Is the QSDP cost effective?

[Gabes_mommy]

I am thinking of adding the QSDP to our upcoming December trip, but I am torn about whether it will really be cost effective.

We are AP holders and booked a room only reservation.

I love the idea of prepaying for our food, but I want to make sure it would not end up costing us more to do the QSDP than it would out of pocket.

We are a family of 3 - 2 adults and a 3 year old (who eats a lot). We like to eat a big breakfast at the hotel and then grab a meal at the parks.

Thanks in advance for any advice about this. :goodvibes

[sssteele]

My wife and I are thinking about QSDP for a May trip. At $30, it looks like a wash unless we consume gallons of soda at the resort. Two meals @ about $10 apiece and two snacks @ $2-4 apiece doesn't add up to $30. That said, there are some meals that are more expensive if you seek them out (I saw a fried shrimp platter somewhere that was $11.99), and a few snacks that were pricier, but it looks like it's not a significant savings. The drink cups are now $12, so that has to be factored in. I'm not sure if meals in the parks include a beverage - more research necessary. We'll probably do it.

[MissBritt]

It depends on whether you would normally have dessert with your meals, if you need more than 2 meals a day, if you want the refillable mug, or if you are trying to spread the meals over more days than you have nights.

[Faldred]

Maybe.

It all depends on where you eat and what you order. For 2009, if you value a snack credit at $3 for break-even, a CS meal credit is $12 for break-even. That's easy to reach if you would normally get a dessert, otherwise, you'd have to be choosy about where you're going and order higher-end items.

If you like your desserts and choose the "right" CS locations, you can save quite a bit. The question becomes -- is that what you really want to do?

[Jeanieblue114]

allears.net has a complete list of menus and prices for the parks and resorts and DTD.

Take a glance at it and see what kinds of things your family would chose at the restaurants you would probably go to.
That will give you an idea of if it is worth it at all.

I honestly believe though that you pretty much just break even with it. And that means getting the desserts at every meal and using all the snack credits on high end items.

(We just had the basic plan with free dining. 4 adults would have cost us $200-ish per person for the 5 nights. I added up all the receipts and 2 of us got under that amount and 2 were a little over. We ordered lots of milkshakes and smoothies, got desserts at every meal, ordered several steaks, got high end snack items and we still basically broke even on the cost of the plan. Had we paid out of pocket and just left out a couple of the smoothies, desserts, and snacks that we didn't want anyway, we probably would have saved $50 per person over the cost of buying the plan.)

So, if you want the extra desserts, drinks, and snacks to pack up and take home with you, go for it.
I don't really see the benefit in the pre paying thing. The bill will come to my house eventually one way or another. I'd rather it is lower than higher.

I do think that if you have at least 2 kids, the meals plans can be a benefit because the cost for kids is low and balances out the over all value of the plan for a family. Other than that, it's pretty break even.

[Tiggs14]

I think it's a toss up as to whether it's worth it or not. If you want all the desserts and snacks and would normally buy them then it's likely worth it. If you don't want the deserts and snacks and are only getting them because you prepaid for them there is no savings there.

In order to make the plan worth it I think you need to eat at higher end quick service restaurants like Pepper Market and Wolf Gang Puck Express. If you go to these restaurants the plan is definately saving you quite a bit.

[jen53207]

I've been going back and forth on this since I booked our trip - right now the QSDP is on our reservation but the more I look at it the more I think I'm going to remove it.

We are a family of 3 - with a picky eater husband who is happy with either pizza or a burger for most meals. A 6 year old who can eat about as much as an adult and eats mostly vegetarian and myself who is a vegetarian. The way I have figured it we don't normally eat desserts with our meals and the things we would be eating off of the QSDP are not the big ticket items that will come out to $30/day for DH and I and DS needs more food than what the kids meal will give him as well as more options than mac and cheese, cheese pizza and PB&J.

