Quick Service Dining Plan - Anyone Feel this Way?

[1budai]

I have always done the dining plan. But this time I booked the QSD plan. And for some reason I feel less stressed. It will be nice to just have a basic plan but not tied to a reservation. Anyone else feel that way?

 

[MichiganMomto4]

Actually.... yes! on our last trip we had free QSDP and I was so excited not to be tied down to any adrs. But then we thought, well.... maybe we should just do one sitdown; then it was...... we are a grand gathering and we'd like to do the Illuminations dinner. After figuring out the cost, it ended up being cheaper to upgrade to the regular DP. So then we had to fill in 5 more ADRs and the stress was back So.... enjoy the stress free feeling of QSDP and don't think about upgrading!!

 

[1budai]

great thanks!!!!! I might just book one sit down on our own and be done.

 

[tgropp]

Only way that I would get the QSDP was if I could eat at Wolfgang Pucks Express every meal.

 

[ccgirl]

We are doing the QSDP in October. I am so excited to not have to worry about TS reservations!!! We will probably do 1TS that I can use the TiW card on but we really just want to eat/drink around the world.

 

[SandiKB]

Yes!!! It was not easy thinking up sit downs to please everyone, not to mention our friends are going as well, it's so much easier with no ADR's to make! I do have one made for Chef Mickey the morning we're leaving, so there's no stress there

 

[weheartdisney]

I think it's a great idea. The stress free ability to eat whenever and not have to worry about being at a certain place at a certain time to eat if VERY appealing to me.

We looked into doing that this trip, with paying for one character meal on our son's 3rd birthday. But for $90.00 more total, we could do the Deluxe plan, so it made more sense for us to to the DDP.

Hope it works out wonderfully for you!!

 

[SandiKB]

It was cheaper for us to add the reg plan, but then when I factored in the tips for the meals, it became more expensive, lol. Honestly, it's more the stress factor of keeping 11 people happy with a reservation than anything else!

 

[Mamu]

I have always done the dining plan. But this time I booked the QSD plan. And for some reason I feel less stressed. It will be nice to just have a basic plan but not tied to a reservation. Anyone else feel that way?

We have never done the Dining Plan. I've always taken the discount instead. I do book a few TS meals mostly lunches. I enjoy the CS meals at Disney there's a wide variety of CS that are very good.

I think it's the thought that I'm on vacation and I live with schedules everyday and I prefer a schedule free vacation.

 

[2Tiggies]

Yep, count me in too. This is going to be our third year on QSDP and we love it. We do book some TS and last year we had a bunch of them, but it is nice to be able to call and cancel if you change your plans without worrying about how to use up that meal credit. I am only booking 3 or 4 TS this year on a 15 night trip and I am so relaxed about it.

One is a character meal but the others are non DDP participating restaurants so we can eat where we choose without feeling we are 'wasting' credits, since we were planning on some TS OOP anyway.

 

[smiths02]

I like to plan and feel less anxiety when I plan and know what to expect...

When we went, the Counter Service meals were so much more stressful. I knew ahead of time that all the ADRs I chose would have something for everyone, but picking Counter Service was almost too many options that 4 adults had to agree on or split up (and we weren't really splitting up on this trip). Then someone had to get the orders and someone had to get the table.

I just don't see it as that cost saving...unless you really try to max out everything (buy a dole whip float with every snack and eat dessert with everything ). I guess if it's "free" and you don't have another discount it is good, but if I was going to just eat CS, I would pay OOP
ETA: But I guess that is why Disney has so many options. Oh, and so they can give free QSDP (at value and moderate) and call it free dining

 

[ccgirl]

I like to plan and feel less anxiety when I plan and know what to expect...

When we went, the Counter Service meals were so much more stressful. I knew ahead of time that all the ADRs I chose would have something for everyone, but picking Counter Service was almost too many options that 4 adults had to agree on or split up (and we weren't really splitting up on this trip). Then someone had to get the orders and someone had to get the table.

