question on MYW with dining plan

[hollyberries]

i'm wondering about the dining plan option with the MYW---our travel agent (through AAA) told us it is $35 adults per day and $10 children per day and that it is for 1 table service, 1 counter service and 1 snack, which would either only be a bottled water, soda, popcorn or mickey ice cream treat. she also told us that the dining option included the character meals as a table service.
does anyone know, can you only do one character breakfast on the dining plan?

and, has anyone attended the princess storybook breakfast at epcot norway?

thanx in advance for any replies!

 

[jesserin]

You can do character meals for every single sit down meal... so if you've got a 5 day MYW plus Dining - you can have 5 character meals.

The Epcot breakfast is great - and very very popular - be sure to schedule it 90 days out to get in for breakfast!

 

[longfamily]

Every character meal is available through the dining plan.

However, the dining plan can be tricky. It does not include all restaurants at Disney. There is a good percentage of restaurants that do not participate. Also, some restaurants that do participate require that you use two "coupons" to eat there. So basically you would be giving up your counter service and table service voucher for that particular day to eat in these places. It may be worth it to research the restaurants before you leave because some of the one's requiring 2 coupons is really surprising. A full list of participating restaurants and their requirements can be found in the threads. Search "Dining plan" or "MYW". If all else faills, the all ears network should have it.

 

[angelalar]

A correction to the last post about the MYW Dining.


There are "signature" restaurants. Those require two Table service dinner, verses one. Not the counter service and the table service. Here is a good rule of thumb:

If the price per person is under $25 it will be one experience. If the meal would be over $25 it probably is two. An example would be at the Hollywood Brown Derby. Most of thier main dishes are around $20.00 Once you add in appitizer for about $8 and dessert for about $8, your meal is $36.00 not including a drink and tip and tax. So because the price for one meal is higher than a voucher, it requires two sit down redemptions. Or like at the Hoop de Do where the price per ticket is: $50.00 per adult.

The cost of the meal plan is a good value. At $35 per day, as long as you think where you want your sit down to be, you will come oout at the very least even, if not ahead with careful planning. Let me know if you have other questions.

 

[longfamily]

Thanks for the clarification

 

[JPVonDrake]

The above is correct but for more clearifications...

There are 10 signature locations and 3 dinner shows that require 2 table service meal entitlements.

The only restaurants that are not included are those not operated directly by Disney or the location does not serve full meals (i.e. quick bite locations that serve only turkey legs, funnel cakes, soft serve ice cream, etc.)

Of all the Table Service Restaurants:
Magic Kingdom - locations included 5, not included 0
Epcot - locations included 6 (2 are signature), not included 7
Disney-MGM Studios - locations included 5 (1 signature), not included 0
Animal Kingdom - locations included 1, not included 1
Disney Resort Hotels - locations included 28 (includes 7 signatures and 3 dinner shows), not included 4
Downtown Disney - locations included 1, not included 8
Other - locations included 2, not included 0

Of the Counter Service Restaurants:
Magic Kingdom - locations included 9, not included 0
Epcot - locations included 7, not included 5
Disney-MGM Studios - locations included 6, not included 0
Animal Kingdom - locations included 5, not included 0
Disney Resort Hotels - locations included 19, not included 0.
Downtown Disney - locations included 0, not included 6
Other - locations included 5, not included 0

(Other = Sand Trap Bar & Grill, Official All Star Cafe, water park restaurants)

Overall, there are very few locations that do not participate, mostly the restaruants in World Showcase in Epcot and the name brand restaurants that fill Downtown Disney.

Hope this helps! :sohappy:

 

[MagicalMonorail]

So does anyone reccommend this for a family of 4 spending a week at Disney? I am not totally sure of the pros and cons of this, so any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Kadee]

Try this link below. THis site has a table of all the restaurants in WDW (all parks, resorts, DTD....everywhere) and which ones are classified as counter service, sit-down service, snack or signature.

http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/packages05a.htm

 

[DisneyMarg]

Advice for Family of 4

So does anyone reccommend this for a family of 4 spending a week at Disney? I am not totally sure of the pros and cons of this, so any advice would be appreciated.

We just came back from a week where we used the MYW Dining Plan - 2 adults and 2 teens and we thought it was great. We'll write up and post a long review, but here's short advice for now. We averaged $50 of food per day eaten, for the $35 day we spent. For our table service meals we ate at Cape May Cafe, 'Ohana, Boma, Akershus (Norway at Epcot), Whispering Canyon Cafe, and Prime Time Cafe at MGM. Our counter service meals we ate at the Pop Century food court, Tusker House at Animal Kingdom (TWICE!), the new Noodle Station in MK, and the fish and chips counter at the Rose and Crown in Epcot. We enjoyed ice cream snacks and water from carts. We ended up with NINE snacks left over - just couldn't hold all the food - and exchanged those for soft drinks and water bottles for the trip home.

Everywhere we ate there were ample choices for the adventurous or the traditional eater.

Reasons we liked the plan:
:slurp: Good variety of restaurants and food
:slurp: Kids could order what they wanted without regard to price
:slurp: Kids could order desserts and appetizers (usually not an option for us when we're pinching pennies)
:slurp: LOTS of food
:slurp: Gratuities were all included
:slurp: Very easy to use - included on your room key, easily accepted by CM's

Reasons we think some people might not like it:
If you have someone in your party who is going to get their heart set on one thing and one thing only, (like a muffin for dessert if muffin is not counted as dessert or like a Dole Whip for a snack when it isn't a snack) then you will either have to pay extra or deal with the pouting. (not a problem for us, we're flexible).
:veryconfu If you don't want to take the time to eat table service meals. These can take 2 hrs out of your day. Worth it, to us, as a time to rest, but not for everyone.
:hurl: If you have a moral opposition to wasting food. We found the plan to have more food than we could possibly eat (and we are big eaters). In most cases we ate only a few bites of the desserts and wasted the rest. By the end, we were just not even ordering the dessert even though it was included.

You can eat more cheaply than $35/day, by eating some meals in your room and using counter service meals as your main meal. For example a meal at Tusker House counts as counter service but included grilled salmon, green beans, and rice for $7.99. This could easily be a main meal with a sandwich in your room later.

But if you want to eat a counter service meal and a table service meal every day, you will pay considerably more than the $35 that the MYW plan costs.

We were very glad we had purchased the plan, but may not do it next time when the kids are not along and Dad and I are happier making do with less.