Here is a long, but hopefully informative, report on how the Magic Your Way Dining Plan worked for our family. We really enjoyed the plan. It might not work for everyone – here are the few downsides we could see – but it was great for us.
Potential problems:
1) There was a great variety of food to please everyone, but you had to stick with the rules. For example, counter service meals come with dessert. At Tusker House you could have chocolate cake or cheesecake or carrot cake. But in the same building, very close by, is the Kusafiri Coffee Shop and Bakery with all sorts of yummy delights – but these don’t count as dessert … or a snack … so they are not on the plan. If you have people or children who are going to get their hearts set on one thing and one thing only, then they will have trouble flexing with the MYW rules. You can always just pay for the extra thing, but with so much food that is on the plan that seems wasteful.
2) You can eat more cheaply than the MYW plan, but it will involve some meals outside the parks or fewer than 3 meals a day.
3) If you don’t like to see food wasted, the plan will probably bother you. Every meal had huge portions and we ended up leaving portions of food uneaten every time.
4) Eating table service meals takes 1-2 hrs. You may not want to spend this much time eating if your days are limited. On the other hand, many of the dining options are attractions in and of themselves, and are well worth the time invested.
That said, the plan was great for us. We are two adults and two teenagers (one of them a hungry boy), and we all enjoy eating and are pretty eclectic about what we like. Overall, we “spent” approx $50 per person daily and had only paid $35/day for the plan, so we considered it a very good value. We had absolutely no trouble using the plan at any place – including snack carts. The CM’s knew exactly what to do and it worked right every time. We are not big breakfast eaters, so we just had cereal, yogurt, bagels, and/or bananas in our room before heading out each morning. Here’s a meal-by-meal account of how we used our plan.
Saturday – We arrived late in the afternoon, and had a little time to rest before our Boma priority seating at 7:30. This was a great way to start the trip. What FABULOUS food! Boma is an all-you-can-eat buffet of traditional African food, but there was also plenty of American standards for picky eaters (not us!) Mom’s favorite was the ginger carrot soup, Dad liked the chicken curry coconut stew, Andrew went for the steak, and Karen liked the chicken. For dessert, Zebra domes (Kahlua and chocolate mousse) were popular although some of us preferred the chocolate mousse with no Kahlua. At the end of the meal, our only regret (and one that we would experience over and over again during the week) was that we couldn’t possibly eat any more. (4 Table Service Meals used, 20 remaining.)
Sunday – We spent the morning at Animal Kingdom and enjoyed lunch at the Tusker House before heading back to the room for a nap. Our Tusker House meal was our first counter service meal, but it was by no means fast food. Karen had rotisserie chicken with green beans and chocolate cake, Mom had a turkey wrap with corn chowder soup, grapes, and cheesecake for dessert, while Dad and Andrew had the baked salmon with green beans, and cheesecake. At the end of the week, we all agreed that this was one of the best meals we had had. In fact, we changed our schedule so that we could go back to Animal Kingdom just so we could go to Tusker House on our last day. (4 Counter Service meals used, 20 remaining)
Sunday night we had 6:30 Priority Seating at 50’s Prime Time Café at Disney-MGM. We had eaten there at lunch before and chose it because of the fun atmosphere. We were completely surprised by how good the food was at dinner! Appetizers are included on the plan. There were 6 to choose from. Karen ordered the onion rings – and it was like ½ a “loaf” at other places – huge portion and great tiny rings. Mom had the fried boursin cheese which was served with raspberry sauce and bread, while Dad and Andrew had the smoked trout dip with tortilla chips. These appetizers would have almost made a sufficient meal! For entrees, Andrew and Karen had the Seafood Primavera, while Mom and Dad had the char-broiled pork tenderloin. All were delicious. Desserts were ordered from the View Master – again, yummy and huge. Dad had a rootbeer float, his favorite, and Mom, Andrew, and Karen had “Dad’s Sundae”, which was a brownie with ice cream, hot fudge, caramel sauce, whipped topping, and M&M’s and Cracker Jacks on top. By dessert time, we could only eat a few bites of each. (4 Tables Service Meals used, 16 remaining.)
