Should I Get The Disney Dining Plan Or Not?

2/19/2019

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Planning a Disney World vacation is a big deal. You spend a lot of time, money, and effort to have an amazing trip, but does the Disney Dining Plan need to be a part of it? (read more)

I'm rather new to Disney vacations. My parents tell me they took my sister and I when we were little, but I don't remember it.

I do distinctly remember going with my mom when I was a teenager, probably 14 or so. She had a work trip in Orlando, so she pulled me out of school for a few days and brought me along.

She also bought me a 75 pound rubber snake from a kiosk near the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. She had to pay extra to get it on the plan back home.

That's not something I'm likely to EVER forget. It was the epitome of a cool parent thing to do.

That was the extent of Disney for me until just a few years ago when my husband I decided to take our kids on a Disney Cruise. Since then I have consistently either met up with friends, taken my family, or gone with just my mom or husband at least twice a year.

Still, I'd never really used the Disney Dining Plan until I booked a trip for my mom and I in 2017.

I say "never really" because I did have the Dining Plan when I took the family in 2015 (I think it was 2015), but I didn't pay a ton of attention to it. I know we used it all, there's that.

Now though, I know a whole lot more.

WHAT IS THE DISNEY DINING PLAN?

The Disney Dining Plan is a way for you to pay for your snacks and meals in advance of your trip. You pay on the front end so you don't have to think about the cost of the meals while you're in the parks having the best day of your life.

If you want a snack, you just go up to the counter, verify that your snack is on the Dining Plan, and tell the cashier you'd like to use a snack credit, easy.

They deduct the credit from your total, no money is exchanged, and you head off on your merry way.

For budgeting purposes, it's a great way to know what you're spending up front, without having to worry about extra costs you weren't planning on when you booked the trip.

LET'S DEFINE SOME TERMS

SNACK

We're going to talk about Snacks, Quick Service, and Table Service.

A Snack is exactly what it sounds like, a snack. You will see a little icon next to snacks that are included on the Disney Dining Plan.

A snack could be anything from a bottle of water to some of the tasty treats found at the Epcot kiosks. There's a wide variety to choose from.

For budgeting purposes, the average value of a snack credit in 2019 is $5.

The icon looks like this:

The cup in my mom's hand was a snack credit in Pandora, and it was amazing!

Soda for number one son, snack.

Soda, and a churro with chocolate dipping sauce, two snacks.

Sugary drink with sugar crusted straw, snack.

Some amazing stuff at the Epcot kiosks during The Festival of the Holidays are also snack credits.

QUICK SERVICE

Quick Service is a term used to denote a place you eat where you can sit down, but waiters are not dedicated to your table. You'll find these places all over the parks, and at your resort.

Think of it like McDonald's. You order, you wait, they call your name, you pick up your food, and then you can eat it there, on a bench, as you walk, or at your hotel room.

Each Quick Service meal comes with an entree and a drink. If you're 21 or over, it can be an alcoholic drink as long as you're in a park that serves alcohol.

Examples of non alcoholic drinks would be:

Artisanal Milkshakes
Fresh Smoothies
Premium Hot Chocolate
Soda, Coffee or Tea

Examples of alcoholic drinks would be:

Beer or Cider
Wine or Sangria
Mixed Drinks and Specialty Cocktails

The approximate value of a Quick Service credit is $18.

TABLE SERVICE

Table Service is exactly what it sounds like. You eat at a traditional restaurant, you have a dedicated waiter, meals are typically more expensive, the location is nicely themed. It's just like having dinner at a nice restaurant at home, only better, cause it's Disney.

Table Service inclusions are broken up into Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

Breakfast Includes:

1 Entrée
1 Nonalcoholic Beverage (or Alcoholic Beverage, for Guests 21 and older)

1 Full Buffet** or Family-Style Meal

Lunch and Dinner Include:

1 Entrée
1 Dessert
Nonalcoholic Beverage (or Alcoholic Beverage, for Guests 21 and older)

1 Full Buffet** or Family-Style Meal

The approximate value of a Table Service credit is $41.

HOW MUCH IS
THE DISNEY DINING PLAN?

One of the great things about the Disney Dining Plan is that they offer more than one option, so you can choose the tier you feel fits your needs best.

Let's start at the least expensive option and go up from there.

QUICK SERVICE PLAN

The Quick Service Plan gives you two Quick Service meals, two Snacks, and one Rapid Fill mug per person, per night of your stay.

This means that after you check in on day one, you can use your credits at any time.

If you stay five nights, and you have the Quick Service plan, you'll get 10 Quick Service credits and 10 Snack Credits per person, per day. You can use them however you want. If you want to use three Quick Service meals in one day, you can. If you want to use just snacks one day, you can.

It's completely customizable.

You also get a refillable mug which you can use at any of the soda stations in your resort for the duration of your stay. This is great if you drink a lot of soda or have kids who get to splurge on vacation.

