Josh's first trip to Disney. January 2003
BUY THE MEAL PLAN!!!
Need more detail than that? Then read the rest.
We love to eat in fun or interesting restaurants, which is one big reason that Disney is our family Mecca. Disney is an expensive place for us to let our beer budget life style off the hook, so we ALWAYS buy the dining plan.
We tried to cut some costs last time and we didn’t do the dinning plan. HUGE mistake. It ended up costing us about the same and we just didn’t get to enjoy the food as much because we were too worried about going over our food budget. On the plan we knew about how much we would be spending every day. It makes planning our finances out so much easier.
We go with the Disney Dinning Plan, which allows each member of our family over age three to get:
One counter service meal
Which we use for a quick grab and go lunch
This is fast food type eating
You get a drink, an entrée and a dessert
One snack
Which we use way more than what we get on the plan
GOD BLESS MICKEY MOUSE ICE CREAM
One table service meal
Which we use for dinner
You get a drink, an entrée and a dessert
Let me say that the table service meal does not cover tip or alcohol. With Josh’s Disney margarita fetish and my love of weird drinks with names like “turtle crawl” we can do some pretty serious damage on that alcohol tab, so just don’t let that get away from you.
You can make dinning reservations up to 180 days out. I set a reminder for that date in my calender and I make the reservations on the very first day that I possibly can. I have made these reservations on my lunch breaks at work before just to make sure that all 8 of us got to go to Cinderella’s Castle. You have to do it ahead if you really don’t have a ton of flexibility, like a large party, or little kids that need to eat close to certain times. You can now do reservations online which is WONDERFUL, because the old school phone call option felt dated and was very boring to me. I have no tolerance for boredom so I often was a grumpy grumperson by the time I finished the call. Not very Disney.
So, here is a basic example of how it works:
Josh, myself, Emma (12), Lily, (6), and Max (2) are going to Disney for seven nights the first week of October
We buy the Disney Dinning plan when we check in at our hotel
3 adults X 7 nights
Emma counts as an adult because she is 10 and over
1 child X 7 nights
Max is free and just eats off all our plates
After we hand over our money we are now the proud owners of:
21 adult counter service meals
28 snacks
21 adults table service meals
7 kid service meals
All of this fun is placed directly on our Key to the World Card, which acts as your room key, park ticket, meal plan voucher, and room charge(PICTURES) . Isn’t Disney so flipping awesome? With one key to the world card for each party you can access and use all the vouchers. So we can all eat dinner and Josh just hands them his key to world card and “pays” for the meal.
Misc:
All points expire at midnight on the day you check out
Use it or loose it
Pricing varies so call 407-WDW-Dine for details
Yes I have that number memorized and in my speed dial
This is a sample of how we utilize the Dinning Plan.
Day | Counter | Snack | Table Service |
Monday – arrive, eat lunch at pool, dinner at Hotel | Adults 21–3=18 Kids 7-1=6 | Ice cream 28-4=24 Waters 24-2=22 | Adults 21–3=18 Kids 7-1=6 |
Tuesday - Park Quick lunch Table dinner | Adults 18-3=15 Kids 6-1=5 | Waters 22-4=18 Popcorn 18-2=16 | Adults 18-3=15 Kids 6-1=5 |
Wednesday Park Quick lunch Table dinner | Adults 15-3=12 Kids 5-1=4 | Soda 16-3=13 Ice cream 13-5=8 | Adults 15-3=12 Kids 5-1=4 |
Thursday Pool and shopping Quick lunch 2 point table dinner | Adults 12-3=9 Kids 4-1=3 | Waters 8-4=4 Ice cream 4-4=0 Used up all snack vouchers Use cash from this point | Adults 12-6=6 Kids 4-2=2 Subtract double points |
Friday Park Quick lunch Table dinner | Adults 9-3=6 Kids 3-1=2 | Cash or room charge | Adults 6-3=3 Kids 2-1=1 |
Saturday Pool and shopping Quick lunch Off plan dinner | Adults 6-3=3 Kids 2-1=1 | Cash or room charge | Off plan meal Cash or room charge |
Sunday Park Quick lunch Table dinner | Adults 3-3=0 Kids 1-1=0 | Cash or room charge | Adults 3-3=0 Kids 1-1=0 |
Please ask me any questions you want about this. I LOVE TALKING DISNEY!!!!!!
We MUST talk Disney!
ReplyDeleteErika