Need help deciding QS or upgrade to TS?

[jojo0612]

Hello, this is a wierd question but just curious for opinions! This will be our 4th trip to the world in a few weeks; however, until this trip we have always had the Dining plan with TS credits. This time around, it is only for the QS. I am nervous that we will be burnt out of the CS options by trips end. Has anyone been disapponinted that they didn't upgrade? Hope this question makes sense!

 

[sharonabe]

We did the QSDP a few years ago for 5 days. I had one hamburger the whole time and no repeat meals. Study the menus at allearsnet or the dining tab above. You'll find plenty to eat.

BUT, since it is free dining, instead of paying to upgrade everyone for the whole time, take some of that money and do one TS that everyone will enjoy.

 

[Kay1]

I guessit depends on a lot of different matters, but the QS would not provide enough for me to eat, but that's just me.

Enjoy.

 

[lisalis]

Although our family has really enjoyed the dining plan with table service, I opted for no dining plan when I went with just my youngest son last year. We ate CS for most meals and made a reservation for one character meal. It was a bit liberating to not have to schedule everything around dinner reservations. Even though the food was not quite the experience we had with the table service, it was nice to stop early to eat or grab a quick snack and eat later based on how we were feeling. I don't know that I'd do it every time, but we enjoyed our time just as much.

 

[Hopefully]

The QS plan would not work for me.
I like a sit down TS meal and I like to be waited on.
It really depends on you

 

[alh921]

We got the QS dining plan last year when they had free dining. For reference, it was just my fiance and I and we are both in our mid 20s with healthy appetites. He prides himself on being able to pack away a ton of food, and with the QS plan we definitely struggled to use all of our meal and snack credits. I believe we left the World with 1 or 2 unused meal credits, and we had a surplus of about 8 snack credits [we stayed 7 nights] that we used right before we left at the caramel store in Epcot Germany to buy brownies for our family members back home.

So regarding the amount of food with QS - there is PLENTY of it. I feel like at Disney the food just builds and builds in your system over the course of the vacation, so by the end we were actually almost sick of food. Keep in mind, too, that with QS you get twice as many snack credits as you do with the regular dining plan. The snack variety you have to choose from is really immense -- and the snacks can be VERY filling. Snack credits are great in Epcot with all of the international offerings to choose from. They are pretty much like small meals all by themselves, and are a lot of fun IMO.

In regards to the variety - I don't think I had a single hamburger. My fiance did, but he just likes hamburgers. We stayed at PoP and ate at their food court several times over the duration of the trip. If you travel to other resorts, you can really get a broader variety. We were able to get Tonga Toast at the QS dining area in the Poly There is plenty of variety in the parks, as well; especially in Epcot. Definitely look at the menus for the QS dining areas and think about the places you will want to try. Having more snack credits means more variety, too. We also shared our snacks and meals with each other so we could try even more things!

With the money we saved by not upgrading, it more than covered the cost of us eating at a table service restaurant or 2 out of pocket in addition to what we had with our QS meal plan. We are usually only interested in eating table service at 1 or 2 places during our trip, so this works out well for us. I am not interested in having to make dining reservations daily or plan around the dining. I enjoy the freedom the QS plan gives me.

If a person travels to Disney rarely, maybe having all of the table service credits would be more attractive since they may want to squeeze in as many of the big name table service places they are interested in as possible; however, if a person travels to Disney every year or every couple of years, I don't see the need to cram them all in at once and spacing them out by trying one or 2 out of pocket might be a good idea.

So having had the QS free dining, I asked my fiance what he thought for the future and we both agreed that we will keep the QS. In summary: We really like all of the snack credits, the food was good, variety was good, the freedom was good, and the savings was good.

P.S. - I realize this is my first post so I don't have an established reputation yet. I'll be honest, I have been a lurker on this forum for quite some time as more of an information seeker than sharer. This post caught my attention, though, so I registered so I could contribute.

