Talk me into the Counter Service DDP

[aubriee]

I'll be at PORS May 1st-9th and currently have the basic DDP booked. I'm thinking about canceling the ADRs I currently have and going with the QSDP. I enjoy the TS restaurants more than the CS restaurants, but like the idea of not being tied down to ADRs. Also I do not particularly care for hamburgers, sandwiches, or salads (even though I currently have an ADR for the Plaza, just because it's the only TS in MK that I've never tried). Since I haven't had a hamburger at WDW for several years and have no intention of doing so, I'd need to be able to find enough CS for 16 meals that have something besides burgers and fries. Just FYI: I had the DxDDP this past Sept and have it again for my upcoming Dec trip. Can someone who loves the DxDDP be satisfied with CS for nine days? I like the idea of not being tied to ADRs, but wonder if I'd be satisfied with the QSDDP,

The ADRs I have for the basic DDP right now is:

May 1st: Le Cellier 6:45pm
May 2nd: Mama Melrose Fantasmic pkg 4:40pm
May 3rd: Boma 6:45pm
May 4th: Kona 7:10pm
May 5th: Tutto Italia 7:05pm
May 6th: Kouzzina 6:20pm
May 7th: Plaza 11:00am (OOP)
Cape May 7:00pm
May 8th: Rose & Crown 7:05pm

Convince me why the QSDDP might be better than what I have.

[2Tiggies]

I'm not really sure ..... I love the QSDP because of the flexibility, I like having everything paid up before the trip and it just suits the way we eat better. We still do several TS meals every trip and just pay OOP. It just suits us a whole lot better.

In terms of value, I think it is a winner. I don't think you will be short of food. You still get 2 meals a day (as with the DDP, just these are both CS), and you also get 2 snacks instead of one. That extra snack actually makes quite a difference.

The reason I said I'm not really sure what to recommend for you is that you state in your opening lines that you prefer TS to CS. That said, I have never eaten a hamburger or hot dog at Disney .... EVER! There are so many CS places where you can get more choices. The only park I struggle with for food that suits my tastes (CS that is) is DHS and we tend to leave the park to eat - but that is personal preference, not necessarily that there is anything wrong with CS there.

Epcot, with Sunshine Seasons as well as all the World Showcase CS restaurants, you can have plenty variety.

MK: Columbia Harbor House, Pecos Bills, Cosmic Rays and Tomorrowland Noodle Terrace all have items that vary from the usual "CS style food".

AK: Yak & Yeti CS, Flame Tree Barbeque

DTD: Earl of Sandwich, Wolfgang Puck

There are also some really good resort CS

If you do end up deciding to go with the QSDP, you may want to consider keeping few of your favorite TS reservations and paying OOP for them. That is one way to keep a bit of a balance. I would decide this before cancelling anything.

I am a great fan of QSDP so I have to be careful not to be over enthusiastic ...! But we all like and want different things - hence the 3 options for the DDP (four, if you count no Plan as an option too!)

I am sure you will make the right choice!

[beroh2253]

Originally Posted by 2Tiggies

I'm not really sure ..... I love the QSDP because of the flexibility, I like having everything paid up before the trip and it just suits the way we eat better. We still do several TS meals every trip and just pay OOP. It just suits us a whole lot better.

In terms of value, I think it is a winner. I don't think you will be short of food. You still get 2 meals a day (as with the DDP, just these are both CS), and you also get 2 snacks instead of one. That extra snack actually makes quite a difference.

The reason I said I'm not really sure what to recommend for you is that you state in your opening lines that you prefer TS to CS. That said, I have never eaten a hamburger or hot dog at Disney .... EVER! There are so many CS places where you can get more choices. The only park I struggle with for food that suits my tastes (CS that is) is DHS and we tend to leave the park to eat - but that is personal preference, not necessarily that there is anything wrong with CS there.

Epcot, with Sunshine Seasons as well as all the World Showcase CS restaurants, you can have plenty variety.

MK: Columbia Harbor House, Pecos Bills, Cosmic Rays and Tomorrowland Noodle Terrace all have items that vary from the usual "CS style food".

AK: Yak & Yeti CS, Flame Tree Barbeque

DTD: Earl of Sandwich, Wolfgang Puck

There are also some really good resort CS

If you do end up deciding to go with the QSDP, you may want to consider keeping few of your favorite TS reservations and paying OOP for them. That is one way to keep a bit of a balance. I would decide this before cancelling anything.

