QS average cost

[kitkat4622]

what would you say is the average cost of a QS meal and maybe 2 snacks per day? trying to figure if the dining plan works for us. thank you.

 

[ErinsMommy]

This is awesome!
http://distripplanner.com/

 

[gorkt]

I would say probably $8-9 plus a $3 drink. Snacks look to be in the $4-5 range. I am budgeting $45/meal for my family of four which includes sharing some drinks plus splitting a dessert.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

I think the average is more like $12 a meal plus $3 drink. I just glanced at the menu for Columbia Harbour House and most entrees are between $11 and $12. Cosmic Ray's seems to be averaging $12 to $14. I always round up. There are $10 items on the menus, but they might not be what you want. Check out a few QS menus across the parks and pick out what you would naturally gravitate towards for your answer.

 

[Lisa F]

I would say probably $8-9 plus a $3 drink. Snacks look to be in the $4-5 range. I am budgeting $45/meal for my family of four which includes sharing some drinks plus splitting a dessert.

you should recheck prices... they have gone up a whole lot. literally the only $8 QS meal I can think of is the corn dog nuggets at caseys. a plain hot dog is $9. Most other things are $10 and up - even things like the sandwiches at columbia harbor house are $10 (and I feel like I remember a time not too long ago when they were more like $8). Even pizza is more like $10. if you want something non "fast foody" expect to pay more like $12 and up.

 

[Faldred]

Also, add 6.5% sales tax when comparing to dining plan costs, as the dining plan includes taxes as well.

Pretty much the only way QSDP or DDP make financial sense out of pocket (as opposed to "free dining") is if you have kids ages 3-9 and you're using their CS credits for adult meals, though.

 

[joannamet]

Don't forget to consider kids meals or soups/sides for adults who aren't big eaters. For example, entrees at Sunshine Seasons (all the QS restaurants have about the same prices) are $10 to $13 each plus a drink so I allow $15 per person in our budget. However, I'm not a big eater so I'll get soup for $5 or a kids meal for $7 or share an entree with my daughter. So that's lunch/dinner at just about any QS restaurant for about $40 for our family of 3.

The dining plan only works for us when its part of a free dining promo otherwise it's too much food and doesn't save us any money at all. However, people like having their dining paid for up front so that's an advantage.

 

[Indio]

Also, water is free so that will save you $3 per person per meal!

 

[Harambe]

It still comes out to about $15 per person depending on the place. Some place are higher than others, but is seems most places' entrees are now from $10 to $11. Plus a drink and tax. So I will try to keep prices to about $60 for the four of us per CS meal. Eating breakfast in our room, and only about 7 ADRs for our 10 day trip, so we will be doing around 13 CS meals for the trip ($60 x 13 = $780).

What's that old saying? "We plan, God laughs."

 

[gorkt]

Yeah okay, you are right, it's more like $10-12 pp for an entree these days. Yeesh.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

It still comes out to about $15 per person depending on the place. Some place are higher than others, but is seems most places' entrees are now from $10 to $11. Plus a drink and tax. So I will try to keep prices to about $60 for the four of us per CS meal. Eating breakfast in our room, and only about 7 ADRs for our 10 day trip, so we will be doing around 13 CS meals for the trip ($60 x 13 = $780).

What's that old saying? "We plan, God laughs."

Yup, like last year when I had all our food planned out to the penny including tax and tip, and Disney went and changed the menus and the prices.

 

[KellDy]

Allearsnet.com has all menus with prices listed.

 

[Lisa F]

Yeah okay, you are right, it's more like $10-12 pp for an entree these days. Yeesh.

well I noticed your last trip was in 2013. Prices have gone up quite a bit unfortunately. BoG especially!

 

[lucas]

For us (2 adults), we always figure $25.00 total for our 2 counter meals. And, that is with no drink - just water. I guess it ranges between $20-$25, but we round up and then I'm not shocked by the total.

 

[Anthony1971]

Yeah okay, you are right, it's more like $10-12 pp for an entree these days. Yeesh.

sorry going to have sadly disagree as average is not 10-12 that would be on the very low end. I would say 12-14... most are now in the 12 something and up... yes there are some 10 something here and there but nit a lot anymore. very sad considering the quality... a cheeseburger if you can find one is 12.79 most have more on it and are 14-16. some sandwich's and salads can 10.79 and a few a little less but not much. soda is 3.29 or 3.69 or .79 (do not recall exactly as what does it matter at that point) you can do much better at WGPE in DS in terms of quality or early of sandwich which is now very cheap.....

I am a believer in NOT getting the DP however my trip in august has changed my mind as you will second guess the current prices... might as well try to find some enjoyment getting robbed...
Been going for 20+ years and can honestly for the first time say Disney is out of control.....in the past it was expensive but 12.79 for a cheeseburger and no drink????????

 

[1andrea]

If say for a QS and smack about $20 PP per day x

 

[Harambe]

Wow - reality check!!! I guess I will up the CS budget. I have always resisted ordering the kid's meal, but maybe this time around I will order a few for myself, since that amount of food would be right for me anyway. Then I can splurge at our TS places.

