Upgrading dining plan - Thompson

[Friday'sChild]

Has anybody ever done this? We already have the free breakfast (staying at All Star Sports) but are considering upgrading to quick service.

I just got off the phone from Thompson who said it would cost me £2,400 (for four of us) I suggested that she may just have this wrong as this is more than we have paid for the actual hotel.

She is coming back to me to confirm prices and let me know whether or not it can be done.

Failing this - can we actually upgrade on check in?

[Shani]

Travel agents can charge what they like, so your price doesn't surprise me, unfortunately.

You have to upgrade before you arrive, so your best bet would be to keep the money you'd have spent on upgrading aside, and use that to pay cash for your extra food.

[Shooby doo]

To give you an idea of the real cost- QSDP is £36/Adult & £16/Child, unfortunately you won't be able to book it direct with Disney as you booked through a TA & everything must go through them.
TBH is it really worth it, as you already have 1 CS meal so you are upgrading for 1 xCS & 2 snacks.
SD

[buzzbox]

Be careful with Thompsons we had a major problem with them charging a crazy price just to upgrade from qs to table service, in the end we had to take action against them and even Disney got involved because what they were doing was actually illegal, personally we will never book with them again.

[BrightlyBob]

I really wouldn’t recommend upgrading to QSDP.

What we found on past stays was that taking breakfast in the canteen was a real time waster, far faster to have cereal in the room for breakfast. That then leaves your Free breakfast QS usable for lunch which is what we did last time we were there. In reality we didn’t want a 2nd QS for dinner too, most nights of dinner we wanted to go to the sit down restaurants and over our 6 nights we went to T-Rex, Coral Reef, Tuskers and Bongos. The other 2 we stayed late in the park and grabbed a hot dog. I *might* consider the upgrade to DDP as that will get you an extra 2 Snacks and a sit down meal per person each day, but I’m not sure even on that. Once you have the “breakfast” QS to use for lunch, the upgrade to QSDP is too much “junk” food but the upgrade to DDP is too much food, period!

Past years I’ve taken the kids and stayed at OKW, SSR and ASM, the first 2 on Free full DDP, the last one with Free breakfast. Next year it’s just me and the wife and we decided to give the DDP a miss completely and save money by staying at the Dolphin. QSDP or DDP is really only worthwhile if it comes “free” as part of the annual promo, although do beware, there’s no such thing as a Free DDP, now that the DDP promos have ended Disney has reduced ticket prices by £50 and is offering 2-4 Free nights on a fortnight stay. A lighter eating couple will find that a better deal. Or go “offsite-onsite” with the Disney Swan and Dolphin (equivalent to Deluxe) within walking distance of Epcot where we got our fortnight for the same price as a fortnight at Pop, or the Hilton/Wyndham/B Resort/Holiday Inn (equivalent to Moderates) at Disney Springs, all within walking distance of, Disney Springs for around half the Pop price. If anyones thinking of that do check the consolidators, like Momondo or Trivago.

[k100dmk]

The basic one with free breakfast is not upgradeable or so we have been told by virgin and thomson so they would probably add the full price on top of adding that on.

I have found when using any of the dining plans they usually don't work out much cheaper, They are great for convenience though and do give you that piece of mind, remember it's only cheaper if you would have eaten that item without it. I find too many people explaining how to get the best value by ordering higher value items but that's not a saving if you're eating that way to get the best value, I also don't really want to go to that extent planning wise.

I think it's better to view it as a bonus if you get it free which is what we do, or if it comes into your budget, it's it technically free but there is always a way to book it cheaper without once the offer goes off, wether you are better doing it that way and paying to add it on, or leaving it off and paying out of pocket will vary from family to family.

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by k100dmk

The basic one with free breakfast is not upgradeable or so we have been told by virgin and thomson so they would probably add the full price on top of adding that on.

See more...

well, two possibilities.

1. they have told you BS, because there is no restriction (as far as disney goes) for upgrades. You could either upgrade a value to QSDP by paying the price difference between the Free Breakfast and the QSDP (or even the DDP) or you could upgrade to a moderate and receive automatic free qsdp provided that there is availability under the FD rate.

2. These TAs have their own restrictions, and in this case that's yet another reason why one should stay clear from them and book direct with Disney



My guess is that Thompson tried to pass this as a cancellation, and rebooking, meaning loss of free beakfast for OP who is now quoted full package price
there again, 2 options
1. the rep at the TA gets a cut of some kind, and scams the OP
2. the rep has no clue and goes the path of least resistance e.g. new booking instead of amending booking which might mean more work for them.