I am a great fan of QSDP so I have to be careful not to be over enthusiastic ...! But we all like and want different things - hence the 3 options for the DDP (four, if you count no Plan as an option too!)

I am sure you will make the right choice!

This just about covers all of our CS favorites, we try to stay away from burgers and hotdogs also at Disney.
However at HS we do like the veggi pizza at Toy Story Pizza Planet.
At POR for breakfast the made to order omlet and Capt Cooks for the Tonga toast are additional plaes we like to go.

[TDC Nala]

Being a fan of the TS restaurants and going over 9 days, do you plan to pop into TS restaurants without a reservation when you feel like it, or just eat counter service? (Are you going solo? Then you have the option of eating at the TS bars and counter seating where reservations are not necessary, and many of the places serve the full menu there, but you can't eat there with the dining plan, so to take this route you'd have to be willing to go without a dining plan at all.) If you get the CS plan, you might fill up on the CS meals and not be in the mood for any TS - these are not small portions you get at CS unless you order the kids meals and you don't want to do that if you're on the adult dining plan.

I was on QSDP for one day and eating lunch at Tangierine Cafe (a whole platter to myself, plus baklava) meant I didn't want anything else for the rest of the day, so no dropping into a TS later. I did in fact want to eat at another restaurant that day but I couldn't handle any more food.

Personally I couldn't restrict myself to the counter service restaurants for nine days. I'd want some TS, so dropping into the TS would work, if it turned out the CS meals weren't so much food that I didn't have room for a TS.

Oh, and my opinion is that the Tomorrowland Noodle Terrace is so awful that I'd never eat there again. If it's open.

[aubriee]

Originally Posted by TDC Nala

Being a fan of the TS restaurants and going over 9 days, do you plan to pop into TS restaurants without a reservation when you feel like it, or just eat counter service? (Are you going solo? Then you have the option of eating at the TS bars and counter seating where reservations are not necessary, and many of the places serve the full menu there, but you can't eat there with the dining plan, so to take this route you'd have to be willing to go without a dining plan at all.)

Oh, and my opinion is that the Tomorrowland Noodle Terrace is so awful that I'd never eat there again. If it's open.

As a matter of fact I will be solo for my May trip. As a solo diner I have eaten at the bar in Flying Fish and at Jiko I was placed at the bar where they make the appetizers. I had an ADR each time and was also on the DDP. I ordered off the regular menu. Are they no longer allowing this. Can you walk into either of these without an ADR? I'd love to be able to walk into Citricos or one of the other Signature restaurants on a whim. Since I'll be at PORS, I was also considering some of the restaurants in DTD that don't take the DDP. I really like the ADRs I got though.

As far as Tomorrow Land Noodle Station I go to WDW just about every Sept/Oct, Dec, and May, plus will sometimes throw in another trip or two during the rest of the year. I have never seen the Noodle Station or El Pirata y el Perico either one open.

[TDC Nala]

Your seating at Flying Fish and Jiko was not in the bars, but the show kitchen seating, which is inside the restaurant. If you ate at the wine bar outside Jiko (which you can do) I do not believe they would take dining credits. Some of the other bars adjacent to restaurants (like the Territory Lounge) don't take dining credits.

As far as the show kitchens that are not separate bars, I found that with the exception of Jiko and California Grill people usually don't like to sit there - they want a table - so there is usually a seat to be had. Citricos has a pretty big counter, you could certainly try that.

[Nadjalu]

Personally I wouldn't do 9 days of quick service. JMO, but that is too many meals not to have a huge variety. Yes I know that there is a variety of QS places, but you may have to do some searching to do so. Say for instance you are at MK and have had their "variety" QS a couple days ago, how convient is it to then hop to another park or resort to find the variety you are wanting? Probably as hard as being "tied" down to TS.
The way I view it, is go with TS, make the ADRs and in the event I want to change I will try that day, if not I have something to fall back on.
JMO but I think you are setting yourself up for non enjoyment. If you are a TS person usually the trade off of not having them doesn't out weigh the freedom to choose on the spot.

[tony67]

I did 12 days in the QSDP and was surprised how good it was.
I only ended up eating one TS meal and one dinner at Blue Zoo. (I had planned 3 TS meals and 2 meals at the Swan and Dolphin). Just to be fair I also had appetizers at the Tequila bar in Mexico a few times as well as around 30 snacks at the F&W festival.

