Is QSDP worth it? I think it is.

[tony67]

I had my doubts about the quality and value of the QSDP.
In reading these boards it seemed that other did also.
I was planning a 12 day solo trip and was not sure if it was really worth it.
Since I was going to the food and wine festival I felt the 2 snacks per day would be a great value.
But I was not sure that the QS meals would be good or that I would not prefer a TS meal each day.
I wasted a lot of time trying to decide if I should get the DDP or the QSDDP.
Hopefully this will help you make your decision.

Some of my issues were
-Did I really want to plan 3 months out where I will be each day
-Did I want to leave a place that I was enjoying just to make it to dinner.
-Would I be hungry on the day and time that I had an ADR for.
-How much would I spend on drinks and tips if I had a TS every day
-Would it be cheaper to get the QSDP and pay OOP for 1 or 2 TS meals I really wanted.
-Would I just be eating fried food and lousy desserts
-Woudl it be cheaper to pay for what I want out of pocket.
-Do I really want a lousy pre packaged dessert with each QS meal

I had planned to do an in depth analysis of the cost and benefit of the QSDP when I returned.
After the first day it was obvious that I did not need to waste time calculating my savings.
What I expected to be cheap meals were 14-15 with taxes. Some meals where in the $25-$30 range. I’d say the average was about $18-$20.
On top of the I had 2 snacks a day (a great benefit during food and wine)
I had the refillable mug that saved me from purchasing bottled filtered water at 2.50 a pop. I do not drink soda for the most part, but I do drink 2-3 liters of water a day so this was a huge savings for me.

Couple of tips:
-pay out of pocket for any snacks under $3 (during food and wine I would say $4)
-Skip the soda and get water with your QS meal, unless they have a nice specialty drink. You can always get soda at the cool station in Epcot if you really want a taste or use your mug at your resort.
-The meals are very large for the most part. If there are two of you share a meal. Then you can spread the meals throughout the day and try more things. There are a lot of things to choose from.


I will add posts to this of what I ate and where and how it was to give you an idea of the variety and quality of available foods.
I’m not going to worry about how much I saved, there is no doubt in my mind I got my monies worth.

 

[tony67]

Sunshine seasons was my favorite overall location. There are numerous choices for meals, drinks and desserts. I actually had a tough time choosing and had to eat here 5 times.

I had the Smoked Ham and Salami on Asiago Ciabatta twice. This is a really nice and large sandwich (can be shared without a doubt). It had lots of ham and salami. Freshly grated parmesan on top and fresh greens. It comes with a side of potatoes salad that was also very tasty.

I also tried the Asian station. This was extremely disappointing. I had heard a lot of good comments on this so I had to try it. I had the Spicy Thai Chicken. It was made with the worst parts of the chicken. It was dark meat (OK) with a LOT of cartilage. It came with two sides. Something they claimed where udon noodles. I’m not sure what they were, but they were not good. I asked for stir fried vegetables but for some reason they gave me steamed rice. It meal was not at all appealing on the plate. I would not pay $10 for this dish. Looking back I should have left it by the soda machines and walked away. (I really did think about doing that.)

I also had two very impressive salads in the land. Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese Salad - with Honey Sherry dressing. This was really good. I am not a fan of beets but I really like goat cheese and wanted to eat something light. This was an excellent salad, I even ate the beats without issue. The other salad I had was the Seared Tuna on Mixed Greens with Sesame Rice Wine dressing. This was another excellent salad. It is also very light and refreshing and they give you a decent piece of tuna. Much better than a burger.

For desserts I expected I would be skipping dessert in most locations and getting a second bottle of water, but after seeing the options in the land I decided to treat myself (at Mickey’s expense)

I had a tough time choosing since everything looked so good and fresh. I had the Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate Mousse Cake(twice), Asian Chocolate cake and Fruit Tulip. I really enjoyed all of these but if I had to choose one it would be the Fruit Tulip. The fruit was nice and fresh and the crust was perfect.

