Just back thoughts on meal plan

[E-OR]

We used the dining plan for our second time but had a few thoughts and concerns. We had all our ADR's made 6 months to the day out. In fact I got up at 3:55 AM (Pacific Standard Time) to make them. Our first ADR was at the Chrystal Palace. When we got there the wait to get to the check in area was 30 minutes and then the wait for a table was over an hour. One family had been waiting 1 1/4 hours. We were so hungry and did not want to wait that long and then spend time eating so we ended up no using these ADR's. We tried to get reservations for breakfast at a few restaurants but everything was full. The rest of our ADR's we got seated quite quickly. We also found that this time we had so much food and in the end we were not able to use all our our meals from the meal plan. I hated top leave behind unused table & counter services. When we checked out we were also charged to a gratuity that we paid in cash. We paid cash for all of our gratuities. We were also charged for a counter service that we used our counter service dining plan on. Of course I had all my receipts except for this one. Just a couple of things to watch when you use the DD. We still had a great time and loved all of our dining choices. Had a great time and can't wait til next year. Maybe we won't use the DD though.

[Belster]

I know what you mean about the gratuity...when we went last year I had to explain the way it worked to my mother in law daily. She kept charging it to the room and leaving an additional amount.

You need to make sure not to write it on the receipt if you are paying cash...or make sure that it was not already added for you.

Sorry to hear you were not too pleased with the DDP.

For the record we cannot stand CP and will never go there again...the long wait time is just one of the reasons why we do not like it there.

[gerald72]

We used the dining plan for our second time but had a few thoughts and concerns. We had all our ADR's made 6 months to the day out. In fact I got up at 3:55 AM (Pacific Standard Time) to make them. Our first ADR was at the Chrystal Palace. When we got there the wait to get to the check in area was 30 minutes and then the wait for a table was over an hour. One family had been waiting 1 1/4 hours. We were so hungry and did not want to wait that long and then spend time eating so we ended up no using these ADR's. We tried to get reservations for breakfast at a few restaurants but everything was full. The rest of our ADR's we got seated quite quickly. We also found that this time we had so much food and in the end we were not able to use all our our meals from the meal plan. I hated top leave behind unused table & counter services. When we checked out we were also charged to a gratuity that we paid in cash. We paid cash for all of our gratuities. We were also charged for a counter service that we used our counter service dining plan on. Of course I had all my receipts except for this one. Just a couple of things to watch when you use the DD. We still had a great time and loved all of our dining choices. Had a great time and can't wait til next year. Maybe we won't use the DD though.


An hour after your scheduled time seems like an awful long time. Just because one family has been waiting for over an hour doesn't mean that's how long it would take for you. Maybe they arrived very early. Did you find anywhere else to eat at that time instead of CP? I would find it hard to leave after I'd already been waiting a half hour for a meal I've already paid for, especially if I was very hungry.
I don't understand what you are saying about your checking out and tipping.
Are you saying that if you leave a restaurant without tipping, that that charge will appear on your hotel tab?
If you had left the cash behind on the table, then that wouldn't have shown up on the receipt anyway, would it?

[E-OR]

There were so many people waiting to eat at the CP they were standing and sitting everywhere complaining about how long they had been waiting etc.. Kids were very restless and for us it was not worth the wait to eat. We wanted to spend our time doing other things. We did not find another place to eat, I called reservations and asked for different restaurants but everything was booked. I'm sure there was someplace available but we decided that we did not want to leave MK. We just used a counter service and called it good. No the family who had already been waiting 1 1/4 hours did not get there early the wait time was that long. Because we had 7 people in our party there was an automatic gratuity added on to the bill but we always told the server we were paying in cash and would draw a line thru the tip line. Some how it was added to our room anyway.

[Hammer]

This is one of the reasons I always review my receipts every night. We found that we had been erroneously charged for one of our samples at the Food and Wine festival instead of a snack credit being used (we had plenty of credits). A trip to the Beach Club guest services desk corrected the error the next morning.

[Madame Leona]

We did the free dining plan also. I can't think of anywhere that we had a long wait and we were never charged a gratuity. However, most of my family was sick so we didn't use all of our counter service meals. We did use all of our snacks on water however. It really seemed like a lot of food but I would do free dining again. I don't think I would pay for the dining plan though.

[phillydan]

We have been very happy with the dining plan, but you do have to be very careful about how they close out your check. We ate a Mama Melrose one night and the next day I discovered that they used 5 adult TS instead of 2 adult & 3 child. Not a huge deal, but it could have created problems further in the trip at another restaurant. I had the concierge correct the problem.

As for Cystal Palace, I try to schedule a te lunch or early dinner. Because it is just off of the prime time, it tends to keep the wait time to a minimum (20 min or so).

[princessgirls]

I always check the bill and make sure the credits come off the correct way.

Never had problems with the Crystal Palace. We are doing a 4:45 dinner there in December. Hopefully that is early enough to beat the rush!

Julie:mickey: