What makes the premium plan worthwhile?

[labdogs42]

I see people mentioning that they are traveling on the premium plan and I'm wondering what makes that plan "worth it". At what point do you break even on that plan? How many things do you have to do to justify spending that much money instead of just paying for the things you want to do separately? I know people have done the analysis on the dining plan and I see where that is a money saver, but the premium plan stumps me.

Or, is the premium plan only about convenience and people on it aren't looking to get their money's worth? (this is my theory because I can't see how that plan is a good value)

 

[Nancyg56]

I wonder too. I priced it for our next trip, and it is way over my budget. I thought that it would be nice to be able to eat anywhere, as we did add more meals than I had planned on the DDP, and factored that we would attend some of the shows, but I cannot justify the cost.
Hope that someone can explain for me because it really looks so good!

 

[jimmalru80]

We are going on the premium plan this trip and I could care less if I break even or not. The convenience and the ability to do whatever we desire when we want to do it is paramount. It's our 25th wedding anniversary, so this time it's worth it for us.

 

[karen l]

We're also trying the premium plan in April. We used to do the silver plan, that was really ideal. We're trying the premium this trip because we're doing tours, Cirque, mini golf & some other activities. Having the meals pre-paid is going to allow us to try some places we haven't gone to before. I don't know if we'll ever do it again - we'll have to see what happens this trip.

 

[kimnscott]

We traveled on the premium plan and loved every minute of it. We could do what we wanted when we wanted. Our original reason for getting it was because my DH plays golf several times during our stay. Also the Cirque tickets were well worth it my DD(7) sat through the whole show and was mesmerized. This alone was worth it, I actually got to see something from beginning to end with no bathroom break. LOL. I love having as much paid for as I can ahead of time. This way on our trip I only have to think about suvies and drinks.
kim

 

[Becky2005]

I will add we went on the Premium plan and that was right after the dining plan came out and a whole host of other things or so it seemed every time we turned around (the dining age was just raised - our daughter was 11 so we had paid adult prices for her anyway on the plan, etc...).

I was explaining the difference between the dining plan and the premium to DH. Once I started explaining how you could end up with a day of only counter service meals, some things were 2 TS, etc, etc... he went "Go with the all inclusive - I want to go eat where I want and not worry about it".

We did Cirque, Family Magic Tour, Mickey's Magical Milestone tour, DD & DH went horseback riding, DD & I went parasailing (DS-8 was going to but he chickened out so he just rode in the boat), DH & the older 3 went on a fishing excursion....oh yes, we did visit the parks. We also ate at a lot of places (I don't know if it's changed but in 2005 there were more restaraunts on the Premium than on the regular dining plan). The only counter service we ate at was at our hotel, everything else was sit-down.

When I figured it out (as best I could - got kind of lazy of keeping track of the receipts - we did pay $500 more than if we paid out of pocket. Part of that was due to not getting appetizers at every meal and DD choosing to eat off the kid's menus most of the time).

However, even with that DH *loved* the plan! He loved just going into basically any restaraunt and handing them the card and ordering whatever he wanted. I'm fairly sure the next time we go, we will be doing the Premium too - it's a bit more than we need but the dining plan is not quite enough for us.