Quick Service Only?

[lauren_elizabeth]

Does anyone do quick service only on their Disney trips?

We are going in February and I originally thought I wanted to do the regular dining plan. But the more I think about it, I think it might be better to just stick with quick service and food we bring from home... Our kids will be 5 years old and 2 years old.

I'm thinking it will be easier to not be tied down to any ADRs, especially since half of the ones I wanted to do require a credit card hold.

Convince me that it IS for the best to stick with quick service!

Should we purchase the QSDP or just pay out of pocket?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

 

[rainynight]

ADR's are a bit annoying, but we personally love a sit down meal everyday. However, there are some amazing food to be had at quick service locations.

As long as you have a basic plan for touring the parks (as in what park you will be in each day) it's not too bad having an ADR. Make sure you have reservations to nearby restaurants so you're not spending hours getting to your meal, and you will be fine. On our last trip there was restaurants we wanted to try but decided to cut just because of travel time. It worked out well. There was a few times we wanted to do something but were a bit iffy if we would make our ADR's on time, but it all worked out.

With your kids being the age they are, I bet they would love the character meals. They were our little boys favorite part of the trip. At the Garden Grill Chip even spent time coloring with our little guy! It was adorable.

If you really don't want to be bothered with ADR's then you will have a great time with quick service meals as well. In fact some of our favorite from our trip were quick service meals (Columbia Harbor House's Lighthouse sandwhich and the lamb platter at Tangerine Cafe). Flame Tree BBQ in Animal Kingdom had great food as well.

You can't go wrong either way!

 

[rapunzels]

If you eat fast food for ALL of your meals at home, it should be no problem.

Seriously though, you will need to review the dining menu's for the counter service's you think you may eat at before the trip.. If not, you'll end up with a lot of chicken fingers, pizza, a burger here and there and wilted salads for the week.
By the end of your trip, you'll wonder why you didn't eat better/feel better and wish you had at least eaten a few better meals.

 

[Smile&Nod]

I've done both the quick service and regular and gone with no dining plan. IMHO the quick service is fine if you look at some of the non burger places. We love Sunshine Seasons in the Land at Epcot - great selection - things like roasted chicken, usually a Chinese dish, salads, etc and they have great desserts. We also like the Yak and Yeti counter services -again, something different then burgers - even Cosmic Ray's in MK has a selection.

We tried for the first time this trip at Beach Club Marketplace the little grill - had the best pizza i have had in a long time there - lots of fresh mozzarella!

Now, if you think that everyone will not eat a full meal by themselves each meal and you can split dishes you can probably save money just paying out of pocket. Agree with one of the previous comments - look at the dining plan menus to see what else is out there besides burgers and pizza!

 

[raraavis]

we're doing quick service for our trip next week and have no interest whatsoever in doing sit down meals. that takes way too much time away from the good stuff!

 

[Bonniec]

I would prefer quick service for a first time visitor. ADRs tie you down too much.

Quick service does not have to be all burgers, chicken nuggets, and pizza. You just need to know where to look. For example, Columbiar Harbour House has a salmon, cous cous, and broccoli plate. Bakeries have delicous sandwiches.

Take a peek through the Disney Food Blog for options.

 

[sharonabe]

If your family drinks soda/tea and wants desserts for everyone at every meal, then you'll probably do okay buying the QSDP. However, if you don't use all the entitlements at every meal, you start to lose "money" pretty quickly. I'd pay OOP, but do encourage you to go to allearsnet.com and peruse the menus so you know where you want to eat and are ready for the prices.

 

[2binak]

We've did QSDP in 2010 & DDP in 2011.

QS - we broke even as far as cost, but ended up with more food than we would have otherwise ordered. DH & I could have easily shared a few of the meals.

DDP - we saved almost $200 but we chose the DDP because we wanted to eat at some of the more expensive restaurants durin gthat trip. Again, ended up with more food than we would have otherwise ordered and we felt that we spent too much time away from the rides & attractions.

We much prefer our old way of doing things which was to book 2 or 3 TS meals for the week and eat QS for the rest. We also prefer not to be tied to ADR's. With the DDP, you feel that you have to make every ADR otherwise, you're losing money. Without the DDP, if you miss an ADR, you're not losing any money, unless the restaurant requires a 24-hour cancellation.

 

[jgh]

We only ever do Quick Serve. We've never done a Dining Plan, actually. But the longest we've ever stayed is 4 days anyway. Actually the first time we ever even did anything OTHER than a Quick Serve was last week and we didn't have an ADR...just walked in. We usually take things for snacks and breakfast (such as a box of cereal to eat dry or pop-tarts, granola bars...the like). I have been fine with just doing QS and have been able to find a nice variety for myself. Though I DO love their QS chicken. And the mac&cheese is to DIE FOR.