Based on what you are saying though I would not think it would work for you.
If you do not like sandwiches or salads it will be a problem.

Some of the best meals are the sandwiches and salads.
(places with great sandwiches are the bakery in Norway, Starring Roles in DHS and at Sunshine seasons in Epcot. Great salads at Sunshine seasons also - the Roasted Beet salad as well as the seared tuna salad.)
None the CS burgers are good now that they have replaced the buns IMO.

That said there are some great meals at Tangerine Cafe, Sunshine Seasons, WPE (Marketplace) and Cosmic Rays. The meals at Pepper market are ok, but not great. If I was not staying at CSR I would not make the trip to eat there anymore.

Also if you will not eat dessert with every meal then the QSDP loses some of its value IMO. You can always ask for a second bottle of water as dessert at most places.

The flexibility of this over the DDP was great. I don't like to book 180 days out.
I want to eat when I am hungry and I if I am having a good time I don’t want to leave where I am just to eat a meal.
I also liked not having to tip on meals I felt were overpriced and not great.

[aubriee]

OK, I looked at AllEars menus and guess I could do it, but I still wonder if I wouldn't miss my TS meals. I came up with:

5/1
L Yak & Yeti-egg rolls and fried rice (2 snack credits)
D Flame Tree BBQ-ribs, frozen lemonade

5/2
L Studio Catering Comp-grilled chicken, rice, black beans, cheesecake
D Toy Story Planet-pizza, rice crispy treat

5/3
L Sunshine Seasons-pork chop with 2 sides, butterfinger cheesecake
D Tangeriene Cafe-chicken/lamb shwarma platter, baklava

5/4
L Kringla Bakeri-soup, sandwich, school bread
D Lotus Blossom Cafe-shrimp stir fried rice, ginger ice cream

5/5
L Boulangerie Patisserie-cheese plate, Napoleon
D Columbia Harbour House-chicken/fish platter, apple crisp

5/6
L Sunshine Seasons-1/2 chicken with 2 sides, fruit tulip
D Mara-African Stew, zebra domes

5/7
L WGP Express-Rigatini with chicken bolognese, creme brulee
D PORS food court-create your own pasta, magic cookie bar

5/8
L Cosmic Rays-1/2 chicken/rib combo, chocolate cake
D Pepper Market-steak, oreo cake

5/9
L Sunshine Seasons-Asian food, strawberry shortcake

What do you think? Just don't know if the above CS meals sound as good as: Le Cellier, Mama Melrose Fantasmic pkg, Boma, Kona, Tutto Italia, Kouzzina, Cape May, and Rose & Crown that I already have and if they are worth the freedom of not having ADRs to get to. Of course, since I am usually on the DDP when I go down there, I could substitute a couple of these with TS restaurants that I don't usually get to go to because they don't take the DDP (T Rex, Bongos, Portobello Yacht Club?) I'd be wasting the credits though, as I don't particularly care for breakfast, so wouldn't have an opportunity to use them.

[Tiger926]

We have pretty much eaten everywhere on property (except for a few Sigs/dinner shows) by using regular DP and Dx many times, as well as DDE/TIW.

That being said, we do our spreadsheets each trip as our needs change, price increases, etc. This trip, we are trying to be more budget friendly, and added the QSDP to our meal pricing spreadsheet. Although it looks like it would save a bit of money, we just can't do that many CS meals for 14 days! No way!

There are many good CS places, but we do much prefer TS meals. We used to do 2 TS meals per day, but our very active baby son does not allow that, so that is why we looked at the QSDP. For long trips, there is no way we can do that - we have food sensitivities/allergies as well, and we find the CS meals are lacking in many areas. The kids' meals are totally not good at all - we don't eat fast food, drink pop or eat junk food around here either. The QSDP is still limited, and is too expensive. For just a few more dollars per day for us, as we have 2 children under 9, we can get a TS meal.

I think so much depends upon what time of year you go, how you eat, ages of people in your party, diet, etc.

I wish you luck. For us, the QSDP is not going to be a good fit on its own. We were batting around the idea of cooking breakfast in our DVC villa, and then eating CS meals for lunch and dinner, but again, too many CS meals in a 2 week period.

Best of luck and happy eating, Tiger