Our MYW Dining Sad Saga

Who:

Me-Janice 51

Mark- 54

Kim- 16

Michael -11



When:

April 14-22

Beach Club



We are from Anaheim Hills, CA and this is our 10th WDW trip

4th visit over Easter week.



We spent 8 nights at the Beach Club. This was a "splurge" trip. We have been
staying at moderates the last few years since we have been forced to visit
during peak times due to school commitments. The last few years I have been
able to get a good discount even over Easter week. Not a discount to be had
this year. I decided to use AAA since I could get some discount on the
room. That's saved us about $300. We also wanted to try the MYW Dining
plan. The one drawback I saw was that my son was 11 and not a big eater and
he would be charged as an adult. My 16 year daughter can eat like a truck
driver.



I spent weeks planning our meals. We were going try some new places and use
2 credits on the Yachtsman Steakhouse. I planned to keep track of the meals
and see how much we saved with the plan. The best laid plans...



Here was the advance plan for the sit downs:



Sci Fi

Teppanyaki

Le Cellier

Liberty Tree

Yachtsman

Raglan Road

Cape May Character Breakfast



We are from the west coast and it takes days for us to acclimate to the time
change, so we sleep in. Breakfast was a meal we never plan on. Even if we
are up, we are not hungry that early. On day 1, Saturday, we spent time at
MGM and had a 12:45 AR at Sci FI (my kids love their food, me-not so much).
Since we were eating at Teppanyaki at 7PM, we decided to use just 2 sit down
credits here and eat a little light.



Shakes are INCLUDED here as your beverage.

2 shakes and 2 cokes (paid for the cokes)

As our 2 appetizers we had BLT soup (4.99) and Spinach dip and chips (6.19)

2 chicken Caesar salads (12.99 each)

Cheesecake (5.19)

Hot fudge sundae (5.19)

18 % tip



The total came to $66.26 for 2 sit down credits and was plenty of food for
4.



We had dinner at Teppanaki. We had never eaten here and it was VERY good.
We shared the table with a really nice family from upstate NY. Their kids
were similar in age and they too were trying the dining plan. It was the
usual Teppanyaki type meal and all the food was excellent quality and really
good. A fun meal. We each had the salad for an appetizer.



I had the scallops and New York steak. Excellent!

My husband and daughter had the shrimp and steak and my son had the filet.

No one had room for dessert which was included.

I would eat here again.



The bill (including tip) was $145.97.



Having the tip included is a great plus!!!





This is where the plan starts to fall apart..



It is only our second night and my son wakes up and throws up all night
long. At first I think it might be something he ate, but he throws up all
the next day (Easter Sunday). I stay in with him and my husband and
daughter go to the park. This is when I really appreciate being at the
Beach Club with a room just 10 steps from the Marketplace. I spend a good
part of my day at the Marketplace. I could fill my mug in just a few
minutes and not leave my poor retching son for more that a few minutes. And
when he was sleeping, I could go over and pick up some food. I have not
stayed here since they added the food area. This is a great addition! The
food is really good.. At breakfast they have a kind of scrambled egg soufflé
in a cast iron pan and they cut out a wedge and place it on a sliced
croissant. They make a parfait to your order. You select from
strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, granola, and chocolate chips. They
put any or all in a bowl with some yogurt, mix it up and put it in a
container. It is almost all fruit and a great deal for $3.79. They also
have Gelato and a full line of bakery items.



At lunch they make 3 sandwiches: roast beef and brie, ham and cheese, and
turkey and mozzarella. They are toasted in a little oven and on fresh made
rolls. REALLY good. With the dining plan counter meal you get a sandwich
or salad (which you can select a large array of ingredients and they toss it
fresh in a bowl with the dressing), a large bag of chips or carrots, a drink
of a bottle of soda, milk or selection of juices or water, (I always took a
bottle of juice for later and filled my mug for this meal), and for dessert
you get a chocolate covered rice krispie treat or a selection of ice cream
bars. This is a great deal and comes to about $13 if bought separately.



