Tips For Experiencing Walt Disney World

My best tips for experiencing Walt Disney World encompasses two things : 1) Have fun planning your vacation days – I find that the planning is half the fun and ; 2) enjoy the days with a mixture of running yourself ragged and slowing down to share the Disney ambiance with your loved ones.

The first thing I like to plan is when we can go back next – which I start thinking about on the last day of a Disney  trip and  is usually planned around my boys sports schedules or my new obsession – RunDisney Races.    Then I plan were we are going to stay.  We like to stay on Walt Disney Property for Magical Express(the free ride from the airport), EMH (extra – yes extra hours I can visit my beloved parks just because I stay at a Disney Resort) and the whole Disney experience or atmosphere.  I use many webstites but my favorite for Resort information is AllEarsnet.com .   I like that it has a “Resort Page” for each Walt Disney Resort with pictures and lists of restaurants and activities at that specific reso

At each resort, I plan what each individual resort can offer to my family.  At the Boardwalk, I think about entering Epcot through the International Gateway and having a Grey Goose Slushy with my husband while watching Illuminations and then walking back through Epcot afterwards.  At the Contemporary, I think about walking to the Magic Kingdom for Park Opening, or riding the monorail to the Polynesian for Ohana dinner.  At the Animal Kingdom Lodge, I think about the sound of my children’s laughter on the balcony while watching the Savannah animals.   Some might think this research is cumbersome but it provides with the information to fully experience our Disney Resort .  I get information about the food courts, the restaurants, pools, tours or other activities that we could experience.     We like to take some time to just relax at the resort – imagine that – and a lot of them can be free options – for example at the Animal Kingdom Lodge each night a fire is lit and you can use night vision goggles to see the animals.  A Cast Member at the fire can answer many questions about the animals and their home country of Africa.   We have really enjoyed this over the years and there is no extra cost for it.    I actually plan days/nights to enjoy wherever we are staying and these moments for our family have truly been “magical”.

Next, I plan our park days based on park hours, Extra Magic Hours and I use the Crowd Calendar from Touringplans.com  to plan our tour of the parks.  This type of planning gives a framework to our trip so that we can enjoy as much as possible or sometimes as little as possible.   It also allows me to plan our Fast Pass Plus experiences (to help us ride our faves – I will get into the nuances of this system at a later day) and ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations).

One of my favorite parts of the planning is deciding where to eat – I am a mother of two boys and wife to a wonderful man and this is very important to them.  Another website favorite is DisneyFoodBlog.com that helps me plan my ADRS based on menus and reviews of every  restaurant.     On our adult only trip in September 2014 my husband and I did a Food and Wine Experience .   A wine tasting at Tutto Gusto – my DH not a wine guy – loved it but without my research we wouldn’t have known.     Each Disney restaurant has its own experience as if we are being transformed to Mexico in LaHacienda (Epcot) or singing along with Mickey at Chef Mickey’s (Contemporary Resort) to eating quick service at Cosmic Rays.  We have had some of the best times eating at Disney and honestly some places you can’t get into without planning – I always plan O’Hana – all you can eat with three boys #happyfamily.

I have seen some people with extreme planning  – spread sheets -must be at Space Mountain at 10:05 – really not for us – but it works for them.   I have a framework of which park, which food and then if we feel like riding Rock n Roller Coaster three times or stopping to eat ice cream or watching the Jamminators (Epcot)or we are done at lunch time and go back for a swim or I want to shop –  we do.   It works for us.

The other part of my tip I give to others for experiencing Walt Disney World is that you can never see it all so don’t try.  Get up early or stay late for EMH if you are staying on property so that you can see as much as possible – you wouldn’t want to miss Splash Mountain or the Festival of Fantasy Parade.  Plan what is important to your family to see.   You are going to walk a lot.  A LOT.  Plan some relaxing time at the resort pool, sleep in one morning, talk to Cast Members along the way they are some of the most awesome people.   I actually plan time to sit and read a book –imagine that.  Walk around your Disney Resort in the am while it’s quiet.  Pushing your family to their limit all the time makes for a not fun experience.  One favorite time for my kids was a night we rented movies at Old Key West and had popcorn in – we laughed and had so much fun together.  Disney  is about spending time with your family and friends in a way that is not possible at home due to busy schedules – enjoy the little moments – they pass.

