Is Quick Service meal plan worth it

[daryle330]

popcorn:: Does everyone that had the Quick Service meal plan do you feel it was worth the price?

[laceemouse]

Friends of ours are leaving this Friday for the World. They bought just the quickie service plan. They have 7 kids and plan to split up some and they thought sit downs meals would just be too time consuming plus too much of a hassle to book and please everyone. I will let you know how it went once they get back.
They booked only one sit down meal, at T-Rex on their first night on property!

[daryle330]

Thanks

[2manypets]

Financially it doesn't make sense to me. CS's run around $15.00 or less each. It's pretty much a break even. With smaller children or large families it makes sense just to have it prepaid and the convenience of eating on the fly.

[DaParkers]

Financially it doesn't make sense to me. CS's run around $15.00 or less each. It's pretty much a break even.

I agree. Even though you get the 2 snacks and mug, I think $19.99 or even $24.99 would make more sense.

[patsal]

I did the math for my family of four all over the age of 10. I found we'd be saving about $20 per day using the plan plus the cost of the mugs. Worth it for us on a 14 night vacation to save $280 plus the cost of mugs. I also like not doing the mental math when suggesting a snack to the kids Ie: let's get ice cream ($16.00 plus tax at the ice cream shop) if I am paying OOP it is more like menatlly thinking oh I hope they don't ask for ice cream!

At minimum it is a breakeven with a free refillable mug--but withthe refillable mug you can get bottled water rather than a fountain beverage for your drink credit at the food court of the hotel, you can sub bottled water for dessert at the CS saving room for that second snack, etc. I also think that many underestimate how much the CS costs now that there have been more price changes.

[jennc27]

We booked the QSDP for our trip in Aug. For us it works out great. I did spend a lot of time on allearsnet.com looking at menus and then using a spreadsheet to get a grand total of what our food budget would be. I added everything from bringing our own water, breakfast food, and snacks. I also include the meals that we would eat in WDW which was 2 CS a day (this was with my husband and I sharing meals and letting the kids have their own meals), and one TS during our trip. We decided with two kids not to do a lot of TS meals. From here I priced out a package with the QSDP and we saved money! Yeah! :cool1: I then found the great thread here that has a list of the snacks and realized that we could use one snack credit for breakfast. More money saved! With the refillable mugs it’s an extra bonus! The best for us is that we do not have to watch the prices, worry about the budget, and each person can have their own meal, drink, and dessert. My budget did not include a dessert or any of the great snacks in WDW! :woohoo: For me I like it because of the freedom from worry and it seems more of vacation! Each family is different and they need to weigh the pros and cons. It did take me awhile to make a choice (like two months) and I drove my husband crazy. He finally throws his hands up and yelled "I don't care" and ran out of the room! LOL :rotfl2:

[bookwormde]

For adults it is really a break even unless you are eating the “high price” snacks or are staying for a short time, where the “mug” value becomes an important factor.

For kids under 10 it is really a savings unless you always eat the least expensive CS meals and snacks. One CS meal and drink can cost as much as the whole day for QSDP for children so if you really max it out you can get 3 times the value that you pay for the children’s plan.

bookwormde

[5boyz]

For us we are breaking even basically, but we dont order desserts so that is a bonus and we dont have to buy mugs again bonus....but the best part it is prepaid and we dont have to look at prices just order what you want....:cool1: Alot of the desserts can be saved for later so you can kinda consider 4 snacks a day!

[tndisneyfan]

For us it is going to be pretty much a break even deal, we might save a little. I like the idea of having things prepaid. I also like the idea of not worrying about cost when we are ordering.

[Twinkly-Tink]

I've booked the QSDP for our trip in June - have added it to our UK package which we booked with Disney UK.

