Anyone eat a 3rd meal OOP while on the DDP?

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Does anyone end up paying OOP for more food/snacks for a third meal in your day?

I'm debating over the free QSDP (and paying OOP for 6 TS meals) or upgrading to the regular plan next September. We will be there for 14 nights at POP. It'll be me, DH and 4 kids ages 9 (almost 10),6,4, and almost 3.

Cereal in the room will not last long in our tummies. The kids will be starving by 10:30. Some meals/snacks will be sharable (at least amongst me and the kids), but we are also sharing 5 meal/snack credits for 6 people.

If we do the QSDP and pay OOP for 6 must do TS reservations + tip it'll cost about $200 more than upgrading to the regular DDP.

 

[kristenhh]

I have 4 kids as well and we usually do the regular dining plan. We have something small in the room for breakfast, like a poptart or cereal. Then we have an early CS lunch, at 10:30 or 11:00. This beats the crowds, and we are hungry by that time. Then we have a TS for dinner, and try and get that earlier too. We eat plenty, and this has worked pretty well for us. Good luck!

 

[havoc315]

When doing your math, remember that you need to pay OOP for tips, whether on the plan or not. Somehow, I suspect that 6 TS meals would be cheaper than upgrading for 14 nights, but you'll need to do the math. (Plus, consider that each TS meal comes with 1 dessert per person, but perhaps if you were paying OOP, you wouldn't all get dessert. And question whether you would get the more expensive entrees, or the cheaper ones. I found that TS credits can be valuable for expensive entrees, but could practically be a waste if you end up with cheaper entrees).

 

[2Tiggies]

When doing your math, remember that you need to pay OOP for tips, whether on the plan or not. Somehow, I suspect that 6 TS meals would be cheaper than upgrading for 14 nights, but you'll need to do the math. (Plus, consider that each TS meal comes with 1 dessert per person, but perhaps if you were paying OOP, you wouldn't all get dessert. And question whether you would get the more expensive entrees, or the cheaper ones. I found that TS credits can be valuable for expensive entrees, but could practically be a waste if you end up with cheaper entrees).

This was the basis for my decision. I am also going for 14 nights and doing QSDP. I booked 7 TS restauarants which I am paying OOP for. I never eat dessert with a meal and I don't eat big meals so my OOP bills, aside from buffets, are going to be much lower than the equivalent value of the full meal if I was on the regular DDP.

The thought of making and being tied down to 14 ADRs was the big deciding factor. It is the very reason I like the QSDP. I also have some non DDP restaurants booked but I have gift certificates which will absorb some of the cost on those as well.

You also need to look at whether the regular DDP will be enough food for you or whether you need to factor in OOP costs (you have one snack a day as opposed to 2 with the QSDP, one of which can be used for breakfast). Of course the size and ages of your party are also a factor. It is only me and an 8 year old so our OOP meals come in fairly reasonably.

FWIW, it was a break even on 6 TS meals OOP vs upgrading to the DDP. But if we want to cancel one or two for whatever reason, we aren't stuck looking for a place we like to get our meal for the day. We still have all those CS meals to use.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

When doing your math, remember that you need to pay OOP for tips, whether on the plan or not. Somehow, I suspect that 6 TS meals would be cheaper than upgrading for 14 nights, but you'll need to do the math. (Plus, consider that each TS meal comes with 1 dessert per person, but perhaps if you were paying OOP, you wouldn't all get dessert. And question whether you would get the more expensive entrees, or the cheaper ones. I found that TS credits can be valuable for expensive entrees, but could practically be a waste if you end up with cheaper entrees).

The upgrade is $22/night for 2 adults (no upgrade charge for the kids) so it's $308, plus tips which I calculated at about $200 (based on meal costs and automatic 18% tip for a party of 6, plus we'd do Hoop Dee Doo which has not extra tip). But the 6 meals (mostly buffets so the cheaper meal/no dessert doesn't apply) for 2A/3C is about $700 (including tips).

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

This was the basis for my decision. I am also going for 14 nights and doing QSDP. I booked 7 TS restauarants which I am paying OOP for. I never eat dessert with a meal and I don't eat big meals so my OOP bills, aside from buffets, are going to be much lower than the equivalent value of the full meal if I was on the regular DDP.

