Quick Service Dining? Thoughts please :)

[dd50]

We were there for 7 nights last year and I didn't do QS but did keep the receipts and we saved about $200 from what I remember not doing it. I take a family of 4. Two teens and one preteen. One is a big eater and the rest of us aren't. We ate what we wanted and when we wanted. I didn't eat a burger the whole trip and there are some nice CS places in a few of the different resorts. We had the regular dining plan the year before and I got tired of it by the second day.

 

[Mom_Rides]

We did the QSDP last June when we went for our first trip. DH and I discussed the plans, read the menus, discussed the plans some more and decided that for this trip, we didn't want to be tied to ADR's. We did do Chef Mickeys, as a kickoff to our trip and as a special surprise for our kids, but that was the only planned meal for the trip. We told the kids that we would have one additional sit down meal and gave them the choice of T-Rex, Rainforest and Planet Hollywood. They chose Planet Hollywood and we really enjoyed it.

We found the QSDP to have plenty of variety for us and we didn't feel like we were eating burgers and fries all week long. The kids found plenty of variety and what was offered is what they would normally order out anyways. We used credits for breakfast and dinner mostly and used our snacks to suppliment before and after and we found it work out nicely for us. We also did as someone else suggested and got the bottled water/Poweraide in the morning and used our mugs for drinks. As far as dessert, we normally don't get dessert when we go out to eat. So this was a special treat at most meals for my kids.

The best thing that we liked was not having to worry about money for food. It took the guesswork out of it budgeting and not having to worry about running out of money for food by the end of the trip was peace of mind enough for me and DH. I hope you have a fantastic trip!

 

[Suz D]

Sundancer,
I am all in favor of the QS dining for your family and I'll tell you why...

If you don't have many table service meals reserved then you are definately going to be eating mostly quick service. If you're anything like me, when I'm paying OOP I always look at the prices on the menu. When I'm on the dining plan, I don't pay any attention to the prices and can order based on healthy choices.

Here are some healthy choices and some other not so healthy but fun choices we've made. They are the more expensive things on the menu... Cosmic Rays-Magic Kingdom (1/2 Rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, drink, dessert-referred to as D&D from here on out...we often get fruit for our dessert) Sunshine Seasons-the Land-Epcot (Salmon, salad, potato, D&D-and their desserts are delish!) Same place (Rotisserie chicken, potatoes, salad, D&D) Same Place (asian counter, platter with two entrees and two sides plus D&D). There are several other nice choices there including a main dish salad with roasted beets and goat cheese. All on the QS dining plan.

Morocco-they have a nice combo plate with lamb, hummus, pita bread, cous cous-my DH loves it.

Mexico-haven't tried the new QS restaurant there, but it's definately not going to be burgers and fries.

Animal Kingdom-Pizzafari (Pizza and Italian sandwiches) Yak & Yeti QS (asian food and actually quite good) Flame Tree BBQ (ribs, chicken, corn on the cob).

I don't have a lot of experience at HS.

Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney has a very extensive (and expensive) menu and no burgers & fries on that one either.

We often split the chicken meal at Cosmic Rays and that leaves an extra counter service to split at another time. We'll sometimes use that for breakfast. Lots of places have grilled chicken sandwiches and at Cosmic Rays and Pecos Bills they have a fabulous condiments bar with grilled onions, mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, pickles, etc. Makes a grilled chicken sandwich or burger really special. We'll also sometimes order a double hamburger and split it. Each person fixes their 1/2 with the condiments and that is very filling and again leaves an extra QS meal.

You get 2 snack credits each day and there are LOTS of things that are snacks that can actually be used for breakfast or even lunch. We used our snack credits for fruit bowls at the food court, pastries in Norway, France and at the Bakery on Main Street Magic Kingdom. It will be warm when you are going so it's nice to be able to pick up a cold bottle of water when you want it (I know that you can get free water at any QS restaurant but it's nice to just have that bottle with a lid that is portable).

Overall, you may not save a ton of money and may not save anything if you order the least expensive thing on the menu paying OOP, but you will definately eat healthier and enjoy the trip because you won't be worrying at all what things cost.

