Disney Dining- Part 1

Hello my fellow Disney lovers! In an attempt to further explain Disney Dining, but not totally overwhelm my readers, I have decided to break up my thoughts into two different posts. This post will review the basics of the Disney Dining Plan, and the second post will give tips that have worked for my family regarding the Disney Dining Plan. So let’s get started, shall we?

I love to eat. My family loves to eat. We love to eat together. I may have mentioned that once or twice in a previous post! I have also mentioned previously that we love to take advantage of the Free Dining offer that typically runs from mid-to-late August through mid-December. I would like to break this offer down for you a bit more this evening.

I do feel that the Free Dining offer is a great deal, but I hear others say that for their family, this is not the case. Let me explain why. When you book a full-price package when Free Dining is offered, a dining plan is added to your reservation for no cost. The key words here are full-price. When Free Dining is offered, typically another deal is offered at the same time (but the two cannot be combined- it’s one offer or the other). In this case, it pays to do the math- depending on your party size and which resort you stay at, you may be better off with the room discount over free dining. For example, if two people who are light-eaters are traveling and staying at a Deluxe resort, a 30% room discount, if offered at that time, may save that family more money than two free dining plans. On the other hand, a party of five (who happen to be big eaters), with the youngest being over the age of three, who are planning on staying at a Moderate resort will more than likely find that the Free Dining offer will save them more money. To cash in on the Free Dining offer, it is necessary to purchase a Disney vacation package, while it is not necessary to purchase a package to cash in on the room discount. Let me quickly explain what a ‘package’ entails in regards to Walt Disney World travel: at least one night in a Disney-owned resort hotel room, and at least a two-day Disney theme park ticket. The Dining Plan completes this package.

I just mentioned that the children in the above scenario are all over the age of three. I specify this because, at Disney, children under the age of 3 get into the theme parks for free. Since they don’t need a ticket, this excludes them from the Dining Plan, as they now don’t have all of the components of the ‘package’. Since a general park ticket is nearly $100 per day (though it is less for children), I feel we still come ahead with our young toddler entering the park for free rather than receiving a dining plan. It is wise to note that at buffets, children eat FREE! Therefore, if you’ve got a young child or two who enjoys different foods, try to schedule as many buffets as you can if you’re like me and you don’t like to share your meals with your child. The option to share from your plate with your child is always available for free, but I tend to buy my son his own child’s meal if we’re not eating at a buffet.

Now I will explain Free Dining a bit more in detail. There are three basic ‘levels’ of resort hotel rooms on Disney property- value, moderate, and deluxe. For those who choose to stay at a value resort, the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan is included in free dining. The Disney Quick Service Dining Plan includes two quick service meals per person, per night, of your vacation. Examples of quick service meals are hamburgers, flat breads, salads, fish sandwiches… you get the idea. A beverage and dessert is also included with each quick service meal. Each person over the age of 3 also receives one snack per night of their vacation, which they can redeem anytime during their vacation.

(An example of a delicious Quick Service meal from Flame Tree BBQ at Animal Kingdom- BBQ chicken and rib combo plate)

Now we get to my favorite meal plan, which is simply called the Disney Dining Plan. For those staying in a moderate or deluxe resort, this is the dining plan that is included with Free Dining. This plan includes one quick service meal per night per person, as well as one Table Service meal per person per night. A table service meal can be a steak dinner, grilled fish, a gourmet burger (lobster topped burger, anyone?), and the like. A non-alcoholic beverage and dessert are also included per night, as is a snack with this plan. Also, with any dining plan, everyone over the age of 3 receives a drink mug, which can be used at any Disney resort in the soda machines, as well as for tea, coffee, and lemonade.

(Poutine and cheddar cheese soup from Canada's Le Cellier steakhouse at Epcot)

 

These are not the only two dining plans offered- if you are a big eater, please be sure to check out the other Dining Plans on the Walt Disney World website, as one of those plans may be perfect for your family. Since the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan, and the Disney Dining Plan are the two offered with the Free Dining promotion, those are the two I have chosen to cover, but there are more dining plans offering appetizers, alcohol, and even different experiences! Please note that with any dining plan, it is possible to pay to upgrade to a different dining plan. It is not possible to downgrade any dining plan.

Please stay tuned for further tips in Disney Dining- Part 2. Thank you for reading, and as always, feel free to email me with questions at dana_aimee@hotmail.com. Happy Travels!

When shall we visit the World?

The answer to this question is significant in regards to many aspects of your Disney vacation. You will have a much different trip if you visit in the middle of June than you will if you visit at the end of January. There is the obvious factor of the difference in weather- and crowds, park hours, and resort room rates and discounts will also vary significantly depending on when you choose to visit the World.

As a child, we typically visited from Christmas until New Years, and again during Easter break. These are two of Disney’s busiest times of the year, but as a kid, I didn’t know any better, and I found it very normal to wait in line for Splash Mountain for upwards of 2 hours (this was way before the Fast Pass ever existed). Now that I'm the one planning our trips, I tend to favor the autumn season, as well as late winter (my son's birthday is at the end of January, and what better time to escape the harsh Midwest winter!!). I choose these times of the year for several reasons, the primary reason being that discounts have always been available at these times of the year.

 

Beginning in 2009, we started a tradition of a fall Disney trip with my extended family. We have gone in both September and October, and we love this time of year because the crowds are more manageable, the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival is in full swing, the weather is typically conducive to spending 12+ hours in a theme park, and finally (my favorite reason of all)- FREE DINING!!

