, Catalina Eddie's and Min and Bill's and couldn't find it so I just gave up. At least you weren't big on it... So I don't feel like I missed out on something special.

Yep, according to my husband it was not anything special! Sorry for my late reply, been off the boards for the weekend as I was celebrating my daughters 7th birthday this weekend!

 

[taramoz]

I think your math is awesome as far as the AP goes. I had planned on doing that as well since we went twice in 2010, but we ended up with free dining dicounts which require you to buy park tickets anyways.

I can see how the free dining thing is a good deal for many! There are so many good discounts right now, its all about what works best for you, I had done so much math trying to decide what would work best for us, but really since we rentd points for our stay free dining wasn't an option for us anyway!

 

[taramoz]

again a great review and all your math skills for us.

I love Le Cellier and could make a meal of just the bread sticks and soup......BUT I love a good piece of meat too.....

A relative of our family was the person who wrote O Canada. I love to tell that to people.. And our neighbor;s son who is an avid hockey player (ten years old) can sing it in French and English....This is a good Maine Canada relationship.

Thanks again for your great reviews and photos....I loved them all

Thanks, glad you liked following along!

That is a great story about O'Canada, I will have to share with DH. I met DH because of Hockey, he used to play, not so much anymore...

 

[exwdwcm]

more great reviews. we are considering Mama Melrose for October. like you said, it's funny how everywhere gets such mixed reviews, so i take everything with a grain of salt as far as reviews and try it myself first.

looks like you had a great meal at Le Cellier- too cute on the moose picture too- what a great idea! all the times i have eaten there (and almost always order the mousse), i've never had them tell me that, i am taking that pic myself in the future!

i am so slow, i hadn't even heard of the whole buying a discounted ticket and upgrading it to an AP idea......of course we were buying the DVC discounted AP, so not sure it would have worked for us anyways? I didn't track all our receipts this last trip, but i know we saved at least $100 using TIW. stupid us forgot to buy it before our first two meals, both of which we could have used it on. oh well. so we will save even more in October, making TIW a good value, since we've already saved $25 OOP.

 

[taramoz]

more great reviews. we are considering Mama Melrose for October. like you said, it's funny how everywhere gets such mixed reviews, so i take everything with a grain of salt as far as reviews and try it myself first.

looks like you had a great meal at Le Cellier- too cute on the moose picture too- what a great idea! all the times i have eaten there (and almost always order the mousse), i've never had them tell me that, i am taking that pic myself in the future!

i am so slow, i hadn't even heard of the whole buying a discounted ticket and upgrading it to an AP idea......of course we were buying the DVC discounted AP, so not sure it would have worked for us anyways? I didn't track all our receipts this last trip, but i know we saved at least $100 using TIW. stupid us forgot to buy it before our first two meals, both of which we could have used it on. oh well. so we will save even more in October, making TIW a good value, since we've already saved $25 OOP.

Yes, my biggest lesson learned was not to rely on others reviews but try for yourself. We were pleasantly surprised most of the time with our choices.

If you do take a moose pic send it my way, the waitress was really fun to "make" me do it!

I expect our TIW savings will really add up after the Oct trip, and I may do one more trip depending on finances this year, so it was well worth it! LOL, at this rate I should just join DVC!

 

[left210]

I dont think we are doing dining plan for our trip in June? Do you have to have an AP to get the discount card? Also, I saw your review at MM and the food was mediocre but was it worth it for the seating? We love italian but were primarily doing this for the reserved seating and not having to wait in line. We are going in June. So do you think it is worth it for that especially given we are paying OOP?

Edited to add: We are not foodies and probably have never eaten at an authentic italian restaurant. Olive Garden is fine to us but we do not want to pay for this package if the reserved seating and wait time is not worth it plus it is an early ADR which could mess up our day and dont want to do it if it is not worth it.

 

[Zife]

Kind of dragging out an old thread here, but I finally finished reading the reviews and wanted to thank you. Quite enjoyable, and I appreciated that you did the sum up of the TiW card at the end, since my wife and I have been looking at it for the future.

I dont think we are doing dining plan for our trip in June? Do you have to have an AP to get the discount card? Also, I saw your review at MM and the food was mediocre but was it worth it for the seating? We love italian but were primarily doing this for the reserved seating and not having to wait in line. We are going in June. So do you think it is worth it for that especially given we are paying OOP?

Edited to add: We are not foodies and probably have never eaten at an authentic italian restaurant. Olive Garden is fine to us but we do not want to pay for this package if the reserved seating and wait time is not worth it plus it is an early ADR which could mess up our day and dont want to do it if it is not worth it.

I'm a big fan of Mama Melrose myself, although I must admit our first time there (2008), we had a much better server than our second time there (2009). I compare it to an East Side Mario's type place (do you have them in the US?), but I've never been to Olive Garden, so I can't compare that one.

The first time we ate at MM was for the F! preferred seating. I'm not really sure the seating was any better, but I was a big fan of being able to just walk in a bit before the show and not have to wait.

 

[taramoz]

I dont think we are doing dining plan for our trip in June? Do you have to have an AP to get the discount card? Also, I saw your review at MM and the food was mediocre but was it worth it for the seating? We love italian but were primarily doing this for the reserved seating and not having to wait in line. We are going in June. So do you think it is worth it for that especially given we are paying OOP?

Edited to add: We are not foodies and probably have never eaten at an authentic italian restaurant. Olive Garden is fine to us but we do not want to pay for this package if the reserved seating and wait time is not worth it plus it is an early ADR which could mess up our day and dont want to do it if it is not worth it.

Hey, the TIW card is available if you have an AP or if you are a Florida resident. Our experience at MM was a combo of bad server and so-so food. As I said, my flat bread was great, some of the other stuff not so much. But don't write it off because of me, give it a try. I think it is better then Olive Garden, I don't consider Olive Garden to be good. And having the reserved seating is great!

 

[taramoz]

Kind of dragging out an old thread here, but I finally finished reading the reviews and wanted to thank you. Quite enjoyable, and I appreciated that you did the sum up of the TiW card at the end, since my wife and I have been looking at it for the future.

Thanks so much! The TIW worked great for out eating style and vacation plans. I was glad to review it, and I know I will save tons in Oct having it!