Dining Plan Quick Service - Enlighten Me Please...

[Shea&Van]

Hello all.

We have never done the Dining Plan before but with the new promo, it might just be a new adventure for our family.

Is there a thread/post on here that can tell me all about this Quick Service option?

When pricing it out, it comes up to around $300 extra for me, DH, DD6 & DS4 (our infant won't be eating there) for four days/five nights.

Thoughts? My kids are pretty picky eaters and I don't want to do the table service option (they'll never sit through a meal like that at Disney). Sounds like there are plenty of offerings at the resort (doing ASMusic) and the parks (we'll mostly be at MK).

Any insight? Any tips? Any opinions on passing and doing most of our dining in-room (breakfast and sammies for lunch) and heading off site for dinner??

Any insight you could share would be most appreciated.

All the best, DisPals!

 

[WDWAurora]

I'll try to hit a couple points. Going off site for any meal is going to take a LONG time. Especially from the MK. You walk to the front, catch the monorail or ferry, tram to your car, then drive to a restaurant. I'm guessing if you did that for dinner, you wouldn't go back into a park. Maybe 45 min or more each way? You'd have to add time to fold the stroller for the tram, too.

We always do breakfast in our room. It's a cheap meal, typically, and some can eat while others get ready. I can typically eat something in the car if I need to.

Paying for CS meals out of pocket may be cheaper for you. I would look at some of the menus and try to figure out what you're likely to eat. My guess is that your kids might eat off your plate or share sometimes, cutting costs.

Some restaurants are good values, like Earl of Sandwich at DTD. 6ish for a good sized sandwich?

 

[sharonabe]

Hello all.

We have never done the Dining Plan before but with the new promo, it might just be a new adventure for our family.

Is there a thread/post on here that can tell me all about this Quick Service option?

When pricing it out, it comes up to around $300 extra for me, DH, DD6 & DS4 (our infant won't be eating there) for four days/five nights.

Thoughts? My kids are pretty picky eaters and I don't want to do the table service option (they'll never sit through a meal like that at Disney). Sounds like there are plenty of offerings at the resort (doing ASMusic) and the parks (we'll mostly be at MK).

Any insight? Any tips? Any opinions on passing and doing most of our dining in-room (breakfast and sammies for lunch) and heading off site for dinner??

Any insight you could share would be most appreciated.

All the best, DisPals!

How are you pricing that? The 2013 prices for QSDP is $37.50 for adults and $14.30 for kids which would make your per night price $103.60. Five nights makes that over $500.

The other question to ask yourself is do you want drinks and desserts with every meal? That is where any savings will be found for the adults. The kids meals are around $6 each, so you get a dollar or two savings for them depending on the snacks you purchase.

 

[minnie mum]

Here is a link that describes the QSDP for 2013:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-dining-plan.htm#prices2013

You'll have to do the math to see if it is worthwhile for your family. Look at the CS menus and add up what you would be likely to spend per day if you ate on site. Will you save any money with the offer? Depends on how your family prefers to dine.

The types of food available varies quite a lot, and we have been able to dine at a different CS restaurant every day, eat fairly healthily (avoiding most of the 'junk' food) and never eat the same thing twice (Mickey Bars excepted).

Or you could choose to just pay OOP, and only do some meals in the park. We usually have our breakfast in our room as a matter of convenience, but there is no argument that it will also save money. You can of course leave the parks and go off property for lunch and dinner- it will probably save you money, especially if you have your own car. We find this impractical because it takes so much time away from enjoying the parks. But if it is a financial necessity, then you have to do what you have to do. You might want to consider bringing a packed lunch with you in a small cooler that you could stow away in a locker.

 

[Dean]

Hello all.

We have never done the Dining Plan before but with the new promo, it might just be a new adventure for our family.

Is there a thread/post on here that can tell me all about this Quick Service option?

When pricing it out, it comes up to around $300 extra for me, DH, DD6 & DS4 (our infant won't be eating there) for four days/five nights.

Thoughts? My kids are pretty picky eaters and I don't want to do the table service option (they'll never sit through a meal like that at Disney). Sounds like there are plenty of offerings at the resort (doing ASMusic) and the parks (we'll mostly be at MK).

Any insight? Any tips? Any opinions on passing and doing most of our dining in-room (breakfast and sammies for lunch) and heading off site for dinner??

Any insight you could share would be most appreciated.

All the best, DisPals!

The QS plan is the most difficult to get a value from but having kids in the age to get it cheaper can help with this issue. I'd decide where you'd likely eat and look at those menu's to see what benefit you're getting. It's likely you'd save money by paying OOP but depends on specifics.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

We had the free qsdp last time we went. I would never pay full price for it but if it is free or in your case heavily discounted go for it. It was nice not to be tied to reservations and we had many food choices.

Eating off site isn't worth it. You may have a better/fancier meal for the price but you are losing time in the parks and the park tickets aren't as good of a value. What kinds of food would you want to eat off site? There are some good cs options if you look at the menus on all ears.com.

 

[Dean]

We had the free qsdp last time we went. I would never pay full price for it but if it is free or in your case heavily discounted go for it. It was nice not to be tied to reservations and we had many food choices.

Eating off site isn't worth it. You may have a better/fancier meal for the price but you are losing time in the parks and the park tickets aren't as good of a value. What kinds of food would you want to eat off site? There are some good cs options if you look at the menus on all ears.com.

Normally you have to pay full price for the room to get the free DP so that will erode the value since the times of the FD also tend to be the times when other discounts abound.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

It really depends on where you stay and the ages and number of people in your room. My 2 kids are considered disney adults. So, on our last trip we did pay full price for the value room( about $150 per night) but had free qsdp for 4 adults. That was about $100-$130 worth of food per day. The discount for the room only would have been only about 20% at most which would have been $30.
You have to run the numbers to see if it's a good deal for your family.

 

[jenf22]

Only tip I have is to try and eat places for breakfast/lunch where you can share credits. If your 4 year old and 6 year old are anything like my 5 year old, their credits will be a lot of wasted food if they don't share (or you guys share with them). If you guys share meals, you should be able to spread the QS plan to cover all 3 meals everyday. The last time we were there a QS credit was a QS credit - kids and adults were treated the same. I'm guessing it's still that way. Also, I highly recommend the Contempo Cafe at the Contemporary. It's right next to MK, the portions are huge, and monorails soar overhead. Our 5 year old loves it! It's a nice break, especially when the weather is hot. Best of luck to you!