The thing I don't like about the higher food prices is Disney knows that the majority of families are at WDW for an extended period of time and need to eat many meals there. With that in mind, Disney price gouges, instead of trying to give people a break! I love all the themed restaurants but they should have at least one or two "no fuss" places that people can just do sandwiches or burgers with no "pixie dust" at all. Just give people that choice, and I'm sure those that don't need that will still frequent the themed places, but those that can use a break trying to feed a family of 5 or 6 can use the other option from time to time.

 

[monorailsilver]

I would say probably $8-9 plus a $3 drink. Snacks look to be in the $4-5 range. I am budgeting $45/meal for my family of four which includes sharing some drinks plus splitting a dessert.

well I noticed your last trip was in 2013. Prices have gone up quite a bit unfortunately. BoG especially!

When we last went in 2013, I was able to budget $40/meal (lunch and dinner we had breakfast in the room from stuff we shipped down). That was for my family of 5. Two of my kids primarily ate off the kids menu, the oldest went back and forth, actually she got a kids pizza at my ds's favorite (don't ask me why) Pizza Planet and I had to give her a few slices of mine. My ds also had a few meals that cost more due to his allergies.

I told my family that we would not buy soda from the parks or for that matter any drinks, other then a handful of frozen drinks...one candy have dairy and if the rest of us were having ice cream from a kiosk he got some frozen non dairy slushie. Anyways, that alone saved what $15/meal?? We had our water bottles and extra water to refill. Ice stayed frozen in the thermos containers.

Now we are going in less then 2 years...August 2018, and I have upped my meal price. My kids will be 17, 14 and 12. The same rule will be in effect of no buying soda in the parks/with CS meals. They can drink all they want on our pool days and my then 7 yo drank gallons of Powerade on pool days but she was in the pool from opening to closing.

So now I have upped my meal price to $50-$60 for the 5 of us. I do plan on having around $1500 for food and mugs which also includes snacks. We usually do 2 TS meals per trip. We had been doing chef mickeys the past few times but since all my kids are Disney adults we will pass on that in 2018. But I will say, even with those 2 TS meals our last trip we saved vs buying the dining plan.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Here is my taqke based on almostr a decade of doing this:
If everyone in your party is going to eat and actual adult meal with a drink, it will be $15-$20 per person when all is said and done. We are a group of 3 and our counter service tickets from our trip a year ago were all $50-$60, with just meal and a drink for each of us. If you can get by with kids meals (personally I'm not interested in a PBJ uncrustable and 3 carrots) or sharing it will be less, but when we walk 7-10 miles a day in the parks I have found we are all cranky if we don't actually eat. I think a reasonable budget for food is $40-50 per person per day if you plan on eating counter service only. It definitely needs to be more like $70 per person if you are planning table service meals. You can do it on less, but you are going to be counting every penny and ordering the cheapest meals you can find.

I know most people will tell you the DDP is a ripoff and you can do better on your own. You absolutely can, but the few trips that I did, I wished I had gotten the plan. I worried myself crazy about what we were spending, it was all "no don't order that, you are blowing the budget" or "no, we are not stopping for ice cream, we have spent our snack money for today" ect the whole trip trying to save $100-200. I should have just spent for the plan.

 

[gorkt]

When we last went in 2013, I was able to budget $40/meal (lunch and dinner we had breakfast in the room from stuff we shipped down). That was for my family of 5. Two of my kids primarily ate off the kids menu, the oldest went back and forth, actually she got a kids pizza at my ds's favorite (don't ask me why) Pizza Planet and I had to give her a few slices of mine. My ds also had a few meals that cost more due to his allergies.

I told my family that we would not buy soda from the parks or for that matter any drinks, other then a handful of frozen drinks...one candy have dairy and if the rest of us were having ice cream from a kiosk he got some frozen non dairy slushie. Anyways, that alone saved what $15/meal?? We had our water bottles and extra water to refill. Ice stayed frozen in the thermos containers.

Now we are going in less then 2 years...August 2018, and I have upped my meal price. My kids will be 17, 14 and 12. The same rule will be in effect of no buying soda in the parks/with CS meals. They can drink all they want on our pool days and my then 7 yo drank gallons of Powerade on pool days but she was in the pool from opening to closing.

So now I have upped my meal price to $50-$60 for the 5 of us. I do plan on having around $1500 for food and mugs which also includes snacks. We usually do 2 TS meals per trip. We had been doing chef mickeys the past few times but since all my kids are Disney adults we will pass on that in 2018. But I will say, even with those 2 TS meals our last trip we saved vs buying the dining plan.

Yes, it looks like $50/ QS meal is more like what we will end up spending. We tend to drink mostly water, maybe split one soda between us, and we also split meals quite often, so we are typically looking at 3 meals for 4 people. My kids will be 14 and 12, but the 12 year old still eats kids meals primarily. We also generally eat a very small breakfast in our room most days, and most of our TS meals are at lunch, not dinner. We never do the meal plan because it doesn't match the way I eat and I would lose money.