With the rate of the $ to £ being so low this actually works out great for us and at current exchange rate works out at roughly $23!! Paying OOP would at the moment be very costly :eek:

For once, the £ rate works in our favour!!!!! I reckon we should save loads!:thumbsup2

[njbeachwx]

Just came back 3-6-09 and thought it was so worth it....we had15 snack credits left on the last day and purchased mickey lollipops as gifts for the kids back home.
Also if your staying at the POP, tie-die cheesecake counts as a dessert choice..MMMMM

[teach22180]

I think what helps the QSDP to be a better deal is to think about the 6.5% tax. You don't pay it on the original cost or when you buy your food. Don't forget to figure that into your math. I only came out a couple of dollars up each day, plus the mug, but that's enough for me to relax and say let's do it!

[tinksgilrs251520]

Me too. did the math and for a family of five over the age of 10 when you figure it all up I even did just doing dinner and getting two snacks per day so i was debating and then just last night i went ahead and booked it

[5boyz]

njbeach.....I am staying at POPfor 14 nights in July....love it there!!! I am also on the QSDP....can you give me some tips on what snacks are on the dining plan there? I am not really sure, is the ice cream place still there? We did not stay there last year so it has been 2 yrs since been there!!!

Thanks!!!

[njbeachwx]

need to stick with the value snacks, one serving selections. One of the links here has the the snacks included at pop and I will try to dig them up and post them later

[momdad4kids]

We just got back from 8 days on the basic plan, we almost did the QSP and Im so glad we didnt,kids piks are limited ,only so much mac n cheese and hard dried out chicken nuggets the kids are going to eat.The QS resteraunts are a complete hassle,almost every meal we were shorted something,usually drinks or deserts and when you order for 7 ppl its hard to keep track of everything especially on multiple trays. As far as saving time I dont really think we saved that much on the CS meals vs the sit downs when the sit downs were done at the park.If the kids didnt like something on the menu at the sit downs usually the waitres or waiter would do special request at no charge,try that at a CS place.Rarely we could exchange CS credits for 2 snacks but in the end we still brought 6 kids cs meal credits back unused.If we do the dining plan again it will be deluxe,do breakfast at the park and dinner someplace at the end of the day.Disney needs to seriously look at its kids meals as far as Im concerned if your doing the QS plan to save on kids meals your going behind as the food is terrible and no selection.

[Sandisw]

For me, it is more about the convenience and less about the financial savings. For years, before they came out with dining plans, we really watched and stressed over the food budget when we got there.

The last few times, we were on the regular DP and liked the freedom but it was way too much food and time away from the parks.

In August, we are doing QSDP and are looking forward to it. I have run a lot of different price options, based on what my family likes to eat, and in all situations it came out more than the cost of the plan.

And that didn't count the mugs. We always buy those since I need to have my coffee!!

So, we are really looking forward to knowing ahead of time what the budget will be and not worrying about what we want to eat for the week!

[rlduvall]

It did take me awhile to make a choice (like two months) and I drove my husband crazy. He finally throws his hands up and yelled "I don't care" and ran out of the room! LOL :rotfl2:

Yeah, it's funny how husbands can act sometimes. What's up with that? :confused3 :laughing:

[ofhs93]

njbeach.....I am staying at POPfor 14 nights in July....love it there!!! I am also on the QSDP....can you give me some tips on what snacks are on the dining plan there? I am not really sure, is the ice cream place still there? We did not stay there last year so it has been 2 yrs since been there!!!

Thanks!!!

We were on the QSDP a few weeks ago and stayed at Pop...the Ice cream IS a snack..but it is also a standard dessert...when you check out at the register you can have them stamp your receipt and get then you just have to get the Sundae within 90 minutes.


Now..regarding the plan itself..we LOVED it. We EASILY saved money on the plan. Our CHEAPEST CS meal was over $14 if we were buying OOP. MOST of the meals were quite a bit MORE than $14....at that rate...the mug and snacks were basically free. Here is a good example...the Chicken and Rib combo at Cosmic Ray's would be about $20 OOP with the drink and dessert. We ordered 4 or those and only used 4 CS credits. There is certainly enough food there to EASILY feed 3 adults with 2 of those meals...for lighter eaters I'm certain that you could feed 2 for 1.

