I'm looking for 2 adults who only ate counter service that just got back...question???

[Disney1fan2002]

I am leaving next week with my DS21 for 8 nights. We are DVC owners staying in a studio at OKW, so we will have a mini fridge and a microwave. We will eat breakfast in the room, but we are typically not in the room during lunch or dinner hours.

I don't feel that the dining plan is worth the money when we stay in DVC rooms. Because we can always save money by eating in the room. Since it is just my DS and I and not my other 2 kids, the cost seems more manageable.

I called MS and was told for the 8 nights, it would cost $741.44 for the counter service plan. that comes out to $46.34/pp pd. If I take the cost of the refillable mug off, it is less than that.

My question..if you were a party of 2 adults that only ate counter service and did not have the dining plan, was your cost less than say $44/day for 2 meals?

I do like the idea of having everything paid for ahead of time, but we would not be eating 2 snacks a day paying cash. Sure, maybe every few days we would get a snack, but certainly not everyday! Then again, if we paid out of pocket, we would have to pay almost $4 for a drink (soda). I believe drinks are included in the DP?

In the 8 nights, we could probably get away with only spending $25-$30/day pp on food. That is a considerable difference in price. $480 as opposed to $740.

UGH...please help me decide!

 

[Stigsmom]

It has been awhile but... for my appetite and my mom's, who is usually with me, we would definitely pay less than that. I would say $25/day for each of us? If you're not ordering a ton (appetizers, extras) you could get away cheaper. We never buy a dining plan, we'd be throwing away $.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We haven't been since last year, but we eat mostly CS and always spend less than the qsdp would cost. I would look through the menus to get an idea of cost. Drinks are included with the qsdp, but none of us drink soda anyway, we either carry water bottles or get cups of ice water with our meals.

 

[tinka-belle]

We have done one week or less paying OOP, for longer trips we get the DDP so we can splurge a little. Many larger CS meals you can split, or can save $2 if you don't want the fries on the side. Not sure if a growing young man would agree to splitting or no fries!

For our 5 night May trip we ate at a couple of the cheaper table service places like Prime Time (just entrée), and when hungry one night at Trail's End dinner buffet with a 10% Disney visa discount, cheapest buffet on property. Had counter service for lunch and for dinner on the other days, sometimes just one CS for the day and a couple of snacks (like fried rice at Yak & Yeti CS with an order of 2 egg rolls, enough for the two of us). Took the flavored drops with us to add to tap water in our bottles so saved on drinks, morning coffee and tea was free in our room, and we packed a box of granola bars for in room snacks. Counting a couple of Disney snacks here and there (DH has to have his Mickey ice cream bar and we MUST have Dole Whip floats), we spent approx. average of $65 per day on food including tax and tips at those two table service, and including lunch at the airport, for both of us. We did not feel like we denied ourselves, just went for CS places with larger portions (Flame Tree in AK or Tangerine Café in Morocco) to split and for TS with lower cost menus. Also ate at normal CS and did not split some days.

So yes, $25 - $30 per person per day is very doable

 

[Woodmnky]

We've had no problem eating for less than $44 pp/pd when eating quick service. While having everything paid for upfront is nice, so is being able to order non-snack credit items and not pay out of pocket for them.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I would budget $30 per day per person for 2 QS meals plus $10 more for snacks. That is $40 per day, so less than what you'd pay with the plan. The $10 is generous for snacks; I'd probably spend less especially if I had some groceries in the room.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I don't think you will have any problem spending less than $44 per day, per person on 2 QS. DS and I typically do 1 QS per day and our bill is maybe around $30 with two entrees plus 2 bottles of water (sometimes we just get one bottle and split it because I hate spending $3 on water!). Sometimes we even order one kids meal (which I eat!) and one adult meal and share or just order one meal and grab something from the grab-and-go area (like at Sunshine Seasons). I know the last time we ate there, he got a kids' caesar with chicken for, I think $5.99 (which was big) and I got a $7 tuna sandwich and a piece of fruit - definitely one of our cheaper WDW meals. Unless you are really big eaters and will eat two full adult QS entrees, drinks and 2 snacks a day, I think you will make out better just paying OOP and having the flexibility of picking and choosing what you actually want to eat.

