Quick Service Dinning Plan

[natale1980]

OK - so we decided that we can not afford the Basic Dining Plan that we originally were going to get. It doesn't seem like it's that much more then the Basic Plan until you add the Tip.

SO... is the QS dinning plan worth it?
We have a family of four. Two adults, a four year old, and a two year old. So we would be paying about $74 per day (31.99 for me and DH, & 9.99 for DS). Would this be worth it? (we are staying in a DVC villa and will be eating breakfast in the room most days.)
I've been trying to look at menus and pick out what we would eat in a day and it seems like we're going to pay close to this on food with out getting drinks or extra snacks.

What do you guys think? Is the QS worth the money.

Thanks!
-nat

 

[QVCshopper]

We did the QS Plan in March, with a DH, DW, DD4, and DS2. We found it very worth it, since our son was essentially free. We had more than enough food for all of us and only paid for 3 of us (as you would). Just one meal at Wolfgang Pucks Express cost more than that day's $74 price.

We also ate at the Pepper Market, one of the more expensive "quick service places". For a week, I think DH calculated our food bill would have been $900 had we paid out of pocket--but we took full advantage of the plan.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

I like the dining plan, especially if you are creative with it. We had quick service at some of the hotels and not just at the parks. It made it a lot of fun, touring all the resorts

 

[Justsyd2]

We used the QSDP in June. We really enjoyed using it. We had more than enough food, and loved the fact that we didn't have to worry about getting to a TS reservation. One meal at WPE was $43.00, and we paid $60 per day for the plan. It was definitely worth it to us!

 

[bumbershoot]

The QS plan includes the refillable mug, yes? So if you're big coffee drinkers (as we are), or soda drinkers, that would add to the value.

 

[Justsyd2]

Yes, each person on the plan also gets a refillable mug.

 

[Petraman]

We did the QS Plan in March, with a DH, DW, DD4, and DS2. We found it very worth it, since our son was essentially free. We had more than enough food for all of us and only paid for 3 of us (as you would). Just one meal at Wolfgang Pucks Express cost more than that day's $74 price.

We also ate at the Pepper Market, one of the more expensive "quick service places". For a week, I think DH calculated our food bill would have been $900 had we paid out of pocket--but we took full advantage of the plan.

Really? Man I must be missing something. In looking at the WPE menu on DIS, the larget dinner item is $13, plus largest dessert $4, and add your drink for $2 makes it at best $19 per adult. x2 adults is $38 then add item from kids menu which are around $7 but we'll make it $10 for good measure which makes grand total of most expensive meal around $48. plus tax (15% ?) $7.20 now makes it $55.20. How did it end up $74.

Please understand, I am NOT trying to debate. I really am looking for the best way to get some real value out of the QS plan myself. I have been wrestling over the value of QSDP because we're thinking of trying it.

Maybe a good list of better places that take QS such as WPE and Pepper Market would help. Those 2 seem to be uniquely nicer than almost all the other QS locations. Are ther more real good QS places to get higher priced meals?

 

[DVCBELLE]

You must be looking at an old menu.

The price goes up to $15.95 for the most expensive item
Dessert is 4.95
Drinks can be 3.25

Kids meal is 6.95
Dessert 2.95

That comes to about $60. It is also possible they ordered 3 adult meals there since it is a counter service and they don't seperate your credits - which would put her at the $75.

WIth the QSDP you can pick the more expensive counter services and not worry about what you are spending. Add in a refillable mug which saves us about $10 a day in soft drinks/coffee. Two snack credits and it really is a great plan! We used it on our last trip and I really liked it.

For longer trips we will use the basic DP b/c we like to take a break to sit down and eat. But you really can't go wrong with the QSDP - particularly when you have kids. There is no way you would spend less than the dining plan on your kids for food each day.

 

[Lisa_M]

So I just wrote out this long post about how minus the cost of the mugs it's like $16.55 per night for each of you (including the 2 year old since she can share with someone, but still needs to eat so I considered her in the cost) to eat 2 counter service meals and 2 snacks and lost it.

I lost my post where I started to get controversial. *Putting my flame reatardant suit on* I said if it were my trip, I would not do the dining plan for the BLT part because I would not want to pay for the mugs again. In my mind it is part of the same trip and thus you should be able to use the same mugs (and I would).

For the last 3 nights, I would pay out of pocket and maybe do a few sit down meals having the kids share with each other or an adult. If you can save a few snacks from the first part, you may have a few mickey rice krispie treats to enjoy for your last few nights.

 

[natale1980]

So I just wrote out this long post about how minus the cost of the mugs it's like $16.55 per night for each of you (including the 2 year old since she can share with someone, but still needs to eat so I considered her in the cost) to eat 2 counter service meals and 2 snacks and lost it.

I lost my post where I started to get controversial. *Putting my flame reatardant suit on* I said if it were my trip, I would not do the dining plan for the BLT part because I would not want to pay for the mugs again. In my mind it is part of the same trip and thus you should be able to use the same mugs (and I would).

For the last 3 nights, I would pay out of pocket and maybe do a few sit down meals having the kids share with each other or an adult. If you can save a few snacks from the first part, you may have a few mickey rice krispie treats to enjoy for your last few nights.

