qsdp vs $1000 Gc

[TheCampbells]

Going to Disney is the following for 5 days on the plan

4 year old-- doesn't eat much, would share meals

11 year old and 15 year old--- loves to eat and have snacks

My mom--- eats 3 small meals a day probably a snack

Dh and myself-- probably snack for breakfast, lunch, dinner ,, then depends on the day if we have more or less


I have the QSDP plus crystal palace breakfast and chef mickey which is about $340 for the two of them.

We get $1000 GC because we have two rooms. I plan on using $340 for the TS leaving us $660 for extras. Now I know we CAN spend that much on junk around Disney but don't need to.

Is it better to keep the qsdp so we don't go over budget in cash and maybe end up with extra on the GC or could I get away with eating plus the TS for the $1000 and then have the cash amount of $850 that the dining plan would of cost for extras?

I haven't been in years so I'm having a hard time figuring out what is best. I don't want to run out of money if I don't do the QS as I'm on a TIGHT budget. I've looked at prices on the menus but you can never truly know what you feel like eating until you get there. What did you all decide to do?

[Rosiekins]

One of the reasons I like the dining plan so much is that all my food is already paid for and all I have to do is tip (as you are on the QSDP you don't have to worry about that). I really think you will feel more relaxed with the plan, you know the food has been budgeted and paid for. It will let you relax and enjoy your trip more if you arn't worried over running out of food money. Just my opinion but I know it is a huge worry off my chest to just have it taken care of.

[danceintherain]

I think you should go ahead with the Dining Plan....it seems that you would almost definitely go over without it, even with the $1000 Gift Card.

Here's another option....could you put one room on the Dining Plan and the other not on the Dining Plan? You could even do 4 of you on the Dining Plan and 2 off...or whatever works financially.
You just subtract the $340 that you'll spend on Table Service from the $1000, which would leave you with $660 (you already know this)
Then you determine how much you think you'll spend on incidentals...let's say about $300 ($50 per person)
Which leaves you with $360...If you put two adults ($32 DP people) and your 4 year old ($10 DP person) as pay out of pocket people on one room and assume their meals would cost approximately $360, which is what the Dining Plan would have costed...or you could do one less person if you want to have a little more wiggle room.... Then you'll have fewer people that could possibly be going over the Gift Card amount instead of getting to your last day and having to buy multiple meals for the whole group, or trying to spend money on things you don't need just to use up the Gift Card.
This way you would have about half of your meals paid for with the Dining Plan in advance, and the other half you could use a Gift Card for....Obviously, the people who don't have Dining Plan credits attached to their room key would be the ones that were carrying around the Gift Card, or you could set up your room charge and use the Gift Card to pay off the balance later on.

Of course this would only work if you still have the ability of moving people around in rooms, or already have suitable people attached to various rooms. I suppose also I'm not sure about having one room on the Dining Plan and another room not if the reservations are attached, but its at least worth looking into.

[ancestry]

I'd be torn. I do like the dining plan and like having everything paid for upfront.

However, we do not buy souvenirs, etc. so the only thing we would have to use that git card on would be food. Because of the gift card, if it were me, I would cancel the dining plan an use the card for food.

Another possibility is to put one of the rooms on the dining plan and let the other room use the gift cards for their food -- i.e. split the difference. :)

[squirrel]

Are you allowed to use the Gift Card to upgrade tickets? If you are then drop everyones tickets to less days and use the Gift Card to upgrade them.

[rndmr2]

DH and I are going in May, staying at POR with the $500 gift card. We were going to just use the gift card for meals but we decided that if we wanted to do even just a couple TS meals it would eat that GC pretty darn quick! So we are going to do the QS dining Plan and then use the GC for TS meals (won't do these every day) and then maybe a souvenir or two.

[gigi1313]

Are you allowed to use the Gift Card to upgrade tickets? If you are then drop everyones tickets to less days and use the Gift Card to upgrade them.

*THAT* is an awesome suggestion!!! i like it! great way to get the most bang for disney's buck ;)

thanks! :)

[squirrel]

Glad it will work for this promo. I haven't looked into it as I like going during Free Dining.

[scanmom]

to book the GC promo with a 1 day pass, and it won't let you. the requirements of this special are that you purchase at least a 5 day pass.

[squirrel]

That's too bad. I guess it works if you want hoppers, a longer ticket or WPAM.