Month: January 2019

The Present Traveller and Walt Disney World Dining Plan options

To Dine or not to Dine. That is the question.

Last week I highlighted some of the Walt Disney World ticket options. I wanted to help demystify some of the key elements for a Walt Disney World vacation. This week I’m continuing that with giving an overview of the Disney Dining Plan options.

when using the dining plan, you always want to look for this symbol. This will tell you which items are eligible for the dining plan and where it’s accepted

Clients ask me a lot of times, “Should I get the dining plan?” Usually my answer is, “That depends on your family’s eating habits.” I love the dining plan! It kind of makes a Walt Disney World vacation like a cruise. You get there and your food is just already paid for. It can make you feel like you’re getting your food for free. 😉 It’s a good feeling getting to your vacation and knowing that your food is already pretty much paid for. Who doesn’t like that?

However, there are a few options and things to consider when it comes to choosing to get the dining plan or not. Below I’ve explained the main options for the dining plan and have included some general tips and things to consider when deciding whether or not to get the dining plan.

What are the dining plan options?

  1. Disney Quick Service Dining Plan– This is going to be the most economical version of the dining plan. With it, you get 2 quick service credits (counter service) and 2 snacks credits per person, per night of stay. This is a good plan if you want to be on the go during your vacation and not take the time to do a sit down meal. This is also a good option if you’d like to do 1-2 sit down(table service) meals but don’t plan to do a sit down meal each day.
  2. Disney Dining Plan– This is by far the most popular dining plan that I see clients select. It allows you to prepay for some quick service meals and some sit down meals as well as your snacks. With this plan you get 1 quick service credit, 1 table service credit and 2 snack credits per person, per night of stay. This is a good mix between options 1 and 3.
  3. Disney Deluxe Dining Plan-This is by far the most flexible of the dining plan options. It is also the most expensive. If you don’t want to have the hassle of keeping up with how many quick service and how many sit down credits you have left-this is the plan for you. Also, if you like to be able to sit down for table service for most meals, this is a good plan for you. With this plan, you get 3 meal credits and 2 snack credits per person, per night of stay. The meal credits can either be used for a quick service meal or a table service meal. It’s your choice!

Here is a slide I usually send to clients with the pricing breakdown for the three different levels of the dining plan. This is the 2019 pricing.

So those are basic options. Here’s some other tips:

  1. As stated above, the meal plans are all per person, per night of stay NOT per day. So, for example, if you are staying 4 nights but will be visiting the parks 5 days, you get 4 nights of the meal plan, not 5 days. Conversely, if you are staying 6 nights but are only visiting the parks 3 days, you get 6 nights of the meal plan, not 3 days.
  2. You can not add the dining plan for only part of your stay or only some of the people on the reservation. You have to add the meal plan for all nights of your stay and for all people in your party. This is similar to adding park hopper to your park tickets.
  3. You CAN use the dining plan at places not inside the parks themselves. It does not have to be used ONLY in the parks. So, that opens up a lot of options for you. You can use it while in the parks, you can use it at Disney Springs, or at the resort hotels on property. According to the Walt Disney World website, there are over 50 table service restaurants across property where the dining plan can be used. (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/plans/#/drawer=drawerDisneyDiningPlan)
  4. Children under age three will not be on the dining plan, just like they don’t need a park ticket. At buffets, children under 3 are allowed to get their own plate from the buffet. At quick service or non-buffet style table service restaurants, you can either choose have the child share from an adults plate or you can order off the menu for the child, the cost would be out of pocket if choosing to order off the menu.
  5. Gratuities are NOT included in the dining plan. So, for sit down restaurants, you would pay for tip at the time of dining. For parties of 6 or more Disney does automatically add an 18% gratuity to your bill. This is similar to what most table service restaurants do for large parties throughout the U.S. (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/dining-plans/dining-plan-gratuities/)
  6. Guests 21 and older who get the dining plan can get one alcoholic beverage (when available) with each meal. This is a fairly new addition to the dining plan. This applies to all 3 of the dining plan options. Guests also get a refillable drink mug with the dining plan that can be used for unlimited refills of things like sodas, coffee and tea. The refillable mug can only be used at your home resort. It can not be used in the parks.
  7. *Key point-At the beginning of your stay you actually get a bank of points. How you choose to use those points is up to you. You are not limited to ONLY using 1 quick service credit per person, per night of stay, 1 table service credit per person, per night of stay, etc. For example, if you have the Disney Dining Plan, which includes 1 quick service credit per person, per night of stay; 1 table service credit per person per night of stay and two snacks, you can choose to do two sit down meals on the first day you are on property. Just be aware that you may run out of dining credits before your vacation ends. You can also save things like snack credits until the end of your vacation and get multiple non-perishable items to snack on for the ride home or for your neighbor who is babysitting your dog while you’re vacationing. 🙂  It’s really your choice how you use them. The My Disney Experience app has any area which keeps a running total of how many credits you have left, so you don’t have to manually keep up with it yourself-which is great!
  8. To utilize the dining plan, you will have the cast member at the dining location (either your waiter or waitress or cast member working the counter) scan your magic band. They will ask you to enter your 4 digit PIN number on the key pad at the register or on a mobile device. This authorizes them to utilize your dining credit(s) for that meal/snack. You can also use the magic band to charge your gratuities to the credit card you put on file when you checked in.
The scanning device you will use to scan your Magic Band at Quick Service restaurants and to make purchases will look similar to this. Although they have been updated somewhat since this picture. You touch the Micky on your Magic Band to the Mickey on the device.

