2017 Dining Plan Changes: Is the QS now officially overpriced?

[SYRIK2000]

Also doing character meals is a great way for our kids to meet the characters and avoid waiting in any M&G lines.

 

[rael ramone]

My thoughts:

WDW is expensive enough. Buying only what you want to eat is more than worth it. If you find yourself with less of an appetite (the heat & humidity can do that) take advantage of the lower calorie intake - or 'bank' those calories for the treat that you personally think is worth it.

 

[asianway]

@andysol Are there any WDW restaurants that you do like?

Liking a restaurant and committing to overpaying for them every day of your vacation are two different things.

Also doing character meals is a great way for our kids to meet the characters and avoid waiting in any M&G lines.

But do you do them every day? Because to me thats the only way this works - any savings from that gets offset the minute you go to a mid tier place.

 

[rael ramone]

The down side is you have to worry about losing the GC. If you lose your magic band you grab another. We do the Deluxe meal plan to have everything prepaid. Room charge the tips. I don't think it saves me anything but it makes everything very convenient and more relaxing.

Travelers checks. They take them property wide. If you have AAA, you can get them for free. If you lose them, you report it and get your money back. (Another 'budgeting' option)...

 

[SYRIK2000]

Liking a restaurant and committing to overpaying for them every day of your vacation are two different things.

But do you do them every day? Because to me thats the only way this works - any savings from that gets offset the minute you go to a mid tier place.

I would say it's most days. But for us it isn't about savings. It's about convenience and not worrying about it. I will pay for those two aspects. That's the value it has for us.

 

[SYRIK2000]

Travelers checks. They take them property wide. If you have AAA, you can get them for free. If you lose them, you report it and get your money back. (Another 'budgeting' option)...

Traveler's checks would be the complete opposite of what i'm trying to achieve.

 

[Jon81uk]

The down side is you have to worry about losing the GC. If you lose your magic band you grab another. We do the Deluxe meal plan to have everything prepaid. Room charge the tips. I don't think it saves me anything but it makes everything very convenient and more relaxing.

Charge the full value of the meal to the room and then pay the room balance off with the gift card Don't need to carry it around!

 

[SYRIK2000]

Charge the full value of the meal to the room and then pay the room balance off with the gift card Don't need to carry it around!

Now that idea I like.

 

[disneyflush]

I would say it's most days. But for us it isn't about savings. It's about convenience and not worrying about it. I will pay for those two aspects. That's the value it has for us.

Do you still have to pay for the tip after you finish the meal? Is settling this part of the bill something you still need to do separate of using the dining plan? I honestly am not sure how it works now so I am curious.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

I've said this in other threads and I'll say it again. The DDP, and especially the demand, and offering of free dining has Wal-marted Disney dining overall.

Remember when there used to be prime rib on every buffet?
Remember unique molded pats of butter depending on the restaurant?
Remember when people used to go back to their hotels and get dressed up for dinner?
I could go on but you get the gist. I'm only in my 30's but I remember fondly back in the 80s and 90s what dining USED to be.

The dinner at King Steffan's was 1000000000x better than Cindy's - last time I ate there about 10 years ago and it was crap.

It's the little things that made Disney dining stand out, and stand above the rest.

 

[SYRIK2000]

Do you still have to pay for the tip after you finish the meal? Is settling this part of the bill something you still need to do separate of using the dining plan? I honestly am not sure how it works now so I am curious.

Tip are included when you do Dinner Shows but not at the restaurants. So you have to pay tips separate. Easiest just to room charge it. There are other things not included as well which you'd have to pay.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

It's a financial shell game. You do not come out ahead. You are paying a metric crap-ton of money either way. You see that $47 choice cut steak and you think you're getting a bargain with the DDP. The reality is, that steak is $30 over priced, just to make you feel that way.

The value of the food is a different topic and highly subjective. I am merely stating that based on the prices we know per meal and the price of the DDP, there is a way to come out ahead.

Yes, you're correct. I also mentioned earlier if the majority of your meals are character meals it is a good value (but as an aside, the food is terrible at those character buffets). In your example, you picked- quite literally- the 2 most expensive choices. Akershus and BoG QS. If you can hop to both MK and Epcot and eat those every day during your stay- you're really sticking it to Disney.
Or, I don't know... eat what you want where you want without having to plan 180 days in advance not only what restaurant you're going to eat at- but what you're going to order so you can come out ahead. Oh, and save money in the process.

There are other combinations to make it worth it...but I agree that characater dining is the way to go. For my wife and I and our two year old daughter...character meals fulfill most of our dining needs. Food is generally the same...but the experience for our daughter is worth it.

 

[xdan0920]

The value of the food is a different topic and highly subjective. I am merely stating that based on the prices we know per meal and the price of the DDP, there is a way to come out ahead.



There are other combinations to make it worth it...but I agree that characater dining is the way to go. For my wife and I and our two year old daughter...character meals fulfill most of our dining needs. Food is generally the same...but the experience for our daughter is worth it.

You are not coming out ahead. You are still paying a bucket load. It's semantics.

As to your second point, let me ask you this....

How much would you pay to simply meet the characters? Forgetting the food.

 

[tirian]

I've said this in other threads and I'll say it again. The DDP, and especially the demand, and offering of free dining has Wal-marted Disney dining overall.

