Suggestions for Quick Service Meal Plan???

[disney fan 1994]

Well we are going to WDW in July DH just found out the his job is closing in Aug. We are still going, TG but we are now cutting down the parks to just 3 days. We will be down there from Sat night to Fri night. Here is the Question will it still be worth it for the quick service plan even though we will only be in the parks for 3 days? I was thinking of eatting at other resorts. What do you think?

 

[Microcell]

I am not familiar with the Quick Service plan, but I will tell you that for a family of four our quick service bill was typically between 30 and 40 dollars with drinks and desserts. That would be each meal, so if you figure out how many meals at $35.00 or so would it come out to more or less than the plan in total?

I would guess less, if the dining plan is length of stay, so if that is right, I would take it off.

I was aiming pretty high, I think our meals were in the $26 dollar range at times too.

 

[momof1princess]

we just got back from wdw 6 days ago and it was nothing for our family of 3 to spend $22-$27 for quick service-with no desserts (ok, DD got a cookie ONCE the whole week) and DH and i split 3-4 meals. toy story pizza planet and pinocchio village haus worked well for us b/c i could buy the individual pizza and salad combo, i'd eat the salad and a piece of pizza and DH would eat the other 3 pieces. the pizza and salad were actually tasty too-DH is very picky about his pizza and he liked it. if someone in your group has a small appetite, splitting meals is the way to go-the portions are HUGE. i would order chicken strips and fries and DH would eat my fries and i would trade DD her kids' grape packet for a chicken strip or two (the kids' nuggets are kinda small) and STILL have plenty of chicken left for myself.

 

[SandrA9810]

I love eating that the resorts. Some of my favorite places are...
Wilderness Lodge - Roaring Forks
Port Orleans Riverside
POP Century
If you're going for the Fourth... the poly is a great place to watch the fireworks from without being stuck in the crowd. That's where we always go.
Carribean Beach is another good spot.

They're all fun to walk around and explore. The Lodge has some fun things like old faithful behind the pool. Riverside is very beautiful to walk around, and you can take the boat to DTD from there and go past the Treehouse Villas.

I'd check the website that has an up-to-date info on menus.

 

[Leigha]

I think you'd need to spend a few minutes looking at menus and determining what you would probably eat. While hotels like Coronado Springs would certainly offer you a great value counter service meal, I'd think you'd be better off sticking with the restaurants in the parks. To me three days isn't a lot (but certainly better than the zero I have! ) and the time on buses always takes longer than I estimated. It wouldn't take more than half and hour to look and decide. Have fun!

 

[disneymomjcs]

Just wanted to give my two cents. If you decide to pay out of pocket instead of the meal plan. A great money saver is to order water with ice for drinks. They don't charge for this and will save you over $8 - $9 for four drinks and its better for you than soda. The drinks are huge too, no one ever finishes them. We sometimes share meals because my daughter is 12 and never finishes a meal. We'll split the chicken fingers.

So depending on how your family eats this might save you money. I know when our daughter was smaller we would pack her ritz crackers with peanut butter in a Tupperware sandwich keeper because thats what she would eat for lunch it was her favorite. We would bring ritz cracker, peanut butter in a hard tupperware container for the room.

Have a great time.

 

[HunnyPots]

I know you asked about meals, but about your park days, do you realize it's only a $5 difference between a 3 day MYW ticket and a 7 day ticket?
Personally, I would rather spend as much time in the parks as possible. I look at it as $74 a day for three days or $34 a day for seven! Just a thought...

 

[SnowWhite2]

If you have a car, I would suggest going off-site to eat to save money over the quick dining plan.

 

[IDoDis]

Why are you cutting your park days but keeping the on-site hotel days? The hotel is what costs $$. Once you get past day 3 on your park tickets, adding extra days doesn't cost that much.

You'd be better off skipping the meal plan and staying off-site in a condo like Windsor Hills for less money. That way you could do all 6 or 7 park days. You could eat breakfast in your condo, have counter service meals on-site (and share some meals or order kids' meals if you are not a big eater), and eat dinner off-site. You could get a fabulous dinner off-site for the same price as paying the counter service prices on-site (w/out sharing).

 

[tlh0726]

I would still stay on site, but downgrade the resort if possible, keep all the days for park tickets (cut out park hopper if needed) and cut the dining plan out.
As a PP said, by cutting back the days you are not really saving any $$.

To me it would not be Disney without being able to hit a park when you wanted even if it was just to catch a parade or firework show. I will always do the hopper option just to be able to be free to do what I wanted when I wanted. I will not pay for the dining plan but would take advantage of a free counter service plan. Not one to have to be at a certain place at a certain time.

Things we did to try to save $$
Stayed at the POP - we only sleep in the room.
Take along easy breakfast items to eat in your room.
Pack a bunch of snacks (we used snack size baggies and put these inside plastic pencil boxes) also single serve drink mix to put into the ice water.
The only time we had soda was as we were leaving the hotel or returning and we stopped to fill up our mugs.
I also packed glow items, whirly things, I purchased t-shirts from the local disney store before we left, all kinds of odds and ends of stuff to surprise the kids and keep them from wanting to buy everything in site.
We also shared meals and ordered off the kids menu when possible.

