Disneyworld packages: Should I get the hopper option on the tickets? How about the "quick service meal" plan?

Question

Disney World package plans: Is the hopper worth the extra price? Has anyone used the quick service meal plan (that costs about $100 a day for four people)? Is it worth it or could I come out better by purchasing meals and sharing? What is the price range for food at the park? Do you get good portions - enough for two people to share? Any other advice?

Answer 1

We buy the Hopper option every time we go to Disney. Some people think it is a waste of time. Here are our reasons

1) We have our preference for fireworks shows, this way we can spend the day at a different park and then head to our faves for a few rides and the fireworks



2) Hollywood Studios is a small park... even if you do the whole park it is likely that you will only need about a half day or so. Rather than wasting time wandering aimlessly around Hollywood Studios, or just sitting at the campground half the day, we do Hollywood Studios and then hop a boat on over to Epcot.



3) We love the pastry shop at France, in Epcot. On one our last days we always hop back to Epcot for a few pastries to tide us over on our way home.





Now, as for the Dining. It is never worth it for us. My husband and I just do not eat that much in day. Here is a list of all the restaurants, their menus and prices http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm I suggest you make up a mock meal plan. Be reasonable, and then compare your mock total for meals to the cost of the Dining Plan. On the plus side you do get to pay for all of your food before you even get there with the Dining Plan, but depending on the plan there are some limits as to where and how many credits your meals will cost you. You are also charged for the number of nights you are staying there... so, if you check-in, due to a late flight, at 11:00pm you have been charged $100 for that day for food. Granted, you can use those credits another day, but why spend that much when a pizza would suffice for a late arrival.



Just do your research. If you are content to spend each day in just one park, then don't waste your money on the Hopper. And, if there are kids or picky eater adults, make sure you compare the Dining Plan price total to your daily "meal plan."

Answer 2

For my family, we do not do the Hopper option. My son is Autistic, and does not want to leave a given park once we arrive in it, until the end of the day. Plus, I think it matters more, if you are bringing your own transportation, or using Disney transportation. I think using Disney buses would make using park hopper harder, than having your own car. I'd done Disney with my own car, and using their buses, but never had the hopper, so I can't say with certainty.



Yes, Yes, YES! GET A MEAL PLAN!! It saves you so much money. The quick service plan doesn't force you to plan ahead so much, but the others do.



Your best bet is to look at the menus on a site, like allears.net. If for nothing else, you get an idea of the cuisine. Suppose you don't like what's on the menu. Better to find out now, at home, then when you are inside the park, and have to trek all the way across it to go to a place that has food you like.



The time you save by planning your meals is also worth a lot. Say you are in Epcot, and you don't like Norweigan or Mexican cuisine. The Canada steakhouse, and British pub are on the other side of the lake! Then when you get over there, they have a 2 hour waiting list? ARGH!



Get the plan, plan your meals. Do that if nothing else.

Answer 3

I think the park hopper is definitely worth the cost! You don't have to worry about using all of your tickets because the park hopper takes only one ticket for the entire day and you can get into all of the parks. It's helpful if you decide you want to visit a park, leave, and then hit up another park for lunch or dinner. It's also helpful if there are certain fireworks shows you want to see or parades but are intending on spending your day at a completely different park.



I think all of the meal plans are well worth it. We got the basic meal plan, as they didn't have the quick service one when I used it, and it saved us hundreds of dollars! I would suggest if you are taking kids to do the basic meal plan if you can swing it, so that you can experience some of the table service restaurants that Disney has to offer. As far as meal pricing, with the quick service restaurants, my husband and I, without the meal plan, would have spent about $30 for the both of us. So, it can get pricey. When we went, the portions were great, but I have also been informed that Disney has cut back a little bit on that.



All in all, I would recommend the meal plan. You're going to save much more money, even if you bought meals and split them. Whatever resort you go to, buy a refillable mug for everyone! You pay one flat rate for the mug itself and the refills are unlimited! Also, I would highly recommend visiting www.tourguidemike.com This guy has made several trips to Disney World and most of the members on that site, like me, are people who have been to Disney multiple times and have some great advice! Good luck with your trip!

Answer 4

Every year i go to Walt Disney World and i get the Disney Dining Plan and I love it. It saves us a lot. the price range for food can be anywhere from and ice cream for $1.50 or a meal at the Brown Derby for $100. As far as portions I would say that each person should get their own plate but it depends on how much you can eat. I'm a teen girl and can't finnish a chicken wrap from Peco Bill's. I also always get the park hopper option because it is to hard to cordinate reservations with firework shows and extra magic hours so i would definately say pay the extra $30 per person but that is a pay once thing. you buy that once and you have it for the rest of your stay.

Answer 5

I've never done ONLY the quick service meal plan, but if you do the counter service, quick service, snack meal option, you come out money ahead...and it's amazing how much food you can get!



The "hopper" option is one that most people feel they want, but don't actually use. They want the option to go from one park to another, but in reality, one generally spends the day at whatever theme park one enters at the start of their day. If I ever had to purchase Disney tickets again, I'd think long and hard before adding the "park hopper" option to them.

Answer 6

It depends how many days you are going if you should "need " the park hopper. You can always upgrade say if you get there and decided you should have it.

I book Disney all the time and there is only a 10 difference in the QS meal plan and the regular dining plan - me I would spend the extra 10.00 and get the regular plan! I have use the regular one 9 times and If you added up all the savings it would be over 14,700 total.. if that tells you how much of a savings it is!!

There are many ways to plan and get the most out of your meal plans.