Monday – Monday was Magic Kingdom day for us, and we took a break at lunchtime at the new Tomorrowland Noodle Station – another excellent counter meal. We all opted for the shrimp pad thai, our favorite. Here they included a side of spring roll or pot stickers – both were great. Beverage options included several flavored green tea choices, which Dad and Mom tried. The pad thai was a little light on shrimp and was a bit gummy, but all in all was way better than a burger. And the portion was HUGE. For dessert, Mom had the ginger infused crème brulee. Oh my – the best dessert all week! (4 Counter Service Meals used, 16 remaining.)
For dinner Monday night, we ate at the Whispering Canyon Café at the Wilderness Lodge. Whispering Canyon Café was a rollicking fun place – sort of a Disney version of ________’s Landing, if you’ve ever been there. The fun started when our server, Natalie, told our teen daughter to get up. Then Natalie took Karen’s seat and said she had had a long day and that Karen would be our server for the night. Everyone got in on the teasing and by the end of the meal the kids had been on “pony rides” around the room (remember, these are teenagers we’re talking about!) and we all had bandana hats on our heads. It was really a lot of fun. The food was good too – a variety of barbecue items brought family style to the table. More big desserts – they are already beginning to run together – that we could only eat bites of. (4 Table Service Meals used, 12 remaining.)
Tuesday – This was the only day we had challenges with the MYW Dining plan. We spent the day at Epcot and had priority seatings for Akershus at Norway for dinner. We didn’t want to eat at Akershus for lunch, since we were going there for dinner, and didn’t want to eat hamburgers, hotdogs, or chicken fingers. Unfortunately, that ruled out almost all counter service options. We thought the Biergarten would be an option, but their menu choices were only Bratwurst dogs and hot dogs. We ended up at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop in the Great Britain pavilion. The fish and chips were good, but the portions were small and that was the only option – fried fish and fries. Dessert here was a small shortbread cookie, not a lot compared to the other places, but actually a nice change of pace. Our daughter did not want the fish and chips, so she opted to wait until we got back to the resort, since we were leaving right after our lunch. At the Pop Century food court she had chicken penne alfredo and chocolate cake. We wished we had ALL waited to eat there! (4 Counter Service Meals used, 12 remaining.)
Having eaten at Akershus before, we were looking forward to a good dinner there and were not disappointed. The food on the koldtbordt (cold board) was delicious – a variety of cheese and crackers, cold salads, and a selection of different kinds of herring. Dad and Andrew said the herring was good – Karen and Mom just took their word for it. After enjoying the salads, our server, Erik, begin bringing entrée items from the kitchen. We could choose from 6 or 7 entrees, and each was a small portion, so you could try more than one thing. One of our favorites was the kjettkaker which is pronounced like something you would not want to say in Sunday School. This was ground beef and pork with cabbage. We also enjoyed the Hearty Viking Favorites, which included mashed rutabaga and meatballs. For dessert we had rice cream, fruit tarts, and bread pudding – small portions that were a perfect end to a delightful meal. (4 Table Service Meals used, 8 remaining.)
Wednesday – Wednesday was our “day off” when we didn’t go to a park. After a morning of sleeping late, swimming, and washing clothes, we headed over to the Pop Century food court for lunch. Karen stuck with the chicken penne alfredo again, while Mom tried the calzone, and Dad and Andrew had cheesesteak wraps. We were very pleased with the wide variety of options – it was hard to choose. Dessert at Pop Century offered the usual cheesecake, chocolate cake, and carrot cake, but with added options of tie-died cheese case, chocolate marshmallow cheesecake, and twinkie tiramisu. Yum! (4 Counter Service Meals used, 8 remaining.)
For dinner Wednesday night we ate at Cape May Café, probably our least favorite table service choice. It was an all you can eat buffet built around the theme of a clambake. The salad bar was bountiful, and there was a carving station for meats in addition to steamed clams and mussels. I’m not sure why we weren’t bowled over with the dinner – maybe just too tired and a bit spoiled from the big presentations and interesting foods at other meals. There was a dessert bar with the usual, plus flan, which wasn’t very good at all. (4 Table Service Meals used, 4 remaining.)
Thursday – For our last day in the parks, we managed to hit three out of four. We started at MGM, and then headed back to Animal Kingdom to eat at Tusker House again. (4 Counter Service Meals used, 4 remaining.)
