Should I change from QS to DP ?

[maryj11]

We are going Dec for only 3 days and there will be 3 of us staying at Pop. Iam so undecided on if I should change from QS to DP . I really enjoy eating at the table service restaurants, but I do not want to spend alot of $. I have already made reservations for 2 restaurants, Biergarten and Sci Fi diner. That would be all I would make unless I upgrade. We do want the resort mugs which comes free with the QS but not with the DP.
So if I keep quick service we will be paying for 2 table service meals.
If we change to the regular DP we will be paying 66.00 extra for the upgrade plus buying the mugs.
What should I do ? What would be the best deal money wise?
I know what the best deal would be is to keep QS and not make any reservations But I really enjoy eating in the restaurants

 

[scarlett24]

I would upgrade. We do too much running around at Disney not to take a rest with a sit down meal for dinner. If the upgrade is only $66, I think it will be $ well spent. Those QS stops are good for one meal/day, but very hectic and not relaxing.

 

[nicki.momof3]

Upgrade - no question.

We never get the mug - don't spend enough time at the resort and long walk to get beverage - not worth it to us.

 

[ncc1701]

Upgrade

We don't do the mug so I don't know what they cost but I can't imagine that 3 refillable mugs would cost you more OOP then the 2 TS meals you have planned .

 

[maryj11]

Upgrade

We don't do the mug so I don't know what they cost but I can't imagine that 3 refillable mugs would cost you more OOP then the 2 TS meals you have planned .

The mugs are 12.99 or 13.99 each so it would be about 40.00 for mugs.
Maybe I should upgrade and forget about the mugs. Anyone else have any ideas ?

 

[maryj11]

Anyone else have any ideas on what would be best ?

 

[daraddg]

we are staying at WL and upgraded further to deluxe dining, part of the enjoyment of the trip for me is the meals too as a single mom it's hard to drag 2 kids to a nice resturant in regular life without dirty looks ,at Disney kids are everywhere so it is fun for me to have that,I figured out what I would really like to do,estimated the cost of those meals using the menus on allears.com and found it was cheaper to upgrade than pay OOP...it really depends on how much the TS meals will improve your trip

 

[havoc315]

Can someone explain to me why they consider the mugs to be a value?

By my thinking, they are nearly worthless. If you are having a dining meal at the resort, it comes with a beverage. You can also use snack credits for a beverage. You can't use the mug outside your own resort. So unless you're spending lots of time just hanging around the resort food court, sipping soda, I don't see how it's any great value. If you have a long trip, and you plan on lots of resort time on hot days sitting by the pool, then I can see it having some value. But if you're spending the bulk of your awake hours in the parks, I just can't imagine having much use for the mugs.

 

[JEThompson99]

Can someone explain to me why they consider the mugs to be a value?

By my thinking, they are nearly worthless. If you are having a dining meal at the resort, it comes with a beverage. You can also use snack credits for a beverage. You can't use the mug outside your own resort. So unless you're spending lots of time just hanging around the resort food court, sipping soda, I don't see how it's any great value. If you have a long trip, and you plan on lots of resort time on hot days sitting by the pool, then I can see it having some value. But if you're spending the bulk of your awake hours in the parks, I just can't imagine having much use for the mugs.

Well you pretty much reasoned right. For someone planning on all day every day park touring while there, the mug isn't that great. You can use snack credits for beverages, but to me you can get more bang for your credit with qualifying food items (especially at Epcot).

If you're not there for all day every day park touring, odds are you are in a nice resort, like a deluxe room or deluxe villa and there's lots of relaxing and fun things right at your resort. In which case, I've found the mug to be worth it's weight in gold (ok, little exaggeration). Nothing like a nice beverage watching the animals at the AKV, or relaxing at the pool, or even visiting the arcade or community rooms or just staying in your room playing cards or watching tv/movies.

 

[havoc315]

Well you pretty much reasoned right. For someone planning on all day every day park touring while there, the mug isn't that great. You can use snack credits for beverages, but to me you can get more bang for your credit with qualifying food items (especially at Epcot).