My Introduction

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Disney

I am a Registered Nurse and busy mom of 2 boys who came to love Disney later in life – even though I visited Disneyland twice as a kid.  In 2005, after graduating from Nursing School, we went to Walt Disney World for the first time as a family to celebrate passing my Boards.  I did a ton of research at the time reading everything I could – I had a lot of fun planning.  We experienced the Land/Sea trip – staying at the Poly and then cruising on the Wonder for 4 days.  Both DH and I were hooked.   Since 2005, DH and I have visited one to two times a year – sometimes without children (which we highly recommend to everybody)  In 2008 we bought DVC at Kidani and do not regret it for one second.   We also love to vacation on Cape Cod every summer where we fish a lot with our boys.  Our boys are now 20 and 15 and love to vacation with us – we have trained them well.

Dining Plan or Wonderland: Crystal Palace

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Dining, Disney, Walt Disney World

Thanks for reading the second installment of my series Dining Plan or Wonderland. If you’ve read the first entry you know I take a look at a table service restaurant and try to decide if it’s a better value for me to get the Disney Dining Plan or the Tables in Wonderland discount card. If you want more detail about the rules of the game please see the first installment, 50’s Primetime Cafe.

I actually really like Crystal Palace. I ate there on my very first trip to Walt Disney World it 2009. Funny enough we had the Disney Dining Plan during that trip. It’s a good buffet for Lunch and Dinner, though you’re not there for the food. You’re there to meet the Pooh characters. Eeyore is my wife’s favorite Disney character so it’s always fun to go meet him.

As the rules of the article go, I have calculated the price of a meal on both the Tables in Wonderland (20% discount, 18% tip added back in and 6.5% tax) and the amount I pay in cash for the Dining Plan plus an 18% tip.

For a typical Table Service meal I would choose the entree I would eat and compare it to the full Dining Plan meal I would order. This restaurant is a buffet so I’m actually able to bend the rules in a very interesting way. I traditionally wouldn’t speak for my wife but at a buffet we all pay the same for whatever we eat! In this article I’ll go more in depth to determine which option is truly the best discount for a Disney family.

According to Allears.net the Non-discounted, pre-tax cost of a Dinner meal at Crystal palace ranges from 37.99-43.66 for adults and 17.99-21.29 for children. To make this insanely number-heavy I calculated the price for both the “low” and “high”. Don’t worry there will be a summary at the end.

As in the last article I set the “cost” of an adult table service credit at $33.50. That works out to be about 55% of the cost of the Dining Plan per day. I looked at the price of the child’s dining plan and mathed out $10.57 as the cost of a child’s table service credit.

Now on with the math!

Crystal Palace, 1 adult:

To fully abide by the rules I’ll run the numbers on me going to the buffet solo.

In the low season the adult buffet costs $37.99. If you add our 18% tip and 6.5% tax into that price you’re looking at a cool $47.30 when you walk in without any discount and belly up to the bar.

Since the adult dining credit costs $33.50 that means you save $6.96 before the 18% tip. The tip actually works out to $6.84 which means in total you paid $40.34 to use the dining credit and pay your tip.

With Tables in Wonderland your meal costs $32.37 pre-18% tip, so the total comes to $39.21 with the tip added in. With TiW you save an astounding $1.13 off the cost of the Dining Plan to be a sad lone adult meeting Winnie the Pooh…

Winner: There are no winners when a 31 year old male eats alone at Crystal Palace.

The Typical Disney Family: 2 Adults, 1 Ten Year Old, 1 Child:

When Disney advertises discounts they always calculate it based on a family of four. In an outstanding feat of logic, a ten year old can’t vote for the Mayor of Main Street, USA but counts as an adult at a buffet. The child, however, gives us a good price break.

A “retail” price child’s buffet costs $17.99 in the low season. That works out to $22.40 after tax and tip.

The Dining plan table service credit costs $10.57 for a child so after tip the dining plan is $13.81, a savings of $8.59 from retail.

Tables in Wonderland works out to total $18.57 for a child and is completely blown out of the water. You are paying $4.76 more to use the TiW discount instead of the dining plan.

We know how much each meal will cost our three adults and child so let’s put these numbers together.

Dining Plan: 134.83
Wonderland: 136.20
No Discount: 164.30

Winner: Disney Dining Plan

As much as my personal opinion makes me hate typing it, the winner is the Disney Dining Plan. You save 29 dollars over “retail” and aren’t paying the $100 entry fee.

Bonus Round: High Season

These numbers are all assuming you travel in a slow time when food is relatively cheap. If you’re visiting during a peek season you may encounter a price hike on your way to the 100 Acre Woods.