Let us know what you decide. Also, if you check out allears dot net under WDW click on dining you can see all the menus from the QS dining locations (all restaurants actually)

 

[Suz D]

My family enjoys the CS meals. Here is another link to check out menus and pricing. http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm . Being there 14 days, you would make good use of the refillable mug. This link includes a list of snack options: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2640292. Here is the QSDP brochure:http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/me...altDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2011QuickService.pdf.

 

[Yoshi]

I'm not a fan of the quick service dining plan because although it might be a value for what you get, we always end up with more food than we would ever order. Normally we drink water in restaurants and when paying OOP, once in a while we would get a large soda for $2.49 and split it (only 2 people in my family drink soda), rather than buy 2 regular size sodas for $2.19 each. Same with dessert, we normally would get 1 dessert usually and split it. With 4 meals, 4 drinks and 4 desserts at a quick service restaurant on the regular dining plan the total was usually a little over $60 with tax this past trip. If we were paying OOP, we probably would have spent $30 - $35. We only had the dining plan because it was free dining and wouldn't have gotten either the quick service, or regular plan if we had to pay full price.

 

[kayrosek]

To really be able to assess whether or not it is a good deal.....try viewing the menus at Allearsnet.com. Price out what your typical meal would cost. Unless you order dessert, I would assess the plan components as follows:

I'm assuming all adults here:

Typical Counter service meal @ $11 each (no dessert)
2 snacks at @ $4 each

That brings the total to roughly $30 and you are paying $35 per day.

Then the mugs are roughly $15 a piece. So if you spread this out over the two weeks, then for an adult, you are paying $35 per day for $31 of value.....and this also assumes that you are going with the most expensive snacks.

The plan could make sense IF you typically order dessert with every meal and / or if you eat at the more expensive options like the Pepper Market. I have not priced this out for children.....and of course the value will vary depending on your eating habits. I would advise to just go to Allears and check out the pricing at the places where you think you'll eat.

As for the convenience, I really see no difference between handing your room key over for a meal entitlement or to charge to the room.

But consider doing the math first........YMMV....

Don't forget about the snacks, even if you just use them for souvinears or airplane/travel food they add to the value. Also even if you don't eat alot not all the CS meals are huge. The kids meals definatley aren't. The value does change according to your eating habits but the more unusaul (not burger and fry or chicken finger) options tend to be the more expensive ones so if your goal is to eat food other than those often you'll find it's more worth it. Plus at one point you mentioned planning on three meals a day if you do that you could use 1 adult and 2 kids CS for breakfast and share, then do the same for lunch. For dinner I would consider what I was ordering and where. Some meals (Cosmic Rays Ribs and Chicken for example) would be better to share than others(Caseys hotdogs for example). Another thing to consider is that your dining plan is for the number of nights you are staying so if you are worried about having to much food remember sharing like your thinking about would probably make you really close to having just the right amount of food if you add in the meals for your day of arrival and day of departure. About where your staying the All Stars are all QS options so staying there would make it convenient IMHO.

 

[tigger51276]

I figured I'd jump on this. I am not a huge advocate of the dining plans as I find it's way to much food, however I did do the QSDP last year. I was there for 2 weeks also and did the Regular DP week one and then switched to the QSDP because my DD2 was way too unruly for the restuarants. While I did do a restaurant everyday I still did eat QS everyday also and I honestly don't think I ate a single burger or hot dog in 14 days. I had lots of 1/2 chicken with mashed potatoes and veggie (Cosmic Rays is a great place for QS), nice panini sandwiches, good salads, pizza, chicken breast sandwich, funnel cake, bbq ribs, subs, a really nice dinner at Wolfgang Puck express (great choice if you want a sit down meal that is considered QS...eat here a few times if you can it was fabulous). I did not feel like I was eating unhealthy or bad junky meals. Since you only get 2 QS meals, since you are at the All Stars (which by the way we are staying the same place as you and arriving the same day!) they have a great cafe style area and if you and your hubby feel the meals are too big, you can both share and then use the extra QS to get breakfast in the mornings. You can also do the same for the kids, if they share meals then they can also get QS breakfast at the resort. You can also use some of your snack credits to get breakfast items because 2 snack credits a day along with 2 meals a day tend to be a lot down there. I used a lot of my credits for iced coffees down there. I would certainly do the QSDP again in heart beat.