The thought of making and being tied down to 14 ADRs was the big deciding factor. It is the very reason I like the QSDP. I also have some non DDP restaurants booked but I have gift certificates which will absorb some of the cost on those as well.

You also need to look at whether the regular DDP will be enough food for you or whether you need to factor in OOP costs (you have one snack a day as opposed to 2 with the QSDP, one of which can be used for breakfast). Of course the size and ages of your party are also a factor. It is only me and an 8 year old so our OOP meals come in fairly reasonably.

FWIW, it was a break even on 6 TS meals OOP vs upgrading to the DDP. But if we want to cancel one or two for whatever reason, we aren't stuck looking for a place we like to get our meal for the day. We still have all those CS meals to use.

I too am worried about being tied to a TS everyday (but want to eat more than just quick meals for 2 weeks), but may welcome the "down time" out of the heat? Plus there are more than 6 TS places we'd like to try, and since this may be our only trip (at least for another 5 years) I want to fully enjoy our options.

Then again, we are coming from the west coast so our tummies will be 3 hours behind. I can see (at least for the first couple of days) some extra late night meals. Where extra CS & snack credits may come in handy....

 

[2Tiggies]

I too am worried about being tied to a TS everyday (but want to eat more than just quick meals for 2 weeks), but may welcome the "down time" out of the heat? Plus there are more than 6 TS places we'd like to try, and since this may be our only trip (at least for another 5 years) I want to fully enjoy our options.

Then again, we are coming from the west coast so our tummies will be 3 hours behind. I can see (at least for the first couple of days) some extra late night meals. Where extra CS & snack credits may come in handy....

Lol, we have the opposite problem with meal time - coming across the Atlantic from the East, we are 5 hours ahead in our tummy clocks. So it isn't the late night rumblies, its the 2 am ones.

From reading your posts I get the feeling that like me, you are trying to weigh up a happy balance between cost AND practicality.

Look at it this way: Your calculations look correct to me ($200 extra by paying OOP). Is flexibility in your day (not having 14 days of ADRs in a row) worth $200 to you? It would be to me, but your answer may be different.

Now take your $200 extra that you are paying by NOT upgrading and think whether you will need to dip into some of that money if you DO upgrade. For example, you have an almost 10 year old. Does that child have a healthy appetite? Do you think you would need to use a snack credit now and then to supplement a meal if he/she is a little more hungry (kids meals are not that big for an older child). Would you be happy to bring some boxed cereal for your room if you did the DDP to tide you over so you don't waste a whole lot of your snack credits per day on breakfast items? For me this is where QSDP came in handy. A snack credit gets me a fruit bowl every morning. It's all I need to get going, but I do need something to eat before heading out, and so does me DD who is a better breakfast eater than I am.

So say you went with the DDP and saved yourself $200 by upgrading. What I am asking is how much of that $200 do you think you would spend on the third meal a day?

 

[KELLY]

Well we did the math if we still can do 4-5 ts meals over a 10 day period and still be ahead in the $$.

So we are sticking with the QSDP doing the following ts meal. I'm Still debating on the 4th. Even if we do the 4th we will be saving 150.00. That is with everything factored in and the mugs.
Garden Grill
Arkershus breakfest
Crystal Palace Breakfest

 

[worm761]

We did the DDP last trip and ended up paying OOP for a few meals. Some were planned that way (RFC and TREX) but others were not. We just ran out of credits. I have learned over the course a few trips that breakfast in the room just does not work for our family. I don't like cold cereal for one. Second, there really isn't any room for eating so you end up eating on beds. Not good with kids. So, we end up at the food court or buying something in the parks. This next trip we are getting the DxDDP. We enjoy sitting down for a TS lunch and getting out of the heat. We don't like going all the way back to the resort for a rest so this gives us one. We are going to do a few character breakfasts but most will be counter service at the resort, then TS for lunch every day and TS for dinner most nights.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

We did the DDP last trip and ended up paying OOP for a few meals. Some were planned that way (RFC and TREX) but others were not. We just ran out of credits. I have learned over the course a few trips that breakfast in the room just does not work for our family. I don't like cold cereal for one. Second, there really isn't any room for eating so you end up eating on beds. Not good with kids. So, we end up at the food court or buying something in the parks.