In the high season an adult buffet costs $54.36 and a child buffet is $26.50! This is the time the Dining plan really shines. Our Disney family sees a slightly higher tip at the end but their up front costs remain the same.

Dining Plan: 138.48
Wonderland: 157.15
No Discount: 189.58

So for the price of a car payment you can meet Pooh, or you can save some serious money with the dining plan. You’re looking at saving 51 dollars over that the schmuck at the table beside you.

Conclusion:

If my wife and I planned to eat at a buffet every day for dinner then I think the Dining Plan would work for us. I think it REALLY makes sense if you have a child and want to “Dine with Character” every single dinner. If you just want one or two buffets then you really need to do the math on the entire trip to figure out which discount, if any, is best for you.

If you have any questions, want to see my math, or have suggestions for other restaurants please tweet me @tbgree00. Thanks for reading.

My favorite Disney memory

I have been a lifelong Disney fan but my interest peeked in 1997 when my family took a vacation to Walt Disney World.  We were mainly an amusement park family and this was our first venture to a theme park and I specifically remember my Dad saying, “Disney isn’t about roller coasters, they’re about more than speed and heights.”  Boy was my Dad right, I was mesmerized at the detail, service, and options WDW offered.  When we came home all I wanted to do was go back so I became obsessed with reading anything I could get my hands on about Walt Disney World planning my triumphant return trip.  However for the rest of high school, college, and the the first couple of post college years never returned to Orlando.  

Then in 2010 my then girlfriend and I were taking a trip to South Carolina.  We left in the middle of the night and by sunrise we were in the middle of the Smokey Mountains and she was fast asleep.  I figured it would be the perfect time to secretly slip in the the Disneyland 50th Anniversary CD I had borrowed from my sister because I had not mentioned to her yet that I was a Disney nerd.  I tried to contain myself but as each song played I turned up the volume a little bit more and started singing under my breath just a little bit louder until my girlfriend woke up and said, “Why are you singing It’s a Small World?”  Which is always an odd question to answer but she eventually joined in as we snaked through the mountains.  She had known I had a soft spot for Disney but had no idea I was totally obsessed and that all I’ve wanted to do since I was 13 was to go back to Disney World.  It was a big deal to get this off my chest because 3 days later I was going to propose and I had to know that she would be okay with my obsession.

Then in 2011 as we were getting ready our wedding my fiance called and said her friends were selling some of their DVC points and that she thought we should go as a honeymoon after our real honeymoon.  I booked us at the Boardwalk Villas and had all of our ADR’s lined up in advance of our trip to the restaurants we wanted.  Now all I had left was the difficult task of devising a touring plan that got my wife (who is terrified of heights) on my favorite ride, Splash Mountain.  I knew that I would have to spend the first day spoiling her to ensure that the following day would go to plan.  A pedicure at the Yacht Club, lunch at Beaches and Cream, dinner at Le Cellier, and lastly dessert in front of Illuminations.  The next day we left for the Magic Kingdom early and after enjoying the ambiance of Main Street USA we headed toward Adventureland and boarded Pirates of the Caribbean.  She was not thrilled that I had not mentioned the first drop as she does not do drops but the ride is so great that she overlooked it.  Next we rode the Haunted Mansion which quickly became her favorite ride.  Our next stop took us in front of Splash Mountain and she wanted nothing to do with it.  I reminded her that throughout the next couple days I would ride almost all the other thrill rides with total strangers (I rode Space Mountain with members of a French Canadian Motorcycle Club) but I wanted to share my favorite ride with her.  After 20 minutes of begging, pleading, and a little bit of a guilt trip she finally decided she would give it a try.

As we boarded the ride I was able to soak in the detail and sing along with the music but my wife was terrified of the big drop.  The entire time she had a vice grip around me and with each passing mini drop it got tighter and tighter.  Which leads to my favorite Disney memory because as we started up the final conveyor belt and the vultures stared us down  I was in my favorite place on earth with the woman I love. Of course in that same moment my wife had one of the worst moments of her life as she swears she dropped 500 feet at 500 miles per hour and barely avoided death on that terrible, terrible ride.  She survived and never went on anything more daring than the Teacups.  The rest of the visit was amazing and now we have a combined passion for Walt Disney World which only grows as we begin to plan our first trip with our 1 year old daughter.

