Is QSDP worth it?

[squirrel]

I am surprised that no one has chimed in about another way to "pay for meals in advance" which would be by purchasing Disney giftcards, either small ones periodically as you have money to spare or a larger one before the trip. They work for meals, snacks and the "please mama" requests for the toy or stuffed animal that your child will find irresistable.

I have done the meal plan once, gift card many times and both ways make it easy to have expensives paid in advance.

The most important thing is have fun!!!!

If you aren't going for Free Dining, then take a look at the menus and see what you would eat. You get a drink, entree and dessert with a QS credit.

If you don't eat the way the plan is set up (drink, dessert) and you order the cheapest items then the plan isn't the best.

For a child the QSDP is still a good deal. Unless you share meals with your child.

I go for Free Dining. I almost always share 1/2 chicken meal with my niece, even the pizza I can share with her.

If I had to pay for the Dining Plan, then I would probably just pay out of pocket. I would share meals, bring snacks/breakfast items to keep the cost low. You can also pre-pay by using Disney Gift Cards for your meals, if you want that everything is paid for feel.

I actually mentioned Disney Gift Cards on the first page.

 

[theducksdidit]

I have bought them at Disney stores (if you have one close by) and online from Disney store, those are mailed and arrive usually within a week. Alot of stores sell them in their gift card area - the ones I can think of offhand are Walgreens and Bilo (grocery store) but I am sure there are many others. Those are usually in small increments like $25, you can buy them in higher amounts at the DIsney stores or online, and the ones online allow you to choose what picture/character you want on them, they even have seasonal ones at christmas. I don't think they expire although I always manage to spend everything on each card I buy!

I can tell you from my experience in Decemeber that a gift card was nice to use to pay tips at the table service restaurants if you decide to go with the dining plan, that made it nice to have it paid in advance rather than paying out of pocket or putting it on your room key card (if you are staying onsite), when the bill would be given to me I would give them the resort card to have the meal credits deducted and the gift card for the tips, none of the servers had any trouble knowing what to do with the 2 cards, I would be given a receipt for the meal credits and another one for the tips showing the balance on the gift card.

I'm gonna check into getting some gift cards now! Thank you so much for all of the info

 

[tina.tina]

I've got my fingers crossed for free dining during the Spring next year. We got back from our first trip a few weeks ago & before we left Disney we already knew we wanted to go back. I believe packages for the next year are usually announced in August. Usually, you get the quick service plan if you stay at a Value resort (we loved Pop), and the regular plan if you stay at a Moderate or Deluxe resort.

We did the regular dining plan & even though we loved all of our character meals, we will probably go with the quick service plan next time. It definitely allows for greater flexibility. We will probably still do at least one character meal & pay out of pocket.

I think either plan is just about break even & really the snacks are the only extra you get. Of course, you have to add on for tips on the regular plan. Having said that, the main reason I would go with a dining plan is for the convenience. I won't have to guess how much to budget for food. This time, I just estimated (on the high side) how much I would pay out of pocket for 1 meal per day. With the quick service plan, I figured we can save up snack credits & make a meal out of them- expecially since some meals are really big. DH & I could have split more than we did to stretch our credits- we just wanted different things.