Looking back we really only averaged about 1 CS meal a day, 2 times we off site to Golden Corral for our meal (every 3rd day it seemed).
We would snack while walking from one area to the next, waiting in line, etc.
We would leave the parks between 1 & 2, grab something to eat, take a little break, and then hit the parks for the evening where we snacked again. No one really wanted to stop and eat anyhow, we were thirsty more than hungry.
May not have been the healthiest 9 days but we had a great time!!

 

[pixieprincessmom]

We were in WDW the first week of June and decided not to go with the quick service dining plan and regretted that decision the whole week. We ended up sharing meals and drinks to try to keep the cost down. It was also pretty hot and the kids asked for ice cream or drinks often, would have had 2 snacks a day on the QSDP. You can go onto allearsnet.com and check the menus to price out what your family would most likely order at a few of the restaurants and decide if it would be worth it for you.

 

[maggiew]

They could possibly be using old tickets that have 3 days left on them.

I think some of the best places to use the QSDP is at the resorts! For example, Pepper Market is a great deal - especially for dinner. Wolfgang Puck Express at DTD is also a really good deal.

Maggie

 

[disney fan 1994]

I will have to look at the prices I think we jumped the gun when we found out that DH is loosing his job and were looking for ways to still have a good time I think all the money is in place now and will be OK. We can't down grade the resort because we are DVC members so we are using points to go. That is not a problem. I will check out the prices on the menus and see if it is worth it to use the QSD or not. Thank you everyone for your suggestions. 19 days to go!!!!!!!!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I would definately go offsite to eat if you have a car. Not far from DTD is a great area that has a lot of places to eat which would be cheaper that eating onsite. There is a Fuddruckers, CeeCee Pizza, Mexican place, TacoBell. Just one visit to CeeCee Pizza and you could save a lot. The price is $5.00 per person for all you can eat plus drink and dessert.

Take along some breakfast things to eat in your room. Pop tarts, cereal bars. There is a Mc Dee in DTD that is cheap as well as Earl of Sandwich. Earl can get crowded but they are very effiecient and quick and the food is good and cheap. Along with sandwiches they have fruit cups, yogurt, side salads, full salads, dessert, the tomato soup is great and is less than $3.25 a serving. We usually get a sandwich to split and 2 cups of soup and a cookie one soda and one ice water and spend less than $15 for two people.

Also over at Fort Wilderness camp grounds there is buffet restaruant that is $10 a person! Make reservations or else you won't get in!

 

[cjlvsccm]

I will have to look at the prices I think we jumped the gun when we found out that DH is loosing his job and were looking for ways to still have a good time I think all the money is in place now and will be OK. We can't down grade the resort because we are DVC members so we are using points to go. That is not a problem. I will check out the prices on the menus and see if it is worth it to use the QSD or not. Thank you everyone for your suggestions. 19 days to go!!!!!!!!

We just got back, and used the QSDP with great results! I did look over all the menus before the trip, and we found good hearty meals all week. We didn't purposely pick the most expensive thing to "maximize" our credits, but did choose filling meals. With only two meals per day we were never left hungry... couldn't finish our deserts sometimes! My DN with us was always happy with a pizza or burger or chicken sandwich, so that may not have been as cost-effective, but DH and I made up for it.

We chose to have a big breakfast plate, instead of pastries or pop tarts as some folks do, because that fueled us better. (Plus, Pop lets you get a fruit cup in place of one breakfast beverage that the plan specifies.) So most days our other meal was around 2-5pm.

In the parks, we ate at Cosmic Ray's (chicken & ribs combo plates w/ mashed potatoes and green beans), Pinocchio's Village Haus (veggie pizza & salad combos), Sunshine Seasons (grilled salmon and rotisserie chicken plates), and Norway's Kringla Bakeri (tasty sandwich & soup combos). Also had a big breakfast at Sunshine Seasons one day, which had about the same choices as at Pop. Pepper Market at CSR was an option we held open, but we never made it there. Same for WPE, just didn't make it there at meal time, but we know that is ALWAYS good and definitely a good use of a meal credit.

We lunched at Pop a couple times (parmesan chicken and a veggie calzone). We did venture to other resorts' food courts as well -- went to the Poly one morning (for Tonga Toast, yummo and huge!), and one evening to POR (roast turkey dinner, and pasta w/ shrimp, both excellent!) before the Yehaa Bob show (how fun!).

We packed in sunflower seeds and almonds to snack on, and had the drink powders to mix with water, but used them only a few times. Our snack credits kept us filled and hydrated (plus the free ice water at times), and we STILL had some leftover credits to get Mickey Rice Crispy treats to bring home.

This was our first trip with QSDP, but it probably won't be the last time we use it. So my vote for your situation would be go for the QSDP, and enjoy all your time at the parks and resorts!

Have a great trip, and best wishes for the job situation!!