 

[sk8jdgca]

My last trip I did QSDP and below is the link to my dining review- Never ate one hamburger (my daughter did as she wanted one). i loved it for the snacks-my kids knew how many snacks they could have and enjoyed everyone of them. I did a lot of research ahead of time to find the best counter service for the value. We shared lots of meals also. Ddi we save alot of money-maybe a bit but I liked how easy it was

 

[patsal]

For about the same or less money you can have total flexibility by paying out of pocket. I have done regular DDP when it was a good deal (back when appys and dessert as well as gratuity were included), I have also done the QS plan--after adding up my reciepts usually it was a breakeven and we ordered the desserts with each meal, I didn't even want them so it was not money I would have spent anyway. I now put the money for the QS in savings and charge my meals, when I get home I just transfer the money and write the check--just as easy as a dining plan, still pre-paid, if you will, and less expensive!

 

[tinkerbell555]

We took our family to disney for the first time last year we got the qsdp for free . We stayed at pop century. It was me,hubby ds 11,ds 9, dd 16 friend 13. We loved not having to budget for food. We did one table service sci-fi oop. The kids say that having the free snacks and food was one of their favorite parts of disney. We probably would not have bought as many snacks or desserts oop. It took a while to get in sci fi even though we had adrs. The kids and hubby were very antsy about this. They thought we were wasting time they could have been riding rides. Pop century has very good counter service meals. Have fun.

 

[okeydokey]

We have crunched the numbers again and again and the QSDP isn't a good deal unless you typically always order the most expensive items AND eat dessert at every meal.
For us, the $35 per person per day is a pretty high cost and I don't see how it is convenient at all.

Us too. We would never spend 140 a day (for 4) on counter service foods in a day.

 

[szymcl]

I've done the quick service plan and one of the fuller plans one time each. It is fun to do at least once. Quick service is fine with small ones, frankly, in the middle of the summer, the sit down restaurants are so cold, that unless you always have a sweater, it can be uncomfortable to get out of the heat and freeze. The food is good, there are lots of options with great healthy food, like the Electric Umbrella. I don't think I'll do it again, simply because we are not big eaters, and I want to graze on whatever, whenever. I share a lot of meals with my daughter or husband, we drink a lot of water.
For example, you can't get dippin dots for a snack at Typhoon Lagoon, one of my kid's favorite things! Once in a while, a cart serving ice cream or waters will have their computer down, so they can't process your card.
It is fun though to not think about cost and order the expensive choices! So do it once!

 

[ElizabethG]

When you have kids, the dining plan is worth it! I know you said the regular dining plan wouldn't be worth it, but I want to advocate for it one more time.

Kids QSDP = $11.99/day
Kids DDP = $11.99/day
That's right - they're the same!

So, for 13 nights your cost would be $1,377 for the QSDP or $1,663 for the regular DDP (2 adults, 3 kids). It would cost less than $300 (US) for your whole family for 13 nights. If you don't want a sit-down meal everyday, you can always try some of the great signatures restaurants. Also, the character meals are fun and many are buffets. For buffets the kids and adults can eat anything there and the child under 3 will eat for free. For sit-downs, the child under 3 would have to eat off your plate or you would pay OOP on the plan.

 

[ccgirl]

I think the QSD is mostly or all fast foods. Too many french fries and fried stuff for 2 weeks. I'd just pay as you go instead if it were me.

Reading through your replies is like a rollercoaster! I'm so easily swayed, first I want to, then I don't!

No, we don't have APs - this will be our first trip to WDW, maybe our only one ever and certainly our only one for a long time to come.

Having credits left over to save is no problem for us, and I don't mind getting some bits to eat on the long journey home

But if it would be a waste of money because of huge portions that we wont get through, then I'm not so sure. I'd rather buy less and let my children share. But then they're pretty unpredictable, one day they'll share and the next they'll all be ravenous!

