QS or DP?? HELP ME DECIDE

[goofyintoronto]

Folks, i really cant decide which dining plan to get. Im no stranger to disney, but i've never done the QS before, i've always done the DP. I picked QS originally when i booked my pkg because I know my son is SICK of rushing from ressie to ressie every day. it was such a fight at the last trip! He prefers to wing it. Thats why I thought this time it would be better for us to do QS. However, im thinking i should do DP (1 TS,1QS, 1 snack) and just wing it with ressies?? Its only the two of us, me and DS11. (going Aug.20-28). What would you do? Wing it with the DP??? or stick with QS? I know there is not much 'savings' in the QS, but we always maximize the value with the dining plan. last time w/ the DP, we used up ALL the snack credits, TS, & QS!

I think getting a ressie wont be hard for us two as long as we're not picky. What i plan on doing is not just walk ups, but once we decide which park that day, i'll go to concierge and book a restaurant from our resort.

Help???

 

[Mrs. Sojourner]

Folks, i really cant decide which dining plan to get. Im no stranger to disney, but i've never done the QS before, i've always done the DP. I picked QS originally when i booked my pkg because I know my son is SICK of rushing from ressie to ressie every day. it was such a fight at the last trip! He prefers to wing it. Thats why I thought this time it would be better for us to do QS. However, im thinking i should do DP (1 TS,1QS, 1 snack) and just wing it with ressies?? Its only the two of us, me and DS11. (going Aug.20-28). What would you do? Wing it with the DP??? or stick with QS? I know there is not much 'savings' in the QS, but we always maximize the value with the dining plan. last time w/ the DP, we used up ALL the snack credits, TS, & QS!

I think getting a ressie wont be hard for us two as long as we're not picky. What i plan on doing is not just walk ups, but once we decide which park that day, i'll go to concierge and book a restaurant from our resort.

Help???

We normally do the regular DP, but on our second to last trip we decided to try the QS plan. I ended up not being able to go becuase of a funeral, but we switched over my reservation to my MIL and my family went with her. All that to say, my DH loved having the flexibility of the QS plan. He said he wouldn't want to do it everytime, but thought it was a nice change.

What about doing the QS plan and just adding one or two of your favorite TS ressies OOP? That would allow you the flexiblilit your DS is looking for, but you would still get to do a few of your favorite TS meals to.

Hope you guys have a wonderful trip!

 

[KELLY]

We are sticking with the QSDP. For us it works better. We are doing 2 ts meals op but even that works out to be cheaper then the upgrade,tips and mugs we would have to purchase.

We use our extra CS meals from eating ts to get the girls breakfest. They usually just share a platter. Dh and I don't really do breakfest so no big deal to us. We usually eat a early lunch. I also must say I love the extra snacks. It also seemed like we got more touring time in. Less time in resturants more time to see the world. I also don't have to wake my DD if she falls asleep in the stroller. IF we stay value we will stick with the QSDP for sure.

With all that being said we are debating about upgrading to a moderate. So if we do since we have the FD promo we would get the regular plan. I'm sort of dreading the whole look to see what time it is. Beacuse we need to be at a resturant. Also not getting in line for a ride beacuse we may not make our adr time. So I struggle with the chocie also. My girls are young and enjoy the character dining still also. We are paying op for T-rex and Tusker house.

I guess you just need to make the right choice for you and your son.

 

[blessedby3]

We like the QSDP much better. I dont like a TS everyday, and I like the freedom that the QSDP gives us. We still pay OOP for 2 TS during our trip, but come out cheaper than using the regular plan, even with paying OOP for the two meals. Plus we get the extra snack each day and the refillable mug!

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

I like the idea of having a "nice" meal once per day and so if I had to choose it with be the Regular DP.

If you make a ressie for the dinner/supper time then it would probabaly be more relaxing than mid-day.

I'm quite sure that after a few days of only QS food options I'd be sick of it.

 

[Diegosmom]

Since DS already said he hated running to ressies I would stick with QS. You will have the mugs back at the resort and you will have an extra snack everyday. When you are hungry find a QS and eat. Also I hear boys starting around that age can really eat so he might be hungry and you arent. So you can easily get him a meal or a snack and you dont have to eat. I say do 1 or 2 TS out of pocket and then QS.

 

[mousegear]

For our family, I'm pretty sure after a few days of just QS food, we will be sick of it. We do like to have a sit down meal/day and DDP works perfect for us.
However, in your case, since your DS prefers quick meals and does not like to be tied to TS meal ressies, you should stick with QSDP and maybe do 1~2 TS meal along the way?? I think your DS would appreciate that as to going back to DDP which he didn't like, it seems.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Thanks so much for your feed back everyone! I appreciate it. I think im going to stick to the QS and do 2 TS OOP. The reason i wanted to do the DP is because I LOVE DISNEY RESTAURANTS, and the thought of not going to them kinda makes me weepy! Lol! ....But i'll be tickled pink if I can at least do 2 OOP!!

