While dining at the many restaurants at Walt Disney World can be a lot of fun, it can also become expensive if you’re not careful. However, you can save some money on meals and snacks with a little bit of pre-planning and by taking things with you to the Disney parks each day. In addition, having cereal, granola bars, yogurt and juice in the room can give you a jump-start in the morning, and can save both money and time! Read more
Dining at Disney is one of my favorite parts of each trip (for that matter, it’s one of the favorite parts of my existence). Still I, like everyone, want to know that I am making the most of my Disney dining dollars…because who doesn’t like to save money? With that in mind then, here are a few tips to get you started:
We’ve done some snacking in Magic Kingdom and in Epcot’s World Showcase so far, now let’s turn to Future World. My family loves to eat, some of our best Disney memories are around a Disney dining table, or sitting down with a snack and watching people have a magical vacation. Snacks can add up in Walt Disney World so we try to pick the most frugal of snacks while in the parks. Read more
This is my next installment in this Eat This, Not That series, and I’ve found lots of great ways to save money on dining, but I was super surprised by just how much you can save in Animal Kingdom!! Read more
Without a doubt, questions about the Disney Dining Plan
s seem to come up more frequently than any other question about meal planning at Disney World. It seems that Disney, in their efforts to provide flexibility and choices to their guests….has also provided a good deal of confusion. So I am going to take the next few weeks to discuss different aspects of the Disney Dining Plans, in the hopes of making things a bit clearer. 🙂
Actually, the Disney Dining Plan is several different plans that allow you to pre-pay for most if not all of your food. In doing this, you (and everyone in your room) receive “credits” for a various number of table service meals, quick service meals, and/or snacks, depending on the Plan that you choose. Done with the eating habits of your family in mind, choosing to use a Dining Plan *can* save you a good amount of money on your meals.
You basically have two options for buying a Dining Plan:
So in other words, you have to stay at a Disney owned/operated hotel. (And this is one very important reason why, when trying to make your Disney vacation as affordable as possible, you don’t immediately assume that staying off property will be cheaper. When you factor in the potential savings that you may get with one of the Dining Plans, it often *is* cheaper to stay with Disney.)
As already mentioned, depending on which Plan you choose, you and each person in your party will receive varying numbers of credits towards table service and counter service meals, and snacks. What exactly you get for each credit can vary somewhat, but roughly, with table service meals you get an entrée, dessert, and non-alcoholic drink. With counter service, it’s an entrée, dessert, and non-alcoholic drink. Snack credits can be used on hundreds of different types of items throughout property, and are identified on menus by the DDP snack symbol.
You can also usually use table service Dining Plan credits at buffets, signature dining (2 credits/person in most cases), as well as dining shows, and dinner packages.
So, once you get to Disney World and are ready to start eating, the process is very simple and works very smoothly. Your party’s total credits for each type are noted in your account: when you get ready to pay for your meal, the number of credits used are deducted from your account by swiping your Key to the World Card, and you get a receipt noting how many of each type of credit you have remaining.
So other than gratuity for table service meals (and any additional items you may order that are not included in your plan), you pay nothing, as it’s all pre-paid.
There are a number of Dining Plans available for a wide range of costs as well, so no matter your budget and/or your eating preferences, you are likely to find a plan that works well for your family. Briefly, the most popular choices are:
I will go into detail on each of these plans including costs in the next few weeks.
One of the major complaints about the Dining Plans is that it is a LOT of food. For this reason, it’s really important to think about the eating habits of your family, to determine if any of the plans are a good fit for you. Buying a Dining Plan and then throwing out half the food because you can’t eat it all is not a good value.
Likewise, you will want to consider how you eat and if your habits actually match the credits that Disney dining has allotted to each person each day: while many people love the convenience of having it already paid for, if you find that you are constantly buying additional food beyond what is on your plan, then again, it’s not really going to be a savings for you.
Finally, keep in mind that when you purchase a Dining Plan, everyone in the room must have the same package/ticket options. You cannot purchase a Dining Plan for children under the age of 3, but kids under 3 can eat from an adult meal, or you can pay out of pocket for them if you wish. Likewise, children ages 3-9 will be on the kids Dining Plan and must order from the children’s menu where available.
So there you have your first Disney Dining Plan lesson. 🙂 Next week, we’ll start discussing the individual types of plans available, to help you decide which, if any, is right for you!