Honeymoon Discovery Magic plan

[Gorechick]

Hi all! I'd like to hear anyone's experiences on the HDM plan. I'm planning to book it for my honeymoon at the Wilderness Lodge next August. Thanks!

 

[LauraS]

Well, it's tough to say. IMHO, most packages to stay in WDW are not worth the extra cost. If you know Disney fairly well and visit every couple of years you can probably book a premium view room at WL, make your own PS and save considerably. Packages are great for folks who know very little about WDW and don't have the time to make plans themselves. If, like most WDW nuts, you *enjoy* the planning as much as the trip, well a package isn't for you. You rarely save money on a package. If you'd like to splurge, well then it may be the way to go. I'd have to hear all the perks and the price to know if I'd really go for it.

Laura

 

[Tikiman]

We had our honeymoon in July and I looked at getting the honeymoon package and I am so glad I did NOT. The little extra stuff was not even close to worth the money. We got most of the same stuff for free just by telling them we were on our honeymoon. We used the extra money to go concierge and we got free champagne in the room and at most of the places we ate. We got the honeymoon pin for free and we got so many free candy and gifts, we needed an extra bag to bring them home. The package was going to be a lot more and we got all the stuff anyway.

Steve

 

[LauraS]

Yeah, after reading this post last night I checked out the Fall Fantasy Package that Disney offers in the fall. 7 nights at the All Stars plus Ultimate Park Hoppers and a free breakfast or something and they want over $1500 for that for two people. I honestly think that you could get the same room for seven nights and have enough left over for two premium annual passes. Definitely a rip-off. If you have the time and the inclination, plan your honeymoon on your own.

Laura

 

[Anne2]

I haven't used the plan yet, but my fiance and I are using the Discovery Magic Plan (not the Honeymoon Discovery Magic Plan) for our honeymoon in October.

Could it be cheaper to go without the plan? Definitely! However, that is not what fiance and I wanted. We wanted a special trip where we didn't have to worry about how much we spent on dinner, what we ordered, or what restaurant we went to. If we wanted to do one of the other options, we wanted that available to us as well without having to worry. Yes, we are paying for convenience. However, if you plan on eating expensive meals once a day and sometimes twice a day, the package can pay for itself. I think someone said you can think of each magical wish as $30-$35. So, if you go to Narcossees, get the crab and shrimp stack as one appitizer ($14), fried oysters for the other ($8), lobster ($49), filet ($30), and 2 desserts (2*$7), that's $70 and $45 if I did my math right. Oh, and the package includes tax and tip! That probably comes close to covering the cost of 2 wishes for two people (it at least covers 3 wishes), but only costs you 1 wish for each person (or 2 wishes). Nope, not everything is that expensive, but if you want to do that expensive (and even more expensive items and restaurants), the package will definitely pay for itself.

Bottom line, I think the package is worth it depending on how you intend to use it.

Have fun!!

 

[gemanda]

I'm copying this from a post I did earlier on this site...you can find that thread at www.disboards.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=82040

First of all, I don't advocate buying the airfare inclusive packages. From what I've seen, those can be horribly overpriced even beyond what the airlines themselves give at "rack rate."

I understand that, for most people, (meal) packages don't make sense. I know that when my family went when I was younger, there is no way we would have "gotten our goodie" out of a package! I totally respect that and understand that mentality.

However, for some people, packages are a great deal. I know there is such a "package = bad" mentality on these boards that many are going to laugh and call me naive when I say this, but it is true.

Think of it like I did. We're getting the Discovery Magic package for our upcoming honeymoon. 8 days, 7 nights of bliss!! When I figured it out, it worked out to be about $30-35 a "magical wish." Yes, for many of the available items, that is way too much money. However, we want to do lots of nice lunches and dinners--this will be our honeymoon and we will want it to be special!!! Considering that we would normally drop $100-150 for dinners like this, $60-70 is a steal!!!

The other part isn't a $$ savings...it's a stress savings. I love visiting these boards and other sites like MouseSavers that help people save and enjoy WDW. However, I know that as our wedding date of 9/14/02 approaches, my time and patience to look for every little deal I can will become non-existant. To me, it's TOTALLY worth the $200-300 that we might "waste" on the parts of a package that we might not use to not have to worry over ever little penny for these next 13 months!!

So my advice for you is to look at yourself and your situation. Do you have the time to investigate for every little deal? Are you going to WDW for something where you'll want to splurge a little? Only you can answer such questions. Only you know how you and others in your party eat. So do what I did...sit down with a piece of paper and a calculator and figure out what each wish or meal will be approximately worth. Then ask yourselves if it's worth that to you. Only you can know that.