 

[Bete]

Going QS has the advantage of not waiting for a table; it's faster than TS and you don't do a gratuity. The food is okay, but I don't feel pampered; because, I'm doing the work to a degree. Most important is that it's impromptu; so, you don't need a reservation.

TS is special to a degree at WDW; because, you have so much variety and so many choices. You get to relax more. I love doing the Fantasmic dinner package at Mama Melrose for 1 dining credit per person. It's a great deal; you get an appetizer and a reserved seat for the show. I like Chef de France and their 3 course meals which also includes an appetizer. You may get to see Remy, too. I love the aquarium at Coral Reef while enjoying a meal there. I enjoy the show at Teppan Edo done by the chefs. The character meals are fun. too.

It just really depends on how you want to enjoy your vacation. I don't go out much for better dining at home; so, I find it a nice treat to do it on vacation. We always get our monies worth, too on dining plan. I study the menus pretty good ahead of time.

On longer vacations I feel TS is a nice touch. If you're there for a long weekend than I can see doing QS to have a little more time for the shows and rides.

Only you can make the choice of how you want to enjoy your vacation. You can as a previous poster stated still do a few TS meals OOP, too.

 

[bellelab]

We got the QS dining plan last year when they had free dining. For reference, it was just my fiance and I and we are both in our mid 20s with healthy appetites. He prides himself on being able to pack away a ton of food, and with the QS plan we definitely struggled to use all of our meal and snack credits. I believe we left the World with 1 or 2 unused meal credits, and we had a surplus of about 8 snack credits [we stayed 7 nights] that we used right before we left at the caramel store in Epcot Germany to buy brownies for our family members back home.

So regarding the amount of food with QS - there is PLENTY of it. I feel like at Disney the food just builds and builds in your system over the course of the vacation, so by the end we were actually almost sick of food. Keep in mind, too, that with QS you get twice as many snack credits as you do with the regular dining plan. The snack variety you have to choose from is really immense -- and the snacks can be VERY filling. Snack credits are great in Epcot with all of the international offerings to choose from. They are pretty much like small meals all by themselves, and are a lot of fun IMO.

In regards to the variety - I don't think I had a single hamburger. My fiance did, but he just likes hamburgers. We stayed at PoP and ate at their food court several times over the duration of the trip. If you travel to other resorts, you can really get a broader variety. We were able to get Tonga Toast at the QS dining area in the Poly There is plenty of variety in the parks, as well; especially in Epcot. Definitely look at the menus for the QS dining areas and think about the places you will want to try. Having more snack credits means more variety, too. We also shared our snacks and meals with each other so we could try even more things!

With the money we saved by not upgrading, it more than covered the cost of us eating at a table service restaurant or 2 out of pocket in addition to what we had with our QS meal plan. We are usually only interested in eating table service at 1 or 2 places during our trip, so this works out well for us. I am not interested in having to make dining reservations daily or plan around the dining. I enjoy the freedom the QS plan gives me.

If a person travels to Disney rarely, maybe having all of the table service credits would be more attractive since they may want to squeeze in as many of the big name table service places they are interested in as possible; however, if a person travels to Disney every year or every couple of years, I don't see the need to cram them all in at once and spacing them out by trying one or 2 out of pocket might be a good idea.

So having had the QS free dining, I asked my fiance what he thought for the future and we both agreed that we will keep the QS. In summary: We really like all of the snack credits, the food was good, variety was good, the freedom was good, and the savings was good.

P.S. - I realize this is my first post so I don't have an established reputation yet. I'll be honest, I have been a lurker on this forum for quite some time as more of an information seeker than sharer. This post caught my attention, though, so I registered so I could contribute.

! Thanks for your post. We are doing QS for the first time and I am glad we decided on that. I love the fact that you get twice the snack credits plus the refillable mug. We did just what you said too, we have reservations for one TS meal, Garden Grill for the characters. Sadly, the thing I am most looking forward to on this trip is that I don't have to cook for a week! Are there any CS places you would recommend we do not miss?

 

[Belle83]

There is a lot of QS variety, but I would miss the TS.