A few closing things to consider

As I said before, I love the convenience of the dining plan, but it’s really up to you to decide whether it’s right for your family or not. Here are some questions to ask when deciding on the dining plan:

  1. What are your eating habits while you are vacation? Do you tend to eat mostly on the go? Or do you like to sit down and have a leisurely meal?
  2. Are you staying in a standard hotel room or are you staying in a villa? This will affect whether or not you are able to prepare meals for yourself or not. Do you want to take the time to prepare meals for yourself? Do you feel “on vacation” when someone else prepares the meals for you?
  3. How many meals do you typically eat per day on vacation? My family tends to eat 2 bigger meals each day and snack for the rest of the time. What are your habits?
  4. Are you flying or driving to Walt Disney World? This will affect your ability to bring snacks and food items with you. It will also affect your ability to go to a local grocery store to get food items.
  5. Finally, does Disney have a dining promotion that is applicable to your vacation package? If there’s a promo, especially something like free dining, I would always recommend getting the dining plan. Who doesn’t like free food, right!?

So, that’s just a basic overview of the dining plan options and some things to consider. How about you do you like to do the dining plan? Is it something you feel is convenient?

The Present Traveller and demystifying Walt Disney World Park tickets

Walt Disney World Ticket, circa 2012 😀

When I was a kid and went to Disney World…

I’ve heard a number of people (who have been to Walt Disney World in years past) say something like, “When I went to Disney World years ago, there weren’t so many things to plan, you just showed up at the park.” It’s true, in the last decade or so Disney has added more moving pieces when it comes to what Walt Disney World entails, from Fast Passes to park hopper/non park hopper tickets, to parties and specialty events  — there are a number of options when it comes to your Disney World vacation. It can all be a bit confusing and overwhelming when it comes to deciding which options are right for you and your family. So, I wanted to take some time to try to demystify some of the key elements of a Walt Disney World vacation. Of course, no element is more key than your park tickets.

First and foremost, as far as all of the moving pieces of a Disney vacation are concerned, it’s always good to work with a travel agent who works for an Authorized Disney Travel Planning company. They will have special training and expertise to guide you through the planning and vacation process. You do enough planning and calendar management in your daily life, so why not take a vacation from the planning and managing and let someone else do all of that for you? Let the vacation start from the very beginning of the planning process instead of when you actually arrive at your vacation destination.

You still want to be educated about the different elements of your vacation so you can make informed decisions as your travel agent guides you through the planning process. So, what are the different types of tickets and how do each of them work?

