[HeatherD]

We are a family of 4 - DD was 8 and DS turned 5 on our 7 day trip in February. We had previously done the dining plan in 2007, when tip and appetizers were still included. At that point, I'd had my doubts about the plan, since we felt pressured to have a TS every day and ordered so much food! It was worth it for the food we had, but would we have done all this without the plan?

So, this time around, we looked into the QSDP. We sat down and looked at what we wanted to do for meals, to see if it made sense. Bottom line is that for us, it didn't. We wanted to able to do a few TS, but not one every day. We would be eating breakfast in our room, so on the QSDP any day we had a TS, a CS credit would be wasted. We also would have 8 snack credits per day among us. Now, I can do a Mickey bar and a Diet Coke in a snap - but there was no way we'd use 8 a day without really trying. We'd gotten a case of water for our room, so getting drinks wasn't going to fill up the snack quota either (you're still paying for it, even if it's ahead of time - it's not free just because it's left over). And, looking at what we'd eat/spend at CS meals we realized we'd be paying a couple dollars MORE per meal on average if we used the plan. We usually don't order the "high end" items available at CS. And, frequently, the kids split a meal. And we rarely order dessert.

So, if we were already buying all the things you get on the plan, it would have made sense to work it around our schedule. But, because of the way we eat at the park, we would be paying quite a bit more per meal than OOP. And the "convenience" of paying ahead of time couldn't counter the amount.