Quick Service Meal Plan

[Disneylover1970]

Is the Quick Service Meal Plan a good deal for 2 adult travelers? Is the refillable mug only available through the Plan? Also, how are Quick service meals counted? I understand it’s one quick serve and one snack per person a day. With Disney they count the total number of meals. Wondering if Universal does the same thing Thank you

 

[escapeartist]

You can buy mug without dp for $20 and works for 2 weeks. The qs dp is not worth the money at all if you are paying for it. You will save money by paying out of pocket for your food.

 

[Disneylover1970]

You can buy mug without dp for $20 and works for 2 weeks. The qs dp is not worth the money at all if you are paying for it. You will save money by paying out of pocket for your food.

Thank you. Can the refillable mugs be used anywhere or only at the resort

 

[Tinknalli]

The $20 mugs that are for the length of stay are only good at the resort. But, these are different than the one included with the meal plan. The meal plan mug is a Coke Freestyle mug that is good for one day and is only valid in the parks. You can pay to reuse it each day.

 

[Disneylover1970]

The $20 mugs that are for the length of stay are only good at the resort. But, these are different than the one included with the meal plan. The meal plan mug is a Coke Freestyle mug that is good for one day and is only valid in the parks. You can pay to reuse it each day.

The Coke Freestyle mug doesn’t sound like a good deal if you have to pay to refill it? How much is it to refill? We usually bring a refillable water bottle to the parks unless you can’t bring your own into the parks?

 

[Tinknalli]

The Coke Freestyle mug is free refills for one day in the parks. You pay an additional daily charge for each day after that if you want to use it.

 

[Disneylover1970]

The Coke Freestyle mug is free refills for one day in the parks. You pay an additional daily charge for each day after that if you want to use it.

That doesn’t seem like a good deal if you have to pay everyday to use it

 

[Bethany10]

The qs dp is not worth the money at all if you are paying for it. You will save money by paying out of pocket for your food.

I'll be the devil's advocate on this one. For us, it's a break even. I literally searched menus and looked up prices, created an excel sheet with what I figured my family would order, assuming we'd do at least one meal plan. It wound up that just for entrees alone the price was the same on the meal plan as it would be out of pocket, AND we get a snack and drink at another time.

Now a couple of caveats as to why this worked for us.
1. I like knowing meals are pre-paid. We have been saving for 3 years to do this vacation. I'm pre-paying for as much as I can to truly relax in the parks. By making assumptions (and yes, I know what assumptions can cause) on what my family will eat I know we're not wasting the credits.

2. My kids are PICKY. It's worth my time to pre-game the restaurants so I can steer my family toward something I know they'll eat and not rely on chicken nuggets all week. Other families may be more adventurous, leading to spur of the moment planning that works for them. Not everyone likes to look at menus and make choices months out (surely those people are not on the DIS, but I'm sure they'r out there )

3. You can always buy once you get into the parks and find out on the day that what you want is worth getting the dining plan. Any entree plus drink that's 15 bucks means you're breaking even on the plan.

4. and this relates to 1. I'm cheap. We live very frugally. I love being able to tell my kids yes you can get the bigger popcorn or the double scoop b/c it's considered a snack. Again, this may not be how your family functions so this may not be a payoff for you.

The current plan: One day's worth of QS dining for three in our party and one plan with the cup. If we find we don't use the cup much on the first day, then I'll just choose not to reactivate it the next day. It's 6 bucks vs 11 on the plan. A risk I'm willing to take. If my family eats the way I think they will, then we will purchase an additional day's worth of meals for the next day. If they don't then I'll save remaining credits for use at a different point during our stay.

Just my .02. I'm not a coaster person, I'm going for the HP stuff and the food so I've done a lot of research into those areas as that's what I like. At the end of the day, do what works best for your family.

 

[tony67]

I'll be the devil's advocate on this one. For us, it's a break even. I literally searched menus and looked up prices, created an excel sheet with what I figured my family would order, assuming we'd do at least one meal plan. It wound up that just for entrees alone the price was the same on the meal plan as it would be out of pocket, AND we get a snack and drink at another time.
.....

Yeah - it is break even - or a few dollars ahead for me - and I do mean a few - like $1-$3 dollars

 

[Bethany10]

Yeah - it is break even - or a few dollars ahead for me - and I do mean a few - like $1-$3 dollars

yes, it's not a good value plan. it's a do you prefer to pre-pay or pay as you go plan. For us, the pre-pay is valuable, as long as it means I'm breaking even. if it meant paying for something we don't use/eat then it becomes something we don't want.

