Quick Service Dining Plan

Just got back from a short trip (to New England, not WDW!) and saw the
pricing for the Quick Service Dining Plan, $29.99 per day per adult. When
I first heard about QSDP, I thought I could potentially be interested in
it, but imo that price is out of line. But I'm curious to hear from anyone
else who was initially interested in it -- now that you've heard the price,
are you still interested?

-- Alpha

Gloria says:

> Well, if you consider that a quick service meal with entree, drink and
> dessert is probably in the $12 to $13 range, the refillable mug is
> $12.50 and the two snacks are valued at about $7, that totals about
> $42 to $44 ...so it seems like a pretty good deal to me.

The quick service meal is in the $12-13 range, but if you normally don't
get a dessert at the fast food places -- which, let's face it, the desserts
at the fast food places aren't that great -- then you'd spend more like
$10. The two snacks are a maximum value of $8, but we're most likely to
use the snack credits on drinks, which are around $2.50. So the value of
the food portion is closer to $25 for us. The refillable mug would be nice
to have; if you stay for 5 days, its value is something like $2.50/day.
Grand total, $27.50. We'd have to work at it a little to break even.

And these dining plans have an inherent hassle factor attached to them, in
that you always have to be mindful of whether you're using all your credits
and careful to be sure that what you're choosing is part of the plan.

I was hoping the pricing would be a little more of a slam-dunk. If they
run an Aug.-Sept. promotion attaching it to a discounted room, then I'm in.
:-)

-- Alpha

Rodney says:

> My guess is that few people will buy the plan with the upgrade to table
> service being just $10 more. I'll bet the sole purpose of this plan
> will be as the offering for the free dining promotion and the ability
> for guests to pay only $10 to upgrade it to the PLUS plan. In the end,
> it's just a sneaky way to raise prices. Free dining for 2009 will cost
> more than it did in 2008 because room rates are higher *and* you'll have
> to pay $10 to upgrade the dining to match "apples to apples".

Yeah, that sounds about right.

I just took a look at the plan price for kids. For them, it is a good
deal. It's $9/day, and kids' quick service meals are about $5-6, so you'd
make up the cost midway through the second meal, getting free snacks and a
free refillable mug for them. So even if the adults are merely breaking
even on the plan, the QSDP still could be a good deal for a family. But,
the savings would be modest and you'd still have to consider how interested
you are in playing the dining plan game.

-- Alpha

On Aug 7, 3:54 pm, Alpha <notr...@> wrote:
> Just got back from a short trip (to New England, not WDW!) and saw the
> pricing for the Quick Service Dining Plan, $29.99 per day per adult.  When
> I first heard about QSDP, I thought I could potentially be interested in
> it, but imo that price is out of line.  But I'm curious to hear from anyone
> else who was initially interested in it -- now that you've heard the price,
> are you still interested?
>
> -- Alpha

I'm someone who barely ever buys soft drinks or desserts when I eat in
quick service places, so to me, $8 or less would be the norm of what
I'd spend on a meal. Even adding in a $2 Coke and a $3 Mickey bar, I
don't pay $30 a day to eat those two meals and two snacks. If I had
the dining plan, I would want to take advantage of the drink and
dessert options (obviously!) which would also lead me to eat a lot
more sugar than I normally would. All of that is not to mention that I
almost always eat three meals a day, so I'd still be paying for one
meal each day! I guess you can finagle the snacks to provide breakfast
each day, but that's just too much work to get the most out of this
dining plan.

Also, how does it work when you want to eat at full service
restaurants with this plan? Is a full service meal worth two quick
service credits? Do you get some kind of monetary credit? Or are you
just out of luck and have to pay full price for it?

-Julie
TDC Rapunzel, Food Rocks Head Chef and Keeper of the Monstro Table

Julie says:

> Also, how does it work when you want to eat at full service
> restaurants with this plan? Is a full service meal worth two quick
> service credits? Do you get some kind of monetary credit? Or are you
> just out of luck and have to pay full price for it?

I haven't seen anything about being able to trade up on credits, so I guess
that when it comes to restaurant meals, you're on your own. You could use
spare fast food credits to cover breakfasts.

-- Alpha