If you're not there for all day every day park touring, odds are you are in a nice resort, like a deluxe room or deluxe villa and there's lots of relaxing and fun things right at your resort. In which case, I've found the mug to be worth it's weight in gold (ok, little exaggeration). Nothing like a nice beverage watching the animals at the AKV, or relaxing at the pool, or even visiting the arcade or community rooms or just staying in your room playing cards or watching tv/movies.

Okay, I can see that. And I know that beverages are not the "best" use of snack credits -- But the mug comes with the QSDP and the DxDP, both of which come with a ton of snack credits (2 per person per day). Seems pretty frequent for people to have left over snack credits at the end of the trip.

At price of $13 per person (if bought separately), it suggests to me, that it really only becomes a value if you were really intent on 4-5 "extra" (non-meal) beverages per person.
So for a family of 3, such as the OP -- The question is whether that family really wants to consume an extra 15 beverages while at the resort. (With the understanding that milk and juices aren't included, which reduces its value a bit as well --- My young kids probably will not use the mugs at all, since they don't drink soda or coffee).

Now, for a family vacationing for a week in July... Planning on spending several hot afternoons pool-side.... I can imagine a family like that *possibly* consuming 15 extra beverages -- 3-5 poolside afternoons, 1-2 beverages per afternoon.
But for example, for a family visiting in the winter for 3-4 days.. I just have a hard time picturing it being much value.

 

[maryj11]

The dining plan I would upgrade to only has 1 snack,1 quick service meal and 1 table service meal per day.

 

[umieesa]

UPGRADE!! Love the DP, but I agree with the PPs that the mug doesn't seem to be a good value in my book. Every meal comes with a drink, and unless you want to consume thousands of extra calories on drinks alone it's not a very healthy option either!

Since you already have 2 adr's I think those alone would make the upgrade worth it, plus I'm sure you could pick one more that you'd enjoy to eat at. $66 is really not that much when you break it down to a per day cost.

Either way...enjoy your trip!!

 

[kimara3]

Okay, I can see that. And I know that beverages are not the "best" use of snack credits -- But the mug comes with the QSDP and the DxDP, both of which come with a ton of snack credits (2 per person per day). Seems pretty frequent for people to have left over snack credits at the end of the trip.

At price of $13 per person (if bought separately), it suggests to me, that it really only becomes a value if you were really intent on 4-5 "extra" (non-meal) beverages per person.
So for a family of 3, such as the OP -- The question is whether that family really wants to consume an extra 15 beverages while at the resort. (With the understanding that milk and juices aren't included, which reduces its value a bit as well --- My young kids probably will not use the mugs at all, since they don't drink soda or coffee).

Now, for a family vacationing for a week in July... Planning on spending several hot afternoons pool-side.... I can imagine a family like that *possibly* consuming 15 extra beverages -- 3-5 poolside afternoons, 1-2 beverages per afternoon.
But for example, for a family visiting in the winter for 3-4 days.. I just have a hard time picturing it being much value.

For us, it is definitely worth it. I have 2 teenagers, and we usually stay at a value resort for a week. Breakfast is usually grab-n-go from the food court, we fill up then. Any pool breaks during the day (almost every day) at least one more refill. And the kids always go for another refill when we get back to the resort at night. At home they NEVER drink that much soda in a day, but on vacation all those rules go out the window!

 

[eli3886]

We're going to POP next month for 5 nights and we upgraded to DP. Since we will be spending so much time at the parks, it will be a nice break to have a sit down meal and although my DS (14) would love to be able to have a refillable mug and drink sodas sun-up to sun-down, I would rather he drink water during the day so this way I can limit his intake. It also made more financial sense to me to do it this way then to have all QS and pay for TS OOP.

 

[maryj11]

Yes I have decided to upgrade to DP and not buy the mugs. If the mugs didnt cost so much it would be different.