My silly QSDP ?s

[brat5063]

My silly QSDP questions. I'm tring to see if it is worth it for us. We are a party of 2 adults and 2 kids (4 and 8).

I'm confused about taxes. So a kids plan cost me 11.99. Do I pay taxes on the 11.99 when I purchase the meal plan? Most kids meals seem to cost 4.99, what's the tax percentage for food there. Kid wise I think we would make money on the kids. I see us eatting 2 QS a day and them getting a snack a day.

I'm not convinced yet it's a deal for adults.

How much would it cost to buy a refillable mug OP?

Thanks

 

[TDC Nala]

Taxes are included in the plan price.

Refillable mugs now cost $14.49 plus tax.

It really isn't that much of a deal for adults. The only way it becomes a real deal for adults is if they would purchase a dessert with every meal anyway. Especially since in 2012 they lowered the snack allotment per night. Unfortunately you can't just get it for the kids, you have to get the plan for everybody.

 

[ses1230]

Tax is already included in the price of the dining plan.

I believe a refillable mug is around $15 OOP.

 

[smitch425]

My silly QSDP questions. I'm tring to see if it is worth it for us. We are a party of 2 adults and 2 kids (4 and 8).

I'm confused about taxes. So a kids plan cost me 11.99. Do I pay taxes on the 11.99 when I purchase the meal plan? Most kids meals seem to cost 4.99, what's the tax percentage for food there. Kid wise I think we would make money on the kids. I see us eatting 2 QS a day and them getting a snack a day.

I'm not convinced yet it's a deal for adults.

How much would it cost to buy a refillable mug OP?

Thanks

We get the QS plan and LOVE it. It really doesn't save you much money for adults, but the way I decided on it is by doing a sample day for a couple of different parks and seeing what we would eat vs. the cost of the plan per day. What I found is that I was basically getting desserts and snacks for free. The way I see it, I might as well be getting dessert if I would be paying the same for the meal anyway. The ease of having it all paid for and telling the kids they can get whatever they want is great. It is not ideal for everyone, but we love it.

 

[havoc315]

The value of the qsdp lives and dies on the subjective value of the refillable mugs.
The average price of a qs meal is about $14-- $9-13 for breakfast, and $15-19ish for lunch/dinner.
So on just Qs and snack --- it's not even that easy to break even.

Throw in the mugs, on top of approximately breaking even -
Some people find the mugs worthless (don't need gallons of soda at the resort). Other families insist that the mug is indispensable for every member of the family. Thus, if you do drink gallons of soda and coffee in the resort food court, the included mug turns into a savings.
If you don't plan to use the mug lots, it's very hard to realize much in terms of savings.

 

[Faldred]

For your OOP comparisons, the sales tax rate on OOP purchases would be 6.5% (7% at the value resorts, which are in a different tax jurisdiction).

 

[shannon006]

We went back and forth on this one. Especially this year since they have reduced the snack to 1. What we did to decide if we should get it is this. We love having our mug, and use it daily at home, so we knew we would get this. We divided the cost of that by the # of nights we are staying.

mug 3.75
snack4.00
qs meal 10.00 + drink 2.5 + desert 3.6=16.10x2=32.20

so 40.05 would have been spent So a 5.05 savings on an average meal.

We also love to eat at Wolfgang Pucks Express at DTD, which our meal typically would cost us 26.00 pp.

Keep in mind that the qs meal may cost a bit more or a bit less depending on what you are getting. Some meals at the parks can be as inexpensive as 7.69 to as high as 14.99. It is nice to have it prepaid, but others choose to buy a disney gift card and buy what they would want and see the difference.

Normally we are not desert people, thus we do share our meals generally. We are not big fans of the chocolate/carrot cake, but other places have great options for desert. Sunshine Seasons at Epcot, Starring Rolls at HS, Flametree bbcue at AK, Columbia Harbor House at MK.

DH and I are going on a 4n/5d trip without kids. For us we will usually share qs meals and eat a bit more often, trying new things. We especially love to do this at Epcot. Our plan may not work for everyone, but we love it. We get to try so many different things, as we generally will share our snacks as well. If we eat qs at a resort, we will always get water for our drink because we have our mugs, and then we can bring the water with us to the park. I hope this helps

 

[havoc315]

We went back and forth on this one. Especially this year since they have reduced the snack to 1. What we did to decide if we should get it is this. We love having our mug, and use it daily at home, so we knew we would get this. We divided the cost of that by the # of nights we are staying.

mug 3.75
snack4.00
qs meal 10.00 + drink 2.5 + desert 3.6=16.10x2=32.20

so 40.05 would have been spent So a 5.05 savings on an average meal.