 

[Disneylover1970]

I'll be the devil's advocate on this one. For us, it's a break even. I literally searched menus and looked up prices, created an excel sheet with what I figured my family would order, assuming we'd do at least one meal plan. It wound up that just for entrees alone the price was the same on the meal plan as it would be out of pocket, AND we get a snack and drink at another time.

Now a couple of caveats as to why this worked for us.
1. I like knowing meals are pre-paid. We have been saving for 3 years to do this vacation. I'm pre-paying for as much as I can to truly relax in the parks. By making assumptions (and yes, I know what assumptions can cause) on what my family will eat I know we're not wasting the credits.

2. My kids are PICKY. It's worth my time to pre-game the restaurants so I can steer my family toward something I know they'll eat and not rely on chicken nuggets all week. Other families may be more adventurous, leading to spur of the moment planning that works for them. Not everyone likes to look at menus and make choices months out (surely those people are not on the DIS, but I'm sure they'r out there )

3. You can always buy once you get into the parks and find out on the day that what you want is worth getting the dining plan. Any entree plus drink that's 15 bucks means you're breaking even on the plan.

4. and this relates to 1. I'm cheap. We live very frugally. I love being able to tell my kids yes you can get the bigger popcorn or the double scoop b/c it's considered a snack. Again, this may not be how your family functions so this may not be a payoff for you.

The current plan: One day's worth of QS dining for three in our party and one plan with the cup. If we find we don't use the cup much on the first day, then I'll just choose not to reactivate it the next day. It's 6 bucks vs 11 on the plan. A risk I'm willing to take. If my family eats the way I think they will, then we will purchase an additional day's worth of meals for the next day. If they don't then I'll save remaining credits for use at a different point during our stay.

Just my .02. I'm not a coaster person, I'm going for the HP stuff and the food so I've done a lot of research into those areas as that's what I like. At the end of the day, do what works best for your family.

Thank you for responding, I appreciate it. I guess I’m not thinking of it as a great deal or value necessarily, but more of a pay up front, I guess break even.

I’m like you, I like knowing everything is taken care of ahead of time. I like to look at the menus and prices too. Even though there’s only 2 of us - adults(seniors). We too live very frugally.

I thought the Coke Freestyle Refillable Mug was refillable each day for no charge if it was in your meal plan? So you have to pay each day for it? We were going to get the Quick Service Meal Plan with the Mug.

 

[MSPeeler]

I'll be the devil's advocate on this one. For us, it's a break even. I literally searched menus and looked up prices, created an excel sheet with what I figured my family would order, assuming we'd do at least one meal plan. It wound up that just for entrees alone the price was the same on the meal plan as it would be out of pocket, AND we get a snack and drink at another time.

Now a couple of caveats as to why this worked for us.
1. I like knowing meals are pre-paid. We have been saving for 3 years to do this vacation. I'm pre-paying for as much as I can to truly relax in the parks. By making assumptions (and yes, I know what assumptions can cause) on what my family will eat I know we're not wasting the credits.

2. My kids are PICKY. It's worth my time to pre-game the restaurants so I can steer my family toward something I know they'll eat and not rely on chicken nuggets all week. Other families may be more adventurous, leading to spur of the moment planning that works for them. Not everyone likes to look at menus and make choices months out (surely those people are not on the DIS, but I'm sure they'r out there )

3. You can always buy once you get into the parks and find out on the day that what you want is worth getting the dining plan. Any entree plus drink that's 15 bucks means you're breaking even on the plan.

4. and this relates to 1. I'm cheap. We live very frugally. I love being able to tell my kids yes you can get the bigger popcorn or the double scoop b/c it's considered a snack. Again, this may not be how your family functions so this may not be a payoff for you.

The current plan: One day's worth of QS dining for three in our party and one plan with the cup. If we find we don't use the cup much on the first day, then I'll just choose not to reactivate it the next day. It's 6 bucks vs 11 on the plan. A risk I'm willing to take. If my family eats the way I think they will, then we will purchase an additional day's worth of meals for the next day. If they don't then I'll save remaining credits for use at a different point during our stay.

Just my .02. I'm not a coaster person, I'm going for the HP stuff and the food so I've done a lot of research into those areas as that's what I like. At the end of the day, do what works best for your family.

I need your Spreadsheet
I'm a MAJOR planner. I have google sheets for every aspect of our trip. Some find it more stressful, but like you, I want to relax on the trip... and just know it's paid for and not worry "what, when, where" about it all.

This sounds like my next coarse of action!!

 

[Bethany10]

I thought the Coke Freestyle Refillable Mug was refillable each day for no charge if it was in your meal plan? So you have to pay each day for it? We were going to get the Quick Service Meal Plan with the Mug.

