We have written quite a few articles about the Disney Dining Plan but what about doing Disney World without the Dining Plan? Well there certainly are some advantages to not using the Dining Plan during a Disney World Vacation so let’s take a look.
More on Disney Dining
- Disney Dining and Food Budget Calculator
- Is the Disney Dining Plan Worth It
- Free Disney Dining Plan
- Disney Dining Plan Tips
- What is Disney Dining Credit
1. You Won’t Be Tied To Your Table Service Locations
With the standard Disney Dining Plan (and the other tier above) you will be making advanced dining reservations for table service restaurants at 180 days out from your vacation. This ties you to being in certain locations at specific times during your Disney World vacation.
Doing Disney World without the Dining Plan means you don’t need to worry about being in specific locations to get to table service reservations meaning you can move around Disney World a lot more freely. We sometimes find that we are trying to change our reservations during our vacations because we want to re visit certain parks and without the dining plan we could just go where we want.
2. You Can Eat Off Property
Doing Disney World without the Dining Plan does mean that you can eat off property. The benefit of eating off Disney World property is that you will usually save a bit of money as in most cases eating on Disney property will be more expensive. If you eat main meals off property for at least a few days you will see quite the savings being made.
3. No Leftover Snacks at the End of the Vacation
One of the problems that most guests using the Dining Plan find is that come the end of their vacation they have a lot of leftover snack credits. Now you can use these for snacks that you can take home and perhaps even give to people as gifts but it does always seem like Disney have come out best (they usually do to be fair) and this certainly won’t be an issue if you don’t use the dining plan.
It can be a little bit stressful trying to use up all your snack credits on the last day of your vacation when you just want to make the most of your time left at Disney World.
4. You Can Pay for Character Dining
Want to experience some Character Dining at Disney World but don’t have the Dining Plan? Don’t worry you can still pay to do a Character Dining meal and some of the options aren’t too badly priced for Disney World either.
You can find all the current Character Dining options on the Disney World website here.
It’s also worth looking at our top Disney World Character Meals here.
5. It Allows You to Fully Focus on Your Dining Budget at Disney World
Not having the Disney dining plan means you can fully focus on your dining budget. You can plan where you want to eat and allow a daily budget by taking a look at all the dining options across Walt Disney World. You can balance out exactly how you want to dine when it comes to quick service, table service and dining off property.
Make sure you allow for snacks and drinks too.
You can find our Snacks to Try this year at Disney World here.
6. It Will Make FastPass Reservations Easier
As I mentioned in point 1 with the standard dining plan or above you will be booking table service reservations at 180 days out from your vacation. This means you will need to be close to your table service restaurants to be at your table for the correct time during your vacation. This limits your fastpass+ choices when it comes to making reservations.
Without the dining plan at Disney World you can make whichever lightning lane reservations you want to. You won’t be tied to being in specific locations at specific times to get to dining reservations.
7. Not Eating for the Sake of It
Being at Disney World without the Dining Plan means you won’t be eating for the sake of it, By that I mean you won’t be thinking about using table service, quick service or snack credits. It will be one less thing to think about and you can enjoy the parks.
With the Disney Dining Plan you do tend to find yourself what credits you have left, especially quick service and snack credits. We always tend to find ourselves being cautious at the beginning of a Disney World vacation and then trying to use all the credits up at the end of the vacation.
8. It Can Be Easier for Guests with Specific Dietary Requirements
Without the Dining Plan at Disney World it can be easier for guests with dietary requirements. You can plan your dining more specifically to your needs without the constraints of the dining plan. You won’t need to worry about using a certain amount of quick service/table service/snack credits and this will give you more flexibility to eat how and where you want to.
9. You Won’t Be Worrying About Getting the Best Value for Snack Credits
Without the dining plan at Disney World you will not have any concerns about getting the best value for your snack credits. Yes you will still be trying to get the best value for your food and drink budget but you won’t be feeling guilty for using a snack credit to get a bottle of coke or water.