Savings of $13 on just that day plus I still have my refillable mug
Seriously, we're not fussed about sit-down meals. With 4 smalls and my husband it's more stress than it's worth half the time (yes, even at places designed for children), and I *really* don't want to have to add in stress of getting places in time.

scboyd, thanks for your input, it's good to hear that it's not all fast food. Is there anyone else with experience of QS out there?

jamminmd - it's things like the turkey leg that puts me off! I want to try these treats, so will resent having to pay for them on top of already paying for the QS.
But again, if it saves me worrying about how much money to save and how much to spend, it could be a good thing, because at least then I'd have money to spend on treats like Dole Whips and a Turkey Leg!

To really be able to assess whether or not it is a good deal.....try viewing the menus at Allearsnet.com. Price out what your typical meal would cost. Unless you order dessert, I would assess the plan components as follows:

I'm assuming all adults here:

Typical Counter service meal @ $11 each (no dessert)
2 snacks at @ $4 each

That brings the total to roughly $30 and you are paying $35 per day.

Then the mugs are roughly $15 a piece. So if you spread this out over the two weeks, then for an adult, you are paying $35 per day for $31 of value.....and this also assumes that you are going with the most expensive snacks.

The plan could make sense IF you typically order dessert with every meal and / or if you eat at the more expensive options like the Pepper Market. I have not priced this out for children.....and of course the value will vary depending on your eating habits. I would advise to just go to Allears and check out the pricing at the places where you think you'll eat.

As for the convenience, I really see no difference between handing your room key over for a meal entitlement or to charge to the room.

But consider doing the math first........YMMV....

I think a big misconception is that QS is all fast food. That is so not true. We are doing the QSDP for the first time next trip. We will still pay for 2 TS meals OOP and it's still cheaper than getting the Basic Dining Plan. Here is a breakdown of a typical day for my family:

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

Plus...one word...TIPS People keep forgetting to include the 18% gratuity on the table service meals. That can add to the total hundreds of dollars for two weeks.
Hope this helps.

 

[blessedby3]

I think a big misconception is that QS is all fast food. That is so not true. We are doing the QSDP for the first time next trip. We will still pay for 2 TS meals OOP and it's still cheaper than getting the Basic Dining Plan.

This has been our experience too. We can get the QSDP, plus pay oop for 2 meals and still come out cheaper than the regular plan. That also gives you 2 "extra" meals (to sub in for the 2 oop) so for 2 of the days, we have 3 full meals. We use a snack credit for breakfast or eat pop tarts and granola bars we have in the room on the other days. You also get 2 snacks with the QSDP as opposed to only 1 with the regular plan...and you get the refillable mug which we get lots of use out of and I dont want to pay oo for 6 of those! I love the freedom of not having to have sit down meal and a ressie time to be at. We find the CS places to have great choices for us Im just happy to be going during free dining on our next trip. Our 2 older kids are each taking a friend and that makes things so easy to have all the meals taken care of

 

[KELLY]

This has been our experience too. We can get the QSDP, plus pay oop for 2 meals and still come out cheaper than the regular plan. That also gives you 2 "extra" meals (to sub in for the 2 oop) so for 2 of the days, we have 3 full meals. We use a snack credit for breakfast or eat pop tarts and granola bars we have in the room on the other days. You also get 2 snacks with the QSDP as opposed to only 1 with the regular plan...and you get the refillable mug which we get lots of use out of and I dont want to pay oo for 6 of those! I love the freedom of not having to have sit down meal and a ressie time to be at. We find the CS places to have great choices for us Im just happy to be going during free dining on our next trip. Our 2 older kids are each taking a friend and that makes things so easy to have all the meals taken care of

Same here for us to upgrade is 200.00. Then you ahve tips and mugs so for 10 day that is around 300.00. So for under 200.00 we can do Tusker houss breakfest and T-rex. Plus we don't like having all the adr's.

 

[Sundancer UK]

Thank you all so much, this thread has been very helpful indeed for me

We've decided to not do either plan, but to save the money we would need for QSD, and eat that way still.