[disneyfan55]

I don't know where you are staying but being an AP holder you can purchase the Tables in Wonderland card that gives 20% off at many TS and the Food courts at all the Value resorts (including the drink cup!). There are aslo a few CS in AK that have the 20% off. I don't know if it's worth it, but we really liked is, you can eat what you want and not have to have a dessert. Just another idea. I know the price for it went up, and I don't know how many trips you will make to WDW, but we found it to be worth it especially when we had the free $500 gift card offer.

[Amy&Dan]

You have gotten good input. It all depends on your family dynamic. You said breakfast is a must, since cs breakfast is generally pretty cheap, that might make this a no go for you. Because you'd have a hard time eating a $12breakfast every day.

This plan in my mind requires even more in the way of research. You literally need to go over to allearsnet, select what you'd eat, price it out (adding tax) then see if you come out at least even or ahead.

The QSDP does allow you the freedom to eat at the more expensive cs places. Wolfgang Puck Express is a place you can easily spend $20 per adult. Eat there twice and you rack up some savings. Some of the places in Epcot (Tangerine Cafe, Sunshine Seasons to name a couple) have some expensive offerings. Yak and Yet at AK is very expensive and a good deal on the plan. And also again, remember to add tax when you do your calculations (tax is included in the plan), because that 8% adds up.

I am in the same dilemma. At this point, I am leaning towards getting it, I have a teenage son who can eat like a horse and we really like WPE and some of the other pricier places. I'd also be able to avoid doing a Garden Grocer order which I normally do for snacks and water bottles. And we do the mugs so I'd be able to save that money. So I'll save some, but not a whole lot. Nothing like I did back in the days when the regular plan included the tip and appetizers and I literally saved hundreds of dollars per trip.

Since you have an AP, you can do the TIW thing, but that's really more for table service and cocktails. If you are staying at a value or POFQ the food courts take it and that can help if you plan to eat there. You would have to buy a one day ticket and convert your room only to a package which would add money and cut into your savings. You cannot add any Dining Plan to a room only reservation without a ticket unless you are a DVC member staying on points.

[disneyfan55]

You have gotten good input. It all depends on your family dynamic. You said breakfast is a must, since cs breakfast is generally pretty cheap, that might make this a no go for you. Because you'd have a hard time eating a $12breakfast every day.

This plan in my mind requires even more in the way of research. You literally need to go over to allearsnet, select what you'd eat, price it out (adding tax) then see if you come out at least even or ahead.

The QSDP does allow you the freedom to eat at the more expensive cs places. Wolfgang Puck Express is a place you can easily spend $20 per adult. Eat there twice and you rack up some savings. Some of the places in Epcot (Tangerine Cafe, Sunshine Seasons to name a couple) have some expensive offerings. Yak and Yet at AK is very expensive and a good deal on the plan. And also again, remember to add tax when you do your calculations (tax is included in the plan), because that 8% adds up.

I am in the same dilemma. At this point, I am leaning towards getting it, I have a teenage son who can eat like a horse and we really like WPE and some of the other pricier places. I'd also be able to avoid doing a Garden Grocer order which I normally do for snacks and water bottles. And we do the mugs so I'd be able to save that money. So I'll save some, but not a whole lot. Nothing like I did back in the days when the regular plan included the tip and appetizers and I literally saved hundreds of dollars per trip.

Since you have an AP, you can do the TIW thing, but that's really more for table service and cocktails. If you are staying at a value or POFQ the food courts take it and that can help if you plan to eat there. You would have to buy a one day ticket and convert your room only to a package which would add money and cut into your savings. You cannot add any Dining Plan to a room only reservation without a ticket unless you are a DVC member staying on points.

When you purchase the dining plan you don't have to purchase tickets if you are an AP holder. You only have to purchase a 1 day pass when you are an AP holder if it's FREE DINING.

[Mrs.Reese]

We're two adults and found it to be cost effective simply because DH is a big eater. If your absolutely adamant about eating breakfast than I don't think it's the plan for you.

