QS or TS with 1 or 2 Character Meals?

[Marthasor]

Hi! I have never used the dining plan, but I'm helping a friend plan a trip and she really wants one. Her first inclination was to go with QS (she is going with her DD13 and DD15 and they really just like chicken nuggets, etc.), however she wants to do at least one character meal. The difference in the cost between QS and TS dining for the three of them for 6 nights is $300. I just priced some character meals out and saw CP dinner alone would cost them $165. What would you recommend? If they only end up doing 2 or 3 TS, can they use the remaining TS credits for QS meals? Thanks!

Also, if they book with QS dining and change their minds, can they upgrade to the TS dining plan before they arrive?

Thanks!

 

[summermac]

The upgrade must be done at least 72 hours before arrival.

If her kids mostly like chicken nuggets I'd stick with the QS plan and add in a couple of TS for the characters. It's quite expensive for a child who just like chicken nuggets.

 

[Marthasor]

Thanks! I think you are right! - I tried to do the math and unless they do at least 3 TS and/or character DINNERS - it doesn't make sense to upgrade

Thank you so much!

 

[sharonabe]

I think I would get with her and show her the menus. There aren't that many QS places that serve chicken nuggets for adults. Are there other things they like? With the regular DDP, at least they could do a buffet every day and fill up on what they like, but it will take some time out of the parks.

 

[havoc315]

Hi! I have never used the dining plan, but I'm helping a friend plan a trip and she really wants one. Her first inclination was to go with QS (she is going with her DD13 and DD15 and they really just like chicken nuggets, etc.), however she wants to do at least one character meal. The difference in the cost between QS and TS dining for the three of them for 6 nights is $300. I just priced some character meals out and saw CP dinner alone would cost them $165. What would you recommend? If they only end up doing 2 or 3 TS, can they use the remaining TS credits for QS meals? Thanks!

Also, if they book with QS dining and change their minds, can they upgrade to the TS dining plan before they arrive?

Thanks!

Crystal palace dinner for 3 adults should be around $135, not sure where you got your pricing.

It's difficult to get value out of the QSDP or DDP if you don't fit exactly into the box.

The QSDP is easily a money-loser for many people, though it can also save a few dollars.
So assuming the QSDP would be about break-even for your friends... Would it be worth $300 to upgrade, to transform 6 of the QS credits into TS credits?

Let's use the Crystal Palace dinner as the set example --
Instead of a $50 QS meal for 3 people, they are getting a $135 TS meal. So they are getting an additional $85 of "value."
CP dinner is 1 of the more expensive TS meals.... Most TS meals cost less. But assuming they did all their dinners at Crystal Palace -- If they did 3 dinners there -- They would gain about $255 in value.

As you see -- They would have to do at least 4 similarly priced TS meals, before they started to "get ahead."
For the savings to have any real significance, they would have use up all 6 of the TS credits.
Using TS credits for a QS meal, is a big big money loser. (You're paying about $32 per TS credit... so you are bleeding money if you use it for a $16 meal).

So if they just want 2-3 TS meals... First glance would suggest to stick with the QSDP and pay OOP for those 2-3 meals.

The problem with this though, is that if you are doing some of your lunches/dinners TS OOP, then you may not maximize every QS credit. For example, if they have dinner at CP. What are they going to do with the 2 QS credits for that day? Use 1 of lunch, and 1 for breakfast? But if you use QS credits for breakfast, you lose money on the credit -- You are paying about $16 per credit, and breakfast only runs about $7-$12.
Meaning, if they fail to maximize the QSDP, they could very easily lose money on the QSDP.

This illustration shows the difficulty with falling "between" dining plans. Each dining plan only makes sense if you stick very close to it, and very close to maximizing its value. If you don't get strong value out of almost all of your entitlements, it doesn't make financial sense.

 

[Marthasor]

Crystal palace dinner for 3 adults should be around $135, not sure where you got your pricing.

It's difficult to get value out of the QSDP or DDP if you don't fit exactly into the box.

The QSDP is easily a money-loser for many people, though it can also save a few dollars.
So assuming the QSDP would be about break-even for your friends... Would it be worth $300 to upgrade, to transform 6 of the QS credits into TS credits?

