On the fence...DDP or QSDP. Little help please.

[joe-aka-papabear]

We just booked our disney trip with free QS dining( gotta pin...woo hoo) and will be staying at sports. In our last 3 trips we have always had free pins for the QSDP and had not upgraded. Now for the dilema. Should I upgrade to regular dining for the additional $300 for the entire trip.

We are staying 8 nights. Myself and my wife with 2 kids ages 2 and 9. Our 2 year old would eat off our plates but my other son would have to choose from the kids menu if we upgrade to the DDP. He has zero interest in most of the kids menus and it would cost a ton to upgrade him so he could dine off the adult menu.

Here are a few questions I have.
-Will any TS places offer kids portions on Adult entrees?
-Will 2 regular entrees feed 3 so the 2yr old gets the kids meal?
-Are there any places where there is not a kids menu?
-Can you still use 1 credit for character dining?
-Can you trade 2 credits for a dinner show?

I appreciate any advice I can get. Our trip is the first week of May so if we upgrade, I need to get going with ADR's.

 

[DisGirl1971]

We just booked our disney trip with free QS dining( gotta pin...woo hoo) and will be staying at sports. In our last 3 trips we have always had free pins for the QSDP and had not upgraded. Now for the dilema. Should I upgrade to regular dining for the additional $300 for the entire trip.

We are staying 8 nights. Myself and my wife with 2 kids ages 2 and 9. Our 2 year old would eat off our plates but my other son would have to choose from the kids menu if we upgrade to the DDP. He has zero interest in most of the kids menus and it would cost a ton to upgrade him so he could dine off the adult menu.

Here are a few questions I have.
-Will any TS places offer kids portions on Adult entrees?
-Will 2 regular entrees feed 3 so the 2yr old gets the kids meal?
-Are there any places where there is not a kids menu?
-Can you still use 1 credit for character dining?
-Can you trade 2 credits for a dinner show?

I appreciate any advice I can get. Our trip is the first week of May so if we upgrade, I need to get going with ADR's.

We have 5 kids and haven't really had any issues with the kids find something they like on the kid's menu, even my almost 16 year old daughter still orders off the kid's menu, but I do know all kid's have very different pallets.

-Will any TS places offer kids portions on Adult entrees? Generally, no.

-Will 2 regular entrees feed 3 so the 2yr old gets the kids meal? Depend on the restaurant and the meal, you will have to look at the menus. And it depends on how much you eat as well. I would probably just plan a lot of buffets so your 9 year old can eat whatever he wants and everyone doesn't have to share.

-Are there any places where there is not a kids menu? A couple, just look at the restauant menus link.

-Can you still use 1 credit for character dining? All Character meals, except for Cinderella's Royal Table, are 1 TS credit on the DDP.

-Can you trade 2 credits for a dinner show? All Disney dinner shows are 2 TS credits on the DDP.

Here is a link to all the WDW restaurant menus:

http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

 

[Faldred]

-Will any TS places offer kids portions on Adult entrees? NO.

Not entirely true. On my last trip, we were able to get a kid-sized fish & chips at Rose & Crown, despite it not being on the kids' menu. My impression, talking to the manager when she came around to visit, is that you may have some luck with this, but more likely at 3rd-party restaurants than Disney-owned. No guarantees, of course.

Also, it kind of depends on what you're asking for. Something that's easy to "downsize" (like a pasta dish or something like fish and chips where there's a certain quantity being put on the plate that can be reduced) might have a better chance of being allowed than things that are harder to split (especially if they've been pre-portioned for service already).

Short version: it never hurts to ask, the answer just might be yes. Just don't count on it.

-Are there any places where there is not a kids menu?

Outside of buffets/AYCE/family-style, there are no table service locations that do not have a kids' menu. There are a small number of CS locations with no kids menu.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

Dont forget that if the cost differential in the two plans is $300 you will also have to take into account gratuity that is charged on the entire price of each table service meal. If you did not include that in the $300 figure you quoted, it will make the differential a bit more. Just something to consider! We decided just to stick with QSDP And pay oop if we want a nicer sit down meal.

 

[mara61]

Did you price out how much it would be to upgrade your son to an adult? I realize you would have to pay the difference between quick to regular dining ($300), but did you call and ask how much it would be to upgrade your son to an adult reg. dining? When we had the regular dining plan the last time we went, the cost to upgrade my son to an adult was under $40 for 7 days (total). He was 8, it was well worth the cost. I can only imagine what it would have cost if I had to supplement every single meal for him with more food. So perhaps it might not be that much more than the $300.

 

[essom71]

We ran into this on one trip in the past...our 9 year old at that time could eat 3 kids meals! What we did was book only buffet style meals that don't have a regular menu. Look on allears.net but some of our favorites include ohana, chef mickeys, bierengarten, etc. I also think they have an all you can eat skillet at whispering canyon which is fun.

 

[4butlers]

For me, paying only $300, plus upgrading DS to an "adult" for 8 whole nights would be a no-brainer and well worth it. Being able to have at least one sit-down meal and not have to find a table and eat off a tray for every meal would be worth it to me. Plus, having the option to have a character meal for your kids (who will love it!) and not worry about the cost is great!

 

[Tea4Alice]

Dont forget that if the cost differential in the two plans is $300 you will also have to take into account gratuity that is charged on the entire price of each table service meal. If you did not include that in the $300 figure you quoted, it will make the differential a bit more. Just something to consider! We decided just to stick with QSDP And pay oop if we want a nicer sit down meal.

We are doing the same on our August trip, we were just there in December and did the TS, took too much time away from our touring and we did'nt really enjoy all our meals. Last July(2010) we did QSDP and we didn't mind it, we just wanted to do TS to celebrate our DGD B-Day wk.