Disney is not known to give anything away. And there is a price to pay when it comes to Free Dining- this being that you do not get any sort of discount on your room. But my family loves to eat- not just for the food, but for the social time as well- and so we always find that we save money when we pay the full price for the room and take the Free Dining offer. Depending on your family’s preferences, it may be more beneficial for you to take the room discount that is typically offered along with the Free Dining promotion (you choose one or the other- either the room discount, or the Free Dining offer). I have heard that if you stay in a Deluxe resort, and there are only a couple of people, the room discount can save you more money than the Free Dining offer, but I have never done the math to figure that one out, as we do not stay Deluxe.

 

Free Dining and/or different room discounts are typically offered from late-August through mid-December, and then again from mid-January through the beginning of March. I would highly recommend visiting during these time periods if you can. While Free Dining was not offered for our son’s birthday trip in late January 2015, there was a ‘Stay, Play and Dine’ offer that provided us with a significant discount on a resort, dining plan, and ticket package.

 

One thing to consider, however, is that during the ‘slower’ times of year, the theme parks are not open as late as they are during the busier times. When we used to visit at Christmastime, I remember the parks being open until midnight or later every night, and so we wouldn’t even get going until after lunchtime. If you are not an early riser and find it appalling to do so while on vacation, mid-January might not be the time for you, as the parks can close as early as 5-7pm during this time of year.

 

Please give weather a consideration as well, if at all possible. In July 2012, just before I graduated nursing school, I was offered a job and we decided we would celebrate by taking a quick and very last-minute trip to the World in August. My parents decided to join us, and the 4 of us experienced a VERY warm trip. My husband is NOT a fan of the humidity, and so he was borderline miserable during this trip. I can still remember standing in line with him for Rock ‘N Roller Coaster, still early in the day, and both of us were just drenched (and I do mean drenched) with sweat, with an entire day yet to go at the theme parks. Our January 2015 trip was VERY different, with us needing sweatshirts during the day, and gloves and hats at night. Of course, unseasonal weather can always creep up on you, so whenever you visit, make sure to be prepared and pack for both cold and warm weather just in case!

 

I have visited Walt Disney World during every month except June and July, and I definitely have my favorites. Early spring is lovely weather-wise, the Flower and Garden Festival presented by HGTV is going on at Epcot, and it’s fun to have a trip to look forward to during those long winter months. Mid-to-late November may provide you the opportunity to see the World decorated BEAUTIFULLY for Christmas, and when I was there around Veteran’s Day in 2007, it was warm enough to sit by the pool during the day, though it did get rather chilly at night. In 2015, the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival runs through November 16. Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party begins on November 8, 2015, and so it would be possible to include both of these popular events on a trip if you are flexible with your dates.

 

I hope you have enjoyed reading, as always, if you have any questions or need any help with planning your trip, please feel free to contact me at dana_aimee@hotmail.com. Happy Travels!

Travel tips

Against my better judgement (because I ought to go to bed), I'm re-writing this post, as I had just written a wonderful post and somehow deleted it.

I'm still trying to figure out how to organize this blog- yes my last post was nearly 9 months ago, but I'm back! I'm going to try to post once a month. We'll see how it goes!

I've still got some general travel tips in mind, so we'll start there. If flying (my family's preferred method of travel), I recommend Southwest. My comfort zone from Indy to Orlando is around $120 per person each way. Children under 2 fly free, which has been very nice to be able to utilize multiple times. My family is very tall, and so we tend to either grab the bulkhead seats if still available (no tray table but tons of legroom), or at the very least my husband will grab an aisle and I'll sit next to him. If we know the flight isn't full, I've been known to take the window seat and hope nobody sits in between us- and it's worked (disclaimer: not always!). Before kids, we would almost always take the exit row, but you must be at least 18 to sit in that row. We have never paid the extra $25 per person for priority seating, but rather, I get online and the second the clock switches to exactly 24 hours before my flight on my iPhone, I check us in to our flight, and I'm typically pretty happy with our assignment (example: if my flight leaves at 2:00pm on Friday, I check us in at exactly 2:00pm on Thursday- you are given a letter A-C, and a number 1-60, and that is your boarding order.. So A1 is first to board, and C60 is last. A's are the best, but we've gotten low B's and still had plenty of seating choices available). Bags fly free on Southwest as well, and we always carry-on our 2 allowed bags each, and then check the rest.

A great money-saver is to buy kids clothing at home to bring on the trip. H&M, JCPenney, Kohl's, Babies R Us- just to name a few- all sell cute kids Disney clothes, at a fraction of the cost. I don't have girls, but I've heard that buying Princess dresses beforehand and taking them along is the way to go. I know Disneystore.com sells cute dresses, and I've also seen dresses at all the above mentioned places except H&M. Unless your girl is a tomboy like I was, she is going to see all of the other little girls dressed up and want a dress of her own. Now I don't know how the quality compares to those bought in the parks, but personally, if I ever have a girl , I'll definitely be buying my dresses ahead of time elsewhere. I can't justify the Disney prices. To make giving her the dress extra fun, you could leave the dress, along with a note from the Princess, in the morning for her to find when she wakes up for her first full day in Disney.

Along those same lines, let me just say that EVERYTHING is going to cost more in Disney. My family has, on several occasions, brought our own alcohol to enjoy at night in the room or out by the pool. We have brought 4-packs of the mini plastic wine bottles (1 bottle in the gift shop at the resort costs the same as a 4-pack at home), and also mini plastic bottles of rum/ vodka to mix with soda.

Disney gift cards- these beauties are the way to go! Jeff and I love receiving them for birthdays and holidays. In the past, we'd charge everything to the room over the course of a week. At the end of the trip, you're left with a hefty bill AND the fact that vacation is over. Nowadays we use gift cards for tips, alcoholic beverages, and souvenirs... and not getting a bill at the end of the trip makes for a happier check-out day!

I am hoping I've covered everything that was in my deleted post. I thank you for reading, and hope everyone has a lovely week. Thanks for reading!