You cannot use the refillable mugs in the parks, they are only for your resort, but you can fill them up before heading to the park, and again after a break, etc.

Cost:
$21.74 per night for children ages 3-9
$52.50 per night for ages 10+

DINING PLAN

The next tier of Dining Plan is simply called the Dining Plan.

With this plan you get one Table Service credit, one Quick Service credit, and one Snack Credit per person, per night of your stay.

You also get the Rapid Fill mug.

It's important to note that when it comes to Table Service credits, since you do pay less per night for children ages 3-9, those children MUST order from a children's menu if there is one available.

Cost:
$25.75 per night (Children ages 3-9)
$75.49 per night (Ages 10 +)

DELUXE DINING PLAN

This is the dining plan I have experience with, so once I'm done explaining what it entails, I'll tell you about our trip with it.

With the Deluxe Dining Plan, you get three meals and two snacks per day. You also get the mug.

That means you can eat at three table service restaurants if you like, one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner.

The only way to get your money's worth on this plan is to be sure you're eating three table service meals each day.

Table service for breakfast is the same as on the Dining Plan, but it differs at lunch and dinner.

Lunch and Dinner include:

1 Appetizer
1 Entrée
1 Dessert
1 Non-alcoholic Beverage (or Alcoholic Beverage, for Guests 21 and older)

So, in addition to the entree, drink, and dessert, you also get an appetizer. It's a LOT of food.

Cost:
$39.99 per night (Ages 3-9)
$116.25 per night (Ages 10+)

MEALS THAT TAKE
TWO TABLE SERVICE CREDITS

Before we go further, I want to make sure you understand that there are exceptions to the rules. Certain restaurants will cost you two table service credits. So if you have the Dining Plan and want to eat at one of these restaurants using credits, you'll have to use two per person instead of one per person.

This is rarely worth it, in my opinion. A good option would be to use your table service credit for something else and simply pay for the two credit restaurant out of pocket instead.

If you insist on using your credits for a two credit restaurant, make sure whatever you order costs more than $82 per person.

Restaurants that require two credits are:

Be Our Guest (Magic Kingdom, 2 credits at dinner only)
Le Cellier (Epcot)
The Hollywood Brown Derby (Hollywood Studios)
Tiffins Restaurant (Animal Kingdom)
The BOATHOUSE (Disney Springs)
California Grill (Disney's Contemporary Resort)
Cinderella's Royal Table (Magic Kingdom)
Citricos (Disney's Grand Floridian Resort)
Flying Fish (Disney's Boardwalk)
Jiko - The Cooking Place (Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge)
Monsieur Paul (Epcot)
Morimoto Asia (Disney Springs, 2 credits at dinner only)
Narcoossee's (Disney's Grand Floridian)
Paddlefish (Disney Springs)
STK Orlando (Disney Springs)
Yachtsman Steakhouse (Yacht Club)
Hoop-De-Doo Review
Spirit Of Aloha

Gratuity is never included unless otherwise noted, so you will need to leave a tip for your Table Service meal.

Be Our Guest - two credits.

Cinderella's Royal Table - two credits. My mom's face. She had just told Aurora a joke about squeezing pixies to get all the glitter on her Mickey ears.

No pixies were harmed in the making of this picture.

IS THE DISNEY DINING PLAN
WORTH THE COST?

When Mom and I went to Disney in 2017, it was the first time we'd gone together and I was so excited to plan it all out.

I sat down and planned out every place we'd eat, cross referencing it with which park we'd be in, our Fast Passes, etc.

It was a whole deal, there was a spreadsheet.

When I realized how many Table Service restaurants we were planning on eating at, I thought I should go ahead and get the Deluxe Dining Package. Yes, it was a lot of money, but in my head we'd be spending that one way or another, right?

Wrong.

Yes, we did eat at a lot of those restaurants, but that's not to say we were hungry enough to eat the things that REALLY made the Deluxe Dining Plan worth the money.

If you aren't eating steak or seafood, you're wasting money. If you're not hungry enough to have the appetizer, entree, and dessert, you're wasting money.

We wasted so much money that trip. I swore I'd never do the Deluxe Dining Plan again.

They were nice enough to let me cash in the unused portions of my plan on our last day because there were so many times where we just ended up going, "Forget it, I can't eat that much, we're cancelling the reservation."

I was allowed to get snacks in exchange for some of my credits. We went to our resort shop, grabbed a grocery basket and picked out, I'm not kidding, TWENTY FOUR snacks to bring home to the kids.

TWENTY FOUR!

Most expensive Disney snacks I've ever bought, in.my.life.

So, unless you're a BIG eater and you plan on eating the expensive food, the Deluxe Dining Plan is not for you.

Actually, after the first day of eating such rich food, I found that I had a stomach ache since I just wasn't used to binging on beef, lobster, and the like.

Take into account not only how much you normally eat, but what you eat, because trying to change it so you can make the most of the Deluxe Dining Plan might be more of a challenge than you think.