Really good illustration, broken down simply.
As you demonstrate -- Because you *want* the mug, the mug is the bulk of your savings. Of your $5 savings, $3.75 is the mug.
And some things for others to remember --
While there are some CS meals that would cost more-- Such as Wolfgang Puck Express --- The vast majority of CS meals would cost less.
CS breakfast entrees tend to be in the $5-8 range, and they do not include dessert. And even most CS lunch/dinners -- Most entrees at most locations are under $10.
Finally, many snacks are really in the $2-$3 range... I tend to use $3.50 as an average as opposed to $4. Yes, it's nitpicking, but savings are so tiny, that every penny matters.

But I do agree with this math -- If using you are CS for lunch and dinner, AND you want a dessert with every meal, AND you really want the mugs -- Then you can save about $5.
If you didn't want the mugs, or skip some desserts, or use some credits for breakfast-- Then savings may be negligible, and may even be significantly cheaper to pay OOP.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Whether or not it is a value for someone is so subjective. Personally we haven't paid for it since the first time we got the reg. DDP in Jan. 05 so we haven't had to make the decision as to pay OOP or pay for a DDP.

However, as PP said, one of my favorite things is not having to say no to DD12 when she wants to get something be it a certain meal or a snack. I love not having to say no. Now that the QSDP only inc. 1 SC per day it has really cut down on the value of it but it can still be a good value.

We too get the refillable mugs on each trip. However our typical trip is 9-10 days so on a per day basis it's less than $2.

Even when we get it for free we (mostly me) do pay attention to the cost of snacks we use our SC for. And now that you only get 1 per day it's even more important. No more using it for regular beverages. It's just not a good value. Last time we went during F&WF so we used many SC getting tastes. They weren't always the best value but we did have 2 per person a day.

There are plenty of snacks in the $4+ range (plus tax). Check out my 2012 Confirmed Snacks thread for a complete listing (link in siggy). I also have a link in my siggy for my review of our CS meals on QSDP.

Hope this helps.

 

[havoc315]

There are plenty of snacks in the $4+ range (plus tax). Check out my 2012 Confirmed Snacks thread for a complete listing (link in siggy). I also have a link in my siggy for my review of our CS meals on QSDP.
Hope this helps.

There is no question that there are indeed quite a few snacks that are over $4. (Especially during F&W).
But the question is, in evaluating the value of the plan, figuring out your average snack price. While there are some snacks over $4, most are in the $3 range, with tons of them being under $3. So I do believe most people are over-estimating the value when they use $4 as the average. (That might very well be the average for some people though).

You also brought up a "value" that I often see -- The freedom to say "yes" to your child about snacks.

Personally, I truly don't understand that argument. When it comes to a $3-$4 snack, my "yes" or "no" never has anything to do with money. Not like the snack is coming for free, you just happened to pre-pay it. If they didn't eat their lunch, or if we are about to sit down to a meal, I'm not going to let them get a sweet snack. If they are already loaded up on sugar, I'll say "no" to another snack. On the other hand, if they want a banana as a mid-day snack, I'll say "yes."
My dd has requested cotton candy on our next trip. I made a deal with her about keeping her room clean -- So my yes or no, will depend on how well she keeps her room for the next month, not on the price of cotton candy.

 

[Dizneydaz]

There is no question that there are indeed quite a few snacks that are over $4. (Especially during F&W).
But the question is, in evaluating the value of the plan, figuring out your average snack price. While there are some snacks over $4, most are in the $3 range, with tons of them being under $3. So I do believe most people are over-estimating the value when they use $4 as the average. (That might very well be the average for some people though).

You also brought up a "value" that I often see -- The freedom to say "yes" to your child about snacks.

Personally, I truly don't understand that argument. When it comes to a $3-$4 snack, my "yes" or "no" never has anything to do with money. Not like the snack is coming for free, you just happened to pre-pay it. If they didn't eat their lunch, or if we are about to sit down to a meal, I'm not going to let them get a sweet snack. If they are already loaded up on sugar, I'll say "no" to another snack. On the other hand, if they want a banana as a mid-day snack, I'll say "yes."
My dd has requested cotton candy on our next trip. I made a deal with her about keeping her room clean -- So my yes or no, will depend on how well she keeps her room for the next month, not on the price of cotton candy.

I wasn't questioning using $4 as an average I was only pointing it since you may want to pay OOP for cheaper snacks and keep your CS for the more expensive ones.

Sorry you don't understand about being able to say "yes" without thinking about the cost. I guess it's just a personal issue. And that doesn't mean I let her have a snack right after a meal if she didn't eat it. I'm still the mom and don't allow her to fill up on snacks.

But that's what great about these boards-everyone can voice their opinion.