 

[cey]

Last year we exclusively ate QSDP (free dining). There are fabulous CS places to eat such as WPE, EoS, FTB and Cosmic Ray's, BBQ chicken and ribs is terrific! You don't have to eat Burger and fries and chicken fingers unless you really want to!
I feel I ate very well and found the portions larger than average! It just depends if you are huge eaters or not! I was very happy not to have gained any weight in the 2 weeks I ate QSDP! When you aren't spending a lot of time at sit down dinners, you are burning calories, walking and enjoying the rides, sights and sounds of WDW! That is why this year, we are again enjoying the free dining and QSDP! No table service meals for us! I will save all my calories for .....Christmas.....

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Thanks for all of the input!

This isn't our first to Disney, but I've done the regular dining plan on every other trip.

 

[rapunzels]

Frankly, we don't do the DDP anymore. We do TIW with 1 sit down a day, and light stuff the rest of the day. We are not dessert people, and rarely eat appetizers.
As far as missing out on the fun because of a TS, we are commando's for sure, but my feet can only take so much magic. Sometimes the magic is parking my backside in a booth/chair and sitting there for an hour to re-energize myself!

 

[louisedisney]

Our last three visits we have done only the QSDP. I like the flexibility of not having ADR. Also, if you do your homework, you don't have to be eati g hamburger or chiken finger everyday. Wolgang express in DTD is great, Ecopt has great options too. Also, When we want to have a nice sit down meal we usually go offsite. Truth is most of the menu items really don't appeal to me or my DH. Except for seafood and some signature restaurant?, you cant find the same food in CS restaurants.

 

[Fantasmiss]

Our last three visits we have done only the QSDP. I like the flexibility of not having ADR. Also, if you do your homework, you don't have to be eati g hamburger or chiken finger everyday. Wolgang express in DTD is great, Ecopt has great options too. Also, When we want to have a nice sit down meal we usually go offsite. Truth is most of the menu items really don't appeal to me or my DH. Except for seafood and some signature restaurant?, you cant find the same food in CS restaurants.

Well, you can't really find all the same non-seafood/signature food in CS restaurants, but I completely agree about the hamburger and chicken finger thing. There's lots of good CS food to eat in WDW and World Showcase is a gold mine! Personally I don't go to a TS just for the food, but for the experience, athmosphere, characters etc, it's an essential part of the trip for us. And although there are a few examples of the opposite, the best meals we've had in WDW have been in TS restaurants!

 

[Dean]

Does anyone do quick service only on their Disney trips?

We are going in February and I originally thought I wanted to do the regular dining plan. But the more I think about it, I think it might be better to just stick with quick service and food we bring from home... Our kids will be 5 years old and 2 years old.

I'm thinking it will be easier to not be tied down to any ADRs, especially since half of the ones I wanted to do require a credit card hold.

Convince me that it IS for the best to stick with quick service!

Should we purchase the QSDP or just pay out of pocket?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

It's extremely likely you'll come out ahead OOP compared to the QSDP. The exceptions would be if you plan to target the $14 and above meals like the combo plate at Cosmic Ray's, WPE, Pepper Market, 2 credit's for a large pizza and the like. Other variables would be using credits for the kids meals at places without kids meals and how much time/how many meals you'll be able to get out of the arrival and departure day. If break even to a minimal savings is about all you can get out of it, it's not worth the hassle and risk.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

For us, QSDP was fine as we don't want to spend alot of time sitting in restaurants. There are alot of great choices on QSDP...we were staying at Coronado so enjoyed the Pepper Market and we loved WPE...ate there twice.

I had free dining for that trip, but if it was not I think I would just pay out of pocket and get what we want. Too many desserts on QSDP that we didnt need, but of course we ate!

 

[Steakgoddess]

On solo trips, I hardly ever eat at a TS place. I am more of a commando, grab and go girl when I am alone. So this upcoming trip, I am doing the QSDP. I am doing my homework, tho, and not getting stuck with burgers for each meal. There is a ton of info on this board about the best CS restaurants.

 

[Lisa71]

I know many who do the QS plan and pay OOP for one character meal. We have used the DDP and l loved having character meals as options, as well as some nice places with the kids and without. I think QS is fine for many. I love Boma and Tusker House...and we have had some nice meals. I like the idea of sitting down now and then to a not rushed place.

 

[Nancyg56]

My DD's family did QSDP on their last trip. They paid OOP for one TS meal but they really liked this plan. It worked well for them because they wanted to fly by the seat of their pants and that would never have been possible with ADR's. DD keeps records and said she saved money using the plan, not much but she felt that they a little ahead.

 

[ness0905]

Just returned home from Disney had quick service dinning plan with a 5 and 3 year old first let me say thanks to the dis boards I researched good quick service places and they did not disappoint. One of the new places we tried was flame tree BBQ in animal kingdom I got ribs and chicken combo sooooo good husband got chicken now lots of the kids meals are uncrustables so we brought our own pb and j's for the kids unless they had something different. Also sunshine seasons in Epcot roasted pork chop(huge) and chedder mashed potatoes went twice it was so good they have good options for kids meals baked chicken legs and some other choices. Peco bills and harbor house in magic kingdom both offer different idems roasted fish or taco salad very good. Good luck it can deff. Work we were very happy was surprised how much real food not burgers and chicken fingers we found oh and Wolfgang puck express at downtown great pizza and also serves real meals chicken Alfredo meatloaf.