Opinion on dining plan!!!!!!

[icequeenkcl]

Ok so I just need some opinions!!!

I am planning to go to disney but am really unsure of what dining plan to get if any!!!
It's only my mom and myself on the trip and generally we will eat a fruit/oatmeal for breakfast and then have a meal for both lunch and supper!
My question for all of you is, is the QS or the Regular Dining plan better!

I figured we could do QS and then if we want a sit down meal pay our of pocket! The difference between the two for my trip is roughly 216$ so I'm trying to figure out if its worth it to just get the regular dining plan!!!

Thanks,

Krista

 

[guinea pig]

Personally, I think going OOP is the way to go! Check allears,net menus and see what you would normally eat and price it out. Don't forget, you still have to pay the tip on TS OOP. Be sure to figure that in to your cost. We never would normally order dessert and usually just get water (not big soft drink drinkers) so it seems the DP are more expensive for us considering our tastes. BUT everyone is different. Some people feel they do get a value out of the DP.

 

[Diegosmom]

Also keep in mind that the quick service meal comes with a drink and dessert. Now some places have great dessert, like starring rolls (yummy cupcakes) and the food court gives you at lot of great choices but many of the standard places give you the "standard" desserts, key lime or chocolate mouse in a cup...we didnt care for them and if we were paying out of pocket no way would I have bought them. And usually I like to have my meal and then maybe an hour later get dessert so paying out of pocket works better. Also I'm not a big soda drinker.

But when DH went with us we did QS and it worked out well. He is a big eater and usually picks the most expensive item on the menu and he drinks a lot of soda...plus we had free dining...

 

[icequeenkcl]

Is it possible to add the dining plan after you have payed in full/or in between payments???

 

[homerjay316]

My wife and I had done the DDP in the past and enjoyed it. In 2012, we went for 1 week. I was running the marathon and the half marathon. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel or how capable I was going to be to go to parks/resorts following the races. I chose not to do the dining plan and go OOP so that we could miss reservations and just grab a burger at the resort if necessary.

As an experiment, I kept all our dining receipts and did some math when we returned. I forget the exact numbers, but we saved somewhere between $5-10 over what the DDP would have cost us. That's really not much considering that we could have had an additional 12 desserts (6 CS, 6 TS) each, and the freedom to order higher priced menu entrees that I wouldn't usually pay OOP for if we had bought the dining plan.

I still think the dining plan is worth it if you use all your credits. Definitely check the menus online before making your decision, like the previous poster said. I am surprised every time we go down there at what the CS meals cost. They are not the 'cheap alternative' to TS that I tend to perceive them as. Some of the CS meals are comparable in cost to lunch entrees at TS restaurants.

 

[3pletprincesses]

Is it possible to add the dining plan after you have payed in full/or in between payments???

I'm pretty sure you can add dining up to 3 days before arrival but you will have to pay it in full once you add it after the 45 days mark.

To answer you question, I wouldn't pay for QSDP. You save very little money by having it. You would need to eat every dessert and snacks and probably order always one of the most expensive item to break even. I did DDP and liked it. We did QS for lunch and TS for dinner and used our snack for breakfast. We still ahd to pay OOP for snacks.

 

[faindrops27]

If, this is your first time. Regular dining plan, is my vote I just love it!

A lot of people debate over how much food it is, and I just do not see it. Here, at home we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, fruit or yogurt for snack. At Disney, we are up before park opening headed for the parks so we bring breakfast bars from home, to eat while getting ready. We then use a qs meal for an early lunch 10-11, then have dinner around 6-8p.m. A snack in the parks if the kids want, but usually we have a few snacks left over last day that we pick up to bring home.

However, if sit down meals are not really your thing, go with QS dining you will save on tipping plus there are a lot of nice options! However, I love a lot of table service options so I just cannot do only qs. But, then again everyone is different, which is ok!

If you would like some suggestions on places to eat, just let me know. I've had the dining plan several times, and paid oop numerous times as well.

 

[pbruce706]

Soon it'll be our first trip on the Dining Plan. I look at it this way, it's not so much about how much I might save or how much more I've paid for the DDP (although they have to be close), it's more about knowing that it's paid for in advance. All we'll have out of pocket are tips, appetizers if we so choose and perhaps a drink or two.

For me, what usually happens, especially towards the end of a trip, is I start thinking about how much we've spent and start feeling guilty. So I'll go for the cheaper items on the menu. On the DDP, I'll choose what I want, regardless of the cost.

Plus we'd normally book a mix of lower cost and higher cost restaurants, but with the DDP, I've not even considered the price, just whether they took the DDP and how many TS credits it needs.

My opinion may change once we've gone through it all, but our plan is a QS breakfast at the resort, a snack during the day, and a big dinner at a restaurant.