We used our last table service meals at ‘Ohana at the Polynesian resort. This is another of Disney’s unique dining experiences. The fact that our Tusker house meal was a late lunch, and our ‘Ohana seating was early meant that we weren’t hungry enough to fully enjoy the meal, but we certainly gave it our best shot! Starters were delivered to the table and included coconut pineapple bread (which Mom could have happily made a meal off of), green beans, wings, tossed salad, and shrimp wontons. Then, the server began delivering meats from the fire pit – big skewers of grilled shrimp, turkey, beef, and pork. People who like rare meat would have considered it overdone, but for us, “medium well” types, it was fine. In particular, the shrimp were huge and very good. The traditional ‘Ohana dessert is pineapple with caramel sauce. This comes with the meal, and we enjoyed it. More deluxe desserts are available and were offered to us as “included in your plan”. But by then we couldn’t hold another bite so we passed on desserts entirely – maybe a first for us. (4 Table Service Meals used, 0 remaining.)
We closed the day and our trip with Illuminations at Epcot, followed by a last monorail ride around the Epcot/Magic Kingdom loop.
Friday – Time to use up those last counter meals before heading back home. We could have opted for breakfast at the Pop Century food court but we like sleeping late better than eating breakfast, so that’s what we did. We got up around 9:00, packed our bags and packed the car, and then stopped by the food court for lunch. This time we all had Karen’s favorite chicken penne alfredo. We also tried some of the frozen drinks included as beverages on the plan. And, we had our last cheesecakes, chocolate cakes, and carrot cakes for dessert. (4 Table Service Meals used, 0 remaining.)
Snacks – We didn’t use any snack options at all for the first few days. Later in the week we did have some ice cream treats in the park (frozen banana, strawberry bar, orange juice bar, and Mickey Supreme bars) and enjoyed having access to bottled water when we forgot ours. However, at the end of the week, we still had NINE of our 24 snack options leftover. On the last night we were all just wishing we had room for one more Mickey Supreme bar, but no luck. We ended up exchanging our last nine options for soft drinks and water for the trip home.
Favorite counter service – Noodle Station, Tusker House, Pop Century food court
Favorite table service – Boma, ‘Ohana, Akershus
Least favorites – Yorkshire County Fish Shop, Cape May Cafe
Potential problems:
1) There was a great variety of food to please everyone, but you had to stick with the rules. For example, counter service meals come with dessert. At Tusker House you could have chocolate cake or cheesecake or carrot cake. But in the same building, very close by, is the Kusafiri Coffee Shop and Bakery with all sorts of yummy delights – but these don’t count as dessert … or a snack … so they are not on the plan. If you have people or children who are going to get their hearts set on one thing and one thing only, then they will have trouble flexing with the MYW rules. You can always just pay for the extra thing, but with so much food that is on the plan that seems wasteful.
2) You can eat more cheaply than the MYW plan, but it will involve some meals outside the parks or fewer than 3 meals a day.
3) If you don’t like to see food wasted, the plan will probably bother you. Every meal had huge portions and we ended up leaving portions of food uneaten every time.
4) Eating table service meals takes 1-2 hrs. You may not want to spend this much time eating if your days are limited. On the other hand, many of the dining options are attractions in and of themselves, and are well worth the time invested.
That said, the plan was great for us. We are two adults and two teenagers (one of them a hungry boy), and we all enjoy eating and are pretty eclectic about what we like. Overall, we “spent” approx $50 per person daily and had only paid $35/day for the plan, so we considered it a very good value. We had absolutely no trouble using the plan at any place – including snack carts. The CM’s knew exactly what to do and it worked right every time. We are not big breakfast eaters, so we just had cereal, yogurt, bagels, and/or bananas in our room before heading out each morning. Here’s a meal-by-meal account of how we used our plan.
Saturday – We arrived late in the afternoon, and had a little time to rest before our Boma priority seating at 7:30. This was a great way to start the trip. What FABULOUS food! Boma is an all-you-can-eat buffet of traditional African food, but there was also plenty of American standards for picky eaters (not us!) Mom’s favorite was the ginger carrot soup, Dad liked the chicken curry coconut stew, Andrew went for the steak, and Karen liked the chicken. For dessert, Zebra domes (Kahlua and chocolate mousse) were popular although some of us preferred the chocolate mousse with no Kahlua. At the end of the meal, our only regret (and one that we would experience over and over again during the week) was that we couldn’t possibly eat any more. (4 Table Service Meals used, 20 remaining.)