I'm not a cold cereal person either, or a sweets in the morning person (muffins, pastries, etc. that are easy to keep in the hotel room). Thank you for pointing out room size! I totally didn't think of that. We tried to eat breakfast in our room on our December trip to DLR and I had 4 kids sitting/standing at the desk trying to eat...lets just say the housekeeper earned her tips!

 

[KevGuy]

We use the regular DDP and usually end up paying OOP for at least 1-2 breakfasts such as Donalds at AK. We also always pay OOP for the Hoop de DOO (my wife and kids favorite) so we can be up front right in the middle of the show. Then we usually go to a signature resturant later in the week such as Narcooses with the extra TS credit from HDD night.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We have had the DDP the last few trips, after a few days the kids were begging to skip meals for more park time, and DH was on board cause of all the tips. Ater that we decided to get the QSDP this year and nw have it free. We are staying 10 nights and wanted 3 maybe 4 meals, 2 dinners, a breakfast and a lunch (we may cut the lunch.) Anyway, we liked the idea of extra snacks and the mugs and decided that while it might be about the same to upgrade as it is to pay OOP, we don't want to be tied down as much, we want the extra snacks and mugs, plus won't be paying so much in tips. Also, like you, we won't be getting dessert and stuff, we will drink water, have our meal and maybe share a dessert...maybe, or just use a snack credit when we want something. Anyway, we decided not to upgrade for those reasons and the kids are thrilled!

I just realized I got involved in the thread and didn't answer your OP. We have not in the past because we often share large meals at CS placces, so we use a few at breakfast, a few at lunch and a few at dinner. If we want more we get more, if we want less we get less, in the past we had extra credits at the end to fill our cooler for the ride home so I suspect we will again this trip, if not I am not opposed to paying OOP since we saved so much with free dining.

 

[Minniemouse07]

We generally get the DDP but went in June on the kids stay/play/dine free promotion which included the kids having free QSP (dh and I had to pay for it). It would have cost us about $200 to upgrade to the DDP and we decided against it... which was a mistake on our part.

We easily paid that in TWO out of our four meals and should have opted for the upgrade. We like our TS meals too much to not schedule any and there were too many snack credits for us to use. I had to burn 15 of them on rice krispy mickey heads at the food court before getting on DME the last day!

It definitely depends on your family's habits but QS definitely does NOT work for us!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.There are just too many TS we want to try, especially since this may be our only trip to WDW. I think we are going to go with the DDP and if I need to pay OOP for a few food court breakfasts or snacks, it'll all work out to be about the same price. At least this way the majority will be paid in advance.

 

[Chelley00]

We do muffins, protein or granola bars, fruit etc in the room for breakfast, eat an early lunch (beat the crowds!) then an early dinner TS meal. We are out in the parks while everyone is doing their 6pm dinner rush. Sometimes we might use a snack credit after dinner. It seemed to work well, and we really didn't pay for anything OOP except the groceries...much cheaper than a full breakfast.

 

[2Tiggies]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.There are just too many TS we want to try, especially since this may be our only trip to WDW. I think we are going to go with the DDP and if I need to pay OOP for a few food court breakfasts or snacks, it'll all work out to be about the same price. At least this way the majority will be paid in advance.

It becomes a lot less stressful once you have made your decision. Now you can start planning your meals and budget. Enjoy it. I love the planning stage!

 

[Gasface]

We just got back from 9 Days/8 Nights on the regular DP. 5 adults and 2 kids.

We had to go to Goofy's Candy Co. on the last afternoon to use up the 9 snack creds we had left and ate at Earl of Sandwich after that and still had 4 CS left.

And we had a group of pretty good eaters. (My brother, my kids and I are always hungry)

We didn't go hungry by any means.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

It becomes a lot less stressful once you have made your decision. Now you can start planning your meals and budget. Enjoy it. I love the planning stage!

Agreed!!! I'm a lot less stressed now, not only did I decide on the DDP but booked our package!!! It's finally happening!!!!

 

[KELLY]

Agreed!!! I'm a lot less stressed now, not only did I decide on the DDP but booked our package!!! It's finally happening!!!!

Glad you made your choice that was best for your family. We are donig the QSDP and have made some changes to our adr's. But we are only doing 3 at the max ts meals.

Garden grill
T-rex
Norway Princess breakfest
not doing CP anymore