The thing is, I didnt ask my son his opinion about this because im surprising him with this trip. Is there a way I can ask him his opinion without giving it away what im planning?? haha.

 

[Homesick for Disney]

While I love Disney sit-downs, the QS is great because of the flexibility. We enjoyed getting to eat when we were actually hungry when we did it.

As for being sneaky and getting your son's opinion, could you say you have a friend (on the Disboards) who is taking their kid his age? You could just pretend that you are wanting his opinion to help your "friend" out.

 

[stayhomemom77]

Thanks so much for your feed back everyone! I appreciate it. I think im going to stick to the QS and do 2 TS OOP. The reason i wanted to do the DP is because I LOVE DISNEY RESTAURANTS, and the thought of not going to them kinda makes me weepy! Lol! ....But i'll be tickled pink if I can at least do 2 OOP!!

The thing is, I didnt ask my son his opinion about this because im surprising him with this trip. Is there a way I can ask him his opinion without giving it away what im planning?? haha.

Does he know you DIS? When we sprung our last trip on the kids, I had been doing research for 4 months by asking them what they thought for "someone" on the DISboards. I got the info I needed and (because they are well aware of mommy's DIS addiction) they never suspected a thing.

For what it's worth, I think your plan to keep the QSDP and just add in 2 TS is a great idea!! On our first trip we paid for our food OOP but we had 2 TS meals over 6 days and did the remaining lunches and dinners with CS (having cereal for breakfast in our room) and that was my favourite food plan thus far.

I'm hoping to be able to book a trip from Aug 28th to Sep 3rd and since we'll be at a value resort, we'll get the QSDP for free and I'm really excited about the prospect of not having an ADR to work around every day....and all those snacks!

Given your DS's past complaints about the ADR issues and the fact that you'll be going during extreme Florida heat...it seems to me that your plan of the QSDP with 2 TS meals on top of that will be the perfect way to keep him from complaining and you from missing all the tasty sit down food!!

 

[Amy&Dan]

We got very burnt out on the regular DDP. Too much rushing around! I was constantly on the phone to Disney Dining trying to change stuff. So the last two trips we have done the QSDP and really liked it. I don't think the savings is substantial but its nice to have.

This upcoming trip I have us booked into two TS places I will pay OOP for since our trip is 14 nights and I know we'll want some variety and we miss Sci Fi which is our favorite and we simply can't skip it again!

I will add one way we found to avoid some of the ADR frenzy was to book a few two table service ADR's. That left us some days where we had no ADR's which was nice. So if you do decide to do the DDP, maybe book a couple of those. My kids are not world class foodies but they did enjoy some of the nice places like Yachtsmen, Cali Grill and there are always the dinner shows.

 

[KELLY]

We got very burnt out on the regular DDP. Too much rushing around! I was constantly on the phone to Disney Dining trying to change stuff. So the last two trips we have done the QSDP and really liked it. I don't think the savings is substantial but its nice to have.

This upcoming trip I have us booked into two TS places I will pay OOP for since our trip is 14 nights and I know we'll want some variety and we miss Sci Fi which is our favorite and we simply can't skip it again!

I will add one way we found to avoid some of the ADR frenzy was to book a few two table service ADR's. That left us some days where we had no ADR's which was nice. So if you do decide to do the DDP, maybe book a couple of those. My kids are not world class foodies but they did enjoy some of the nice places like Yachtsmen, Cali Grill and there are always the dinner shows.

This is what we do for 10 days. We want to book a moderate but I cannot bring myslef to do it beacause we prefer the QSDP. We aren't park comando but just like the freedom of it. We go for 10 days so we book 2 TS meals I picked Tusker House Breakfest. I asked the girls if they wanted Arkshurs and they picked T-rex. I'm sure it is beacuse they want to do build a dino again. I'm going to start getting some GC for T-rex. Since between the meal and 2 dinos and clothes it will probably cost me around 170.00. Dh and I like to get a drink while we are there.

This give us alot of freedom I feel. We have gotten the dining plan the last 3 years free. Last year we were booked with a BB offer RD plan and when the GP offer was for the QSDP for the values we switched to that. I think the cm thought I was nuts but it was really the best vacation. So when we booked with the kids free promo I added it. Then when FD was re-realeased again I was even more excited because I got to save 268.00 more and get a nice photobook now.