Types of park tickets

Let’s start with the basics. Here are your main options for  regular park tickets:

  1. Base ticket– This allows you to visit one park per day of ticket for the 4 main Disney World parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios). This type of ticket does not allow you to visit more than one park in a day, but you can go and come from the same park in the same day
  2. Park Hopper ticket– This allows you to visit multiple parks of the 4 main parks in the same day. For example, you can visit Magic Kingdom in the morning and then visit Epcot in the evening for a dinner in the World Showcase. Also, this type of ticket allows you to go and come from the parks during that day
  3. Park Hopper Plus ticket– Not only does this ticket allow you to “hop” from park to park and go and come as you please, but it also allows you to visit the two water parks – Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. When you go with this option, the number of water park days is the same number of days you get is the same as the number of regular park days you get. For example, if you get a 4 day Park Hopper Plus ticket, you get 4 park days at the regular parks and then you get 4 water park days, as well. So, that’s a grand total of 8 park days!

Here are some other key notes about park tickets

  1. You can’t just buy a Base Ticket and use two “days” on one day in order to park hop. If you want to visit more than one park in the same day you have to purchase a Park Hopper Ticket.
  2. The per-day cost of the tickets go down as you purchase more days. For example, current pricing for a 2 day Base Ticket is $109 per day before tax, whereas a 10 day base ticket is $44 per-day before tax. That’s a big difference!
  3. You can not add Park Hopper to a single day ticket. If you are doing 4 days of tickets and want to add Park Hopper or Park Hopper Plus it can only be added to all 4 days. The only caveat to that would be if you bought 4 separate one day tickets (but why would you do that since the per day cost is less when you buy multiple days?).

Other types of tickets

Above are your basic ticket options. Here are a few others that don’t fit into those categories, or are available to only special populations:

  1. Florida Residents Tickets- Obviously, this is specifically for those living in Florida. You must be able to show proof of a Florida address in order to purchase these types of tickets. There are multiple discounts and passes for those living in Florida – great perk of living in the Sunshine State 😊
  2. Annual Passholder Tickets– For non-Florida residents there are 3 basic types of annual passes.
    1. Water Park Annual Pass– Allows you to pay for one year’s worth of visits to the Walt Disney World Waterparks. You can visit an unlimited number of times
    2. Disney Platinum Pass– Allows you to pay for one year’s worth of visits to the 4 main parks. Does include park hopper as well as some other discounts and perks. There are no black out dates and you can visit as many times as you want during that year time frame.
    3. Disney Platinum Pass Plus– Basically combines options a and b to allow you to visit both the water parks and 4 main parks during the year time frame.
  3. Military tickets
    1. Military Salute Tickets– Each year Disney offers a special discount to active military services members, retired service members, and their families. These are specially priced tickets that can be purchased in limited quantities. These tickets must be activated by the service member or one of their dependents. These can be purchased through leisure services on post or at Shades of Green Resort on Disney World property. Only 6 tickets can be activated per service member per calendar year, and currently the tickets come in 4 and 5 day options.
    2. Military discounted tickets– there are other options for discounted tickets for active and retired military personnel, but they are less discounted than the Salute tickets. The Salute tickets are usually going to be the best option unless you are planning to visit Disney World for less than 4 days.
  4. Party Tickets– These include Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. These are special events and are held on select nights in the fall and winter at Magic Kingdom Park. These parties do require a separate special event purchase even if you visited Magic Kingdom park during the day using a regular ticket.
  5. Other special event tickets– These include other special event options such as Early Morning Magic at Magic Kingdom or H20 Glow Nights at Typhoon Lagoon and food or drink demonstrations at Food and Wine festival at Epcot. (I’m sure I could do an entire separate blog on special event tickets).
  6. Special promotional discount tickets– Disney rarely offers ticket only discounts but the terms and specifics vary depending on the promo but Disney does currently have 4 park magic ticket promo. See below associated website (https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2018/12/attention-planners-and-resolution-makers-experience-walt-disney-world-resort-in-2019-with-special-4-park-magic-tickets/)

So, there you have it. That’s a quick overview of some ticket basics. Hopefully, you feel a bit more informed about the ticket options available. Which Walt Disney World tickets options would you like to see me post further information about? What options would you like to see Disney offer in regard to tickets? I’d love to hear your thoughts and input.