I still can’t believe I only gained 2 pounds after eating like this for 12 days.

The other nice option at Sunshine Season is the drink selection. They have Power Aid, Vitamin water, Smart water and energy drinks as drink options. Some of these drinks are $4 each, so it is a really good value. I really enjoyed the Vitamin Water as an alternative to overpriced filtered water.

 

[tony67]

I heard a lot about this place and saw the photo of the Butterfinger cupcake and knew I had to try it.

I decided to have a late breakfast/early lunch here on two occasions. This way I could rush into HS and get a toy story fast pass and then go back to Starring Roles for breakfast.

Both times I had the Black Forest Ham Sandwich. It was an excellent sandwich with a lot of good quality ham. It has some nice greens on it and is served on excellent bread. A others have mentioned there is already a spicy mustard on it that is very nice. It also comes with a bag of those tasty Miss Vickie’s Chips (like 6 different flavors – I recommend the Jalapeño). I wish we had these up north, I guess I’ll need to order some.

For a drink you can get a latte. It was not bad, but not as good as I make at home. Better than most at Disney and this made it feel like breakfast.

For dessert (at breakfast!) I had the Butterfinger Cupcake and the White Chocolate Mickey cupcake.
I hate to say it but, was disappointed with the Butterfinger cupcake. It looks amazing, but there is not enough Butterfinger. Also there is a chocolate center in the cupcake. I think they could skip that. It is actually too much chocolate and not enough cake. (hard to believe, but true).
I also tried the white chocolate cupcake was excellent, but the Mickey garnish on it tasted like plastic. (I think it was edible) There was a ton of frosting on it and it was covered in shaved white chocolate. The cupcake itself was moist and there was no filling, so they was enough cake to go with the frosting on top. They also make this in chocolate. I wish they made it in Dark Chocolate.

I also wanted to mention that the staff here was very friendly, specifically the lady at the register, not the guy making lattes. It's nice to find someone happy in thier work at a QS in Disney.

 

[tony67]

First off, as I mentioned in a different thread, make sure you go to the one in the market place, not the one on the Westside that is connected to The Wolfgang Puck Cafe.

They have different menus and the one in the marketplace has a lot more selection.

Overall I think this was the best meal I had on the QSDP.
Your meal is made when you order it. You are given a number and sit down.
When your meal is ready is is delivered to you on a real plate by a waiter.
They have real silver ware and higher quality napkins then other Qs meals.
If you get a soda they will refill it for you.

As you get close to finishing your meal they bring over your dessert.

The first time I dined there I got the Spaghetti with Meatballs. It comes with two house-made Niman Ranch meatballs cut in half, cooked in a signature beef Bolognese sauce. The Bolognese sauce was excellent. Nice pieces of garlic carrots and onions as well as a lot of meet. It is served on fresh artisan spaghetti that was cooked perfectly. I really enjoyed this meal and it is quite a bargain for a QS. IT is served with a side salad as well as a piece of fresh bread. For desert I had the crème brulee. I enjoyed it and felt it was much nicer than the one on the cart in France for the F&W festival that everyone seems to be raving about.

The second time I went there I decided to try the pizza and unfortunately it was disappointing. I ordered the Meatball and Parmesan Pizza. It is Niman Ranch meatballs, fresh basil pesto, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, tomato-basil garlic sauce and fresh basil. It could have been very good, but the server had no interest in serving me, he was too busy chatting with the Brazilian girls at the next table. The manager ended up delivering my food. When I got my pizza it was definitely undercooked. I can’t recommend the pizza at all, but had it been cooked properly maybe it would have been ok. If I ordered it again I think I would ask for it well done, that would most likely solve the problem with the pizza. I also had the crème brulee once again. (I am a big fan of crème brulee)

For drink I got the standard dasani purified water. They will not let you get San Pellegrino on the dining plan, but considering what they do give you I cannot complain.

