Quick Service Plan or OOP?

[wdwlovin'family]

just wanting opinios from people who have done the quick service plan? Do you think it's really worth the cost? Is there anyone out there that has done both before to have a comparison. We will be there for 9 days and are now just wondering if it might be better to split meals and pay OOP. We have two adults and two kids age 9 and 6.

 

[Kim68]

My family (my husband, 6 year old, 3 year old and myself) did the Quick Service Dining Plan in May. We loved it!! We stayed at Pop. It lasted us until the last day and a half. We ended up spending only $70.00 out of pocket for food/drinks for the entire week. Our two trips, we we not on property, but spent every single day in the parks and spent a small fortune on food.

Check out the Dining boards, there are lists of snack options and ideas of how to maximize the plan. Snacks are great options for a small breakfast (ie bagel and cream cheese). There are wonderful options for lunch and dinner too, out there. Review the menus ahead of time and make a few notes as to where the best bang for your buck would be. Our favorite was Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney!

I highly recommend the QSDP!

 

[MERCYCAT]

My husband and I are undecided about this as well. We find the portions for most quick service meals to be enough to share so we're not sure if it's worth the $60 a day for food.

 

[momof1princess]

My husband and I are undecided about this as well. We find the portions for most quick service meals to be enough to share so we're not sure if it's worth the $60 a day for food.

i second this...DH and i shared a pizza/salad combo meal at Toy Story Pizza Planet (DHS) and Pinocchio Village Haus (MK). i ate one piece of pizza and the salad and he ate the other 3 pieces of pizza. especially in hot weather (we went last month), we find we eat less and drink more. i'm curious what others have to say about the QSDP-it might be an option for us at a different time of year.

 

[cdrn1]

We LOVED it. We had two littles so did not want to deal with dining reservations. We did have two (CRT and Chef Mickey) so had a little leeway. We ate EVERYthing we wanted, whenever we wanted, with no regard to $$, snacked when we wanted, if the kids wanted something they got it. It was so convenient. I am not sure we came out ahead $-wise but convenience-wise it was awesome. And no thought to how much anything was money-wise, and no thought to whether the kids ate it all or just three bites. When we came home we had 2 CS meals left/wasted and we brought home tons of mickey ears for later. And the pre-paid factor was very nice.

 

[MERCYCAT]

Do you know if gift cards can be used at the carts and counter service to purchase food? We thought of pre-paying on a gift card and using this for food funds; this way we would not have extra meals left over and we could use any remaining funds on a future trip.

 

[momof1princess]

Do you know if gift cards can be used at the carts and counter service to purchase food? We thought of pre-paying on a gift card and using this for food funds; this way we would not have extra meals left over and we could use any remaining funds on a future trip.

we used disney gift cards to pay for ALL of our meals (CS and TS) last month at wdw. we bought very few snacks, but DH bought drinks a couple of times and used cash. i think some carts can take gift cards, but not all.

 

[disney1990]

DH and I were just a Disney a couple weeks ago. We found that out of pocket was cheaper than the Quick Service Plan, unless you really need to have desserts with your meals. A number of places, Pizza Planet and Cosmic Rays, we shared meals. We also always get large drinks and share them as opposed to buying two drinks with each meal.

 

[spare+a_pair]

We are headed down in late Nov/early Dec and we are on the reg DDP. I have been agonizing over getting the most value out of the meal plan. Finally DH told me to stop worrying about if we saved money or not. He said he'd rather know that our food is paid for, than to worry about budgeting money for it when we get there.

After listening to him, and reading others reviews, I think you have to look at the meal plan with the attitude that you are paying for convienece. We would not get dessert with every meal, normally, so comparing the meal plan "apples to apples" is really not practical.

 

[wdwlovin'family]

[QUOTEAfter listening to him, and reading others reviews, I think you have to look at the meal plan with the attitude that you are paying for convienece. We would not get dessert with every meal, normally, so comparing the meal plan "apples to apples" is really not practical.[/QUOTE]

My Dh feels the same way as yours and in some ways, I really need to stop agonizing over it and just go to have a good time and not worry about it. If we shared every meal, then yes it would be chaper to pay OOP. But, I don't want to feel like I have to share every meal. If we use the QSP and I want a tuna sandwich and he wants fish and chips, then it's really no big deal. If we didn't use the plan and I wanted something different, I might have guilt and/or not be happy about what I got. I definitely think the Qsp is worth it for the kids -- I'm sure I would spend more than $8.99 a day for food for them. So that kind of evens the whole thing out.

