Never again!!!!!

[I Love Pluto]

We were at Pop the week prior to Easter (March 31st to April 6th. We tried the QS Dining Plan for the first time. We will never, ever, ever again use this plan. Here is what we encountered...

At the parks - we got exactly what was promised - a counter service meal, a drink, and a dessert. We didn't want dessert (dieting) so places throughout the parks substituted bottled water, coffee, fruit, etc. in place of dessert. The only issue here was that it was not the SAME at all places. One QS would allow us to have water. The next would not approve water, but would approve fruit as a dessert, etc, etc. All personnel were polite when expressing the "rules" of QS desserts to us.

At Pop - we had additional issues. The CMs would correct us if we didn't have a dessert on the tray. They would send us back to get one, even after we explained that we didn't want one. They used the words of - "If you don't get your dessert now, you'll come back later and want it - so we won't ring you up until you get your dessert". They sent us back to correct our wrongdoings - and wouldn't ring us up until we got it right. We had just arrived at Disney - we hadn't eaten there yet - but we were being accused of wanting dessert later. We never, ever did this - but we were "corrected" for not following the rules.

So - we got dessert - gave it away, or threw it away. Do you know how hard it is to give away a cookie that you really want, but won't eat because you're on a diet? It would have been easier if they allowed us to skip dessert, as requested. Dessert HAD to be a pastry at Pop - no fruit allowed.

We eat a light lunch, not a meal. We were not permitted at Pop to purchase a Peanut Butter sandwich as our meal. We were told - in language from CMs that you wouldn't want to hear - the difference between a peanut butter sandwich and a meal. We asked for "less for our money" - but were denied the peanut butter sandwich. How is this sandwich different from a hot dog (which is permitted on the plan)? We could have the PB as a snack, but not a meal. Why would I want to use a snack credit on a lunch? This didn't make sense at all. We could get bottled water at the parks for our snack credit, so why waste it on lunch (which should have been a meal)?

We ended our vacation with 8 meals left (for 2 people). We started with 24 meals, and only used ONE THIRD OF THEM due to our resort's "rules" - which weren't the same rules as in the parks.

So - is the QS Plan worth it? Read this again - then decide.

Thanks for listening!

 

[worm761]

It does not sound like it was worth it for YOU. It is not for everyone. I won't use the QSDDP at all. I don't find it worth the value. BUT that does not mean that it was not worth it for other people.

And I don't understand how you left with 8 meals if you were eating 3 times a day. If you don't eat like the plan then it will not be worth it.

 

[BearcatsFan]

Sorry you had a frustrating experience, OP. FWIW, when we stayed at POP last year, the CMs were nothing but helpful. I often skipped dessert when eating there and nobody forced me to go back and get one - they would explain that I was entitled to one, but didn't ask me to leave the line for it or give me flak when I said I didn't want one.

I find the dining plan is worth it for us because I've priced out the cost vs what we would have to pay OOP, knowing our style of eating. We had no issues with it and found it quite convenient. I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted and that it wasn't useful for you, but many of us find it worth the money and easy to use.

 

[I Love Pluto]

We didn't eat three times a day. Sorry - I didn't make that clear.

 

[MrsDe2008]

I agree with the pp...the dining plan is not for everyone.

We usually go to DW when the dining plan is free (obviously worth it then), but we would never pay for it. They give you way too much food and we wouldn't eat it all, so therefore it wouldn't be worth it to pay for. When we do go during the times when dining isn't free, we just purchase as we go...it's much cheaper for us that way. Sorry it didn't work out for you.

 

[I Love Pluto]

BearcatsFan - Did you have any meals at Pop? Just curious - thanks.

In retrospect - I think my complaint is how POP handled the dining plan, not with the dining plan itself. I'm re-reading - and I did not complain about the dining plan in the parks at all. Hmm...interesting...isn't it?

 

[BearcatsFan]

BearcatsFan - Did you have any meals at Pop? Just curious - thanks.

In retrospect - I think my complaint is how POP handled the dining plan, not with the dining plan itself. I'm re-reading - and I did not complain about the dining plan in the parks at all. Hmm...interesting...isn't it?