When I went in 2004, I was a college student and didn't know about the importance of ADRs (especially while the parks were still full from the Christmas crowds). The trip was 6 nights/7 days, and we ate QS almost the entire trip. We had 2 TS meals.

The QS got a little old, even with variety, but it also gave us more time and money for other stuff. It's also nice not having to rush to meet dining reservations.

I would just stick to QS unless you are really wanting to try a bunch of TS restaurants. Don't feel like you have to upgrade so you won't eat the same meal all week.

 

[Nadjalu]

Personally I think if you are used to the DDP and TS meals, you will be disappointed with all CS.

Not saying that CS isn't the way to go, as it is individual to what people are used to or enjoy.

If you feel you may not enjoy the TS meal once a day then most likely you will be correct and CS won't satisify you.
Really it isn't about the amount of food, because with CS you get plenty. It is about how you like to vacation.

For us going to the local amusement park (Cedar Point), eating "fast food" type stuff is fine. But we only do it one day.
When we are on vacation at WDW we enjoy that 1 TS meal in the evening. It is time we like to sit, relax, cool off and know we are on vacation.

So it really is a personal preference thing. YOu know your family best.

Have a magical trip!!

 

[DEA]

Are there any CS places you would recommend we do not miss?

In Epcot: Tangerine Café and Sunshine Seasons are my favorites, but there are plenty of good places around WS for snacks and light lunches.
In MK: Columbia Harbor House is the best there
At DHS: I like the BBQ at Fairfax Fare
At AK: I like Flame Tree BBQ, and the rest of my family likes Pizzafari.
At DTD: Wolfgang Puck Express (eat TS portions for QS credits, fantastic deal on the dining plan) and Earl of Sandwich

 

[Cherinva]

We've had the TS DDP several times and loved it. However, on our trip last year, we had the QS. We didn't go hungry at all. And we didn't loose so much time with going to a TS. So, this year, we got the free dining QS plan. We thought about upgrading, but didn't do it. We know that we will get plenty of food and by not upgrading, we can spend the money on a TS breakfast at O'Hana, and a TS dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe.

Here are some great QS locations:

Casey's - MK
Columbia Harbour House - MK
Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe - MK
Flame Tree BBQ - AK
Electric Umbrella - EPCOT

We are going to try some other places that we haven't been to yet.

 

[tyniknate]

We went last trip with table service and found that we spent most of our time eating! Felt like we would no more than get finished with our quick service and we were needing to go somewhere for our table service reservations. Seemed like we were eating just for the sake of using up our credits. This is especially true when you are at WDW during slower times when their park hours are reduced. You also have to figure the costs of gratuity into the total cost for upgrading to the table service costs. For us, it just isn't worth the time and extra money. We will be counter service and probably still won't be able to eat every meal and snack!

 

[blue65829]

DH and I did TS in 2008 and QS in 2010 and FAR preffered QS. He was originally really against "downgrading" to just counter service prior to the trip but ended up loving the flexibility. I loved not having to set in stone everywhere we would be for every day of our trip.

I found the food quality to be excellent at the counter service restaurants, you just need to do a little research and you wouldn't have to touch a burger the entire time you were there.

In particular, Sunshine Seasons at Epcot, and at Downtown Disney, Wolfgang Puck Express, IMO you can get food at both locations that is table service quality without the serious time investment.

Of course it is extremely subjective.

 

[winterman]

DH and I have had free dining 3 or 4 times, always the (regular) DDP. This time we will be getting the QSDP and, after some cosideration, have decided to not upgrade. I am really looking forward to trying this. There are so many different types of QS restaurants, I don't expect to get bored with the food. We are staying 9 nights so we will have 36 snack credits, which will be helpful at the Food & Wine Festival. Lastly, to upgrade to DDP would have cost us $10/person/night, or $180. That money 'saved' will put a large dent in the cost of the 3 ADRs that we have made.

 

[jojo0612]

Thank you everyone for your replies! I think we are going to stick with the QS and try it this time. We are going to try the flexibility of not having to spend so much time at TS this trip! Hope everyone has a magical trip!!