As you plan your Walt Disney World vacation you might be wondering: Is The Disney Dining Plan Worth It?
The answer is….sometimes!
It’s really going to depend on what you typically spend on a meal and whether you are wanting specialty character meals or table service meals.
And of course, it really depends on what makes sense for your family and your budget.
So….let’s talk all things Disney Dining Plan!
Dining Plan Choices
There are 2 options for the Disney Dining Plan.
The Standard Disney Dining Plan is more expensive, but it includes:
- 1 Quick-Service meal (fast food)
- 1 Table-Service meal (sit down restaurant)
- 1 drink per meal (either 1 non-alcoholic beverage or 1 alcoholic beverage)
- 1 snack
- 1 Refillable Resort mug
The Quick Service Dining Plan is less expensive and it includes:
- 2 Quick-Service meals
- 1 drink per meal (either non-alcoholic or alcoholic)
- 1 snack
- 1 Refillable mug for the Resort
How does the Disney Dining Plan Work?
When you purchase a Disney Dining plan, your meal and snack credits are loaded onto your Disney MagicBand or Card.
To make a purchase, you can scan your card or band at the checkout. You don’t have to use a certain number of credits per day, as your unused meals and snacks will roll over day to day.
Your receipt will show how many meal credits and snack credits are remaining on your balance.
The Disney Dining Plan Meals and Snacks can be used any time during your stay, starting with the day your check in and they need to be redeemed before midnight on your checkout date.
Keep in mind that the Disney World Dining Plan must be purchased for every night of your stay. You can’t buy it for just a few days of your trip…it’s an all or nothing type of package.
Is the Disney Dining Plan a Good Idea?
There’s a few reasons why you might decide to add the Disney Dining Plan to your vacation package.
One is that it is super convenient. You won’t have to carry a lot of cash into the parks as you can pay with your MagicBand or card.
Another reason is that you can go into your vacation knowing that your food is already paid for, which helps with keeping everyone in your party on budget.
The main reason you might decide to do the Disney Dining plan is that it is often offered as an incentive. The free dining promotion can be a great value if it is offered in conjunction with a room discount or Disney Resort Hotel Package.
My family was able to use Disney’s Dining Plan on our last trip and it was a great way for us to try some of the more expensive table service restaurants including Cinderella’s Royal Table that we might have not otherwise done with out of pocket costs.
Who Does the Disney Dining Plan Not Benefit?
If you are staying off-site, you cannot buy the Disney Meal Plan.
You won’t really save a lot of money by buying the quick service meal credits. Often you’ll find better value for your money by just buying what you want directly in the parks.
If you don’t drink alcohol or wouldn’t normally buy dessert, there isn’t a lot of savings on a sit-down meal.
Kids under the age of 3 are not eligible for the dining plan, but Disney welcomes little ones to share from an adult plate at no charge, or you are welcome to buy a separate meal out of pocket.
If you aren’t able to get the free dining plan when you book your Walt Disney World Resort, it probably isn’t worth purchasing unless you can visibly see the savings. You can check out menus online and on the My Disney Experience App to figure out if it’s worth it for your family.
Which Restaurants Require 2 Dining Credits?
There’s a few restaurants that are super special, so they require 2 dining credits instead of just 1.
- Cinderella’s Royal Table at Magic Kingdom Park
- Be Our Guest Restaurant at Magic Kingdom Park
- Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at EPCOT
- Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- Story Book Dining at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
These restaurants offer fun experiences in addition to the meal, so in general you’ll be very happy to use 2 of your sit down meal credits for these special experiences.
Which Restaurants Accept the Disney Dining Plan?
Most Disney restaurants are going to accept the Disney Dining Plan, but there are some exceptions to be aware of.
Some restaurants are NOT Disney owned. You’ll find a lot of these at Epcot and Disney Springs.
Curious if the restaurant you are planning to try accepts the Disney Dining Plan? Check out the full list of restaurants that accept the dining plan here.
