We just returned from a week long trip to Disney, at the Fort Wilderness Campground with the Quick Service Dining Plan (QSR). All in all it was OK, but I am not too satisified with it, nor would I do it again.
First off - Children are required to order from the kids menu as stated, but their selection doesn't follow the adult fare. For instance - at MK, if you go to the counter service that has the topping bar for the burgers, they don't offer a burger for kids - duh?? Others, the selection was just a salad or PB&J. Just too hard to search for the right foods for the kids (foods they want). If we were OOP, we would have just bought them the burger they wanted off the regular menu.
Secondly - the CS places give you much different answers than each other. Some places we were told that kids couldn't have adult meals even when there were no kids offerings, other places we were told that we could use "adult credits" and get them adult meals, but no one could ever tell us how many "adult" and "child" credits we had remaining - they don't track them that way. We could not take our kids up to the stand and order adult meals for kids, but that would be dishonest, and we aren't that way.
Thirdly - with the dinner, drink, desert and 2 snacks per day - it was just too much for us. Without kids I can see using the 2 snacks for "breakfast" and then the meals, but we ate breakfast in the camper before leaving most days. We ended up bringing a lot of snacks home, which is fine, but was only to get what we had already paid for. We felt that we were bringing stuff home that we wouldn't have ordinarily done if we hadn't "paid in advance for" it with the dining plan. Plus to get a "desert" at every meal isn't normal for us. We could substitue and get other things, but once again, it is something we wouldn't normally spend the money to get, or food that we would need.
All in all, I think we got our value out of it, but it seemed like work having to figure out too many things (where to eat was a much more diffult decision based on the kids meal offerings, tracking how we were going to use up our "prepaid" meals, deserts and snacks) and spend our allotment of things before leaving.
Next time I'd just put it on our room charge and be happier. I like not having to think or plan. If the kids want a burger or hot dog, I'd like to go to the nearest place that has it and get it, whether it is a kids or adult meal, and not have to find where the 1 CS place in the park is that has it as a kids meal offering.
I was the one in our family that "pushed" to try the plan, but was the one that was the most dissapointed in the way it ended up working. If you have questions that I didn't cover, feel free to ask away!!
First off - Children are required to order from the kids menu as stated, but their selection doesn't follow the adult fare. For instance - at MK, if you go to the counter service that has the topping bar for the burgers, they don't offer a burger for kids - duh?? Others, the selection was just a salad or PB&J. Just too hard to search for the right foods for the kids (foods they want). If we were OOP, we would have just bought them the burger they wanted off the regular menu.
Secondly - the CS places give you much different answers than each other. Some places we were told that kids couldn't have adult meals even when there were no kids offerings, other places we were told that we could use "adult credits" and get them adult meals, but no one could ever tell us how many "adult" and "child" credits we had remaining - they don't track them that way. We could not take our kids up to the stand and order adult meals for kids, but that would be dishonest, and we aren't that way.
Thirdly - with the dinner, drink, desert and 2 snacks per day - it was just too much for us. Without kids I can see using the 2 snacks for "breakfast" and then the meals, but we ate breakfast in the camper before leaving most days. We ended up bringing a lot of snacks home, which is fine, but was only to get what we had already paid for. We felt that we were bringing stuff home that we wouldn't have ordinarily done if we hadn't "paid in advance for" it with the dining plan. Plus to get a "desert" at every meal isn't normal for us. We could substitue and get other things, but once again, it is something we wouldn't normally spend the money to get, or food that we would need.
All in all, I think we got our value out of it, but it seemed like work having to figure out too many things (where to eat was a much more diffult decision based on the kids meal offerings, tracking how we were going to use up our "prepaid" meals, deserts and snacks) and spend our allotment of things before leaving.
Next time I'd just put it on our room charge and be happier. I like not having to think or plan. If the kids want a burger or hot dog, I'd like to go to the nearest place that has it and get it, whether it is a kids or adult meal, and not have to find where the 1 CS place in the park is that has it as a kids meal offering.
I was the one in our family that "pushed" to try the plan, but was the one that was the most dissapointed in the way it ended up working. If you have questions that I didn't cover, feel free to ask away!!
, but found out by asking we could substitute any side item or drink for it that you could choose with your meal anyway. For instance, we could get a bag of grapes, more fries, bottles of water or apple juice to name a few. But for the most part, it all ended up being too much.