Also just as a heads up make sure you bring money for a tip with you. The first time I ate here I had no cash on me and did not realize you may want to tip. Since the service was so good I made a point of coming back the next day and taking care of the waiter. Trust me they do remember, my wife was a waitress for 10 years and always remembered those that did not tip. He was very thankful that I took the time to come back in. I wish he was working the second time I ate here.

If this was easier to get to I would have ate here at least once more, but you cannot get from the parks to DTD, you have to go to a resort first. It is just too much wasted time for me and there are still a lot of other places to eat.

 

[tony67]

I am a big fan of all Asian foods. Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and of course Chinese.
Overall I was disappointed with all the Asian meals I had on the QSDP.
The worst I felt was the Yak & Yeti.

For $11 you get Kung Pao Beef with boiled rice. It tasted good, but was not very spicy and I feel it is a small portion for the price if I was paying OOP. It was also the only meal that made me feel unwell after I ate it. (it may have been the three packets of hot sauce or the six rides on EE afterwards, but this did not happen after any other meals)

I also would have liked the option to get an egg roll as a desert instead of the frozen lemonade. That being said the frozen lemonade was quite refreshing on a hot day.

In addition I had a bottle of water with the meal.

Again it is a good value on the QSDP, but I would not try it again. I think most American would expect rice, meat and an eggroll for $11, even at Disney.

 

[tony67]

I do not know the name of the dish I had, but it was a combination with teriyaki chicken thigh, sukiyaki beef, tempura shrimp and steamed rice. It was not good or bad, just average at best. One good thing is it was not very salty. Normally after eating this kind of food I would need to drink a lot of water. So I give them credit for not using too much salt or MSG, but I would not go back. I expected a lot more flavor from the chicken and the beef could have used a lot more mushroom. I’m not sure there were any mushrooms.

For the drink again I had water and for dessert I had the Ginger Cake (sponge cake with ginger-flavored icing). It was the only option and I almost skipped it, but I am glad I did not. It was actually quite tasty. Cake was moist and the frosting was excellent.

The portion would be large enough to share, so for that reason it would be worth doing as you travel around the countries.

 

[Disneylvr]

I am enjoying your reviews!!!!

 

[pinkerbell]

Thanks for the info! I just started wonderng this last night about our upcoming Feb trip. We will only have four days so do not want to spend an extra second on a table service meal. I did a cost analysis of the regular plan for 2008 -it was definately a savings
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2130799

We just returned earlier this month from our 2009 trip and had not done it yet, but I will

- thanks for the info - I'm sold!

 

[tony67]

Overall I really liked this place.
I know some people do not like the pressed chicken and beef that they use.
As far as I know this is very common street food in the middle east. (similar to Greek Gyros)
Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Personally I really like the flavor they can add to this when it is pressed meat and it reminds me of a lot of good nights after drinking.
Back in Ireland there are a lot of Kabob shops that serve this type of "meat". After a night out a doner kabob really hits the spot.
They were so popular at one time that there was a chain called Abrakebabra that still probably has more locations than McDonalds in Ireland.

Anyway, I ate here twice.

The first time I got the Chicken & Lamb Combo Shawarma Platters. It is served with hummus, Tabouleh, and a Tangerine Couscous Salad with a Fresh Moroccan bread. The bread was excellent. Everything tasted good. There was a lot of flavor in the meat and they give you a side of Tahini to dip the meat into adding even more flavor. It is definitely a top notch CS meal. The only issue I had is that instead of hummus they gave me some sort of lentil salad. It tasted good so I was not going to complain. The Couscous Salad was also very nice. I was disappointed with the Tabouleh. It just seemed too dry to me. I think it really needed to soak in the oils and spices to soften it up a bit. For dessert I got the Baklava and it is also very good. I believe it is the same as they serve in the restaurant. To drink I had a water, but I noticed afterwards that they have frozen fruit drinks. I would assume you can get this on the DDP, but I did not try.