Remember when there used to be prime rib on every buffet?
Remember unique molded pats of butter depending on the restaurant?
Remember when people used to go back to their hotels and get dressed up for dinner?
I could go on but you get the gist. I'm only in my 30's but I remember fondly back in the 80s and 90s what dining USED to be.

The dinner at King Steffan's was 1000000000x better than Cindy's - last time I ate there about 10 years ago and it was crap.

It's the little things that made Disney dining stand out, and stand above the rest.

Quoted for truth.

 

[Tay]

Never had a dining plan before and wanted to get one on my next trip so please correct if I'm wrong . With QS I get 2 quick service meals which includes 2 beverages and 2 snacks and an additional snack and a free refill cup that I could use at my resort for $44 with tax? That sounds to good to be true. I think I'm off about the snacks but still I come ahead $5 and get all the soda I want for the length of my stay . Sounds good to me.

 

[xdan0920]

Never had a dining plan before and wanted to get one on my next trip so please correct if I'm wrong . With QS I get 2 quick service meals which includes 2 beverages and 2 snacks and an additional snack and a free refill cup that I could use at my resort for $44 with tax? That sounds to good to be true. I think I'm off about the snacks but still I come ahead $5 and get all the soda I want for the length of my stay . Sounds good to me.

You are off.

Two meals, one snack, one mug. You better max out those credits though, or else you come out well behind. For example.....

Lunch at Columbia Harbour House....$9.99 for the Tuna Sandwich w/chips
Dinner at Cosmic Rays...$9.49 for Chicken Nuggets and fries
Snack Gastons....$4.49 for a Cinnamon Roll

So you just paid $44 for $24 worth of food. Yikes.

 

[Jon81uk]

You are off.

Two meals, one snack, one mug. You better max out those credits though, or else you come out well behind. For example.....

Lunch at Columbia Harbour House....$9.99 for the Tuna Sandwich w/chips
Dinner at Cosmic Rays...$9.49 for Chicken Nuggets and fries
Snack Gastons....$4.49 for a Cinnamon Roll

So you just paid $44 for $24 worth of food. Yikes.

You are incorrect, on the 2017 plan you get two snacks but no dessert. So you could add a $5 Mickey Pretzel to your example and get $29 worth of food. Except you also didn't add drinks into your pricing which are $3.29 each (or more if you have a slushy) so thats now $35 of food/drink.
In 2016 you would get one snack but also get 2x desserts so you could get $40 worth of food (2x $4.50 dessert).

But of course you could also get the $20 platter at Flame Tree BBQ with a drink then a snack of the pulled pork fries at $7 and then Roast Beef sandwich at Be Our Guest for $17 plus drink then a $5 sundae on main street. That would $52 worth of food.

But of course the days where you only get the $10 entree balance out the days when you get the $17 entree and it is still hard to get $44 back a day. You need to make sure every entree is $14 or more really to get value. ($44 less $10 on snacks gives $17 per meal, so $3 drink and $14 entree. The resort mug isn't worth worrying about).

 

[xdan0920]

You are incorrect, on the 2017 plan you get two snacks but no dessert. So you could add a $5 Mickey Pretzel to your example and get $29 worth of food. Except you also didn't add drinks into your pricing which are $3.29 each (or more if you have a slushy) so thats now $35 of food/drink.
In 2016 you would get one snack but also get 2x desserts so you could get $40 worth of food (2x $4.50 dessert).

But of course you could also get the $20 platter at Flame Tree BBQ with a drink then a snack of the pulled pork fries at $7 and then Roast Beef sandwich at Be Our Guest for $17 plus drink then a $5 sundae on main street. That would $52 worth of food.

But of course the days where you only get the $10 entree balance out the days when you get the $17 entree and it is still hard to get $44 back a day. You need to make sure every entree is $14 or more really to get value. ($44 less $10 on snacks gives $17 per meal, so $3 drink and $14 entree. The resort mug isn't worth worrying about).

I would never buy the DDP. So my numbers, while not exact, still make my point. You need to maximize your credits or else you lose money. We agree.

 

[lentesta]

We used Excel's Solver add-in to figure out the average value of each component of the 2017 dining plans, for 3- to 6-day trips. Here's what we came up with as ballparks:

A quick service meal is worth about $19.42
A table service meal is worth about $40.41
A snack is worth about $3.02
The mug is worth about $5.64​

The value of the mug depends on how many days you'll use it, and that (slightly) affects the cost of the other components.

Again, these are ballparks. Here's a link to the spreadsheet, if you want to copy and run your own numbers. Let me know what you come up with.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

You are not coming out ahead. You are still paying a bucket load. It's semantics.

As to your second point, let me ask you this....

How much would you pay to simply meet the characters? Forgetting the food.

I don't see how we wouldn't come out ahead? If I pay $64/day per person for the DDP and we choose to eat at the more expensive restaurants where we would spend more than $64/day out of pocket per person...I just don't see how I wouldn't come out ahead...

For the characters...I wouldn't necessarily pay anything since you can see them in the parks (some of them anyway). There are characters you get to see while dining that are not out in the parks. Does that justify the higher price meal? That's personal opinion. For us, I have no issues dropping $50+ per person for a character meal where I can sit down, relax, enjoy my meal and have characters come to me.