I just don't see it as that cost saving...unless you really try to max out everything (buy a dole whip float with every snack and eat dessert with everything ). I guess if it's "free" and you don't have another discount it is good, but if I was going to just eat CS, I would pay OOP
ETA: But I guess that is why Disney has so many options. Oh, and so they can give free QSDP (at value and moderate) and call it free dining

QSDP can definitely be a savings as well. I always have my preferred and a backup location at each park. For example...

BCV and Epcot:

Boardwalk Bakery ............................Cinnamon Roll $4
Tangierine Cafe.................................Schwarma Platter $14
.................................Dessert $2.50
.................................Drink $2.39
LaCantina de San Angel......................Tacos de Carne $12
.................................Drink $2.50
.................................Dessert $4
Kaki Gori snack...................................$3.28

Day Total: $45
QSDP: $32
Savings of $13 on just that day plus I still have my refillable mug.

 

[3pletprincesses]

We can't imagine Disney witout at least one sit down meal and for us, it makes more sense to upgrade to DDP even just for that 1 TS then to grab QSDP and pay OOP for 1 TS meal.

 

[nicjude]

We went in '09 and did the QSDP (2 adults, 3 kids) and loved it. Very convenient for us, especially since one of our children was 2 y.o at the time and didn't like to sit for long periods of time. We loved it so much that we are doing it again in June but this time it is FREE! We did have 1 sit down at O'hanas Character breakfast. Not sure if we will this year!

 

[5boyz]

I like the qsdp way better than the ddp. I hated having to book ressie's so far out and having to plan around them. This will be our 3rd year doing qsdp.

 

[photobob]

I have always done the dining plan. But this time I booked the QSD plan. And for some reason I feel less stressed. It will be nice to just have a basic plan but not tied to a reservation. Anyone else feel that way?

I can understand that. While I have never done the DDP I have considered it but I was trying to plan my ENTIRE trip around dining and I didn't want to do that! My usual MO is to decide which park we will go to on a given day and make lunch reservations for that park and that is it. Even those are always considered tentative, if we decide when we get there to change things up we do. If we make changes I always call to cancel the reservation in hopes it will allow someone else to get a walk up table!

 

[dd50]

I tried the DDP once and didn't care for it as sometimes you are not hungry but then you will loose the money if you don't go and can't get in any place else. Last year we didn't do any plan but ate CS. I ended up saving money not doing the QSDP, but we ate what we wanted when we wanted and even did WP.

 

[ccgirl]

If you like at 1 TS meal a day then the QSDP is probably not the one you want. However, if you want 1 or 2 TS meals than the QSDP is probably for you.

I did the math for our stay, 7 nights for 2A and 2C. The cost of the difference between the two plans is $154 for our stay. The cost of a character breakfast (what we normally have) is $66. So, we would need more than 2 meals for it to be better. Factor in the mug and extra snack and now we are looking at 3 sit down meals to make the upgrade worth it for our family.

The dining plan really varies depending on your family. It's so great we get so many choices. I just read about a wine and dine plan - have to look into that one.

 

[ChrystalUnicorn]

We did the Disney Dinning Plan last year. It was out first trip to Disney and I thought that it was great to do the Character meals and table service meals but it took so much out of our touring time and I always felt pressured to be running to the next thing because we had to make the ADRs, this year we are going with the Quick Service we booked with the bounce back so it is free and we will do two out of pocket meals one lunch and a dinner at O'Hana's. I think it will be a more relaxed trip for everyone.

http://www.**************/id/1315206027.png

 

[SPOERLX3]

We have always done the DDP, but this year we are trying the QSDP. We thought that if we got free dining in December that we would pay to upgrade to the DDP but after adding the mugs, the extra snack, and the tips + the cost to upgrade it came to a total of about $850 for our family of 6 (the kids are all disney adults). We will pay for a couple of TS but no way will be spend $850 for the 2 TS (Tusker House breakfast & Sci-Fi for burgers at lunch). We are soooo excited to not have the flexibility. Plus we are planning of going to some of the resorts to try their CS (Peppermarket, Mara and Sassagoula Floatworks are some that we are thinking about) plus if we want to go to WPE twice a day, everyday we can!!!