The one complaint I have about the Marketplace is that you stand in line and
have your food prepared and then you have to take it over to the cash
registers where they are ringing up all kinds of souvenirs and misc items
and are ALWAYS really busy. There are no baskets to carry your purchases and
many were loaded down with food items and trying to juggle it while waiting
in long lines- often with hungry kids. A bad system. Lots of line rage
going on here.



Again, this place was a godsend during our trip when my son was really sick.
And I drank many cups of free tea in my mug when I later became ill- yes it's
coming. My son woke up Monday morning feeling much better but my husband
spent all Sunday night in the bathroom. He was not as sick as Michael was
but pretty queasy. He decided to sleep in and the 3 of us went to AK. We
ate breakfast at the Tuskar house and used 2 counter service credits. 2
meals is really enough food for 3 people. We went back to the hotel in
the afternoon to take a swim and check on my husband, who was doing better
and joined us at the pool. We ordered 3 lunches at Hurricane Hannah and
used counter service credits.



That day our AR was for Le Cellier and all were feeling reasonably well
enough to go. This was a great meal. 3 had salads as an appetizer and I
had the tomato stack. It was very good. We all had the filet and it was
terrific!!! The nice thing about this meal is that not only is it excellent
quality, it is a reasonable amount of food. You can each eat an appetizer,
entrée, and dessert here and not be stuffed.



I had the maple crème Brule- WOW

My husband had a strawberry ice cream cake thing- very good

My daughter had cheesecake and my son selected from the kids desserts.



The bill with tip was $199.00. A really great meal.



The next day (Tuesday) we started slow again and got 2 sandwiches (using
counter service credits) at the marketplace. We had AR for Liberty Tree
Tavern. We spent the day at MK and had a nice meal at the Liberty Tree.
The bill with tip was $139.39.



The plan falls apart further..



The next day I don't feel so great. I'm just queasy and have no desire to
eat anything that doesn't resemble bread and water. I feel this way for
just about the rest of the trip. I do not eat another sit down meal. My
husband can't eat either. We have 4 more days left and a lot of meal/snack
credits. We have AR's at Yachtsman and Raglan Road. No one even considers
it.



We use sit down credits to get soup and tortilla chips at ESPN and some
fries and ice cream at Beaches and Cream. Bad trades but all we could
manage to eat. We went to Disney Quest and I use a counter service to order
pizza and ate only the crust. We ate at Pecos Bill and I had a
cheeseburger-no meat. Bread and cheese went down pretty easily.



Note: At Beaches & Cream you can order ANY dessert except the kitchen sink
as part of your sit down meal.



On our last morning, my husband and son felt well enough to have breakfast
at the Cape May and really enjoyed it. We had extra credits and an AR at
Italy for lunch before our 4:00 pick up but no one was up for it.



It was a shame that we never got to eat at the planned restaurants. We came
home with 9 sit down, 13 counter service, and 10 unused snacks. There was
nothing we could do about it. This is the chance you take when you pre pay
meals. I think the dining plan can be a really good deal but it means a LOT
of eating. I don't think most people eat that many sit down meals and not
many people can eat an appetizer, entrée and dessert. I think the trick is
to just not order an appetizer for everyone and share one or two. If they
are on the table, we eat them!! And share a dessert. I think you still
come out ahead and aren't uncomfortably full. The snacks are like getting
something for free!



I booked this trip with AAA and decided to send a letter to their WDW
booking headquarters in Lake Buena Vista. I explained what happened, sent
my receipts, told them I knew it was just bad luck, told them I was not a
complaining type of person but was wondering if maybe I could get some kind
of credit. They were nice enough to offer me a $400 credit off my next
trip. That was nice.



I'm happy to say we still had a pretty great trip. If we had never been
there, it would have been really sad. But we have been many times and still
got to see a lot and just moved slow. We wandered over to EPCOT a lot
instead of tackling a more ambitious plan. The relaxing stay at the Beach
Club was really nice. We had a ground floor patio that looked out at the
main entrance on the beach side of the resort. I spent a lot of time
relaxing there and drinking tea. It is true you can have a great time at
WDW just hanging out. It was just REALLY expensive hanging out.



Janice


.

Quantcast