 

[85glht]

Agreed with everyone. You can definitely eat on the cheap. Sometimes my wife and I split an entree from a quick service restaurant. If that doesn't hold us over then splitting a pretzel or other snack-food would tie us over till the next "feeding".

 

[flortlebap]

That seems expensive.

2xQS meals a day is still a lot of food for us, we could easily share lunch or just have a snack, so it wouldn't be worth the cost from my POV!

At least OOP you can choose when you want to eat, rather than being forced to because you have credits to use up.

 

[Westcoastwild]

I think if you snacked or had big appetites you'd find it worth it. I have at least one family member who would easily go through 60-70 on counter service.

But I can either snack, or eat entrees, not both, and I'm not a huge soda drinker. So paying out of pocket would very rarely go over $40 for me, and in the days that I do go over, it's usually coffee or an impulse snack.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

My sister and I have gone just the two of us before and are doing so again in 3 weeks.
We are eating only QS and opted to not get a DDP this time.
We are not breakfast people so we eat something small in the room that we bring from home.
We will be having lunch and dinner in the parks.
We are spending less than $45 per day each on food for sure.
Although we will probably exceed it with the fact that we plan to do some drinking lol.

 

[jeal]

I think it depends on what you order. We just got back and found QS entrees were 10 to 15 dollars each. Look on line at the menus and see what different things cost. We drink water so we don't order drinks. If you are ordering the most expensive counter service and get a drink and use two snacks a day it is probably worth it. For us, that is too much food.

 

[IrishNYC]

I cannot speak from experience, but I know that if it were just DH and I traveling the QSDP would not work for us. More times than not I would choose one of the snack items as a meal where there are substantial snacks - plenty of examples of these in Epcot and AK.

 

[fla4fun]

I budget $40 per day (paying OOP). I usually have breakfast items in the room, and eat a larger lunch and a small dinner. I don't usually use the whole $40 - maybe $25-30 per day. The savings I either splurge and do a TS meal at some point, or use for souvenirs.

 

[loves to dive]

I can't speak for eating just QS but I know when my grown son and I eat QS it's much less than that. I'm not a huge meal eater so at QS I tend to order a kids meal and it's more than enough for me. I've seen my son leave some behind on some of the QS meals and some are easily shared. I wouldn't pay for the QS plan.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Big eater here. Or I guess I am. I can and will eat a counter service meal to myself. Now, my husband and I might share one, but that is so we can go to another location and share another one. And I will drink soda with every meal, if I can. But I am just as happy with water, when it is hot outside.

All of that said, just like when I contemplate the regular dining plan or the deluxe, I price out my potential meals for our trip. I add it all up, and check it against the cost of the whatever plan might work.

I believe that is really the only way to see how much you might save on a plan.

 

[B-Ride]

DW is not a big eater so we would definitely go OOP. You can always take the edge off with a snack in the afternoon.

 

[LilyWDW]

I mean, I am a decent eater and would often order my own meal at QS. Yet I have never had the math work out where the dining plan, at any level, would have saved me money.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Thanks for the replies. I have decided against it. I will be fine ordering kids meals, especially if a caesar salad is available from the kids menu. We do have 2 table service ADR's during the week, so to pay for QS dining and have to pay OOP for 2 meals, def. not worth it!

 

[Kaytie]

I just checked some random menus. The most expensive entreés I found were $14.99 (Tangierine Café, CHH, Pepper Market) only a few locations. Figure $3 for a drink, two snacks at $4 each although it's fairly easy to find more expensive, included snacks. $14.99 + $3.29 drink + $5 snack, doubled is $44.56. Plus tax, which is included in the DP credits. $2.50 so $47 if you get the expensive entreés. Refillable mug just under $2 per night. Slight edge to the QSDP if you only eat the handful of $15 meals. Few more at $13.99, so pretty much breaking even.