Free Quick Service Dining vs. Free Table service dining

[WeLoveLilo05]

Every year we have gone on the DDP and always got the free table service plan. This year in an effort to save money I was thinking of staying at a value (Pop) and doing the quick service plan. My problem is IDK if i could eat the disney fast food for EVERY meal. I mean we can get good eats at Epcot, but we would have to be at Epcot every night. I was thinking of even doing the QSDDP and making 3 reservations and paying out of pocket but at that point isn't it just a waste? For those who have done both, pros/cons...which do you prefer?

 

[rafiki14]

Every year we have gone on the DDP and always got the free table service plan. This year in an effort to save money I was thinking of staying at a value (Pop) and doing the quick service plan. My problem is IDK if i could eat the disney fast food for EVERY meal. I mean we can get good eats at Epcot, but we would have to be at Epcot every night. I was thinking of even doing the QSDDP and making 3 reservations and paying out of pocket but at that point isn't it just a waste? For those who have done both, pros/cons...which do you prefer?

How big is your party? If there are a lot of you, then OOP can add up quickly.

There are only 2 of us, so a couple OOP meals aren't bad.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

Its just the 3 of us. Me, my husband and our daughter.
I was thinking of Ohana for breakfast, we always do 1900 PF dinner, and then some place else for dinner one night. I was planning on staying 6 nights.

 

[littlejewel]

Honestly, I think there are a lot of healthy and very good options at some of the CS restaurants. Wolfgang Puck's in DTD is great; Earl of Sandwich; Cooke's; the Contemporary Cafe at the Contemporary resort; Columbia Harbour House in MK; Flame Tree BBQ and Yak & Yeti Cafe in AK; and as you said, a lot of the Epcot CS restaurants. I think you would be surprised by the selection of menu items with the QS plan. That said, I am a big sit down/be waited on for dinner person. I just like the experience. I would maybe get the QSDP and then pay OOP for a couple extra meals since it is just the three of you. You could also save some money by going to TS restaurants during breakfast or lunch instead of dinner.

 

[Singinglizzie]

I second the idea of doing your table service meals for breakfast. You can get a great OOP breakfast at the Kona, GF Cafe and at the Rain Forest Cafe at AK, for a fairly reasonable price. Since the QSDP is "free" you could add an extra sit down, lunch or dinner and will find that you will have plenty of food. You will have a great time and not be tied to your ADR;s!!! Gosh, wish I could take my own advice.

 

[EmpressBubbles]

For the two of us, we saved approximately $600 by switching to Pop from POFQ. We prefer the QSDP because we don't like the idea of being tied to reservations. There are great choices in every park, DTD and POP food court is the best! We will be having 4 out of pocket sit down meals while there; Jiko, Trail's End, Yachtsman Steakhouse for dinner and Kona for breakfast. These will be well withing the $600 savings!
This is what works for us. I hope you find what works for your family!!!

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

a couple of years ago the idea of just eating QS meals really didn't appeal to me - then I really sat down and looked at the menus (on allears) and made lists of places we'd like to eat/ try. To my surprise we really liked/ enjoyed the experience. There really is a good variety of food out there and it's so 'freeing' not to be tied down to a reservation time. And I love it that I'm not spending extra $$ on tips.

 

[Dizneydaz]

We've done the reg. DDP 6 times now (only paid for it once) and we've now done the QSDP twice, staying at POP. We really enjoyed the regular DDP but I think we like the QSDP even more! Seriously.

I love the fact that I haven't had to make one single ADR for our last 2 visits. The last time I made ADRs you could only make them 90 days out, now that you can make them so much farther in advance I'm just glad I don't have to deal with it.

I am writing a dining report of our QSDP from last Oct. I seriously didn't eat one burger, or chicken nugget, the entire trip. And we were there for 11 nights. Click on link in siggy if you want to read it-I have a lot of photos too.

One reason the QSDP worked well for us was that we had our own rental vehicle and we could drive anywhere to eat. We weren't limited to eating most of our meals at the parks or POP. We drove to other resorts and ate many meals at DTD. And now there are even more choices at DTD.

If you want a few sit down meals then doing breakfast, or lunch, will save you money.

We haven't done a TS meal the last 2 years and there are a few locations that I miss. Maybe this year we'll have to go back to a few. I could make a meal out of the chicken wings at Kona.

By not making ADRs it did give us more freedom. We didn't have to plan our days around our meals. Since we go to WDW for awhile, we don't spend every day at the 4 main parks. We will usually do the water parks 2 or 3 times. We also check out the "real Florida" as well. When we do that we pick up some food to take with us using our CS and SC credits.

And while I enjoy not having to make, or keep, ADRs I can't tell you how much my DM72 enjoys it. She really got to hate having to make our schedule work around our ADRs. Plus eating at TS does cut into your time.

Hope this helps.

 

[disneyjunebug]

Don't forget, if you travel over to CSR, Pepper Market is a QS restaurant. And they have Steaks at Dinner! It's a great value!

 

[KELLY]

We have done the RDP a few times. We prefer the QSDP. We have done it twice. It just gives us so much more freedom. I don't feel like we can't wait in line for a ride because we have to make our ADR.

We were at CBR with the DV FD promo because there wasn't much for values to choose from. We were able to switch to POP on Monday and add the WP&M option and still save 600.00 for 11 days.

We will still pay OP for Rainforest cafe and Garden Grill but the tip money for the RDP we would have spent will more than cover those. I guess for us it just works better. We also will do 3 WP days and those days I don't want to have to go back to the resort to have to get ready for dinner. We can just grab quick service and hang at the pool when we get back.