Let's use the Crystal Palace dinner as the set example --
Instead of a $50 QS meal for 3 people, they are getting a $135 TS meal. So they are getting an additional $85 of "value."
CP dinner is 1 of the more expensive TS meals.... Most TS meals cost less. But assuming they did all their dinners at Crystal Palace -- If they did 3 dinners there -- They would gain about $255 in value.

As you see -- They would have to do at least 4 similarly priced TS meals, before they started to "get ahead."
For the savings to have any real significance, they would have use up all 6 of the TS credits.
Using TS credits for a QS meal, is a big big money loser. (You're paying about $32 per TS credit... so you are bleeding money if you use it for a $16 meal).

So if they just want 2-3 TS meals... First glance would suggest to stick with the QSDP and pay OOP for those 2-3 meals.

The problem with this though, is that if you are doing some of your lunches/dinners TS OOP, then you may not maximize every QS credit. For example, if they have dinner at CP. What are they going to do with the 2 QS credits for that day? Use 1 of lunch, and 1 for breakfast? But if you use QS credits for breakfast, you lose money on the credit -- You are paying about $16 per credit, and breakfast only runs about $7-$12.
Meaning, if they fail to maximize the QSDP, they could very easily lose money on the QSDP.

This illustration shows the difficulty with falling "between" dining plans. Each dining plan only makes sense if you stick very close to it, and very close to maximizing its value. If you don't get strong value out of almost all of your entitlements, it doesn't make financial sense.

Sorry - I meant CRT not CP!!! She is now leaning toward the regular dining plan. If she does that, I am going to suggest doing as many TS dinners as possible, including at least 2 character meals, to get the biggest bang for her buck. Will probably also suggest the other TS's are at non-signature restaurants so she isn't racing around trying to make those credit card hold restaurants!

 

[havoc315]

Sorry - I meant CRT not CP!!! She is now leaning toward the regular dining plan. If she does that, I am going to suggest doing as many TS dinners as possible, including at least 2 character meals, to get the biggest bang for her buck. Will probably also suggest the other TS's are at non-signature restaurants so she isn't racing around trying to make those credit card hold restaurants!

Ah.... OK... Might actually be more than $165 then, not sure what the current pricing is. But remember, CRT is 2 credits. So that would be $165 with 2 TS credits, instead of about $100 for 2 QS meals. So additional value of about $65....
In other words, if they used ALL of their TS credits at CRT -- 2 castle dinners -- They would only gain about $195 in value, after having spent $300 --- Thus, even using all their credits, they actually lost $100.

For the DDP to be worthwhile, you want to make sure you are consistently getting $30-35+ value out of every TS credit, for it to be financially worthwhile. If your pricing of CRT is correct-- $55 per person... Then you are only getting about $27.50 per meal credit. A poor value of the dining plan, and they would need to make up for this "loss" by doing more expensive meals elsewhere.

I actually think for a family of 3, the current price is more like $180-$190... making it about "break even" at about $30-$32 per credit.

 

[Marthasor]

Ah.... OK... Might actually be more than $165 then, not sure what the current pricing is. But remember, CRT is 2 credits. So that would be $165 with 2 TS credits, instead of about $100 for 2 QS meals. So additional value of about $65....
In other words, if they used ALL of their TS credits at CRT -- 2 castle dinners -- They would only gain about $195 in value, after having spent $300 --- Thus, even using all their credits, they actually lost $100.

For the DDP to be worthwhile, you want to make sure you are consistently getting $30-35+ value out of every TS credit, for it to be financially worthwhile. If your pricing of CRT is correct-- $55 per person... Then you are only getting about $27.50 per meal credit. A poor value of the dining plan, and they would need to make up for this "loss" by doing more expensive meals elsewhere.

I actually think for a family of 3, the current price is more like $180-$190... making it about "break even" at about $30-$32 per credit.

Thanks for breaking that down! We are starting to look at menus together now and I will definitely steer her toward restaurants with higher price points to make this more worthwhile. I never get the dining plan - too much math for me!

 

[magpomom]

Just from a cost perspective, also keep in mind that the regular dining plan does not include tip. So in addition to the extra cost of the plan, you need to add on another hundred dollars or more for tips. It's not a huge difference, but it was enough to steer us toward the quick service dining plan last time and pay for a couple of character meals out of pocket.

Of course, I'm not sure I'd consider the QSDP again now that they've dropped the second snack. Lucky for us, we're going with the free dining plan promotion this time, so the meals (minus tips) are taken care of.