What can I use Snack Credits on?
Snack credits can be used on TONS of items.
You can redeem snack credits at most of the snack carts around the theme parks.
Some fun snack ideas include ice cream bars, frozen lemonade, Dole Whip, popcorn, ice cream, fresh fruit and soft drinks.
You can also find more items that qualify as a snack credit by looking for the purple snack credit symbol on menu signs.
The key to getting your money’s worth is to not use them on cheap items. I recommend using your snack credits on items that are more expensive – usually $6 or more is the rule of thumb.
To learn more about Disney Dining Snacks, read our full article here.
Can I Mobile Order with the Dining Plan?
Yes! Absolutely! I always recommend Mobile Ordering your quick service meals.
It’s one of the best ways to save time at counter service restaurants.
The My Disney Experience App will ask you if you want to use your dining credits for the purchase.
You can also opt to pay out of pocket for certain items if it seems like the better option.
How We Used Our Disney Dining Credits
Just for fun I though I would run through how our family of 6 used our free Disney Dining Plan on our last trip so you can understand how the credits work.
We checked in to the Art of Animation and if we wanted to, we were able to use our dining plan at Landscape of Flavors that night. We all had chicken strips or burgers with fries, but we did pay for this meal out of pocket as we knew we would need at least 4 quick service credits for our days in the parks and we assumed prices in the parks would be higher than at the hotel (which was correct!)
We ate cereal we had purchased at Target in our hotel room each morning for breakfast.
The first day, we headed to Epcot. For lunch, we each used a table service meal credit at Coral Reef Restaurant which included a nice meal, dessert and soft drink. I enjoyed the mahi mahi and chocolate mousse.
We had supper at The Regal Eagle, we enjoyed smoked Brisket and fries with a soda. We only used one snack credit this day, which was to try some Maple Popcorn in the Canada section.
The next day we headed to Hollywood Studios. My daughter who wasn’t digging Smuggler’s Run and I had a little blue popcorn and a soft drink using snack credits in the morning at Galaxy’s Edge. We used quick service credits at Backlot Express for chicken nuggets and fries for lunch.
We used snack credits to cool off with frozen lemonades in the afternoon. Then, that evening we went to Round Up Rodeo BBQ which is a fixed price per person. Using the dining plan for this was a great move as it’s a little pricey.
Our 3rd day in the parks we went to Magic Kingdom. We had burgers and fries for lunch at Cosmic Ray’s with our quick service credits. Then we went to Cinderella’s Royal Table for the first time for an early dinner.
Cinderella’s Royal table uses 2 table service credits, but it was well worth it. It was an experience our kids will never forget and I felt like using our Disney dining plan to go here gave us the most value from it.
This restaurant is very expensive with it’s fixed menu pricing, but it was a great way to use our dining plan to the maximum. On our way out of the parks, we each got a Dole Whip with our snack credits.
On our 4th day, we headed to Animal Kingdom. We had lunch at Satu’li Canteen – they have delicious bowls that are a must-do for us!
Some of my kids opted for the Quesadilla – after this meal we were done with our dining meal credits. We did a have a few snack credits left, so we bought sodas to cool off in the afternoon.
So as you can see, we stayed 4 nights at Art of Animation before moving off-site to go to Universal Studios. We received 4 table service credits, 4 quick service credits, and 4 snack credits per person.
We were able to use them throughout our stay. We felt like we got a good value since we were able to take advantage of a free dining plan promotion.
More Disney Vacation Tips
Want to learn more about Disney?
Here’s Why you Should go to Disney World this year – just in case you need convincing or need to convince someone!
Can you reuse Magic Bands? Here’s the ultimate guide on how they work and how long they last.
Some characters are a little harder to find. Here’s Where to Meet the Mandalorian and Grogu.
Planning a visit to Animal Kingdom? Here’s the Best Animal Kingdom Tips and Strategy.
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