We used a chunk of our snack credits for breakfasts which was another savings. A nice yummy baked good from one of the parks and a bowl of fruit from the food court (each 1 snack credit) was a simple and filling breakfast for the 2 kids to share. This was also enough for my wife and I to share...so for 4 snack credits we all had breakfast in the room before heading out to the busses. A few times we also would eat a hot breakfast at the food court and split the meals. Then we had 4 cold, bottled drinks to take into the parks with us. (you get 2 drinks with each breakfast and you certainly should use your mug when in the food court :) ) We had MORE than enough food...and we are NOT light eaters....*plus* we were sharing meals with our 2.5 year old (who eats as much as the 4 year old).

When you add in that you have to pay tax if your paying OOP then it starts adding up. For us...it was a GREAT option. It worked perfectly and gave us tons of flexability. If we had a couple of light eating 10 year olds then the plan MAY not be so attractive...but for those with young children or all TRUE adult eaters then I think it's a great option.

[kcashner]

It really depends on where/what you eat. DD has ordered me to not post our favorite place "Or they'll take it off the plan."

On our recent trip we had many snack credits left over...we hit the Boardwalk Bakery and got some goodies for the ride home.

[horsified1]

We just got back and used the QSDP. We loved it. I think it is worth the money. It was myself and my 6 yr old son. Every one of our QS meals was over $20 for the two of us. and when we each got a snack, it was at least $8-$10. If you multiply this by 2 meals per day and two snacks per day, it definitely saved us money. Also, you get the refill mugs which would have cost us another almost $30. I loved the convenience of not having to plan to eat at a certain time like you do when on the regular plan with reservations. It is definitely not just hamburgers and hot dogs if you plan right. I only had a hamburger once the entire week and that was because that is what I wanted at the time. The kids choices are limited, but my child is picky anyway and the options were the things he would have chosen anyway. I will definitely use it again. We did do T-Rex cafe and on table service meal, but I just paid OOP for those. I think if you really added it up, especially if you have younger kids, it is worth it.

[5boyz]

ofhs93...thanks for the info! I cant wait to try this plan!!!! My dh is not a light eater, my ds 12 is a light eater, I am a light eater but my dd9 is not...she is like her daddy...lol!!! But we are still paying $20.less on the dining plan than we would pay out of pocket...whoo hoo $20. but we will not have to look at menu for prices so my dh will order more expensive, plus we get the dessert and mugs....the bonus is that it is paid for!!! :worship: So the big $20 is so min but the prepaid is the big bonus for me!!!!! We have 84 A credits, 28 C credits and 112 snack credits over 14 days...lol....and we are doing 2 dinners and 1 lunch offsite......so if you are at disney July 25-Aug 8 stand in line behind us and I am sure we can buy you lunch...LOL

[ofhs93]

So the big $20 is so min but the prepaid is the big bonus for me!!!!!

That was a big deal for me as well. I know how I am...if I were paying OOP for the meals I would have been looking for every corner to cut just to save a nickel here and a dime there...it's just the way I am. Having it paid for ahead of time took that out of the equation and made the trip a lot more relaxing and enjoyable for myself. We don't normally eat dessert with our meals...so there *were* times when we would not eat it...so we just packed it up and used it later for a snack. There were only 3 of us on the plan (little guy is 2) and we still had 20 snack credits left with about 36 hours to go...trust me..we did NOT go hungry. Next time I will be a little less frugal with the snacks early in the trip haha. The last day and a half we just pigged out and I was not concentrating on using the snack credits to get things that I deemed "worth" a credit haha.

If I were you I would use those "extra" CS credits (the ones not used when you eat TS and the offsite lunch) to split some hot breakfasts a few days while your there. Then pack all of those bottled drinks from breakfast into your soft sided cooler. Also...we DID have Gardengrocer deliver a case of water to the room. I did not want to "waste" snack credits on a bottle of water for each of us in the park. I had UPS'd a box down ahead of time with drink mixes and some other items as well. Noone wants plain old water all week long right? ;)