My understanding, and please someone correct me if I'm wrong is this:

Day 1: You buy the meal plan WITH mug and pay 6 bucks more than the standard plan. Free refills throughout the day while in the parks. NOT at the hotels.

Day 2. You pay the 5 something to activate the RFID chip in the mug for the day. If you want the meal plan for this day, then you just buy the regular meal plan.

The mug is a "deal" only because I'm a pop drinker and I'd like to at least try it. I intend to have bottles of water in the room for us and if we wind up drinking those and not using the mug that first day, then I'm only out 6 bucks and I've got a nice souvenir mug from our trip that will go in my pool bag for enjoyment the rest of the summer. If you're not pop drinkers or are just looking to transport water then it's not a deal.

Lets say we only buy the meal plan for one day, not only wind up using it (and breaking even) but my kids are fighting over the mug all day. Then the next day I'm activating the one I bought AND buying another plan with mug along with our pre-planned meal vouchers for day 2.

 

[escapeartist]

I'm sorry. I thought you were asking about disney resort mug.

 

[Bethany10]

I need your Spreadsheet

if you're a Disney planner than Universal will be a snap. Touringplans has a nice list of menus and prices and there is an extensive thread here that a couple of people meticulously maintain.

My intent in starting it was not the meal plan but the fact that my kids are picky and I had no desire to be standing in the park having a whisper fight with my husband about where we were going to eat. Plus they do get tired of nuggets and while yes, we're on vacation I do want them to have some healthy options.

The key difference here is that so many people look at the plan with the intent does it save money? The overwhelming answer is no, no it does not. At best you'll save a couple of bucks. maybe. when it works, it works for people like me who want to pre-pay and break even. Level set your expectations and you'll be just fine.

 

[jeanelle]

We did the free dining plan at Disney and hated it. We are not big eaters and it was way too much food for us since we were on Club level. We are on Club level again for our Universal trip. My husband said that we were not going to get any meal plan ever again. Well I just figured out since we are planning on eating lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, getting a butterbeer, and the Coke freestyle mug, it makes complete sense to buy the 1 day quick service meal plan with the freestyle cup. We will get a cup for each of us and then we can decide if it is worth it to us to recharge one or both the other days we are in the parks. I think you really need to sit down and crunch the numbers to see if it will work for you.

 

[EmJ]

I apologize for reviving a zombie thread, but thought maybe it's better than starting a new one on the same subject.
I am interested in the quickservice dining plan for the convenience and not-having-to-think-about-it-ness. However, I have a gluten sensitivity in my group and I need to see the menus ahead of time to see whether there is at least one decent gluten free quickservice option for him. Does anyone know where I can see the actual menus, or a menu indicating which options are part of the quickservice dining plan? I've looked high and low with no success.

 

[Kivara]

I have a gluten sensitivity in my group and I need to see the menus ahead of time to see whether there is at least one decent gluten free quickservice option for him. Does anyone know where I can see the actual menus, or a menu indicating which options are part of the quickservice dining plan? I've looked high and low with no success.

I would contact guest services through their email to be safe. GuestServices@UniversalOrlando.com

They got right back to me every time I have emailed them (within a day) and we very helpful with suggestions and ingredient lists. (My DS#2 has a dairy allergy that can trigger his asthma.)

 

[Andrea]

My best friend and I just came home from a weekend. We prebought the meal plan before our trip of 3 days and we loved it. The first day we ate at harry potter and had the fish and chips which was 15.99 each. We went in there before getting our reusable cup ( we didn't know) so they ended up giving up a pumpkin fizz as our refillable drink so we paid 0.00 for it.

The second day we went to harry potter and our meal was 15.99 each again but this time we had our cups so we just got normal drinks.

The third day we ate at the Jurassic park area and our meal was GREAT we ended up with two piece of chicken, corn on the Cobb potatoes and one more side I can't remember.

Plus all the drink refills and slushie refills which was my favorite. For our snack credits we ended up with fruit cups and butterbeer.

So for us we actually came out cheaper doing the meal plan then if we bought everything seperate.

The only thing I didn't get and felt like was a waste is because we purchased the three day meal service we ended up with a new cup everyday. I would have been ok with just reactivating the one I had the day before.

 

[Sue M]

I plan on getting QS plan on days we are planning on getting the more expensive meals over $15, and getting the high price snacks. Will get the mug on first day we get the dining plan. I’m not a pop drinker, but lots of non pop options in the freestyle machines.
I heard once you have mug, there is an option to refill per drink, at $1.50? on other days.