I enjoyed the meal so much I went back the next day and tried the Mediterranean Sliders Combo. This is three pita pockets - lamb, chicken and falafel with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumber and Tahini sauce served with Lentils, Hummus and Tabouleh. It was a little disappointing. They basically put a small bit of meat on each one. It was tasty, but not enough meat to fill the bread. The falafel was also nothing special, this is probably why they do not seem to be selling much of it on the cart for the F&W festival. Also I was quite disappointed to find out it was not the same bread that came with the Shawarma platter. It was just a standard pita. Of course I was able to use the extra bread for the hummus which was excellent. Much better than the bland hummus at Kouzzina. I’d like to see a bit more filling in these and see them served on the fresh bread. I still enjoyed the meal overall. I skipped dessert this time and was allowed to get a second bottle of water. Again I forgot about the frozen fruit drink. Next time….

 

[tony67]

In 20+ trips to Disney since Epcot opened I have never been in this bakery for some unexplainable reason.
I guess with I think pastry I think France or Italy, but not Norway.

When I think of Norway I think of pickled herring and the such.
I have been to the buffet in Norway before it became a character dinner and liked it a lot, but I could see why it would not be popular with most people.
I think the other people that dined with me felt it was too much pickled fish.

Anyway, I heard a rumor that they have real coffee in Norway, so I had to stop in. I had a headache from caffeine withdrawal.

For the meal I had a very nice ham (I think it was black forest) and cheese sandwich. It is served on a toasted whole grain bread that was very nice. This is a place where you can use wholegrain bread and it makes sense. Not on hamburgers and hotdogs (are you listening Disney?). They also have those toaster microwave machines like subway so the sandwich is nice toasty and hot. I would have preferred it in a proper Panini maker, but this is quicker and it tasted very good. And of course I had a bottle of water with it.

I decided to skip the soup that comes with the sandwich and the very attractive and friendly server was nice enough to give me a double espresso in its place, I didn't even ask. I did have to wait while they loaded new beans into the grinder to make the espresso. Imagine that real coffee beans in Disney served by tall blonde Norwegians. Wake me I must be dreaming. I can’t say you will get an espresso instead of soup, but you can always ask.

For dessert I had the Cloudberry Horn. I am a big fan of crème hours and it did not disappoint. It had nice fresh cream that was not too sweet. The horn itself was fresh light and flakey. No complaints. I really wanted to try the school bread everyone raves about, but it just did not impress me visually.

I did want to come back and eat here again, but with all the options at the F&W festival and so many places to try I just never got around to it.

 

[tony67]

One of the reasons I decided to stay at the Coronado was the pepper market.
In the past they had some very nice steaks, fajitas, and grilled tuna.
In the past it was one of the best CS locations.
I figured it would be convenient if I was at the hotel and wanted to eat a good meal.

It has changed a bit, but everything was still good, just not great.

As you may know they no longer have Fajitas. This did not stop numerous people from ordering them and being told they no longer had them.
I assume they had read that the fajitas were the best value at pepper market and just assumed they still had them.

The Fajitas were replaced with a cooked to order steak ranchero though. It was nice but could be spicier. I’m not sure why they did not just keep the fajitas, it is the same steak. Also the cooks do not know how to tell if a steak is done, they kept cutting into it to see if it was done, so by the time I got back to the room and ate it was a bit dry and all cut up. Also I ordered it rare and they gave it to me medium rare. I have no issue with that since it was not a great cut of meat anyway.

The steak ranchero comes with black beans and rice. The black beans were very good. The rice was ok. The sauce on the steak was very good, but really needed more chilies. They should also have hot sauce or the option to order it spicy.