This again is something that we tend to do during our Disney vacations as we are trying to get the most we can out of the Dining Plan.
10. It Can Be Easier for Families with Picky Eaters
If you have picky eaters in your family then it can be tricky picking a lot of Table Service restaurants. This is something we have experienced a little, especially when our son was little as he has always been a little picky and liked to eat very plain foods (he still does a bit but he has improved a lot).
We found ourselves avoiding some of the restaurants that we would like to try but didn’t think they would accommodate the kids tastes too well.
If you have picky eaters you might find it easier at Disney World without the dining plan as you may find your family using more quick service options than table service ones. It would also be an advantage as you can dine off property where you will save a bit of money as we mentioned earlier in the article.
11. Walmart is Great for Snacks and Drinks
This one can also be helpful if you have the dining plan but is also very helpful if you are not using it. A trip to Walmart is great to stock up on snacks and drinks.
This is especially the case when it comes to bottles of water or juice boxes to take to the parks. We also stock up on snacks for our resort room. These are great for first thing in the morning and in the evenings when you get back to your room.
If you don’t have a car then an Uber ride to Walmart doesn’t cost a great deal. This is what we did on our last trip as we don’t have a car at Disney World.
You can find our article on Disney World Without a Car Here.
12. You Can Take Food and Drink Into Disney World
Yes, You Can Take Food and Drinks into the Parks. There are certain rules which you will find in our article here. This makes enjoying Disney World without the dining plan a lot easier as you can take some snacks and drinks in your backpack to help see you through the day.
We also recommend taking refillable water bottles that clip to your backpack that you can refill at water fountains throughout the day.
13. Park Hopping is Easier
Without the dining plan park hopping at Disney World is a lot easier. As mentioned before having table service reservations booked means you need to be close to them for your reservation time. Without the dining plan you can park hop whenever you want. If a park is busy you will be free to park hop to another park.
14. You Can Eat When You Want
This really works with or without the Dining Plan to be honest. The main point though is that if you haven’t got a table service reservation to worry about you can eat at any time you want.
This is good because it pays to eat at quick service restaurants early or late. This is especially the case at lunch time where it can be busy from midday to at least 2pm. If you can eat lunch really early or wait until later in the afternoon you will save yourself some time that you can spend enjoying the parks.
You can find our Top 10 Quick Service Restaurants Here.
15. You Can Always Book a Table Service Restaurant When You Are There
As with character dining you can also still book a table service restaurant (or restaurants) that you really want to try. Admittedly it may be harder to get a reservation compared to being able to book at 180 days out with the dining plan but you can still try.
You can find our Top 10 Table Service Restaurants Here.
16. You Might Save Money Doing Disney World without the Dining Plan
As we have mentioned you can save money by not using the Disney dining plan. The combination of budgeting, taking snacks and drinks into the parks and dining off property means it is possible to save money compared to using the Dining Plan (especially if you are going to be paying for it).
17. Can You Really Get the Dining Plan for Free?
Disney World is always offering some sort of discounts be it free dining or room only discounts. You will find that at certain times of the year you won’t be able to book with free dining. For so called quieter times of the year you may be offered free dining. The system is set to offer better value discounts at quieter times of year. Although the dining plan is offered for free at certain times of the year this is just another discount against the overall cost of your vacation package.
Disney World Without the Dining Plan – Our Thoughts
For us as a family we have always preferred to use the Dining Plan during our Disney World vacations. We have always booked our vacations when the Dining Plan is being offered for free as part of our vacation package. We never take this decision lightly and each year we discuss perhaps doing Disney World without the Dining Plan for the reasons described above and there is a strong argument for both including the Dining Plan and doing Disney World without it.
For us choosing to have the Dining Plan has always been due to the benefit of getting it included in our package and having the majority of the cost of food covered before we even start our vacation. Having said that there are definitely advantages to doing Disney World without the Dining Plan.
You can find all of our Food and Dining Plan articles here.
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Thanks for stopping by.
Darren
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