We figured that taking off one day for IoA (have to see Harry Potter while we're near!), having three ADRs, our first and last days only being at WDW for half days *and* us not being big eaters, we don't want to risk a waste of money.

However - we do plan to eat according to the QSD tips given in this thread and use our money as we would have if we were on the plan, or sharing an adult meal between children if it seems a good idea at the time.
It means that we've been able to write up a list of costs (based on QSD) and compare it to what we have, which has been a *huge* relief to me, as I had no idea what amount we would need before
I'm glad as we are giving the children their own spending money, food was the main thing we needed to allow for - almost everything else is covered as part of the holiday, first timers to Disney means everything is going to be a treat!

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Here is why I wouldn't want the QSDP:

1. They give you a dessert with each meal & they are not appetizing to me whatsoever. If I'm going to splurge on calories, it'll be for something I find appetizing. So, when Disney includes dessert in the "value," to us, there is no value.

2. We like to graze throughout the day. DD & DH like turkey legs. Those things are huge & are a meal in themselves. You cant use the dining plan for those. I like pretzels & even though you can use a snack credit for them, they are a meal to me as well.

3. There are some limitations. We don't like that. We prefer to eat as we go & often find with our in between snacks, we don't eat that much.

I hope you have a safe & wonderful trip.

I only read until this post so forgive me if someone responded to this. We had the QS plan and loved it! We didn't want desserts most of the time, so they would just give us fruit, yogurt or an extra water, water being what we chose most of the time. We loved not having to pay for our meals every time we ate; whipping out our card was so convenient and honestly, there are places to get good food, not just junky food. I scoured the menus available online. Epcot has some great healthy choices as does Animal Kingdom, and our resort (POR) had wonderful healthy choices. Trust me, I am almost OCD when it comes to our vacation planning, so I looked at the menus, figured out what we would normally order without QS and then with it, and it came out pretty even but with extra drinks with the QS since we don't normally get desserts EXCEPT for Mickey Bars of course!!! And Dole Whips...okay so we do like a treat a day.

I'm rambling, but it was fun to have it. It was EASY and fun and the kids knew what they could get. Loved it and would do it every time.

 

[ccgirl]

Thank you all so much, this thread has been very helpful indeed for me

We've decided to not do either plan, but to save the money we would need for QSD, and eat that way still.

We figured that taking off one day for IoA (have to see Harry Potter while we're near!), having three ADRs, our first and last days only being at WDW for half days *and* us not being big eaters, we don't want to risk a waste of money.

However - we do plan to eat according to the QSD tips given in this thread and use our money as we would have if we were on the plan, or sharing an adult meal between children if it seems a good idea at the time.
It means that we've been able to write up a list of costs (based on QSD) and compare it to what we have, which has been a *huge* relief to me, as I had no idea what amount we would need before
I'm glad as we are giving the children their own spending money, food was the main thing we needed to allow for - almost everything else is covered as part of the holiday, first timers to Disney means everything is going to be a treat!

Yeah! Sounds fun! I know some people have taken to getting a Disney Gift Card for their dining dollars. That way, it is like you "prepaid" for your meals in a way. Just a thought. Have fun!!!

 

[Dizneydaz]

I posted previously (used QSDP once loved it and used DDP many times loved it too!)

Besides the really nice benefit of letting my DD11 order anything she wants as well as whatever snacks she wants one other benefit I really like was using our SC at the F&WF at Epcot. It was our first time doing it. We were there opening weekend. We used some of our SC getting "tastes" We didn't go overboard-even though we were using our free credits we still shared some things. That way if we didn't like it, no big deal, if we did-we could get more.

DD11 is still raving about the Beef Pita in Morocco and hopes we get to go back this year so she can do it again.

My Dsis and her DH are going this May. Looks like they aren't going to get a PIN for free QSDP. I told her not to buy the plan, just put aside the money. 2 of them for 7 nights would run them 2 x $32 x 7, so $448. If you deduct the cost of the mugs, it comes to $420. I don't think they will really spend that much on food and drinks while there. They will be doing DC one day so that takes care of 2 meals/drinks. Plus they eat a lot like we do, sharing meals occasionally. I'll ask her to keep track of her spending and see how it works out.