Is Quick Service meal plan worth it

[daryle330]

Does everyone that had the Quick Service meal plan do you feel it was worth the price?

 

[laceemouse]

Friends of ours are leaving this Friday for the World. They bought just the quickie service plan. They have 7 kids and plan to split up some and they thought sit downs meals would just be too time consuming plus too much of a hassle to book and please everyone. I will let you know how it went once they get back.
They booked only one sit down meal, at T-Rex on their first night on property!

 

[daryle330]

Thanks

 

[2manypets]

Financially it doesn't make sense to me. CS's run around $15.00 or less each. It's pretty much a break even. With smaller children or large families it makes sense just to have it prepaid and the convenience of eating on the fly.

 

[DaParkers]

Financially it doesn't make sense to me. CS's run around $15.00 or less each. It's pretty much a break even.

I agree. Even though you get the 2 snacks and mug, I think $19.99 or even $24.99 would make more sense.

 

[patsal]

I did the math for my family of four all over the age of 10. I found we'd be saving about $20 per day using the plan plus the cost of the mugs. Worth it for us on a 14 night vacation to save $280 plus the cost of mugs. I also like not doing the mental math when suggesting a snack to the kids Ie: let's get ice cream ($16.00 plus tax at the ice cream shop) if I am paying OOP it is more like menatlly thinking oh I hope they don't ask for ice cream!

At minimum it is a breakeven with a free refillable mug--but withthe refillable mug you can get bottled water rather than a fountain beverage for your drink credit at the food court of the hotel, you can sub bottled water for dessert at the CS saving room for that second snack, etc. I also think that many underestimate how much the CS costs now that there have been more price changes.

 

[jennc27]

We booked the QSDP for our trip in Aug. For us it works out great. I did spend a lot of time on allearsnet.com looking at menus and then using a spreadsheet to get a grand total of what our food budget would be. I added everything from bringing our own water, breakfast food, and snacks. I also include the meals that we would eat in WDW which was 2 CS a day (this was with my husband and I sharing meals and letting the kids have their own meals), and one TS during our trip. We decided with two kids not to do a lot of TS meals. From here I priced out a package with the QSDP and we saved money! Yeah! I then found the great thread here that has a list of the snacks and realized that we could use one snack credit for breakfast. More money saved! With the refillable mugs it’s an extra bonus! The best for us is that we do not have to watch the prices, worry about the budget, and each person can have their own meal, drink, and dessert. My budget did not include a dessert or any of the great snacks in WDW! For me I like it because of the freedom from worry and it seems more of vacation! Each family is different and they need to weigh the pros and cons. It did take me awhile to make a choice (like two months) and I drove my husband crazy. He finally throws his hands up and yelled "I don't care" and ran out of the room! LOL

 

[bookwormde]

For adults it is really a break even unless you are eating the “high price” snacks or are staying for a short time, where the “mug” value becomes an important factor.

For kids under 10 it is really a savings unless you always eat the least expensive CS meals and snacks. One CS meal and drink can cost as much as the whole day for QSDP for children so if you really max it out you can get 3 times the value that you pay for the children’s plan.

bookwormde

 

[5boyz]

For us we are breaking even basically, but we dont order desserts so that is a bonus and we dont have to buy mugs again bonus....but the best part it is prepaid and we dont have to look at prices just order what you want.... Alot of the desserts can be saved for later so you can kinda consider 4 snacks a day!

 

[tndisneyfan]

For us it is going to be pretty much a break even deal, we might save a little. I like the idea of having things prepaid. I also like the idea of not worrying about cost when we are ordering.

 

[Twinkly-Tink]

I've booked the QSDP for our trip in June - have added it to our UK package which we booked with Disney UK.

With the rate of the $ to £ being so low this actually works out great for us and at current exchange rate works out at roughly $23!! Paying OOP would at the moment be very costly

For once, the £ rate works in our favour!!!!! I reckon we should save loads!

 

[njbeachwx]

Just came back 3-6-09 and thought it was so worth it....we had15 snack credits left on the last day and purchased mickey lollipops as gifts for the kids back home.
Also if your staying at the POP, tie-die cheesecake counts as a dessert choice..MMMMM

 

[teach22180]

I think what helps the QSDP to be a better deal is to think about the 6.5% tax. You don't pay it on the original cost or when you buy your food. Don't forget to figure that into your math. I only came out a couple of dollars up each day, plus the mug, but that's enough for me to relax and say let's do it!

