Quick service DDP tips

[aagee]

Anyone got tips for maximizing the QS DDP? I'm trying to decide if it is worth it for us to switch from a room discount to FD.

for instance, I know I have read somewhere about people substituting a bottle of water for a QS dessert. Is this really possible? Tips like that are what I'm looking for, as we won't really care about all those desserts.

thanks for your help! and if there is already a thread with this kind of info, please point me to it

 

[aagee]

anyone? I've never done the DDP before, so I'm just looking for any tips I can get. Ways to maximize QS meals & snacks.

 

[awdwnut]

Our experience seems to be that most QS locations will allow it, but it seems to depend on the cashier that you have. One time last Sept. at Cosmic Ray's my wife and I went through one line and our cashier had no problem with it, while our son and daughter-in-law in the line right next to us were not allowed to do the same thing by their cashier. It would be nice to know the official policy on this, but we just ask and if the cashier say that it is no problem, we do it and if not, we end up eating more dessert that we do not need...

awdwnut

 

[jenlov]

It would depend on several things like which resort, how many rooms, rack rate for your room, amount of room discount, how many people and what ages, how long are you staying, how much do you eat...etc. Here's what I did to decide if it's worth it. Figure out what your room discount per day would be and then decide if you think you can feed yourself (and/or family if applicable) for that amount of savings per day. For example, if you get a value room that is $95/ day, at 15% discount for room only rate, that's only $14.25/day savings. That means, that if you take the room discount, you would have to feed yourself and/or family for only $14.25 to make the room discount worth it. That would be pretty hard. Now, if you're going deluxe resort and your savings is a LOT per day, obviously that would be the better option over free dining. So, list all that info. Basically, you need to figure out...how much does the room save you...how much does the dining save you (and how much you think you'll spend per day in food)...and then decide which is the better deal. I can tell you this...buying the QSDP does not save you much. BUT if it's free, it is a good value, especially if you have a family. We have lots of kids. The free dining plan is a way better value for us. We have 2 rooms at a value, which would give us a maximum of $30 discount per day total (not per room). There's NO way I could feed 9 people for $30 at WDW.

As for the QS dessert...do you mean the snack? or the dessert that comes with your meal? You can use your snack credit to get water. You can also get a water as your beverage with your meal (I think), but you can't switch out your dessert that's included in the meal for a bottle of water. At least, I don't think so. however, you can get free ice and water in a cup at all CS places in the park, even if you're not ordering anything. or so I've been told, lol. We usually bring our own into the park. We stop at Walmart and buy a couple of cases of water. You can also get it delivered from some places to your room.

 

[jenlov]

Our experience seems to be that most QS locations will allow it, but it seems to depend on the cashier that you have. One time last Sept. at Cosmic Ray's my wife and I went through one line and our cashier had no problem with it, while our son and daughter-in-law in the line right next to us were not allowed to do the same thing by their cashier. It would be nice to know the official policy on this, but we just ask and if the cashier say that it is no problem, we do it and if not, we end up eating more dessert that we do not need...

awdwnut

Good to know. I will definitely ask just in case. I think we had like 10 chocolate or carrot cakes leftover by the end of the week! LOL! some of the desserts are great, but after chocolate cake #2, we were so over that.

 

[figment_jii]

As for the QS dessert...do you mean the snack? or the dessert that comes with your meal? You can use your snack credit to get water. You can also get a water as your beverage with your meal (I think), but you can't switch out your dessert that's included in the meal for a bottle of water.

As the PPs said, it depends on the location and CM. I've been able to do that at some of the resort CS locations.

Other tips...
1. You can get two pastries and a drink at the Patisserie in France (Epcot) for a CS credit.

2. You can get the larger sized drink, you just have to specify that you'd like the large. They normally ring it up as a regular.

3. Sometimes, you can also get a non-sweet dessert...like fruits, a bag of chips, etc. As with the water, it's best to ask a CM first (ideally the one you'll be using to pay for your meal).

 

[jenlov]

And don't waste a CS credit on something that would be much cheaper to buy. For example, breakfast...you can get a cinnamon roll, muffin, yogurt, oatmeal, etc for around $2-3 and use your refillable mug to get a drink/coffee at your resort food court instead of using your CS credit on breakfast. Don't waste your credit which could be worth up to $15 depending on your particular meal (lunch/dinner). If you are a big breakfast eater and decide to do one of the more expensive breakfast platters at your food court, use your beverage credit from that meal to get a bottle of water or other bottled drink for later and use your refillable mug for a drink right then. We don't normally do breakfasts b/c it's not a great value. We're not big breakfast eaters. We usually bring stuff to eat in our room in the morning.

 

[jenlov]

Oh and your snack credit is usually good for things up to $4.50 ish. If you're wanting something that's only $2, you may want to pay that $2 out of pocket and save your snack credit for a more expensive item. Back when they gave us 2 snack credits per day, we normally used one for a pastry for breakfast at the food court. So, if you don't want to use your snack credit in the parks, you could use it for a breakfast type item that is also on the "snack credit" list. then, later...if you decide you want a snack after all, pay OOP or just keep using those snack credits until you run out. We ended up with extras at the end of the trip that we traded in for bottled drinks for the road. BUT, that was when they gave you 2 per day. I'm sure now that there's only 1 per day, it won't be hard to use that up, lol.

 

[GeraldineW]

While it is no guarantee, my experience has been that you can substitute the c/s dessert for a piece of fresh fruit, or a yogurt, if you don't want the carrot/chocolate cake. When we do this we can order fewer c/s than in our party because the yogurts are fillers and stretch the already big sized meals.

 

[jenlov]

While it is no guarantee, my experience has been that you can substitute the c/s dessert for a piece of fresh fruit, or a yogurt, if you don't want the carrot/chocolate cake. When we do this we can order fewer c/s than in our party because the yogurts are fillers and stretch the already big sized meals.

That's what I'm hoping for! My youngest will be 13mo by the time we go and won't be fully eating all table food quite yet, so yogurt and fruit are good options to help fill in when there's not much that she'll be able to eat.

 

[aagee]

Thanks, guys! I know the QSDP isn't a great money saver, but I figure if I can work it right, it will meet our needs better.

 

[August2010]

One tip I read in a guide is to always get a bottled drink with your meal instead of using your refillable mug.

 

[TACK]

My daughter likes breadsticks for snack later, so we would substitute her dessert for breadsticks. Some cashiers, had no problem, others would question doing it but they always let her. We would also get the yogurt parfait for dessert and save it for breakfast. Now that there are fridges at Pop Century, it is much easier to store these items for later. Always get bottled juice, bottled water for our meals and keep them for park visits.

I always bring zip lock bags just in case for storage. I also make sure I have a couple of meals left over so I can buy sandwiches for the plane ride home.

We also go to Pepper Market and get take out (save on the tip they charge for sitting at a table in the restaurant). We go outside and eat our meal. Also at the Polynesian, they have Dole Whip for desert and we always satisfy our dole whip craving there and save on a snack credit purchase at Magic Kingdom.

 

[mousiemom]

we do the qsdp on every trip and we don't like using our snack credits for drinks, we use those on the stuffed jalepeno pretzels, rootbeer floats, funnel cakes, good stuff. remember too at the foodcourt at the resort, when you use a CS be sure and pick up one of bottled juices for your refrigerator in the room, take in the park the next day and fill up your refillable mug for your meal. be sure and read over the snack list cause there are so many good snacks you can use for breakfast.