It’s no secret that there are hundreds of places to eat around Disney World. When planning your trip, you may elect to purchase one of Disney’s Dining Plans. The biggest advantage of purchasing a Disney Dining Plan is that you don’t have to worry about paying out of pocket for meals and snacks during your vacation. It’s as easy as scanning your MagicBand or Key to the World card. Then, you’ll be on your way to enjoying delicious food.
We recently covered an early access Special Offer available to Disney Visa Cardmembers. This deal allows cardmembers who purchase a non-discounted 4-night, 4-day or longer Walt Disney Travel Company package including a room at select Disney Resorts Collection Hotels and theme park tickets with Park Hopper option to receive a free Disney Dining Plan. Today is the last day for cardmember early access, so we thought it would be a good idea to remind you of what you get when you use a Disney Dining Plan, in case you’re still on the fence.
Disney currently offers two distinct Disney Dining Plan options. Both provide the convenience of prepaid meals and snacks during your vacation. Disney touts the flexibility of redeeming your credits at any point during your stay. These dining credits become available on your day of check-in, and unused credits will rollover each day (any remaining credits will expire at midnight on day of checkout). Depending on which plan you choose, you can select from a variety of restaurants and quick service locations at Disney Resort Hotels, theme parks, and participating Disney Springs locations.
Guests who purchase a dining plan will receive a predetermined number of prepaid meals and snacks. This number will depend on the number of nights of your Disney Resort stay. Now, let’s go over the specifics of each Disney Dining Plan, so you can choose the option that’s right for your trip.
The Disney Dining Plan
The Disney Dining Plan is the one to choose if you’re interested in table service dining or character meals during your stay. This plan allows you to enjoy prepaid dining at over 200 locations around Disney property. Everyone in your party (age 3 and older) will receive the following entitlements on the Disney Dining Plan:
- 1 Quick-Service Meal (per night of stay)
- Quick-Service Meals redeemed at breakfast, lunch, or dinner include one entreé and one non-alcoholic beverage (or alcoholic beverage for guests over 21)
- 1 Table-Service Meal (per night of stay)
- Meals redeemed at breakfast will include one entreé and one non-alcoholic beverage (or alcoholic beverage for guests over 21) OR one Buffet/Family-Style meal and one non-alcoholic beverage (or alcoholic beverage for guests over 21)
- Meals redeemed at brunch, lunch, or dinner will include one entreé, one dessert, and one non-alcoholic beverage (or alcoholic beverage for guests over 21) OR one Buffet/Family-Style meal and one non-alcoholic beverage (or alcoholic beverage for guests over 21)
- 1 Snack/Non-Alcoholic Drink (per night of stay)
- 1 Resort-Refillable Drink Mug
Special Considerations for Signature Dining and Character Meals
You can also redeem your meal credits from the Disney Dining Plan for experiences like Signature Table-Service Dining and Character Meals. Keep in mind that some of these experiences will count as two Table-Service credits. You can check the particulars of the Disney Dining Plan at each restaurant by visiting the restaurant’s page on Disney’s website. There is a section titled “View Dining Plans and Discounts”. If you click there, you will get a pop-up that allows you to select “Dining Plans”. You can then view the number of credits required to use your plan at that establishment.
The Disney Quick Service Dining Plan
Your other dining plan option is the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan. This plan allows you to eat at over 100 Quick Service locations around Disney World. If you select the Quick Service Dining Plan, everyone in your party (age 3 and older) will receive the following:
- 2 Quick-Service Meals (per night of stay)
- Quick Service Meals redeemed at breakfast, lunch, or dinner include one entreé and one non-alcoholic beverage (or one alcoholic beverage for guests over 21)
- 1 Snack/Non-Alcoholic Drink (per night of stay)
- 1 Resort-Refillable Drink Mug
Types of Beverages Included
On the dining plans, each meal includes your choice of beverage. Those under 21 may choose from a variety of non-alcoholic options (including specialty beverages where available):
- Soda, Coffee, or Tea
- Milkshakes
- Fresh Smoothies
- Premium Hot Chocolate
Guests over 21 can choose to substitute one non-alcoholic option with one alcoholic beverage (where available) including:
- Beer or Cider
- Wine or Sangria
- Mixed Drinks and Speciality Cocktails beer, wine, or cocktail (where available)
What Qualifies As A Snack?
On both Dining Plans, “snacks” are single-serving items available at Quick-Service locations, most outdoor carts, and select merchandise locations. Examples of snacks eligible for the dining plans include:
- Frozen ice cream novelty, popsicle, or fruit bar
- 2 scoops of hand-scooped ice cream
- single-serving box of popcorn
- piece of whole fruit
- single-serve bag of snacks (ex: chips)
- 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola® products, including Dasani® bottled water
- 20-ounce fountain soft drink
- single-serve coffee, hot chocolate, hot tea, milk, or juice
- cup of soup
- add on toppings or sauces (ex: side of cheese dipping sauce)
Many items at EPCOT festivals will also qualify as a snack under the Disney Dining Plans. Look for the DDP logo next to menu items to see which ones are eligible!
Important Things To Keep In Mind About Both Plans
- Dining Plans must be purchased for the entire length of your stay and for everyone on your reservation.
- Credits assigned for all guests on your reservation are pooled together. You can share these credits among members of your reservation group. This can be good and bad. It’s good because it allows for that flexibility we mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, it can also lead to miscommunication if a member of your group doesn’t realize they are sharing entitlements. We’ve heard of situations in which one member of a reservation inadvertently used up everyone else’s snack credits. It’s important that everyone be on the same page when it comes to how many credits there are, and how many of them each person is allocated.
- Credits are non-transferrable. Unfortunately, this means you cannot use your credits toward a meal/snack for anyone not listed on your reservation. You can still dine with other guests, but you will need to split the check and pay separately.
- Gratuity is not included in either Dining Plan. If you’re dining somewhere where you would ordinarily tip, remember to still tip your server!
- You can use your credits whenever you want beginning day of check-in through 11:59pm on day of checkout. Just remember that if you go wild and blow through all of your credits on day one, you’ll be paying out of pocket for the rest of your stay…
- Resort-Refillable Mugs can be used for unlimited refills at any Disney Resort Collection Hotel Quick-Service self-service drink station for the length of your stay. The MouseHouseNews.net team especially loves using our mugs at locations offering Coca-Cola® Freestyle and Joffrey’s Hot Chocolate!
To Buy Or Not To Buy
So, now that you know more about what’s included with each plan, you may want to do some math to see if either of these dining plans are right for your next vacation. As we mentioned earlier, today is the last day for Disney Visa Cardmembers to get early access to the newest free dining plan offer. While it’s not guaranteed, we expect that Disney will likely release a Free Dining Plan Special Offer for the general public next (due to this offer being designated as “early access”).
If you’d like to assistance in planning your next Walt Disney World trip (and adding one of the Disney Dining Plans to your vacation package), click below to get a Disney Vacation Quote from Travel Specialist (and MouseHouseNews.net team member), Marcus. He’ll take excellent care of you!
Stay tuned to MouseHouseNews.net and the MouseHouseNewsNet YouTube Channel for more Disney news, reviews, and tips for planning your next magical trip. We’ll see you real soon!
