First Timer QS Dining Plan

[tndisney5]

Typically we do the DDP, but noticed the last few visits we didn't like the "schedule" and being tied down with definite lunch or dinner TS reservations.

We usually do not park hop. My initial thoughts about the dining plan was to do the QS and park hop to Epcot WS to eat dinner

Looking for feedback from those who have done visits on the QS plan. Regret it? Like it? I've always heard not to do it because of the lack of choices--mainly burgers and sandwiches.

 

[sharonabe]

We went for six days with the QS plan, and I only had a burger one time, and I wanted that one. Peruse the menus at allearsnet.com or wdwinfo.com and do a little planning. You can eat very well on the QS plan with just a little research.

 

[Kirk]

Planning on straight up plain Disney Dinning Plan next month - One planned TS, One spontaneous QS, a snack and either a meal in the Villa or a planned Show/Signature meal out of pocket.

 

[tndisney5]

We went for six days with the QS plan, and I only had a burger one time, and I wanted that one. Peruse the menus at allearsnet.com or wdwinfo.com and do a little planning. You can eat very well on the QS plan with just a little research.

Any favorites within the parks?

 

[jon18uk]

If you are paying for the quick service plan you may find it hard to break even if you like salad etc.

QSDP is $42. Snack is worth about $5. So each QS meal then needs to be $18.50. Desserts are around $4 and drinks $3 so every time you order an entree under $11 you lose money. But of course on the $15 entrees you save money.

And there are lots of entrees that aren't sandwiches.
Chicken and ribs platter at Flame a Tree BBQ
Roast Chicken at Cosmic Rays.
Braised pork at be our guest.
Sharwama platter at tangerine cafe (morocco).

Epcot is great for non-sandwich quick service with world showcase countries offering lots of choice and the sunshine seasons food court in the land pavilion too.

 

[sharonabe]

Any favorites within the parks?

EP: Tangerienne, Sunshine Seasons, and Katsura Grill
HS: Fairfax Fare, Backlot Express
AK: Flame Tree, Yak n Yeti QS (but the new Harambe Market looks wonderful, and I would head there first)
MK: Columbia Harbour House, Pinnochio Village. Be Our Guest wasn't open yet when we were there, and I would use a QS credit there for sure.

 

[HopperFan]

Did it for 12 days ......
I kept every receipt and calculated it out and we broke even within about $3. BUT in reality we lost money because we don't buy refillable mugs, we don't drink sodas with our meals (prefer ice water), we don't get desserts with our meals at QS (2x a day in plan). Once we added up vs what we would have ordered we lost money. We would have been better off paying OOP.

Run numbers based on your eating style and see if it works for you.

 

[tndisney5]

Anyone have feedback on Pizza Planet? We love HS (or whatever it will be renamed ) but find that if we don't eat TS we have a hard time choosing a spot.

 

[PoohsHunnyBee]

Anyone have feedback on Pizza Planet? We love HS (or whatever it will be renamed ) but find that if we don't eat TS we have a hard time choosing a spot.

Haven't tried Pizza Planet but it definitely has a poor reputation. I like Starring Rolls' sandwiches for a nice QS lunch. Boardwalk Bakery is an often-recommended QS if you don't mind leaving the park for a walk.

 

[sharonabe]

Pizza Planet is the same Disney pizza that you will get at most of the pizza QS places. It's not bad, and it tastes like pizza, but it's kind of like a frozen pizza you get at the store and cook in your oven.

 

[ronnie2hotty]

Anyone have feedback on Pizza Planet? We love HS (or whatever it will be renamed ) but find that if we don't eat TS we have a hard time choosing a spot.

I actually really enjoy Pizza Planet. Is it DiGiorno quality pizza? Probably, but hey, I like DiGiorno's pizza.

I actually like all of the QS options in HS (except ABC Commissary, I don't have an opinion because I haven't eaten there). I never understood all the hate HS QS places get.

 

[mickeygirl78]

We did 14 nights of the quick service plan last september and we never felt like we were eating the same food each day. There are a lot of options if you take the time to check out menus before you go. One of my favorites is Wolfgang Puck Express in DTD, it's like getting a TS meal for a CS credit. We are staying at a moderate this September and have the free regular dining plan and well we love the sit down restaurants we miss the flexability of the CS plan. Here are my favorites:

MK - Be Our Guest (breakfast and lunch are CS)
EP - Sunshine Seasons
HS - Backlot Express (love the buffalo nuggets)
AK - Flame Tree & Restaurantosaurous
DTD - Wolfgang Puck

Depending what hotel you are at, I love the create your own pasta stations, those are great!

 

[tndisney5]

EP: Tangerienne, Sunshine Seasons, and Katsura Grill
HS: Fairfax Fare, Backlot Express
AK: Flame Tree, Yak n Yeti QS (but the new Harambe Market looks wonderful, and I would head there first)
MK: Columbia Harbour House, Pinnochio Village. Be Our Guest wasn't open yet when we were there, and I would use a QS credit there for sure.

Thank you for the park specific recs. We likely won't park hop, so we will be looking to either eat at the parks or our resort (CB).

