Feelings on the 2008 Dining Plan/Will You Purchase The Dining Plan in 2008? [Merged]

[EmcDuckRN]

I as able to sneak in underneath the rope and get this January's plan purchased under the 2007 model. That said... (UPDATE) We had confirmation from the CM that we would be under the old plan, and since we had made this before the new plan was announced we thought we were safe.

But my DW had a bad feeling about it and called back to check. They informed us that we were set to be on the new plan. Tried the call back and get a different CM trick, Nope, New plan.

We asked for a supervisor. Nope, new plan. What about the confirmation? like it never happened.

So we cancelled the dining plan for our January trip. We also cancelled a lot of our reservations. One or two tables, a few counters, and the rest will be cooked in the room. Thank goodness we bought into DVC. So now I have definitely turned down the plan as it isn't worth it to me.



It was easier, yes. And There were (very few) servers who recieved tips who didn't desrve them.

But in conjunction with the standardization of the menus accross the board, the huge drop in child's choices, and several of my favorites dropping things I loved off of their menus, I can say definitely without a doubt that it has affected my future plans to purchase the DP again.

I would like to know if there was indeed a survey that turned out like that. or if it was the same issue as the "survey" that said that we didn't want extra hours.

[Goes4FastPass]

...I would like to know if there was indeed a survey that turned out like that. or if it was the same issue as the "survey" that said that we didn't want extra hours.

Yeah, really. Disney has a funny was of saying things like, "...we listened to our guests..." and then they tell us we don't want extra magic hours, we want a "character caravan" and everything that used to be included - park hopping - no expiration - etc. costs extra so it's "Magic Your Way"...

I understand the Disney Corporation is a business with stockholders, (shhhh... Mickey is a character, not a real person, uh, mouse) I just wish they would say, "There's a new plan with new prices that will take effect X date." Instead of, "Oh boy! Here's some new magic for you!"

I was once on a cruise ship during a Captain's Q&A and someone asked why passengers were not permitted to bring alcohol on the ship. "Because selling alcohol is part of the way the cruise line makes money." was the Captain's immediate reply. "Finally!" I thought, "a simple, direct, honest answer."

[DizneyRox]

I as able to sneak in underneath the rope and get this January's plan purchased under the 2007 model. That said...

It is my understanding that the plan change takes place on January 1, 2008 regardless of when it was purchased. Appetizers will be charged extra and the servers would be expecting to see some change on the tables.

I'm not sure how they will handle vacationers starting their vacation in Dec but staying to January. I would expect they will pay less for the DDP starting on January 1 and will of course get less value as well.

Has anyone heard otherwise? Did I miss a memo?

[January-2007]

I'm not sure how they will handle vacationers starting their vacation in Dec but staying to January. I would expect they will pay less for the DDP starting on January 1 and will of course get less value as well.

Since they have the date based pricing I would think it would turn over to the 2008 version on January 1, just like the pumpkin at midnight...

[EmcDuckRN]

It is my understanding that the plan change takes place on January 1, 2008 regardless of when it was purchased. Appetizers will be charged extra and the servers would be expecting to see some change on the tables.

I'm not sure how they will handle vacationers starting their vacation in Dec but staying to January. I would expect they will pay less for the DDP starting on January 1 and will of course get less value as well.

Has anyone heard otherwise? Did I miss a memo?

No, unfortunately for me you didn't.

We were promised that no matter what we would be on the old plan, and that as they hadn't finalized changes that they would carry guests out to January 15th.

We called back and verfied after the DP changes were announced. But after I took a good look at the changes before posting to this thread the first time, I told the DW about them, and she HAD to call back and check. That is where they told us essentially that our prior converstions were invalid and that we would be placed on the new plan. That the only way that they would carry us over is if we came in on 12/31/07. Uh, No.

So we cancelled it. Hey there is $1,000 plus that they won't get from me. So if anyone missed memos, it would be the CMs we talked to at first.

[cal5755]

We will be at WDW in a week and plan to book the promotional package with the free dining and upgrade to the deluxe package. Many people have mentioned that you just can't eat that much food. If you ate everything on your plate at 3 sit down meals that is probably true. We plan to use the abundance of TS credit to try some of the Signature dinning restaurants. I feel that the $32 cost is well worth it to try some restaurants that we probably would not have done without the plan.

We booked our vacation for 2008 last friday while on vacation. We as a family (there are 10 of us going this time) decided to also go with the Deluxe Dining plan. We plan on doing a lot of 2 ts dinners with a cs as the second meal of the day. We think it is well worth it and I love the fact that everything is done and pre-paid. PLUS alot of the 2 ts meals are with gratuity included. I love having everything planned well before we go and can't wait to start booking at the 180 day mark.

[cperry92380]

I maybe missing something here... but if you maximize the food items your order, you'll still be getting by better than you would if you paid OOP. A drink, entree, and dessert alone can run more than the $38 that the plan costs. Then on top of that, you still have the CS and snack credits too.
I KNOW I can't be in the minority here when I say that when we used the DDP last... we used it to it's fullest potential. There is no way you would have caught me ordering something that was on the cheaper end of the scale, ever. I wanted the most for my $$ (as I'm sure most everyone does...), so I maximized the plan's options.
Although there are some changes to the new plan, we will still use it b/c the plan price will almost if not completely cover the cost of a TS alone...
Even if you do still have to tip on to of that, you still have the CS and snack...
By using the plan, it allows me to choose from the more expensive items, which I would not do if I was paying OOP... and who likes to feel 'deprived' while on vacation... I want to order to the fullest whenever I can.

Just my two cents!

[Jasper]

You know, people often think of the dining plan as a way to save money. In reality I think it is more about being able to accurately plan your food costs in advance so there are far fewer surprises once you get to WDW.

I also think that while it can certainly be helpful to listen to the opinions of people who post in places like Intercot ultimately the most important thing to do is to listen to the opinions of your own family about what is important to them at WDW. Once you really understand your family’s wishes and needs then it becomes very easy to decide if the dining plan works for you or not.

For example, with my family the dining plan really doesn’t work very well because we are park kamikazes. What I mean by that is that we get up early, and either eat a big breakfast at the resort food court or in the room with things that we brought with us to WDW so that we are at the park before it opens. Then we do not eat again until near the very end of the lunch seating at a sit down restaurant in whatever park we are visiting that day.

Again we do not eat until after the park that we are at closes and we have returned to our resort. Food at that time is either what ever is still open at the food court at the resort or a granola bar in the room before we turn in. Throughout the day we snack on things like granola bars or single servings of crackers or cookies that we carried into the park in our waist packs.

With that kind of schedule we just haven’t found the dining plan to be cost effective for our family. However, there are also families out there for who regularly scheduled meals and snack breaks are important. Those people find the dining plan to be a good thing.

Bottom line is to think through what is important to your family and don’t let yourself be drawn off track by other people’s opinions.

[cperry92380]

The Wine & Dine for $39.99 is a good deal. I'm wondering about the logistics. Is that paid per adult in the room, but not per child? Does everyone adult have to be on the Wine & Dine, or just one - since the wine is per room. I mean, the $1 increase with a nice bottle of wine each day would make that worth my while - even without the appetizer.

I was under the impression that the Wine & Dine was an extra $39.99 each day, not a simple $1 increase per day for a whole bottle of wine.

Yea, the Wine & Dine Plan is an additional $39.99 per day per room (not per person).
(Unless you've already figured this out!!)