They also have a daily chefs special that did change every night. One of the nights it was Jambalaya. There was a nice flavor to this but again I needed Tabasco. There was a nice amount of shrimp, but I would prefer more sausage and less shrimp myself, or at least a better balance of the two.
I also got a huge side of black beans with this. They were also smart enough to pack this separately so that it would not mix with the jambalaya. I had heard that they might try to charge for the side of black beans, but they did not. This was also served with four fried plantains that were excellent. I love plantains but rarely get them in the north east.

For desserts there is a nice selection of pastry. They are not as good as Sunshine Seasons in the land, but as you may have read in another thread the staff thinks they are finger licking good.
One night a I had an Oreo cake that was disappointing. I ended up only eating the top with the Oreos since the rest was very plain, but it looked amazing.
The other dessert I had was the strawberry shortcake. Again it was not as good as the one I had at Sunshine Seasons. It needed a lot more strawberries. IT was not bad though, just not as good as the other.

I do not think breakfasts are worthwhile on the QSDP overall and bring a box of cereal bars with me for breakfast each day. I then get a QS about 11 before it gets busy.
At home I have a mushroom omelet every day for breakfast with no cheese. I decided it would be nice to have breakfast at least one day and since pepper market had the most selection I decided to try it.
I got a orange juice (watery – not fresh in Florida???), coffee – I heard they have real coffee here but this was Nescafe in my opinion. They probably have real coffee if you get an espresso, but this is not an option on the DDP.
Since they had a real coffee maker in the room I picked up some star bucks coffee and made it in the room each day to keep from getting headaches. (I drink at least 4 espressos a day at home so Disney is a tough haul for me.)
I ordered the Southwestern Omelet - with potatoes and a biscuit. You get a choice of potatoes either home fries or proper potatoes cubes that are deep fried. The home fries looked like soggy potato mush, but the fried potatoes were very good. I asked for no cheese on the omelet for two reasons, a small cut in calories and fat (after eating all those desserts does it really matter???) and it would be fresh made. They basically make a bunch of omelets and keep them warm until they are ordered. By ordering no cheese it was made fresh, but I had to wait. Of course for some reason he still put cheese on it (he makes so many a day it is habit). Since it was only on the top he scraped it off and I said that was fine. He offered to make me another, but I told him it was not a problem. You also get the option of a biscuit or a muffin. Since we are in the south I got the biscuit. I should have got the muffin. The biscuit was hard and dry, nothing like what I would expect in the south at all. I’ve had better biscuits ad McDonalds. Again I would like to have some tobasco for the omelet. The omelet itself was very bland and very thin. For 12.95 I would be irate if I paid for this OOP.

They do have a lot of options if you want breakfast. They even had a fresh made breakfst pizza. So I would recommend it overall.

Just to touch on some things other people have mentioned, the staff is not overly nice, but they do not work for Disney and no one was rude, so I can’t complain.
One of the problems with this location is it is not Disney run, so they have their own rules about things, like you cannot get a latte or espresso for a beverage with your meal or for a snack (I think).
Also it is hard to know what pastries are a snack and what ones are not, but I did not seem to have any issues with this. I heard others complaining about it. Things not marked etc..
Also you cannot get a pastry with your breakfast, just juice and a beverage. (I think this is the official rule of the DDP, but each location seems to vary)

Compared to getting a burger and chips the pepper market is still a great value, but I would not make the trip over unless you are staying there.

 

[tony67]

One of the restaurants I planned on paying out of pocket for was Biergarten. I have been to Germany a few times and enjoy the food and beer. We do not have any German resturaunts in my area so when I am in Epoct I always try to make it to Biergarten.

Unfortunately with all the CS meals and the F&W festival I never found the time to eat there.

I did decide to eat a Sommerfest though. To start, if you are concerned with maximizing the $ amount of the QSDP then do not go here. The total meal will be about $12 with taxes and there is not a lot of choice.