Sunday – We spent the morning at Animal Kingdom and enjoyed lunch at the Tusker House before heading back to the room for a nap. Our Tusker House meal was our first counter service meal, but it was by no means fast food. Karen had rotisserie chicken with green beans and chocolate cake, Mom had a turkey wrap with corn chowder soup, grapes, and cheesecake for dessert, while Dad and Andrew had the baked salmon with green beans, and cheesecake. At the end of the week, we all agreed that this was one of the best meals we had had. In fact, we changed our schedule so that we could go back to Animal Kingdom just so we could go to Tusker House on our last day. (4 Counter Service meals used, 20 remaining)
Sunday night we had 6:30 Priority Seating at 50’s Prime Time Café at Disney-MGM. We had eaten there at lunch before and chose it because of the fun atmosphere. We were completely surprised by how good the food was at dinner! Appetizers are included on the plan. There were 6 to choose from. Karen ordered the onion rings – and it was like ½ a “loaf” at other places – huge portion and great tiny rings. Mom had the fried boursin cheese which was served with raspberry sauce and bread, while Dad and Andrew had the smoked trout dip with tortilla chips. These appetizers would have almost made a sufficient meal! For entrees, Andrew and Karen had the Seafood Primavera, while Mom and Dad had the char-broiled pork tenderloin. All were delicious. Desserts were ordered from the View Master – again, yummy and huge. Dad had a rootbeer float, his favorite, and Mom, Andrew, and Karen had “Dad’s Sundae”, which was a brownie with ice cream, hot fudge, caramel sauce, whipped topping, and M&M’s and Cracker Jacks on top. By dessert time, we could only eat a few bites of each. (4 Tables Service Meals used, 16 remaining.)
Monday – Monday was Magic Kingdom day for us, and we took a break at lunchtime at the new Tomorrowland Noodle Station – another excellent counter meal. We all opted for the shrimp pad thai, our favorite. Here they included a side of spring roll or pot stickers – both were great. Beverage options included several flavored green tea choices, which Dad and Mom tried. The pad thai was a little light on shrimp and was a bit gummy, but all in all was way better than a burger. And the portion was HUGE. For dessert, Mom had the ginger infused crème brulee. Oh my – the best dessert all week! (4 Counter Service Meals used, 16 remaining.)
For dinner Monday night, we ate at the Whispering Canyon Café at the Wilderness Lodge. Whispering Canyon Café was a rollicking fun place – sort of a Disney version of ________’s Landing, if you’ve ever been there. The fun started when our server, Natalie, told our teen daughter to get up. Then Natalie took Karen’s seat and said she had had a long day and that Karen would be our server for the night. Everyone got in on the teasing and by the end of the meal the kids had been on “pony rides” around the room (remember, these are teenagers we’re talking about!) and we all had bandana hats on our heads. It was really a lot of fun. The food was good too – a variety of barbecue items brought family style to the table. More big desserts – they are already beginning to run together – that we could only eat bites of. (4 Table Service Meals used, 12 remaining.)
Tuesday – This was the only day we had challenges with the MYW Dining plan. We spent the day at Epcot and had priority seatings for Akershus at Norway for dinner. We didn’t want to eat at Akershus for lunch, since we were going there for dinner, and didn’t want to eat hamburgers, hotdogs, or chicken fingers. Unfortunately, that ruled out almost all counter service options. We thought the Biergarten would be an option, but their menu choices were only Bratwurst dogs and hot dogs. We ended up at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop in the Great Britain pavilion. The fish and chips were good, but the portions were small and that was the only option – fried fish and fries. Dessert here was a small shortbread cookie, not a lot compared to the other places, but actually a nice change of pace. Our daughter did not want the fish and chips, so she opted to wait until we got back to the resort, since we were leaving right after our lunch. At the Pop Century food court she had chicken penne alfredo and chocolate cake. We wished we had ALL waited to eat there! (4 Counter Service Meals used, 12 remaining.)
