The Disney Dining Plan can seem a little daunting at times especially to Disney World first timers so we thought we would share some Disney Dining Plan Tips. It’s really not that bad once you start to look into it and you can soon get a good understanding of the various plans on offer.
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Here are 15 Disney Dining Plan tips for those of you that are going to be using the Dining Plan on your Disney World Vacation.
1. Try to get the Disney Dining Plan for Free
At various times throughout the year the Dining Plan is offered for free as part of a Disney World Vacation package with moderate and deluxe Disney World resorts. There are restrictions on what time of they year you can visit to get the free Dining, but we have done this when booking our vacations in February and in November. If you can get it included in your package it is definitely worth considering. Look out for offers around springtime.
2. Don’t Worry About Going Hungry
Don’t worry about going hungry if you are on the dining plan. There are different plans as below but don’t worry it is highly unlikely that you will go hungry and have to buy extra meals and snacks to get you through a long day.
Quick Service Disney Dining Plan – with this being the lowest tier of the Dining Plan options at Disney World it includes for each person in your party:
- 2 quick service meals (per night of your stay)
- 2 snacks (per night of your stay)
- A refillable drinks mug for use on your resort.
Standard Disney Dining Plan – very much the standard option for the Dining Plan, this option gives a little bit of everything. This option includes for each person in your party:
- 1 quick service meal (per night of your stay)
- 1 table service meal (per night of your stay)
- 2 snacks (per night of your stay)
- A refillable drinks mug for use on your resort.
Deluxe Disney Dining Plan – the word deluxe is an obvious clue here, this option you will have to pay to upgrade to as it is not offered as a free part of a Disney World holiday package. If you are going to go for this one, I hope you have an appetite as it includes for each person in your party:
- 3 meals of your choice – quick service or table service (per night of your stay)
- 2 snacks (per night of your stay)
- A refillable drinks mug for use on your resort.
3. Resort Quick Service Drinks
When getting a quick service meal at your resort make sure you get a bottled drink with the meal. It is included as part of the meal and as you have a refillable resort mug you can use that to have a drink with your meal and save the bottled drink for later.
We usually get bottles of orange juice with our quick service meals when eating at our resort and then save the orange juice for when we get up the next morning.
4. Quick Service Credit = 3 Snack Credits
If you need to you can exchange a quick service credit at your resort for 3 snack credits. So, if you get towards the end of your vacation with some quick service credits spare you can turn them into snack credits either to use up during the remainder of your vacation or to get packaged snacks for the journey home.
5. Signature Dining is Never Good Value on the Disney Dining Plan
Signature Dining that requires the use of two table service credits on the Dining Plan is never good value. Do be aware of this if you are looking to get as much value out of the Dining Plan as possible. We have used Table Service Credits in the past for Cinderella’s Royal Table for special occasion’s like a family member’s Birthday and it worked out OK for us but do be aware especially if you are considering booking more than one Signature Dining Meal.
6. Use Snack Credits Wisely
Try to use your snack credits wisely during your Disney World vacation. Don’t use snack credits for items such as a bottle of water. Look at the value and size of a snack and do some research before hand as you can get some really good snacks such as the Giant Mickey Cookie for one snack credit.
7. Go Big in Starbucks!
If you are going to use a snack credit in any of the Starbucks located throughout Walt Disney World then one of our Disney Dining Plan Tips is to go as big as you can. Even if you must share a drink with someone else always get the largest drink you can as pretty much all drinks in Starbucks are a snack credit. So why go small when you can go large?
8. Epcot Festival Booths
If there is a festival being held at Epcot when you are on your vacation, then the Festival Booths can be such a great use of a snack credit. You can get some really good value out of a snack credit whilst enjoying various snacks that are on offer that you might not normally get to try.
9. The Dining Plan is Flexible – Use it How You Want To
Do remember that the Disney Dining Plan is very flexible. You can use your dining and snack credits however you want so if you have a day where you just use quick service credits that is absolutely fine. You can in theory use all your credits on the first day of you vacation but how you would achieve that I don’t know & that certainly wouldn’t be one of our Disney Dining Plan Tips.
10. Don’t Worry About Value All the Time
You are on vacation so don’t spend all the time worrying about getting the most value from the Disney Dining Plan. The biggest plus of the Dining Plan is that you have paid up front for the cost of your dining so if someone wants a particular snack or drink you can let loose a little especially if you have younger children.
11. Kids Under Three Can Eat for Free at Some Restaurants
Do be aware that kids under three can eat for free at some of the buffet style restaurants. If you have children that are under three then this is worth considering when you are booking your reservations at 180 days prior to your vacation.
12. Character Meals are Great Value on the Dining Plan
Character meals are very good value for Disney World dining options when on the Dining Plan. Most are buffet or family style dining so you can get a lot food for the overall price. Plus as you are meeting characters you can save some time from waiting to see them when you are in the parks.
You can find our Best Character Meals here.
13. Gratuity is Not Included with the Disney Dining Plan
Be aware that gratuity is not included on the dining plan other than at some Signature Dining Restaurants like Cinderella’s Royal Table. You will need budget for tips at Table Service Restaurants. As a rough guide you are looking at around $25 per meal for a family of four.
14. If You Love Steak You Will Get Good Value
If you enjoy some of the more expensive dining options, then you will get some very good value out of the Dining Plan. I love to eat snack and when I am at Disney World, I can eat it quite a bit as part of the Dining Plan. If you like simpler style meals, then the value might not be quite as good.
15. Kids can get adult quick service meals
Do remember that a Quick Service Dining Credit is exactly the same for kids and adults. If your kids want something that you might think is for adults don’t worry with Quick Service Credits anything goes whatever age you are (apart form alcoholic drinks of course).
I hope our Dining Plan Tips have been helpful. You can also find more of our Dining related articles below:
Where to Eat at Animal Kingdom
Where to Eat at Hollywood Studios
Best Disney World Character Meals
Thanks for reading this article, you can find our previous article here.
Darren
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