I had a Bratwurst served with sauerkraut and a roll. I was disappointed with the Bratwurst overall. It was a little too stodgy for me. They also do not give you enough sauerkraut. If I went back I would ask for extra.
I also did not see they had golden’s mustard and used the regular yellow mustard. Had I used the Golden’s and had more sauerkraut I would have probably liked this.

I had a bottle of water with this as usual.

For dessert I go the “hand Twisted” pretzel. From the description I thought maybe they had gone back to making their own fresh buttery hot pretzel like they did 5 years ago.
I was very disappointed when I was given a cold somewhat hard pretzel that is most likely the standard Disney pretzel they started serving about 4 years ago.

Overall I would try this again but be aware there is very limited seating and a lot of people sit there for a while after they finish their meals.
Sorry folks this is quick service not fine dining and there are very few tables. When you see 4 or 5 people sitting at a bench with trays on their laps maybe you should move along.

 

[tony67]

Let me start by saying upfront I was a doubter of the main street bakery.
I did not see that it would be worth it dollar wise and I did not expect it to be as good as everyone says.
I wrongly assumed that it was popular because it was on main street in Disney.
I have to admit this was my biggest surprise.

I ate here for breakfast and had the ham and cheese croissant. I was really impressed with the croissant. I have been to Paris a couple of times and this was one of the best croissants I have had outside of Paris. I was quite impressed.
The egg and cheese were nice and it doe seem that they were real eggs not powdered eggs like Disney is so found of using.

I also had one of the giant cinnamon rolls and it was very good. Not as good as cinnibon, but I also got the last one on the tray so it may not have been as fresh as possible.
For a drink I decided to go with the Frozen Strawberry and Cream Smoothie. As a beverage with the CS meal not only does it taste great it puts you well over the 15 for a meal if that is what you are looking for.

Later that day I really wanted to try the Frozen Latte. Since it was almost lunch time I decided to another CS and get lunch at the same time. The Frozen latte did not disappoint. Even though I would have liked a stronger coffee flavor it was great on a 92+ degree day. For my meal I had the Tomato Buffalo Mozzarella Sandwich with Basil. It was served on a fresh foccacchia bread. I would have liked more basil and olive oil, but overall it was very nice. You really cannot go wrong with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes.

For dessert I opted for the strawberry cheesecake. There were only like three dessert to choose from for some reason. It was a standard cheesecake. Nothing special. I would like to have tried the snickers cheesecake, but I did not see it that day.

Overall I was very impressed with the main street bakery. As with most of the QS locations I am not sure it is worth paying for OOP, but it was very good for a QS credit.

 

[TDC Nala]

As this thread is mostly restaurant reviews, moving it to the Reviews board.

Hey Tony howaya.

 

[tony67]

I have heard a lot of people raving about the ribs at the Flame Tree BBQ in Animal Kingdom.
I really enjoy good BBQ and as I mentioned I am in the NE where they know nothing about BBQ.

People actually think Chili’s has good ribs. (I prefer Fridays to Chili’s but that is not saying much)

The best we had was Famous Dave’s and that only lasted about six months.

The best I’ve ever had was a Sticky fingers somewhere in Florida when I drove to Disney.

So when I saw all these people raving about the ribs at the Flame Tree I figured they must be good.
They live for BBQ in the south, I just always forget that Florida is not really the south, but a bunch of transplants from the north east.

Yes the ribs are better than Chili’s, but the meat was not falling of the bone and the flavor was lacking.
To be fair I did not see that they had the BBQ sauce. I assumed that all the dispensers were ketchup.
That may have made a big difference in the taste, but it would not change the fact that the ribs were not as tender as I had expected.

The best thing on the plate BTW was the baked beans. They were perfectly cooked and flavored. I could have eaten a whole pate of them.

Again I had the boring water to drink.

For dessert I had the Key Lime Pie. IT was Ok, but not great. This was one of the few desserts I did not bother to finish. The crust was too mushy and the flavor was a little off.