Having eaten at Akershus before, we were looking forward to a good dinner there and were not disappointed. The food on the koldtbordt (cold board) was delicious – a variety of cheese and crackers, cold salads, and a selection of different kinds of herring. Dad and Andrew said the herring was good – Karen and Mom just took their word for it. After enjoying the salads, our server, Erik, begin bringing entrée items from the kitchen. We could choose from 6 or 7 entrees, and each was a small portion, so you could try more than one thing. One of our favorites was the kjettkaker which is pronounced like something you would not want to say in Sunday School. This was ground beef and pork with cabbage. We also enjoyed the Hearty Viking Favorites, which included mashed rutabaga and meatballs. For dessert we had rice cream, fruit tarts, and bread pudding – small portions that were a perfect end to a delightful meal. (4 Table Service Meals used, 8 remaining.)
Wednesday – Wednesday was our “day off” when we didn’t go to a park. After a morning of sleeping late, swimming, and washing clothes, we headed over to the Pop Century food court for lunch. Karen stuck with the chicken penne alfredo again, while Mom tried the calzone, and Dad and Andrew had cheesesteak wraps. We were very pleased with the wide variety of options – it was hard to choose. Dessert at Pop Century offered the usual cheesecake, chocolate cake, and carrot cake, but with added options of tie-died cheese case, chocolate marshmallow cheesecake, and twinkie tiramisu. Yum! (4 Counter Service Meals used, 8 remaining.)
For dinner Wednesday night we ate at Cape May Café, probably our least favorite table service choice. It was an all you can eat buffet built around the theme of a clambake. The salad bar was bountiful, and there was a carving station for meats in addition to steamed clams and mussels. I’m not sure why we weren’t bowled over with the dinner – maybe just too tired and a bit spoiled from the big presentations and interesting foods at other meals. There was a dessert bar with the usual, plus flan, which wasn’t very good at all. (4 Table Service Meals used, 4 remaining.)
Thursday – For our last day in the parks, we managed to hit three out of four. We started at MGM, and then headed back to Animal Kingdom to eat at Tusker House again. (4 Counter Service Meals used, 4 remaining.)
We used our last table service meals at ‘Ohana at the Polynesian resort. This is another of Disney’s unique dining experiences. The fact that our Tusker house meal was a late lunch, and our ‘Ohana seating was early meant that we weren’t hungry enough to fully enjoy the meal, but we certainly gave it our best shot! Starters were delivered to the table and included coconut pineapple bread (which Mom could have happily made a meal off of), green beans, wings, tossed salad, and shrimp wontons. Then, the server began delivering meats from the fire pit – big skewers of grilled shrimp, turkey, beef, and pork. People who like rare meat would have considered it overdone, but for us, “medium well” types, it was fine. In particular, the shrimp were huge and very good. The traditional ‘Ohana dessert is pineapple with caramel sauce. This comes with the meal, and we enjoyed it. More deluxe desserts are available and were offered to us as “included in your plan”. But by then we couldn’t hold another bite so we passed on desserts entirely – maybe a first for us. (4 Table Service Meals used, 0 remaining.)
We closed the day and our trip with Illuminations at Epcot, followed by a last monorail ride around the Epcot/Magic Kingdom loop.
Friday – Time to use up those last counter meals before heading back home. We could have opted for breakfast at the Pop Century food court but we like sleeping late better than eating breakfast, so that’s what we did. We got up around 9:00, packed our bags and packed the car, and then stopped by the food court for lunch. This time we all had Karen’s favorite chicken penne alfredo. We also tried some of the frozen drinks included as beverages on the plan. And, we had our last cheesecakes, chocolate cakes, and carrot cakes for dessert. (4 Table Service Meals used, 0 remaining.)
Snacks – We didn’t use any snack options at all for the first few days. Later in the week we did have some ice cream treats in the park (frozen banana, strawberry bar, orange juice bar, and Mickey Supreme bars) and enjoyed having access to bottled water when we forgot ours. However, at the end of the week, we still had NINE of our 24 snack options leftover. On the last night we were all just wishing we had room for one more Mickey Supreme bar, but no luck. We ended up exchanging our last nine options for soft drinks and water for the trip home.
Favorite counter service – Noodle Station, Tusker House, Pop Century food court
Favorite table service – Boma, ‘Ohana, Akershus
Least favorites – Yorkshire County Fish Shop, Cape May Cafe