Yes. We had dinner there twice, lunch once, and breakfast three times. Sounds like maybe you got some CMs that were having an off day (or two, or three? LOL)

 

[beroh2253]

There is no way of being on a diet at Disney. And can't wait till October to get a hot fudge sundae when we get to POP. At home I'm on a constant diet unless we are going out to eat.
Most of the desserts in the parks aren't that great and when not on the the dining plan we would not get them, but when on the plan we never tryed not to get the dessert. I thought some places allowed you to come back and get your dessert if it was icecream or something frozen maybe that was in the past.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

I think you should e-mail Disney with your experiences. From what I can tell Disney is trying to offer more healthy options food-wise so it's surprising that every location wouldn't let you have fruit for dessert. We've never had anyone turn us down for that.

I have to wonder if POP has had a lot of issues lately or if the folks you talked to weren't trained properly.

Also I think you'd be much better off paying OOP and skipping the dining plan all together since it didn't work well for you.

Finally at AS Music they will let you get a dessert later - they'll ring it up with your food and then stamp the receipt. When you're ready for your ice cream (which has to be within 45 or 90 minutes of the receipt time - can't remember which) you go order it, show the receipt to the cashier who tears it or marks it then you go eat.

 

[jthornton94]

Just curious, if you are on a diet, had no intention of eating dessert, then why did you purchase a plan you knew included it? No where in the official literature does it mention making substitutions, so it seems the plan was a bad choice for your family partially because you were not fully informed on what it included. It's nice that some places allow substitutions, but that is never something I would count on since it is not part of the official plan, unless I have missed it in the literature I have read. I know I would never use the quick service plan because it does not fit how our family eats on vacation, not because there is an inherent flaw with it.

 

[KELLY]

Wow we have used the QSDP 2 times now and love it. We eat once a day at pop. Never had a issue with desert or anything. Going on our 3rd time. Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

[KELLY]

I think you should e-mail Disney with your experiences. From what I can tell Disney is trying to offer more healthy options food-wise so it's surprising that every location wouldn't let you have fruit for dessert. We've never had anyone turn us down for that.

I have to wonder if POP has had a lot of issues lately or if the folks you talked to weren't trained properly.

Also I think you'd be much better off paying OOP and skipping the dining plan all together since it didn't work well for you.

Finally at AS Music they will let you get a dessert later - they'll ring it up with your food and then stamp the receipt. When you're ready for your ice cream (which has to be within 45 or 90 minutes of the receipt time - can't remember which) you go order it, show the receipt to the cashier who tears it or marks it then you go eat.

They do the same at pop.

 

[LBlovesM&WDW]

First off, I would like to congratulate you for sticking to your program at WDW, something I could never do. As for your issues at POP, I'm sorry they gave you such a hard time. Perhaps they were trying to be cute when telling you to back to get something, perhaps they were just not informed. We had no problem getting fruit as dessert at POP. Admittedly, we don't eat too much fruit while we're there, but we have some and never have experienced what you did. If you choose to contact Disney, I hope they fix/re-inform their staff of the policy. I know that won't help you now, but maybe it will help others/you in the future.

 

[JLS]

I don't think that any guests could get the value out of any of the dining plans while dieting. The "value" of dessert is built in to the cost of the plan. For families that never would order dessert if paying, you are losing out because you are paying for it. Also so much of the non-dessert food is not exactly diet food! And snacks.... I know that you can get fruit, diet soda or water with snack credits but in terms of value that is not the best use of credits. If you go in knowing that you want to order smaller entrees, not eat 3 times per day, and never order dessert and get fruit or water for snacks, the QSDP is not a good decision. Even used to its max, I think the QSDP is of questionable value in terms of saving money over paying OOP.

For people who need a lot of substitutions or special requests, it is probably best not to get the dining plan to begin with because you end up at the whim of individual CMs each time.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

we had free quick service dining on our recent stay...we enjoyed the convenience...but it isn;t a great plan for us either as we prefer a salad, soup, etc with our meal. and not to have two desserts each day. It just got to be too much!! fun to try it once, but we would never pay for it!