 

[tndisney5]

We did 14 nights of the quick service plan last september and we never felt like we were eating the same food each day. There are a lot of options if you take the time to check out menus before you go. One of my favorites is Wolfgang Puck Express in DTD, it's like getting a TS meal for a CS credit. We are staying at a moderate this September and have the free regular dining plan and well we love the sit down restaurants we miss the flexability of the CS plan. Here are my favorites:

MK - Be Our Guest (breakfast and lunch are CS)
EP - Sunshine Seasons
HS - Backlot Express (love the buffalo nuggets)
AK - Flame Tree & Restaurantosaurous
DTD - Wolfgang Puck

Depending what hotel you are at, I love the create your own pasta stations, those are great!

We do happen to LOVE Wolfgang Puck. We tend to always use a QS credit there no matter what plan we are on. I think we may give Restauratasaurous a try next visit. What's your fav on the menu there?

 

[mydisneykids]

We usually do the regular dining plan but last summer opted for the QS plan as it was during the summer and thought we wouldn't want to eat as much with the heat.
We only had burgers once. Our favorite place to eat was Epcot and loved the idea that everyone could eat what they wanted. One day my daughters got dinner at the sushi CS in Japan, husband and son got platters in Tagerine Cafe and I got my sandwich in France (my favorite) and all met in Morrocco as there were a ton of empty tables and ate together. It was great. The family LOVES the fish and chips in the UK as well. We also like Sunshine Seasons.
We also enjoy Flame Tree in AK, we are some of the few that enjoy Pizza Planet, it is usually a regular for us. Not like the good pizza we get in NY but good.
We are doing a split stay next week and decided to get QS plan for the first few nights and DP for the second. Figure it will be a good balance. While on the QS we are doing lunch at Be Our Guest. Great use of a QS we love it. I also enjoy the flatbreads at Pinocchio Village House.

 

[tndisney5]

We usually do the regular dining plan but last summer opted for the QS plan as it was during the summer and thought we wouldn't want to eat as much with the heat.
We only had burgers once. Our favorite place to eat was Epcot and loved the idea that everyone could eat what they wanted. One day my daughters got dinner at the sushi CS in Japan, husband and son got platters in Tagerine Cafe and I got my sandwich in France (my favorite) and all met in Morrocco as there were a ton of empty tables and ate together. It was great. The family LOVES the fish and chips in the UK as well. We also like Sunshine Seasons.
We also enjoy Flame Tree in AK, we are some of the few that enjoy Pizza Planet, it is usually a regular for us. Not like the good pizza we get in NY but good.
We are doing a split stay next week and decided to get QS plan for the first few nights and DP for the second. Figure it will be a good balance. While on the QS we are doing lunch at Be Our Guest. Great use of a QS we love it. I also enjoy the flatbreads at Pinocchio Village House.

Glad to hear you're a pizza planet fan! It's on the list to try out

 

[mickeygirl78]

The chicken Blt salad at restaurantasaurous is really good. The toppings bar is also great for the burgers.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Glad to hear you're a pizza planet fan! It's on the list to try out

Pizza Planet is a must do for us each trip. We always go in August and appreciate the A/C and seating (DD's like to play video games too). The pizza is decent and it also comes with a nice caesar salad and cappuccino cupcake (huge, delicious!). They often have specialty cupcakes as a dessert option too (last summer we got Olaf cupcakes). I actually enjoy the meatball sub too.

 

[pittsburghmom]

We have used the QS on all our trips. It works great for us, as we don't want to do sit down meals. I have never eaten a burger at Disney. Some of my personal favorites are:
At the MK: Braised Pork or Roast Beef Sandwich @ BOG, Shrimp @ Colombia Harbour House, Flatbreads @ Pinocchio Village Haus
AK: BBQ ribs & Chicken @ Flame Tree, Beef Lo Mein @Yak & Yeti
EP: Swarma platter @Tangerine Cafe, Nachos @La Cantina
HS: Pressed Turkey Club @Backlot Express

Plus I enjoyed several create-your-own salads back at the resort food court....huge portions with fresh, quality ingredients.

 

[Simba77]

There's definitely more than run-of-the-mill burgers and sandwiches, but you have to know where to look. The best thing to do is look through all the quick service dining location menus. The Disney site itself is probably the best place to check for the most current menus, and then check here for additional info/details or google for images of the meals. Many of the QS menus have been updated with what I find to be more interesting/unique options over the past 2-3 years, and some even more recently.

This lists all the places that accept QS credits (then you can just click on the restaurant name and then there's a "menu" link on the right):
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/#/2015-quick-service-dining-plan/

Downtown Disney has some great stuff, too. Cookes of Dublin, Earl of Sandwich, in addition to the already-mentioned Wolfgang Puck. Earl of Sandwich has some amazing sandwiches.

Contempo Cafe @ Contemporary has some good QS offerings, too (like pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy). It's not unreasonable to take a quick trip over there when you're at the MK, then monorail back over afterwards. Any of the monorail resorts, really; they all have some very good QS options, so you're not limited to the parks all the time.

At DHS I'd recommend Starring Rolls (nice big sandwiches, good dessert selection) or Studio Catering Co (pulled beef brisket sandwich, deli sandwich with Smoked Ham, Salami, Pepperoni, Provolone, Creamy Caesar Pesto, Lettuce, Diced Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, Pepperoncini Peppers and Balsamic Glaze). Even though these are "just" sandwiches, like Earl of Sandwich, they're not your typical stuff.