At www.wdwtravels.com they help you with optimize your vacation on a budget.

I will never eat without the dining plan. :)

Answer 7

Ive have always planned my trips to Disney on my own and usually stay off-site renting a house or condo. This year we booked with the dining plan (we didnt choose to go with the park hopper becasue we have been to the parks 25 plus times) and found it extremely worthwhile. You can average $30-$60 each meal, depending on what you eat, where and how many people (we had just 3 of us) So a 3 meal a day plan is really a great deal. We went with the dining plan that included one quick serve and one seated meal and whe nwe go back plan to do it again. Definately worth the money . As to sharing, its hard to say what your expectations are, but basically its sandwichs and pizza so maybe small kids can share but it probably would be a stretch

Answer 8

The hopper option on tickets lets you go to more than one park in a day. If you're traveling with young children, it's not worth it - they are too tired. My husband and I go often and use the hopper option because we'll frequently go to one park during the day, and walk over to Epcot at night (we usually stay at the Beach Club). If this is your first trip, don't get it - the parks are exhausting, and there is so much to see and do, you don't need it.



Food: I don't eat much, so we don't get the meal plan, it's too much food! Portions everywhere are plenty to split and none of the restaurants mind splitting meals. For kids, there are plenty of food options and they really are pretty affordable. The meal plan benefits those who eat well and eat all their meals. The cost of food at the park is not unreasonable - beverage costs are tho.....we keep soda and bottled water in our room to bring with us to the park because those things are costly ($4 for a bottle of water and $3 for a soda).



Have fun. There are some great Disney websites that give info, along with calendars that have refurbishments dates for rides, and events that are going on there while you're there. Also, if you're going during the holidays - an event not to miss is the Osborne Festival of Lights - it's fantastic! Make reservations early for any character dining you want to do and have fun!



www.allears.net

www.mousesavers.com

Answer 9

Yes, you will almost definitely come out ahead using the quick service plan. You can look at the menus and prices at http://www.allearsnet.com and kind of get an idea. Usually the quick service meals cannot really be shared between two people. There's maybe a couple of places you could share, but most places you really can't.



Hopper tickets - personally, I don't think it is worth it. If you are a seasoned Disney traveler, maybe. But for most of us, we can find plenty to do staying in just one park a day. It will take you at least an hour, and that's being conservative, to get out of one park, load up, and arrive at the next park. Probably 2 hours is closer to reality. It's a lot of wasted time to me.

Answer 10

You can find the prices for food in the parks at this site:

www.allears.net



My family finds that we often share meals, but it really depends on your group. I can always share with my 8 year old and 2 year old, but my 14 year old really needs his own meal.



As far as the park hopper option, it depends on your plan. We used a planning service on our last trip and they were great. They planned out our itinerary and then told us which tickets to get. This was great because we didn't spend money on options or extra days that we didn't need. So, I would try to plan out and itinerary or have your planner do it for you, and then I would get the tickets that match that plan.

Also, my planner told me that you can always upgrade your tickets there if you want, but you can't downgrade. So, if you decide you want to hop, you can add it on down there.

Answer 11

We're a loved ones of four and our commute with lodge, tickets, meal plan, souvenirs, journey and the whole thing price round $five,000. BUT we additionally stayed for approximately two weeks. Most folks don't remain that lengthy, so your excursion might be inexpensive except you're staying at a extra high-priced lodge. We stayed at All Star Movies for the duration of "significance season" so we had the most cost effective premiums at one of the vital least expensive lodges. two) It's beautiful hard to select our favourite factor approximately Disney. Everything approximately Disney is fulfilling. If I needed to select, I could say that my favourite factor we did that week was once the "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party." If you're going for the duration of a season while there are targeted parties being held, this can be a ought to-do! But the whole thing approximately Disney is first-rate. We adored having a awesome meal at any time when we ate (we have been at the deluxe eating plan), and there was once some thing for every body at every park. Our favourite "grownup" rides have been Test Track (Epcot), Expedition Everest and Dinosaur (Animal Kingdom) and Rockin Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror (Disney Hollywood Studios). The nice night time exhibit in our opinion is "Fantasmic" at Disney Hollywood Studios. But even putting out on the lodge was once plenty of amusing. Everything approximately Disney is amusing!

Answer 12

Last time we went we got the park hopper. It was just my hubby and I and Epcot & MGM really didn't impress us too much so we were done there by noon & went to Magic Kingdom & then went back to Epcot on one night to see the night show & same with MGM. It all depends on your interest.



We also did the dining; I think it's well worth it. The plan we had (they've changed since we last went) we got a quick service meal, snack, and one dinner. If we were paying for our dinners we would have easily spent over $200 per night & around $30 per lunch. So I think it's worth it.

Answer 13

I wouldn't go with the hopper option. The parks are pretty large, and if you're staying for more than a few days you'll have plenty of time to spend in each park.



The meal deals are a good deal.

Answer 14

-personally i don't think the park hopper option is worth the extra $50 per person. it takes time out of your day to get from one park to another. a good 30 minutes at least to get out of one park, transport to another, and enter another park.

i like doing one park per day much much better. and pluse then you save $200 for other expenses.



-the quick service meal plan is a new meal plan and yes every meal plan is totally worth the money. a quick service meal will cost you $10 per person per meal. so 3 meals per day for 4 people will coast you $120 per day vs. $100 per day with the meal plan.

and NO 1 quick service meal is not enough to feed 2 people and havethem be satisfied.

you are better off getting the meal plan. you won't regret it.



have a great time!