disney dining plan

[lindaanddarren]

we have free qddp but (with 26 days to go) we are wondering whether to upgrade to the normal dining plan. We have already booked Fultons crab house, planet hollywood & hope to do a show. What do you think, is it worth it????

 

[tinkerpea]

we have free qddp but (with 26 days to go) we are wondering whether to upgrade to the normal dining plan. We have already booked Fultons crab house, planet hollywood & hope to do a show. What do you think, is it worth it????

I would look at menus and see how much your meals will come to paying oop, this way you will be able to see how much it will cost you compared to the plan,
You then have to think are you prepared to eat at more TS places? You will only get the 1qs with the normal ddp!
There will still be plenty of places you can book at this short notice and even while your there.

It comes down to touring style, what you like to eat, and how much time your willing to give to sitting down in a TS place.

We go with the ddp every year, "wether free or paid for"I would not do it any other way as I really enjoy disney restaurants and the odd breakfast buffet

 

[chmurf]

I wouldn't upgrade with only 26 days to go, but that's because I don't want to have to look for a restaurant on the day, and I like to plan 4 to 6 months ahead

there might be some restaurants you'll be able to book on such short notice, but this will mostly be at odd times. So it might impact your plans.

Tinkerpeas' advice is wise. Have a look at restaurants, menus, and price the cost of your meals as if you were ordering, right now, in each restaurant.

if you're able to choose as many restaurants as you have nights onsite, and if you're ok with spending more time at restaurants, then you could upgrade.
But if you have a hard time choosing a restaurant, for each day, that fits into your plan (you'll need to know where you'll be on any given day) then don't upgrade and stick to QSDP

Trying to just walk up to the podium on the day is a solution. But if you're hungry and they tell you that you need to wait 60 minutes for a table, you'll probably fall back on a CS restaurant instead. And you face the risk of having unused TS credits at the end of your stay

also consider that TS meals will require a 18 to 20% tip on the pre-tax check. And you'll need to add this to the cost of the upgrade.

The question is not to know if, financially, it's worth it, because it is. But the question is to know if it fits your way of touring the parks. Some people just don't like being tied to a restaurant reservation, and some people couldn't do without those "breaks"

 

[Elise79]

Have you booked the show? The DDP credits can only be used on cat 2 & 3 seating for the early shows so it may be booked up.

If you are only planning those 2 meals at a Disney TS plus a dinner show you will probably best off paying out of pocket.

You can also pop offsite if you fancy a TS meal and it will be a lot cheaper and better choice/quality.

 

[T1gger]

Agree about doing the math - we looked at upgrading last year because we wanted to do some character meals but after working it out, we decided we were better off paying OOP for the ones we wanted

Also we didn't want to be locked in to a lot of TS meals as we were planning on packing a lot into that trip and didn't want to be tied down to reservations

Next year though we got the DDP for free so are going to have to work out how to cope with being tied down and plan in a whole different way!

 

[queendisney]

we have free qddp but (with 26 days to go) we are wondering whether to upgrade to the normal dining plan. We have already booked Fultons crab house, planet hollywood & hope to do a show. What do you think, is it worth it????

Remember if you do upgrade you will then have the 18%+ tip to add on to all your meals.