All About The Disney Dining Plan
Disney Travel || Tags: Disney, Disney Food ||The Disney Dining Plan is currently on hold, but is now booking for 2024!
If you’re planning a trip to Disney World (and staying on property) then you’ll be faced with the question “Do you want the Disney dining plan”? There are so many pros and cons, and I’m going to break them down for you so you can make the best decision for your trip!
Pin it for later:
What is the Disney Dining Plan?
Essentially the dining plan allows you to pre pay for your meals so that you don’t have to worry about it while you are on your trip. Entitlements are calculated by the number of nights you stay. Plans do not include gratuity so you’ll have to keep that in mind (gratuity not required at quick-service locations).
Related: Planning A Disney Vacation Step by Step
Commonly used terms:
Quick-Service is similar to a fast food restaurant. You order at a counter and find a place to sit. A quick-service meal includes an entrée and a beverage (21+ can get an alcoholic beverage with their meal).
Quick Service Meal at All Star Sports
Table-Service is a meal at a sit down restaurant. A table-service meal includes entrée and beverage (at breakfast), a full buffet, or an entrée, dessert and beverage (at lunch or dinner). 21+ can get a alcoholic beverage with their meal.
Table Service meal at Sanaa
A Snack is defined as a single serving item such as an ice-cream bar, popcorn scoop, piece of fruit, yogurt cup, etc. There are SO MANY snacks. You’ll know it’s a snack by a purple square with DP on it, beside the item on the menu.
Want to drool looking at the BEST snacks at Disney World? Check this out!
Snack from Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe at Norway in EPCOT
Types Of Disney Dining Plans (Updated for 2024)
Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan – Each person gets 2 quick-service meals and 1 snack per night you stay. Price in 2024 is $57.01 for adults (10+) and $29.69 for children (age 3-9) per each night of stay.
Disney Dining Plan – The most popular plan includes 1 quick-service meal, 1 table-service meal and 1 snack per person, each night you stay. Price in 2024 is $94.28 for adults (10+) and $29.69 for children (age 3-9) per each night of stay.
Each plan includes a refillable mug to use at your resort for hot or cold non-alcoholic beverages.
Note: Children under 3 are not on the plan. You would have to pay out of pocket for them or let them eat off another person’s plate.
Related: Eating At Disney With Food Allergies
Who Can Get The Disney Dining Plan?
You have to be staying at a Disney owned hotel in order to get the Disney Dining Plan. This does not include Shades of Green and The Swan & Dolphin Hotel. You can add the dining plan to your Disney Vacation Club (DVC) reservation as well. Normally you get the dining plan when you book a Magic Your Way Package with a hotel stay and tickets. If you are an annual pass holder or a DVC member you may book a modified package through Disney.
You cannot add a Disney Dining Plan after you arrive, you must add it before you go! All guests staying in the same room must get the same dining package.
But is it WORTH it?
Well, it depends. Here are my pros and cons of the dining plan!
Pros
- May save you money – depends on where you eat and what you order.
- Meals are paid for in advance – you still have to pay gratuity at table service restaurants but unless you order things that are not on the meal plan, you don’t have to worry about paying after eating.
- You don’t feel bad about ordering expensive items – this is a big one for me. If I’m stuck between a few items I’ll usually go for the cheaper one at home, but at Disney on the dining plan it doesn’t matter!
- May get you to try new things – We ate at restaurants we might not have picked and tried new food!
- You can use snack credits at Epcot Food and Wine Festival
Cons
- Not usable at all restaurants on property – some restaurants are not included on the plan.
- May force you to eat more than you normally would – at table-service restaurants you each get a dessert on the Disney Dining Plan, this isn’t something I would normally order, or usually we might split something.
- May cost you more money than if you paid out of pocket and ate less – If you normally eat smaller meals without dessert or snacks the plan might cost you more money.
- 10 year old + are “adults” on the plan – A lot of 10 year olds might want to order off the kids menu, which isn’t as good of a value on the dining plan.
Using Your Dining Plan
Before you arrive at Disney you’ll want to make dining reservations for table service restaurants 60 days in advance. Table service restaurants can be busy, and it can be very hard or impossible to get a table if you walk in at dinner time!