No suit needed! I agree, it is the same vacation, just moving resorts.
We do want to go to Japan for Dinner and Fort Wilderness for Breakfast. So we may not do the DP for the second half of our trip.

THANK YOU everyone! I had a feeling it was worth it. Plus it's such a relief not to have to plan our days around food.

-nat

 

[RangerPooh]

DH and I have decided that the QSP is a good deal. We've done the BDP on numerous occassions but with havingto still add the tip it wasn't that great of a deal anymore. Plus the mug is an added benefit! We still usually pay out of pocket for a characte rmeal or two, but now our food cost is much lower

We try to maximize our dining credits to benefit us the most, so here's an example of how we use it:

-Cosmic Rays (1 chicken and ribs combo ~$15, plus large drink and dessert to be shared between aDH and the girls 3 and 4yo...don't eat much and too much food for DH alone....then a regular meal for me + large drink and dessert). By sharing the plate we save 1 counter service for later use....someone's hungry at an off time, can be used for a breakfast plate, etc

-Use snack credits for breakfast item at Main St Bakery...big danishes or cinnamon rolls and buy chocolate milk out of pocket.

-Most burger and fry counter services: kids share kids meal (as I said they don't eat a lot) and I suppliment with som eof my fries as I don't need that many. Plus if you're at Pecos Bills, Electric Umbrella or Cosmic Rays you can add a bunch of toppings

 

[meriface11]

if you are headed to downtown disney, wolfgang puck cafe is great bang for your buck on a CS credit. you order at the counter, but they bring the meal to you at your table, so it feels like a TS experience too.

 

[solfan68]

We've always done the Basic Dining Plan, dating back to our Disneymoon when it was part of the Food and Fun Card. We really enjoy the ability to prepay the meals and not have to worry about the menu prices. I'll grant you, you do need to live around ressies and some of the luster came off when they did discontinue the 'included gratuity'. Really miss that 'swipe and go' aspect.

So when Disney introduced the QSDP, I was intrigued. Done right - with visits to resorts, DTD, and the World Showcase - I imagine this option can be a whole lot more than a week of 'burgers and fries'. Plus, we do buy the mugs on each of our visits, which - granted - are a bit more spread out than most folks. I imagine we'd still want to do a few sit down options on our next trip to The World, but could always do that OOP. Thanks for the insights, everyone - and happy dining !

 

[KKB]

That will help you determine if it is a value or not.
It is ALOT of food...and we find the desserts at CS are not very good choices. We found we could split most meals, even as adults, and skip the dessert.
YES, WP is a great CS value, but that is at DTD, so a once a trip deal, more than likely.
That being said, we have used the DDP for our 2 trips. Was it a good deal?
I liked the convenience; I liked that reservations forced us to slow down & enjoy one another once a day. We had free DDP last trip; but w/ 2 rooms even at a value resort...well, we had friends rent a 4BR house w/ a pool in a gated community for $350/wk only 10 min. from WDW...
I do love not having to drive/park & the magic of staying on site. I loved the convenience, for sure. But true value...yes, if you count not $ value. Not so sure on pure value.

 

[3boymthr]

Just a quick question - which DVC are you staying at?

BCV? If so you might want to avoid the QS plan because the QS selections at BC/YC/BCV really really are limited.

 

[hlane]

Thanks for this thread! It helped me decide to go with the QS plan for our next trip

 

[toddlerhouse]

We just returned from a 6 night stay. We were at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge for the first 3 nights and then moved over to Old Key West (DVC). We did the regular dining plan for the first 3 days only. We arrived late on Thursday night so we had an entire day of the plan for Sunday. Our TS were Chefs de France, Whispering Canyon and Boma for Breakfast. We found that it was too much food for us- we felt miserable and we saved most of the desserts. Our CS were Yorkshire in Epcot, WPE and Cosmic Rays. We ended up with 7 snacks to have to use by our last night so at 1130 at Magic Kingdom we were running around finding things. We felt like if you were going to eat like that anyway (TS) I mean then it probably is a good value- even with the tip. For us it was just too much food and we wouldn't probably do TS without the DP. We will try the QSDP next time. For the other 2 days we ended up doing QS at WPE and the Commissary. Our kids are 10 and 7 and the 7 year old doesn't eat much so we split a meal.

 

[Maddie2]

We used the QSDP last January and loved it. I tallied up the receipts when we came home and for the most part determined that we would have spent about the same money paying OOP .... but we would have not had drinks, desserts or snacks. So, do you want those? If so, the QSDP is worth it.

We have two growing boys (15 & 12) and really enjoyed having those little extras. Had we not been on this dining plan, snacks more than likely would have been granola bars from the backpack.

We ended up needing to use a bunch of meal and snack credits just before leaving - and boy, is that fun! We were able to buy a bunch of breakfast items - muffins, fruit, etc for the flight home and we used the snack credits for cookies & rice krispie treats to eat at home.

We had burgers once and chicken nuggets once. So, it is completely possible to eat on the QSDP and have different things. It does take planning, but that's half the fun! We also visited resorts we likely would not have otherwise. The allearsnet menus are a great resource.

We were able to use a bunch of snack credits at Goofy's Candy store in DTD. I'm not sure if you still can or not? I know they have made changes to what is acceptable in recent months.