quick service

[wylie67]

we are going to disney in early march for 7 days (p.o. riverside). we are 2 adults and 2 kids (ages 10 & 7).
i purchased the quick service with our package. should i have gone with the plus dining?
i am new to this and would like any suggestions. thanks in advance.

 

[MakinMagicforBunky]

I guess it depends on your family style of eating and desire to get things done w/o scheduled meals.

I did the dining plan with the table service meals in '06. While it was a great trip, and my son was thrilled with the daily character meals, when I look back, we were slaves to our ressies. Be at a certain park on a certain day to wait for a ressie and have a full sit down meal. Nice, but time consuming.

We leave in a couple hours for our trip (hence me being up at 3:30am--who can sleep before a trip?) and I chose the quick service because I want the freedom to eat where we want, when we want.

For us, we aren't used to fancy meals or even large meals every night, so something quick service is fine for us, and my son is 8 and would rather spend the time riding than waiting for a long sit down meal. We're paying OOP for one TS meal, and that's Chef Mickey's for breakfast b/c we were unable to get a ressie there last time we went, and I wanted to have one 'fun' meal for my kiddo while he's still a believer, lol!

I think both plans have their advantages and disadvantages, and it comes down to what your family will be happier with.

Happy planning!

 

[blessedby3]

We also would not be happy with the regular dining plan. We never eat more than a couple of TS when we go to Disney, with the rest of our meals CS or pizza ordered from offsite.
We will be there 3/7-3/14 and went with the CS plan. Our first on any dining plan. We are going to pay OOP for Ohanas and Trails End. You could use your $200 gc if you booked the 4/3 deal to pay for a couple of TS meals.
I dont like to have to be so scheduled as to have a TS everyday. Heck, we may be on a great ride with no lines and want to do it over and over. If we had a ressie, we would have to leave to eat--no way
We are also using snack credits for breakfast most days. With the refillable mug that you get for free and a snack credit you have breakfast easy!

 

[Tammy296]

I posted in another thread I started about my thoughts on this subject. But here is what I think...

Go to Disney planning to eat like you do at home. If your family has a sit down meal, make sure you get one in. Where I take children I make sure there is at least one sit down TS meal. I can't imagine going 7-8 days without one. And certainly PAYING for a TS at Disney will cost you PLENTY.

The Dining Plan is worth the added cost depending upon how you plan ahead. HOW you use the plan and where you choose to eat is the key to making it worth it. If you do your homework prior to going, you can't go wrong with either plan. Just remember that with an all QS plan you'll be more restricted. All the BEST cs places to eat are definitely not located in MK or HS. You'll be in for a big dissapointment there.

IMHO I think a decent plan would have been more like this:
2 CS per day (one breakfast, one lunch)
1 TS per day (dinner)
2 snacks per day (afternoon & evening)

OR

1 CS per day
1 TS per day
3 snacks per day (morning, afternoon, evening)

But NO. WDW didn't do that....

Have fun!!


-T

 

[mdoc]

This totally depends on how you plan to/want to eat while you're at WDW. For my family, the regular dining plan makes no sense because we don't eat a table service meal a day - we tend to grab counter service most of the time and maybe have 3 or 4 table service meals over the course of a weeklong trip. (We use Tables in Wonderland for that). Table service meals involve too much planning and too much time away from the attractions for us - a few are nice, but one every day is too much. The QS dining plan doesn't make sense for us, either, because we rarely eat dessert and we often share CS meals, so we would definitely end up spending more for the plan than we spend on CS food. My kids are grazers - they don't eat a lot at meals (therefore the shared CS) but they eat several snacks - more than are on any of the DDPs. Think about how you'd like to eat, check out the menus on Allears.net, crunch some numbers and you'll know which plan (or if no plan) is right for you.

 

[expatcat]

We've just got back from 9 days at POR usinh quick service. We loved it. POR foodcourt had a good selection (I loved the make your own salads) and we walked to FQ food court sometimes. Also made extensive use of boat to DTD and ate alot at Wolfgang Puck Express and Earl of Sandwich. We paid OOP for one TS and my son didn't want to sit still - he wanted to be back at the rides!

 

[RMulieri]

That is up to you.When we go we want at least 1 TS meal per day.We never feel as tied down as others seem to feel.Disney restaurants are as big a part of our vacation as the rides.We enjoy being able to sit and unwind for a meal .CS is nice ,and there is a variety but not for 3 meals per day 7 days worth of a trip.It may not be as great a valur as it once was, but it is peace of mind .We order what we want when we want, no worries about the food price increases.We also don't feel restricted by the dining plan rules.If I want an appy I pay for it