 

[bosox32]

Sorry to hear it didnt work for you. We stayed at Pop in Jan/Feb with the Dining Plan and loved it. All CM's were great and had no trouble ordering. I also tried to stick to a diet in WDW, but..... that lasted a day or two lol; too much good food and desserts with every meal.

 

[icc2515]

At Pop - we had additional issues. The CMs would correct us if we didn't have a dessert on the tray. They would send us back to get one, even after we explained that we didn't want one. They used the words of - "If you don't get your dessert now, you'll come back later and want it - so we won't ring you up until you get your dessert". They sent us back to correct our wrongdoings - and wouldn't ring us up until we got it right. We had just arrived at Disney - we hadn't eaten there yet - but we were being accused of wanting dessert later. We never, ever did this - but we were "corrected" for not following the rules.


We eat a light lunch, not a meal. We were not permitted at Pop to purchase a Peanut Butter sandwich as our meal. We were told - in language from CMs that you wouldn't want to hear - the difference between a peanut butter sandwich and a meal. We asked for "less for our money" - but were denied the peanut butter sandwich. How is this sandwich different from a hot dog (which is permitted on the plan)? We could have the PB as a snack, but not a meal. Why would I want to use a snack credit on a lunch? This didn't make sense at all. We could get bottled water at the parks for our snack credit, so why waste it on lunch (which should have been a meal)?

I wonder if there is some sort of weird reimbursement thing going on here. Like if the restaurant does not ring up the dessert they do not get reimbursed for it and therefore loose out on the money and possibly a managers bonus.

As for the peanut butter sandwich if the peanut butter sandwich is a snack then you cannot use a CS credit for a snack according to the rules. Page 6 towards the bottom.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/me...alog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2012Dining.pdf

I really am curious as to what the cast members said to you. Did they swear at you? If so this is totally unacceptable and you should definitely report it to guest services.

Anyway I am glad stuck to your diet. Dieting sucks and even more so on vacation.

 

[tinkerpea]

Im not sure the OP completley means that the plan isnt worth it at all or does not work at all I believe what she was getting at was the fact that on the plan they was being forced to get something they did not want! like the OP said they made them leave the line to go get a dessert for later that the op did not even want!!I would be pretty mad if i was in a line and somebody did that to me,Im wondering if these places have gotten much more pushy or to the point due to the fact they used to be allowed to substitute most items for something else and you also used to be able to get 3 snacks for a CS meal it worked like that for yrs! maybe they have been getting some flack for the fact it wasnt a written rule and now its been corrected and passed down through the workers they are making sure you get what your entitled to and making it clear they cant bend the rules anymore
Either way No way should the OP have been made to get items that wasnt needed,or spoken to in a manner thats made them feel this way i think the issue was more with POP then with the plan itself

All in all i think for somebody who isnt going to eat everything that the plan gives you may not be the best value for that person, just because each dessert is in the price and if only eating light lunches then that would be cheaper oop like the op was saying, for our family the QS would never work at all we like our TS way too much and we upgrade the kids to adults so they can split QS meals and some TS meals that way we get to visit more TS places and we also dont pay for breakfast if splitting etc so we end up paying NO food OOP for the entire 2/3 wk stay!

 

[beroh2253]

Just a guess but maybe its a computer issue, if a meal, a drink, and a dessert are not rung up at the same time on the computer maybe it doesn't ring up a CS credit and wants to charge cash for a meal and drink, so for the CM it's easier to have someone have all 3 items to check out with? You know computers.

 

[tinkerpea]

Just a guess but maybe its a computer issue, if a meal, a drink, and a dessert are not rung up at the same time on the computer maybe it doesn't ring up a CS credit and wants to charge cash for a meal and drink, so for the CM it's easier to have someone have all 3 items to check out with? You know computers.

This why they should have stuck to allowing people to pick a water etc so they didnt waste the dessert portion of it! worked so much easier like that and many people was happy with the outcome! such a shame,so if this is the case they need to sort it they cant keep telling people what they HAVE TO HAVE wether wanted or not.