TS credit at a QS meal?

[RollTide1017]

If you get the regular dinning plan but one evening no one is in the mood for TS, can you use a TS credit for a QS meal?

Also, if we are staying five nights, that would would be 5 QS credits and 5 TS credits per person for the trip, right?

I'm not sure the DDP would save us money but, if it is somewhat close I'm willing to pay for the convenience.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Yes you can use TS credits to purchase a QS meal. Yes if you buy the regular plan for 5 nights you get 5 TS, 5 QS, 5 snacks per person. If you use TS credits to pay for CS meals then it will definitely not save you money or even come close to saving you money, I think If I had any idea that I'd use the plan any way than the way it is meant to be used, I'd revisit exactly how convenient it appears to be.

 

[starousse]

I was unable to do this. My group that I was travelling with wanted Bongos in Downtown Disney. There's Bongos sit down and then the quick serve right outside the building. My family was on the dining plan and our friends were not. We didn't want to lose our TS credit because we were leaving the next day, so we asked if we could use it for the QS and they said no, that we would have to go inside to eat if we wanted to use those credits.

 

[RollTide1017]

Yea, the more I look at it I'm not sure the DDP is right for us. We are not big eaters, I do like steak but can easily go without. When we go out at home, we rarely order desert unless it is a special occasion and we don't get an appetizer for the most part either.

It's the character dining that has me interested. If we had the DDP we would probably do a few of them, without the DDP we would probably not do any, maybe one.

My kids would rather snack more then sit down and have a big lunch. Some fries here, ice cream there, junk at other times. Then have a sensible dinner somewhere. We'd probably end up sharing meals if we did lunch at a QS, at least the kids probably would.

The cost of the QS DP for our party of 5 adults and 3 kids is probably closer to what we would spend if we went OOP. If we go OOP, we'd probably not eat at any TS restaurant, maybe dinner at Rainforest once or 50's Prime Time (because I love those). The rest would be QS.

It's the sticker shock I'm trying to avoid. Even at QS and just getting a meal and drink the price will be 85+ each meal (if everyone got there own meal). The grandparents are coming along and my dad does not like expensive food bills. He'd rather drive off-site to McD's.

I'm just trying to wrap my head around this DDP stuff and just see if it would be cost effective. It doesn't have to save us money but, we need to come somewhat close to breaking even (within a couple $100 IMO). I think that rules our the regular DP for our eating habits, QS DP maybe be a better option or just go OOP and I take all the receipts so granddad doesn't have to see them.

If only they'd do free dining in April!

 

[pumpkinhead10a]

This is our 5th visit to WDW and our 4th for the DP, we opt for the quick service this time because last years we ended up chasing ts at the resorts because most of the parks ts services were already full at 180 days out. We lost a lot of park time because by the time we finished our ts it was to late to go back to the parks.

I fine that I cannot eat all the meals on the dp so I wish they would let you trade meals like they used too. I would make more use of the snacks than the 2meals. They used to give 2 snacks for a qs and 3 snacks for a ts which worked out well for me as I only eat a meal once a day.
May they will look at a 4th option for the dp with more snacks and less meals.

Great site!!

 

[purple figment]

Based on your description of eating habits (minimal desserts, snacking rather than full meals, sharing meals), it sounds like the dining plan would not be a good fit for your family. As the QS plan has gotten more expensive, it has gotten harder and harder to break even, especially if you plan to share meals.

To reduce sticker shock some suggest buying a gift card based on how much you think your family would spend OOP for meals and using those as your own style of a "prepaid dining plan".

 

[RollTide1017]

To reduce sticker shock some suggest buying a gift card based on how much you think your family would spend OOP for meals and using those as your own style of a "prepaid dining plan".

That's a good idea, I hadn't thought of that.

 

[TDC Nala]

I was unable to do this. My group that I was travelling with wanted Bongos in Downtown Disney. There's Bongos sit down and then the quick serve right outside the building. My family was on the dining plan and our friends were not. We didn't want to lose our TS credit because we were leaving the next day, so we asked if we could use it for the QS and they said no, that we would have to go inside to eat if we wanted to use those credits.

The Bongos takeout window does not accept dining credits at all.

It's been noted that any QS that accepts QS credits will probably also accept a TS credit. However YMMV when you are talking about restaurants not owned by Disney. In the case of Bongos, their takeout window won't even accept QS credits so there wasn't any way for them to accept a TS credit.

 

[ibela]

If you want to reduce sticker shock (there is intrinsic value) and the cost is about the same as OOP, you can still share meals and snack. It's 1 QS and 1 TS per person per night. If you do the character meals, everyone pays regardless of what they eat (whether OOP or credit). If you're a la carte, you can still share meals where desired and then either schedule a 6th ADR with the leftover credits or even go to a signature. With the QS, if you share some meals then you can use some credits on breakfast. At resorts, they'll often let you switch out a QS for 3 snacks, worst case 2 snacks (the dessert and drink portion of the QS meal without the entree). If your OOP cost for what you would order is the same as the DDP cost, then any of these extra credits you get from sharing, etc. is just bonus anyway. That's what we do and so I don't mind "wasting" a QS on a hot breakfast and chocolate milk for the kids if we shared our lunch the day before.

ETA: I wouldn't do this for ALL but one TS dinner my ds4 wasn't hungry for dinner so we ended up with 1 leftover TS credit for him. The resort QS converted it to a child's QS and we used the credit to pay for his meal. If everyone only wanted 4 TS ADRs for a 5 night stay, I'd probably make 1 a 2-credit such as a signature or a 2-credit casual such as Spirit of Aloha or Hoop de Revue.