The weather is heating up around the country, so grab a cool drink, sit back and relax. In this week’s mailbag, Steve Russo answers viewer mail about some recent articles. To start things off, Steve addresses the issue of “Advance Dining Reservations” (August 14, 2009).
Jan writes:
I read your “Disney’s Dining Plan” article and found it quite helpful but I did need clarification, which I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to give me.
We are staying on the property for six nights at the Bay Lake Towers which we’ve rented through a friend’s Disney timeshare program. If we bought a dining plan would we have to get it for all six days or could we just sign up for four days?
Thanks again for all your insight!
It sounds like you’re staying on a Disney Vacation Club Member’s points. The Dining Plan must be purchased for each person staying and for each night of a reservation. The only way to get it for fewer days would be to break the reservation into two parts (four days and two days), but then you have the hassle of checking in a second time and, possibly, switching rooms. Good luck with the decision and have a great trip.
Chris B. writes:
Great article. I’m totally with you on the Dining Plan. Sliced bread is way better an innovation. We did the plan once, the first time it was offered for free a few years back. While we certainly saved money, we really hated being tied to the plan, wondering how many points we had left and having a fridge full of carrot cakes that we felt like we had to take because they were free. We haven’t opted for the plan since and we’ve been much happier without it. Our trips are allowed to be more spontaneous and we eat less.
We still make a bunch of reservations before we go, just in case we really want them. We like coming back to the hotel (Port Orleans Riverside, typically) mid-day for a rest and many times we realize that we don’t want to rush back and make a reservation, (we always call and cancel) so we’ll order a pizza and sit by the pool, or eat from the food court and take the boat to Downtown Disney and walk around. Those are usually the best nights. It’s hard to do that when you’re locked in to a dining plan.
We’re going down in September and we had a choice of the free dining or 40% off of our hotel from an mailer I received. It was a no-brainer to opt for 40% off The Yacht Club and eat less. We still have a reservation each day, but if I cancel them I cancel them.
Yours is a common opinion on the dining plan from those that tried it one time. I’m in total agreement.
Kevin writes:
I liked your article about planning for dining. I would add that, especially with small kids, we like to alternate dinners and breakfast sit down meals. On days that we have a breakfast buffet, our dinner is a counter meal, so each afternoon we don’t have to leave our hotel at 4:00 to get to dinner at 5:00. This lets us have some pool time without watching the clock, stressing that you have an appointment to meet.
We often do the same thing you’ve described, although it’s not something we plan. Over the years I’ve found that, at Disney World, I can subsist quite nicely on two meals per day—and often do exactly that. Thanks for sharing your tip.
Elaine P. writes:
First of all, I’d like to thank you for your amusing and informative columns and trip reports. I always enjoy reading them!
Today’s column on making Advance Dining Reservations prompted me to write. One thing you might want to overlay on the steps you’ve outlined is consulting the touringplans.com Website. I’ve found that they’re pretty accurate when it comes to crowd levels, so I use that as a base for deciding which park to visit on a particular day (unless, of course, I want to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours — they typically don’t recommend a park if Extra Magic Hours are in effect). Once a park has been eliminated on a given day, that will narrow your restaurant choices.
I’d also recommend that your readers consider dining at an Epcot resort restaurant on their “Epcot evening”. There are plenty of good ones (Yachtsman Steakhouse comes to mind) and you’re within just a short walk back to Epcot for the live entertainment, Illuminations, etc. This strategy works especially well on the late Extra Magic Hours Epcot night–you can see Illuminations, exit the park via the International Gateway, have a late dinner at an Epcot resort restaurant, and walk back to Epcot to catch the transportation back to your Disney resort.
Thanks so much… and thanks for those two great tips. I have used touringplans.com for a peek at the Crowd Calendars now and then. It has some very useful information.
Diane L. writes:
I know absolutely nothing about time shares, Disney or other. If I were to join the Disney Vacation Club, at the 160 point level, and at one of the resorts that the membership runs until 2042, does this mean that I have 160 points per year to use, and pay the maintenance fees each year?
In the past three years I have taken four Disney Cruises, but only one Disney World vacation. My children are young so I can definitely see us going on a Disney cruise every year and Disney World every other year.
Yes, you would get a full allotment of points each year and would also pay the maintenance fees each year as well. I wrote an article that explains it here.
Next reader Cathy S. asks about Steve’s article, “A Few Minutes with Jason Surrell” (June 5, 2009):
I enjoyed the article—I’m really considering getting a couple of those books Jason wrote. (I really hate how people “make things up” about attractions, so I’d love to hear the “real” backstory.)
But I really hope you followed up on this statement by Jason: “I’m also working with Imagineering on the redevelopment of Pleasure Island.” Especially if it’s something that involves a writer!
Thanks. Actually, I didn’t follow up on that statement but probably should have. You know what they say about hindsight. I made the assumption that he would be involved in writing additional shows for Pleasure Island—part of the new “family entertainment” that Disney has planned. I’ve heard about a DJ party that’s there now and I expect there’s more to come. I guess time will tell.
Finally reader Brian asks about Steve’s article “A Fantasmic! Fiasco” (February 13, 2009):
We are headed to Walt Disney World and I am very curious whether Walt Disney World has improved on the Fantasmic experience—especially the Fantasmic Dining package. I read your Feb 09 article and hope that all the problems have been straightened out by now. Have you gotten any recent feedback?
We were there again in May but we didn’t try to see Fantasmic!—with or without the package. There’s been quite a bit of feedback since then but, unfortunately, most of it has been negative. You could certainly try the dinner package but most reports have said you still need to get there 60–90 minutes before showtime in order to get a seat. Good luck.
Brian provides an update:
We’re back from Walt Disney World this week. Thanks for your prior response. We did go through with the Fantasmic Dining (chose to dine at Hollywood and Vine). The dining part was great, server explained the yellow pass and suggested to start heading towards the theater at 7:30 p.m. for the 9 p.m. Fantasmic. We got there a few minutes before 8 p.m. and the dining section was about 20% full (so we got some choice in seating). The cast members had the sections roped off and did a pretty good job controlling who got entry to the reserved dining section—so Disney is getting better at the crowd control here.
The only bad part about the dining section was that you don’t have a 100% view of the stage head on. It is perfect for the water projected images though. I didn’t ask the cast members—do you know who gets the prime center section? Seems like this section was also roped off from general admission.
Thanks for the follow-up. It seems as if Disney is starting to get the situation under control although… I think asking people to queue up 90-minutes before the show defeats the purpose of the Package—at least in my opinion. I think 30-minutes is a fair requirement.
Personally, I don’t mind the far right (or left) seating. Except for missing the timing of some of the boats/music, I think the view is fine. I am not aware of the center sections being reserved for anything—maybe this is something new?