[Bete]

My initial answer would be not worth it. My main reason for this answer is I would skip dessert 90% of the time. I seldom use all the snacks, either. I'm the kind that could be satisfied with tap water, too.

If you plan your meals around the more valuable, high priced choices and you like dessert then then the plan would be ok.

[summerlady]

The QSDP was a good choice for us, we didn't save huge money but the snacks ended up basically free. We're not big on breakfast so used one of the two daily snack credits for each of us to get bagels and cream cheese or a muffin from the foodcourt before we headed out for the day. Of course, if we had been paying OOP, we wouldn't have ordered dessert for lunch and dinner every day either. If you go to the higher end CS restaurants, like WPE and Tangierine Cafe as well as some items at Sunshine Seasons and Cosmic Ray's, then you'll realize better savings. We liked it mostly because it offered us the freedom and flexibility of not having to plan park days around ADRs as we did during our 2008 trip. This probably sounds cheap ('cause it is) but we also didn't have to consider the amount of $ we'd need for tips with the regular dining plan, although I did tip at WPE because they bring your food to the table and refill drinks. We also like having the refillable mugs included (I'm running out of storage area for all the mugs we have!) because we do drink a lot of coffee, ice tea and lemonade (the pomegranate lemonade was yummo). This was our second time using the QSDP and we'll do it again.

[tony67]

I found it to be cost effective.

One you add the tax the average counter service was about 17.
I was always surprised how fast it added up.

But if you’re not going to get dessert or you will use it for breakfast then it is probably not worthwhile as others have said. Just pay OOP.

If you do go with the QSDP it is well worth making a trip over to WPE at least once.

[disneyfan55]

ONe thing the CS meal does allow is at the Values you can get the large sundeas for your dessert. It's a pretty good deal if you're staying there but otherwise not probable worth the trip. As other have said there are a few places that give a double type meal (Cosmic Rays, Pepper Market and Sunshine seasons) for 1 CS.

[natashag76]

I agree with the other posters who said that you have to think about your family dining experience. We are a family of 5 (2 adults, 2 kids, 1 food-eater infant) and the QSDP was fabulous for us this summer. DH did the math and realized that if we purchased everything a la carte, each meal would cost us approx. $75 @ meal, $10 @ snack and then the bottomless mugs. So that came to roughly $190 @day vs. $80 @ day - which is what we spent. And then we used any left over credits for food for the airport so that we didn't have to spend more $ then. It's time consuming, but definitely worth the number crunching to figure out if it's worthwhile. Good luck and have fun!

[shellynn24]

This was all very good info, thanks! I wanted to ask this question too, and I think I will crunch the numbers as suggested because I am not completely convinced that this plan would save money. I still like it because it is pre-paid and easy to use though.

[tony67]

This was all very good info, thanks! I wanted to ask this question too, and I think I will crunch the numbers as suggested because I am not completely convinced that this plan would save money. I still like it because it is pre-paid and easy to use though.

I did not expect this plan to save me money. I ran the numbers over and over and it did not add up to me (I forgot the tax). In the end I figured it would keep me from eating too many sit-down meals since I had paid for the QSDP. I also figured it would save me paying out tips on the DDP. There is also the convenience if you have a Disney Visa that it is added to your package and may qualify for the 0% for six months as part of the package.

I had planned to track everything down to the penny and do a detailed report, but after the third meal I stopped. It was obvious to me that the two meals alone where more than covering the $30 per day. Even the meals that I felt may be a waste of a cs credit still ended up being around $16 once the tax was added (Main street bakery).

I wish they would give you a total somewhere on your receipt instead of a $0 ticket so you could figure out the savings without a lot of effort.

One Tip – If you do not want a dessert with every meal get a bottle of water for dessert. This will save you using a snack credit for one in the parks. I had planned on doing this, but the desserts were actually very good so I ended up paying for water OOP or using the refillable mug for filtered water.