Considering that you pay about $14 for a half rack of ribs in a lot of places I think it is a good value overall and again it is better than burgers and fries.

 

[tony67]

After the disappointment with the flame tree BBQ I was still craving some decent BBQ ribs.

I had heard a lot about the 1/2 Chicken and BBQ Rib (4 ribs) Combination at Cosmic Ray's.

I figured a could not go wrong with half a chicken even if the ribs were nothing special.

The ribs were a little better then flame tree. For example I was able to pull the bones out and was let with just the meat making it a little easier to eat.

The chicken was perfectly cooked and obviously with BBQ sauce it will taste good.

It is served with an order of standard Disney fries as well as nice crisp green beans.
In addition I added some mushrooms and sautéed onions from the toppings bar.
Before anyone says anything I like toppings on my chicken. Mushrooms and onions go great with chicken and at least I did not make a salad from the toppings like the guy sitting next to me.
He put his burger on a napkin and made himself a salad on his plate with the toppings.
I do not condone this in any way shape or form.

This is a large portion of good food that can most definitely be shared between two people and a very good value.

To drink you guessed it I had a bottle of water.

The dessert selection is not as good as other locations. I opted for the Triple Chocolate Cake. It was basically a very small chocolate cake with Halloween toppings. Nothing special, but more than enough after that meal.

 

[tony67]

So in summary I think you can see from this post that there are many options on th QSDDP. The food is decent quality in my opinion. Even without figuring in the snacks I think it is very easy to break even on the QSDDP.
If you use all your QS credits I do not see how you could not. I was quite surprised when many of the cheaper meals added up to $16+ with taxes.

I think that this is more than enough food for most people and you could easily share some the meals. For example share breakfast at Main street and lunch at Cosmic Ray's and then have dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. I was actually somewhat relived when I ran out of snack credits, it was just too much food.

To be fair I did go during the F&W festival when there are a lot more snack options making this even more of a value.
I would say that I averaged 4.50 per snack and had 22 of them.
But I think could have found more than enough to eat even without the festival.

Had I paid out of pocket I would probably have eaten a lot less QS meals and very few desserts. I'm not sure that I would have had as good a time as I would have been more focused on value for money.

In addition with the money I saved (is this a Gieko commercial? ) by not doing the TS plan (10 per day) and the money I saved in tipping and drinks at nicer locations I was able to have a very nice meal at Kouzzina as well as attend the signature meal as Blue Zoo With Todd English.

Above this I did probably spend another 100 on additional food at the festival as well as food seminars (I am not including alcohol and alcohol seminars), but I could have skipped these extras completely if I was on a tight budget and just stuck to the QSDDP.

To wrap this up I would say that you can stop stressing about whether the QSDP is a value, and will I get enough to eat and is their enough variety.
If you are going to try to do a cost analysis do not forget the tax. There is a lot of taxes on the meals that are already paid for in the QSDDP.
Don't worry about maximizing the value of the plan, eat what you like.
It all adds up a lot quicker than you expect at Disney and the most expensive meals were not always the best.
The freedom of not having to deal with ADRs, Tips and prices makes the plan worthwhile IMO.

 

[griswalds]

Thank you, tony67. This was very helpful. We have QSDP for May and I was worried about a week of burgers and nuggets.

 

[summerlady]

Thank you so much for your excellent reviews. We really liked the QSDP last May, and we'll be doing it again this next trip in November. We've only gotten snacks in Norway before, but I think this time we'll try a lunch. I like the convenience of the QSDP over the regular DDP, just didn't enjoy planning our park days around ADRs in 2008.

 

[GAMC369]

Thanks for some great reviews. Next month will be our first experience with a DP. We went for QSDP because we like to stop and eat when we feel hungry and at locations that just happen to be close by. So ADR and long TS meals aren't our style. But I was slightly nervous about the QS/CS meals prior to reviews like this.