 

[cjlvsccm]

just wanting opinios from people who have done the quick service plan? Do you think it's really worth the cost? Is there anyone out there that has done both before to have a comparison. We will be there for 9 days and are now just wondering if it might be better to split meals and pay OOP. We have two adults and two kids age 9 and 6.

My Dh feels the same way as yours and in some ways, I really need to stop agonizing over it and just go to have a good time and not worry about it. If we shared every meal, then yes it would be chaper to pay OOP. But, I don't want to feel like I have to share every meal. If we use the QSP and I want a tuna sandwich and he wants fish and chips, then it's really no big deal. If we didn't use the plan and I wanted something different, I might have guilt and/or not be happy about what I got. I definitely think the Qsp is worth it for the kids -- I'm sure I would spend more than $8.99 a day for food for them. So that kind of evens the whole thing out.

We used the QSDP last month, and it was a great deal and definitely worth it for us! I figured since my DN11 gets adult prices anyway, why not go for a discount. I worried about it covering only 2 meals and 2 snacks per day, but we never went hungry, and still had a dozen snack credits available for treats to bring home. And we only had one OOP reservation, a late lunch one day at T-Rex.

We always had a hearty breakfast plate, instead of just bagel/ pastry/ fruit like so many people do. So we had our second meal of the day between 2-5pm, and supplemented with snacks/sodas whenever we wanted. Sometimes we got free ice water from a restaurant/ stand, and put it in our mugs (a few times I added Crystal Lite/ Wyler's flavored powders).

If you want to share some larger combo choices for lunch and dinner, you can still get 3 meals a day and come out alright, then on days you don't share get whatever you want in 2 meals a day. I can't say if the children's plates are enough to share between your kids, but there are a lot of adult combos that are... for instance, the chicken/ribs plate at Cosmic Ray's was PLENTY enough for two!

Compared to our '08 trip, when DH & I went OOP, I think we ate more this time... but still lost weight with all the walking (and sweating)! We'll definitely consider QSDP for future visits.

Happy planning!

 

[happily single]

I used the Quick Service Dining Plan in January. It was me, dd12, ds10 and ds4. I spent very little out of pocket and loved not having to rush around to make our ADR's. We had plenty of snacks and food. I would use the QDP again.

 

[Mrs.Reese]

The next time we go to the happy place, we'll use the QSDP. You have no tips to worry about with it and no ADR's to rush to. The adult portions at most places are huge and with 2 snacks a day you'll be full. Not to mention the refillable mugs. No need to worry about bringing extra soda.

 

[Disneychix]

We used the QSDP on March and enjoyed it! I felt it was equal to the $$ I paid for it and with the convience of having everything paid for upfront plus the mugs and snacks it really worked well for us. DH is NOT a big sharer of food so sharing really isn't for us (I try but he eats way faster and I end up with nothing!) Plus we had DS with us so I usually shared with him or got a juice or milk instead of soda so he could have it and I shared drinks with DH.

The QSDP really worked well for us and we are probably doing it again in Nov.

 

[5boyz]

I am looking forward to trying the QSDP in 11 days. I will have extras so have been trying to get some ideas how to use them, I have found some here, we can have breakfast one or two days. I am also planning on getting the big pizza with 2 drinks and 2 desserts with 2CS. I am going to have 112 Snack Credits......... SO GO CRAZY KIDS!!!!!!

 

[TifffanyD]

You asked for a comparison of not using the plan so I am going to use our recent stay at POR as an example. We booked it day of so we couldn't add the plan

Dinner: 2 make your own pastas at POR foodcourt: $23... no dessert or drinks (we would have liked them)
Snack: 2 ice cream cookie sandwiches and 2 drinks at Main Street Bakery: $13

The next day we had lunch at TGIF which was about $25 but not really comparable.

So basically we were at $36 with one meal and our snacks used up. If we figure our other meal would have been about the same that equals out to hte $60. But this included no drinks with meals, no desserts with meals, no mugs. And it would have been nice to have them.

In comparison we did the QSDP for 2 nights at coronado springs. Our one meal at the foodcourt there was over $60 for the 2 of us. WPE was like $45 (they let us add chicken to the pasta and said it was included). It can definitely be worth it!