Dining Plan or Wonderland: 50’s Prime Time Cafe

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50's Prime Time Cafe, DDP, Dining, Dining Plan, Wonderland

Greetings and Happy New Year! I’ve decided to start a series of articles I call “Dining Plan or Wonderland”. In these articles I will look at a menu for a Table Service restaurant (or Counter Service in Animal Kingdom) and decide what I would buy if I was on the Dining Plan and what I would buy if I had purchased Tables in Wonderland. Then I compare the prices and decide which is more likely to actually happen.

Many podcasts and articles dive into the dining plan and it seems like everyone has an opinion about it. Some travelers refuse to go to Walt Disney World without it and some people don’t see the value in it. I hope to give both options a fighting chance and earnestly look at both options with an open mind.

Dining Plan:

I’m not a mathematician so I didn’t personally crunch the numbers to pull the “cost per meal” on the dining plan. Instead I used this post to have Len Testa tell me how much it costs. At the time of writing the dining plan costs $60.64 per day for an adult. Reading that Touringplans.com article I will use the following numbers for the price you pay per credit:

Table Service: $33.50
Counter Service: $14.75
Snack: $4.24
Refillable Mug: $8

For the purpose of these articles I will assume I have paid $33.50 for a table service credit.

Tables in Wonderland:

The Tables in Wonderland card is a perk allowed to Annual Passholders and DVC owners. It costs $100 and gives a 20% discount at most Table Service and a few Counter Service locations around the resort. The perk lasts for 1 year. The discount applies pre-tax on any food or alcoholic beverage. There’s a maximum of 10 people per meal that can receive the discount. The named owner of the card needs to be present and pay for the meal, though this depends on the Cast Member. The break even point on this discount card is $500 dollars spent in a calendar year.

50’s Prime Time Cafe:

I’ve never had the opportunity to dine at the 50’s Prime Time Cafe, though the menu seems to be right up my alley. I love comfort food, milkshakes, and old television I would have watched on Nick at Nite in the 90’s. I don’t know that I would enough being fussed at by the wait staff but we’re talking about food cost here and there is definitely a lot I would like to try.

When I use the dining plan I tend to go straight for the biggest meal on the menu. This time will be no exception. The sampler platter would be my choice. I am extremely indecisive with food so this takes a choice away without letting me test. The price for this meal is $20.99. I’ve heard rumor that they will let you get a milkshake for your beverage on the dining plan so I would get the Peanut Butter and Jelly milkshake for $5.59. For my desert I would choose Dad’s Brownie Sundae for $6.49.

I think of myself as health conscious but yes I would really order this much food. When I go to a buffet I always feel the need to make “them” regret the day they let me in there. I haven’t really glutted out in quite a few years so I would likely have to hurl 30 minutes after leaving the restaurant. It would be worth it to make Disney hurt as much as possible. Unfortunately the house, and the Mouse, always wins.

If you add up the retail price on this feast after 6.5% tax you would get $35.22. That works out to saving $1.72. You then have to pay tip. 18% of that would be $6.34. So you’re out the door paying $6.34 for a large bounty of food.

Looking at the menu as someone paying out-of-pocket with my Tables in Wonderland discount I would actually make most of the same choices. I’d stick with the sampler and order the Peanut Butter and Jelly milkshake. I would definitely skip the brownie, though. If I felt that I needed a second dessert I would go to the Writer’s Stop and get a carrot cake cookie.

So the Sampler is still $20.99 and the PB&J Shake is still $5.59. That is $26.58 pre-discount. With 20% off and 6.5% tax it is $22.65. Add on 18% tip from the pre-discount price ($4.78) and you get $27.43 out the door.

Summary:

I realize that was a lot of numbers so I figured a summary was in order.

Dining Plan: The “price paid” for the table service credit was $33.50 and I got $35.22 worth of food. I left a $6.34 tip on the table.

Wonderland: I paid $27.43 including tax and tip, but also had to pay $100 dollars for that discount and didn’t get as much food.

Winner: Wonderland

This article was written from the perspective “What would I actually order if I went into the 50’s Prime Time Cafe with each of these discounts”. For me personally, I would rather get the Wonderland discount because I don’t need a brownie sundae and a milkshake in one meal.

The dining plan can be a great value if you wanted to eat big meals, have two desserts every day, maximize the cost of your snacks, and refill your resort mug 4 or more times every day. If you get “free” dining you need to do the math to see how much you’re paying vs getting a room only discount.

To soothe my curiosity I actually did the math on Wonderland with the brownie added in. The total came to $34 and some change after tax and tip.