QSDP or Upgrade to DDP?

[poppyberry]

We are just back from 16 nights at Saratoga Springs and desperate to get booked for next year! We want to go to POFQ, which just offers the QSDP And left wondering on whether to upgrade. On the times we have done the DP, it's always been the TS version, but I sometimes feel frustrated at booking everything up so far in advance and not flying by the seat of my pants occasionally!

We are a party of 2 adults, 2 children (by then 5 & 2.5) so would want a couple of character meals and possibly dining packages especially for the new AK show. From what I can see the upgrade cost of £392.00 would be worth it for these few meals alone.

I know for a few extra ££ we could stay back at Saratoga but we fancy a change, do many upgrade from the QSDP? Or have people found the QSDP works better for them? I should add that only on the DDP do we find ourselves eating table service every day it wouldn't concern us if we weren't but don't want to pay more than the upgrade cost for just a few meals!

 

[Elise79]

Remember that you only get the DP for the adults and eldest child.

At the buffets the youngest eats free and the packages you will have to pay for them if they want a meal or share off your plates.

If you upgrade and don't want to be tied to reservations each day then you could book some dinner shows, signatures or CRT which all require 2TS credits meaning you will have days with no reservations. We do this if we ever have the DDP but we also head offsite so eat while out so we aren't paying Disney prices for the extra meals.

At the end of the day it's a personal choice. There are posters on here that go every year and only get the QSDP and others that wouldn't consider it.

I think if you are only looking at 3 or 4 TS meals that you want to do I would keep the QSDP and pay for the TS meals.

One other thing you can get FPs for the new AK show - we have them for July.

 

[LiquidSunshine]

I would with Elise79 - if you are only looking at doing a few TS meals, I would keep the QSDP & pay the TS separately.

Like you, we are not too concerned about ADRS - for our next trip, we only have two booked, 1 a TS and the only is QSD for breakfast at BOG. So because we are only planning on 1 TS (at the minute, can't see it going up too much) upgrading is not worth it for us.

P.S. we love POFQ.

 

[scoobydooby2016]

Just do the math then choose. If the upgrade costs more (accounting for 14 TS tips over a fortnight as well as the upgrade) than paying for a few TS plus tip out of pocket then not upgrade. If it doesn't then I would upgrade.

 

[DisneyBelle_x]

Next year will be the first time I've booked using the free dining plan and I was in no doubt that I wanted to upgrade from QSDP, the table service meals i want to do definitely cost more than the upgrade cost so was a no brainer, I couldn't live on QSDP for the whole trip

 

[bex7583]

I agree do the sums and see how much the meals will cost that you want to book, we like a table meal everyday so we have upgraded in the past.

 

[poppyberry]

Thanks all, I really like Elise79's idea about the dinner shows, as in 20 or so trips I've never done one! So that's swung it for us as there's at least 6 must do restaurants making the upgrade a bit of a no brainier.

Liquid sunshine - good to see you love POFQ, we haven't done a Mod before always values or deluxe, but we went to visit on our recent trip and really liked it, did you find the bus service ok?

 

[Stitch808]

We usually upgrade from the QSDP to the DDP. We just love the options to do the dinner shows and to try new restaurants that we wouldn't normally have given a try if we were paying cash.

 

[LiquidSunshine]

Liquid sunshine - good to see you love POFQ, we haven't done a Mod before always values or deluxe, but we went to visit on our recent trip and really liked it, did you find the bus service ok?

Yes, we found the bus service ok. Only the one bus stop at POFQ, but some services are shared with Riverside. We only had to stand a couple of times, when we were at park closing once and after the Halloween party.

POFQ also has the boat ride to Disney Springs which is nice & makes a nice change too.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

We are going to try free qsdp for the first time this trip. In the past we always paid oop and then ddp (except one year where we went for dxdp) but last trip we found that with teenagers who inevitably don't run to the timetable they did when they were little it was easier to be more flexible. I think that with the qsdp I will spend roughly the same on the few ts meals we intend to have as I would have done on the tips if we had added the ddp for the two weeks. Hoping it works out as well as I hope

 

[loves to dive]

Have you looked at the prices for FOFQ with the room only discount then either just paying out of pocket or buy the DDP? Sometimes you come out better with the room discount then with the dining plan.

 

[jon18uk]

don't forget that you need to tip! so if you upgrade just becuase it looks cheaper than paying for the 3-4 character meals etc then you still need to tip on the other 10 TS meals you've added!

 

[poppyberry]

Ha ha I know it seems tempting and then you get the tips! We loved the idea of the dinner shows though and fulfilled our requirements of trying something new each trip so we are booked its upgraded dining plan thanks for all the input folks

 

[AcrossthePondNic]

We've been mulling this one over too. We had the QS plan last time and paid for 3 table service meals and breakfast in Crystal Palace. For us, because we're used to watching what we spend, we were conscious of what we were ordering when dining table service. We've agreed that if we have the table plan we wouldn't be watching the pennies as much. Especially my DH

Having the DDP will mean we are more likely to book places we've never been to before. And as the only cash needed at the time will be for the tips it won't seem like we're handing over large amounts of cash every night. But we've also thought about the idea of needing to book so many things in advance, reducing flexibility. Using it for 'special' experiences where 2 credits are needed is something we are going to be doing. We parted with a lot of money for the 4 of us at Crystal Palace, plus tip and we did say it probably wasn't worth what it cost but it was something I'd always wanted to do and never done before. With the DDP I'd be looking at doing a couple of those. We had so many QS credits left on the last day that trip that using TS credits up a bit quicker, 2 at a time sometimes, shouldn't make our meals run out. On a side note, the pizza at POR, not sure if POFQ is the same, is 2 QS credits but fed all 4 of us and was a really nice pizza.

We've stayed at POFQ and POR and like them both. My picture is the view from our room in POR last year. Have a great trip.

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

I would upgrade. There are a lot of good QS places these days,but I would miss not having TS.

 

[UKDisneyJoe]

Me and my DW are going to be staying at Coronado next November and have the QS free. This is our first time on property (3rd trip) and we were ok with the QS plan but having looked at this I am also starting to think about the upgrade. We had a couple of TS restaurents we wanted to visit as well as a couple of character meals, including Fantasmic package. Will need to do some sums now

 

[~Piglet~]

We have been a few times and had 'free' QSDP, and as we had young children in our party we found this suited our (their!) needs as we could eat as soon as they were hungry, rather than be tied into set times at restaurants. We also do a couple of Character meals and TS too - we treat our QSDP as a kind of bonus rather than 'must use' all of the credits. Maybe this isn't cost effective for some but we don't set ourselves any budgets with food.

UKDisneyJoe I hope you enjoy Coronado, we love the resort

 

[scoobydooby2016]

Just to note that if you were paying for the regular dining plan Disney make money on you when you use two QS credits on a signature. To qualify for free dining we pay top rates for rooms. I have done this myself I'm not been critical I'm just saying know the math and do the math before deciding.

 

[lauraj2404]

You may be able to get the best of both worlds disney are offering free dining for 2017 and Saratoga Springs gives you free DDP, compared to QSDP at POFQ. Maybe worth checking the maths of Saratoga vs POFQ + dining plan upgrade.

Key West also offers free DDP so if you fancy a change could be a good value option compared to upgrading at POFQ.

Personally I like the freedom of QS and planning on booking a few TS meals as treats, for us the maths wasn't worth the upgrade.

 

[Stitch808]

You have to do the math. Sometimes the OOP costs is less than the DDP costs. We like it because of the convenience of it and not looking at the price when figuring out what to order.