Not only that, but if you're trying to use three Table Service credits per day, you're going to be spending a lot of time sitting down at a table. That's time you can't spend riding rides, exploring the park, eating snacks you just happen to stumble upon, etc.

NO DISNEY DINING PLAN

I've been back to Disney a few times since then, but I've never used a Disney Dining Plan.

That's not to say I wouldn't use a plan, I would just pick something more suitable to my every day life, like the regular Dining Plan or the Quick Service plan.

It is nice to know that you've paid for your meals in advance, or at least that you've paid for part of your meals in advance.

There's something to be said for spontaneity in the parks, though. If you see a kiosk with a yummy snack, you can get it. If you decide you want to go to Chef's and JUST have the lobster bisque, you can.

SHOULD I GET
THE DISNEY DINING PLAN?

REASONS TO GO FOR IT

PREPAID = NO STRESS

If you know your family is going to eat two quick service meals and two snacks per day, and you pay for it in advance, you're done! When you get to the parks, it's all taken care of.

This is a big deal for a lot of people. There's a reason we love all inclusive resorts.

The dining plan makes it so you know your total on the front end.

KNOWING YOUR SCHEDULE IN ADVANCE

If you're a planner, the Disney Dining Plan lends itself to fitting into your schedule. You plan your day, your rides, and your meals. You don't have to discuss where you're eating because it's already set up. All you do is show up and sit down.

Alternately, you can order food from so many Quick Service restaurants via the app that it's simple to place an order, pick it up, and know that it's just being deducted from your already paid for credits.

CHARACTER DINING

With the exception of the character dining that costs you two Table Service credits, you could actually save money using a single Table Service credit to get some character dining in.

Remember, a Table Service credit is worth about $41 in 2019, so just compare that to the out of pocket cost of any character dining you want to do.

REASONS TO SKIP
THE DISNEY DINING PLAN

YOU DON'T WANT TO COMMIT
or
YOU'RE NOT SURE YOU'LL USE THE CREDITS

If planning your Fast Passes was enough planning for you, you may not want to commit to any sort of meal plan. Yes, you can just do Quick Service, but you can also do that without a meal plan.

Also, there are "best" ways to spend your credits so that you actually save money. If you're not into figuring that out, cash is way less stressful.

If you go to Disney on a fairly regular basis, there just may not be restaurants you absolutely want to eat at while you're there. You'd rather go with the flow, move where the crowds take you, and, if the mood strikes, head back to the hotel and take a nap.

Not having a meal plan (or at least not having a meal plan that involves Table Service) means you can be as spontaneous as you like.

I remember the year we brought the kids; we had reservations at Be Our Guest, but the kids were so tired by dinner that we just wanted to go back to the hotel.

In that moment, I was very glad we didn't have the big dining plan, cause it was our last day and we would have had to trade them in for snacks.

Like I had to do in 2017.

TWENTY FOUR SNACKS!

And, it's not a given that they'll let you trade in for snacks, as far as I know. It's one of those things they do, but are not required to do.

But you know Disney, they're going to make you happy. :)

WHICH DISNEY DINING PLAN
SHOULD I GET?

With three options to choose from, you can pick the one that suits you and your family the best. And, since all of your credits are applied that first day, you have the flexibility of using them however you like.

Just remember that the average value of a Snack credit is $5, a Quick Service credit is $18, and a Table Service credit is $41.

As long as you are choosing restaurants, snacks, and foods that are more expensive than those numbers, you'll come out ahead.

DISNEY DINING PLAN ALTERNATIVES

DISNEY GIFT CARDS

You know you're going to eat at Disney, but you're not really sure where, and the Dining Plan isn't your cup of tea, so what do you do?

How about grabbing a $25 gift card each time you go to the grocery store up until your trip comes?

Stash the cards someplace safe, then bring them along when you head to Disney World.

QAPITAL

I haven't used the Qapital app, but I have heard good things about it. Load it up on your phone, set your vacation savings goals, and watch that money rise until you've hit the goal you set.

It's a great way to save, and satisfying to see that little green line move in the right direction.

ROUND DOWN - ROUND UP

This is absolutely something I'd do, and something I still do (to this day). I always round down my deposits and round up my expenses (to the nearest dollar).

You could go further than that. Round up a whole dollar or down a whole dollar when you deposit or spend. Track it someplace other than your register so you don't feel like you "have" that money to spend.

It's a low tech Qapital. :)

HAVE YOU DECIDED?

I hope this post has helped you understand the Disney Dining Plan a little better.

If you've already got your vacation planned, be sure to check out my reviews of having a personal VIP Disney Tour Guide, doing The Ultimate Day Of Thrills VIP Tour, doing the Ultimate Nights Of Adventure VIP Tour, and weighing the pros and cons of Booking Through A Travel Agent VS Renting Points From DVC.

And, don't forget to check out Walt Life. I love their SURPRISE box. What a fun way to let the family know, "We're going to Disney!"

Whatever you do, have a great time!
Ty

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