 

[tinksgilrs251520]

Me too. did the math and for a family of five over the age of 10 when you figure it all up I even did just doing dinner and getting two snacks per day so i was debating and then just last night i went ahead and booked it

 

[5boyz]

njbeach.....I am staying at POPfor 14 nights in July....love it there!!! I am also on the QSDP....can you give me some tips on what snacks are on the dining plan there? I am not really sure, is the ice cream place still there? We did not stay there last year so it has been 2 yrs since been there!!!

Thanks!!!

 

[njbeachwx]

need to stick with the value snacks, one serving selections. One of the links here has the the snacks included at pop and I will try to dig them up and post them later

 

[momdad4kids]

We just got back from 8 days on the basic plan, we almost did the QSP and Im so glad we didnt,kids piks are limited ,only so much mac n cheese and hard dried out chicken nuggets the kids are going to eat.The QS resteraunts are a complete hassle,almost every meal we were shorted something,usually drinks or deserts and when you order for 7 ppl its hard to keep track of everything especially on multiple trays. As far as saving time I dont really think we saved that much on the CS meals vs the sit downs when the sit downs were done at the park.If the kids didnt like something on the menu at the sit downs usually the waitres or waiter would do special request at no charge,try that at a CS place.Rarely we could exchange CS credits for 2 snacks but in the end we still brought 6 kids cs meal credits back unused.If we do the dining plan again it will be deluxe,do breakfast at the park and dinner someplace at the end of the day.Disney needs to seriously look at its kids meals as far as Im concerned if your doing the QS plan to save on kids meals your going behind as the food is terrible and no selection.

 

[Sandisw]

For me, it is more about the convenience and less about the financial savings. For years, before they came out with dining plans, we really watched and stressed over the food budget when we got there.

The last few times, we were on the regular DP and liked the freedom but it was way too much food and time away from the parks.

In August, we are doing QSDP and are looking forward to it. I have run a lot of different price options, based on what my family likes to eat, and in all situations it came out more than the cost of the plan.

And that didn't count the mugs. We always buy those since I need to have my coffee!!

So, we are really looking forward to knowing ahead of time what the budget will be and not worrying about what we want to eat for the week!

 

[rlduvall]

It did take me awhile to make a choice (like two months) and I drove my husband crazy. He finally throws his hands up and yelled "I don't care" and ran out of the room! LOL

Yeah, it's funny how husbands can act sometimes. What's up with that?

 

[ofhs93]

njbeach.....I am staying at POPfor 14 nights in July....love it there!!! I am also on the QSDP....can you give me some tips on what snacks are on the dining plan there? I am not really sure, is the ice cream place still there? We did not stay there last year so it has been 2 yrs since been there!!!

Thanks!!!

We were on the QSDP a few weeks ago and stayed at Pop...the Ice cream IS a snack..but it is also a standard dessert...when you check out at the register you can have them stamp your receipt and get then you just have to get the Sundae within 90 minutes.


Now..regarding the plan itself..we LOVED it. We EASILY saved money on the plan. Our CHEAPEST CS meal was over $14 if we were buying OOP. MOST of the meals were quite a bit MORE than $14....at that rate...the mug and snacks were basically free. Here is a good example...the Chicken and Rib combo at Cosmic Ray's would be about $20 OOP with the drink and dessert. We ordered 4 or those and only used 4 CS credits. There is certainly enough food there to EASILY feed 3 adults with 2 of those meals...for lighter eaters I'm certain that you could feed 2 for 1.

We used a chunk of our snack credits for breakfasts which was another savings. A nice yummy baked good from one of the parks and a bowl of fruit from the food court (each 1 snack credit) was a simple and filling breakfast for the 2 kids to share. This was also enough for my wife and I to share...so for 4 snack credits we all had breakfast in the room before heading out to the busses. A few times we also would eat a hot breakfast at the food court and split the meals. Then we had 4 cold, bottled drinks to take into the parks with us. (you get 2 drinks with each breakfast and you certainly should use your mug when in the food court ) We had MORE than enough food...and we are NOT light eaters....*plus* we were sharing meals with our 2.5 year old (who eats as much as the 4 year old).

When you add in that you have to pay tax if your paying OOP then it starts adding up. For us...it was a GREAT option. It worked perfectly and gave us tons of flexability. If we had a couple of light eating 10 year olds then the plan MAY not be so attractive...but for those with young children or all TRUE adult eaters then I think it's a great option.