Once you arrive, you will tell the cast member at the restaurant that you are using the Disney Dining Plan, they will scan your Magic Band and you will put in your pin number. You can check the remaining credits on your receipt, or on the My Disney Experience app.
Credits are pooled together and not divided by person, so if you have 2 people in a room for 7 nights on the Disney Dining Plan you will have 14 table service restaurant credits, 14 quick service restaurant credits, and 14 snack credits. You can use them in any order you wish, for example you can use 2 table service credits in 1 day and the next day only use quick service and snack credits.
Bottom Line
As you can see it depends on your family and eating habits! I would recommend checking out the menus on the Disney site and seeing where you would eat and what you might order, giving you an idea of what you would spend, and then comparing that to the price per person of the dining plan. We enjoy the convenience of it.
What do you think about the Disney dining plan? Does it work for your family?
32 responses to “All About The Disney Dining Plan”
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We got the plan included in our package, I can’t wait!
Yay! Enjoy! There are SO MANY great restaurants.
How did I not know there was a Disney Dining Plan!? I was a season pass holder at Disneyland for years when living in So Cal. I loved your ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ list. And yes, it’s all dependent on your family and their eating habits. I’m sharing this with my So Cal friends!!
Sadly not at Disneyland! Hopefully someday
Definitely something to remember on the next Disney trip, I didn’t even know this was a thing! The snacks would seal the deal for me 😋
YES! I’m all about the snacks! I love going through the World Showcase at Epcot and trying different things
I didn’t know dining plans was an option! I am hoping to take my daughter to Disney for the first time next year so I need to remember this. Pinning for later!
Yes. I really like the dining plan! Hope you have a great trip 🙂
This is a really useful breakdown to have. I can see how the Dining plan would make it very easy for a family to plan out their budget for a Disney vacation!
It is convenient that you pay in advance, no surprises!
Great breakdown! We used to hse the dining plan our first trip or two but realized we prefer paying out of pocket. Definitely depends on the family!
It does! I think we broke even on our last trip but I liked the pre-paid convenience.
I never knew there’s this! Probably something we should have on our next visit.
If you love to eat, I’d definitely recommend it!
We are in the process of planning a trip to DW, and trying to work out whether to use the Disney meal plan or not. This was the perfect article to read. Thanks 🙂
Perfect! Have fun with your planning and have a GREAT trip 🙂
This post is so clearly laid out, you make it so easy to understand the different dining plans. Love the pros and cons list especially.
Thank you Megan! That is definitely what I was going for!
I’ve never been to Disney but I’ll definitely check out the dining plans now if I do!
Disney is so magical! Hope you get there someday 🙂
This is so helpful!! I haven’t been to Disney in years, but I’ve pinned it for my next trip!
Perfect! The food is one of my fav parts!! haha
Never been to Disney but it’s definitely on my list…this was extremely helpful! I didn’t realize there were dining plans.
Glad you found it helpful! Hope you get there soon! There’s no place like it!
SUPER helpful post! I wonder is they offer the same meal plans at Disneyland? Thanks for sharing!
Sadly no dining plans at Disneyland yet!
Thank you so much. Once we arrived and Disney had a new plan — our wrist bands didn’t help at all and it is good to know the pros and cons before traveling! Shared on Pinterest!
I have been wondering a lot if it is worth it to get the dining plan, and the way you’ve laid it out makes it so much clearer! Thank you!
Thanks for writing this – I always find dining plans really confusing. I never use them for my home park (Disneyland Paris) because there is hardly anything for vegans but I do plan to visit WDW one day and this is a really helpful breakdown of dining plan options.
Great info! Love the pros and cons list. I feel like I go through this every time I plan a trip! #MouseFanMondays -Wishes Diva from Tips from the Disney Divas
You mentioned that 3 year olds are not included on the plan. It is children UNDER age 3 that are not included. When they are 3, they are paying for child entitlements on the meal plan and are allotted the meal credits.
Thank you Carrie, I have corrected the post!