Disney 101: The Disney Dining Plans For Walt Disney World
Do not be confused by the Disney Dining Plans. Check out Disney 101: The Disney Dining Plans for Walt Disney World to find out everything you need to know all about the dining plans that are available. Will it save me money on my next Disney vacation? Is it right for my family? Read all about the Disney Dining Plans to find out!
Disney World Dining Plans
Disney World provides dining plans as an add-on to your vacation package. There are several plans available and we will break it down for you to make it a little easier to understand how the plans work and how to choose the one that is perfect for you and your family.
THE BASICS
Let’s start with the basics. There are three dining plans: Disney’s Quick Service Dining Plan, Disney’s Dining Plan, and Disney’s Deluxe Dining Plan. These plans are added on to your “Magic Your Way Package”. The dining plans are only available to guests staying on Disney World property.
Disney uses a “credit” system. You will receive the allowed number of credits per night of your stay, and you will access them by using your magic band. Each person will have a preset PIN number to be able to access the credits. You can set this PIN number up in your My Disney Experience account or you can set it up at the front desk when you check in.
How It Works
Usually, before ordering, you will be asked if you are on a dining plan. For table service meals, one member of your party will have their band scanned to be sure there are available credits to pay for the meal.
If you have a larger party or are dining with someone from another room/reservation, please let the server know. This prevents you from being charged for more people than what is it in your room/reservation.
All Disney dining plan credits will “roll over” to the next day if they are not all used in one day. You will have until midnight on the day of check-out to redeem all of the credits. We like to save some of our snack credits so that we can grab some goodies to carry home!
DISNEY DINING PLAN PRICING
Adult and children Disney dining plans are available to purchase only if staying at a Walt Disney World Resort. “Children” are considered ages 3-9. Anyone who is older than 9 years old will be required to purchase the adult plan. Children under three years of age will dine off of an adults plate and will NOT require a dining plan. The current cost of the Disney Dining Plans for 2019 are as follows:
Pricing for 2019 Disney Dining Plans (children’s prices went up a bit, but the adult prices will remain the same).
- Quick Service Dining: Adult-$52.49; Child-$23.78-ages 3-9 (per person, per night)
- Dining (Regular Dining): Adult-$75.49; Child-$27.98-ages 3-9 (per person, per night)
- Deluxe Dining: Adult-$116.24; Child-$43.49-ages 3-9 (per person, per night)
QUICK SERVICE DINING PLAN
Disney World’s Quick Service Dining Plan will entitle you to two quick service meal credits and two snack credits per person, per night of your vacation. Quick Service restaurants are the equivalent to “counter” service meals, where you simply order your meal at the counter and take it to an available table to dine.
Quick Service meals do not require a reservation. There are two exceptions to this rule. Be Our Guest at the Magic Kingdom (breakfast and lunch) and Pizzafarri at Animal Kingdom (dinner only) will allow you to make a dining reservation in advance.
There are over 184 restaurants offering Quick Service items in Disney World! One of our personal favorites is Pinocchio Village Haus in the Magic Kingdom. Two people would easily be able to share one meal here and at many other quick service locations!
(Regular) DINING PLAN
This is commonly referred to as the “regular” dining plan and is probably the most economical and most popular.
Disney World’s Dining Plan will entitle you to one quick service meal credit, one table service meal credit, and two snack credits, per person, per night of your vacation. With table service restaurants, you will have a server who will take care of your dining needs. This also includes many character meals, such as Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood Studios, Tusker House in the Animal Kingdom, The Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom, Chef Mickey’s at Contemporary Resort and many more.
Whether you are dining at a buffet or being served by wait staff, please leave a gratuity at table service meals. If there are over six people in your dining party, the gratuity (18%) will be automatically added. This is the standard tip amount in America.
With over 120 table service options available, you will surely not leave hungry! We have lots of favorite table service restaurants, such as Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood Studios. This is also a character meal AND All-You-Care to enjoy buffet, requiring only one table service credit per person!
Another favorite is from Animal Kingdom’s Yak ‘n Yeti!
DELUXE DISNEY DINING PLAN
Disney World’s Deluxe Dining Plan will entitle you to three meals (three credits) per person, per night of your vacation PLUS two snacks. These credits can be used for quick service or table service restaurants. Keep in mind, this is A LOT of food! If you plan on doing some signature restaurants or dinner shows this plan might be an economical choice for your vacation. This is because any signature restaurants and dinner shows will require two table service credits. That will eat your credits up fast on the Regular Dining Plan.
REFILLABLE RESORT MUG
ALL dining plans will come with a refillable resort mug. These are available in your resort and will only be able to be refilled in a resort. Refills are unlimited! Coffee, tea, soft drinks, hot chocolate and more are available choices. Check out everything you need to know about the refillable resort mugs, right here: REFILLABLE RESORT MUGS.
TIPS FOR THE DISNEY DINING PLANS
- A few restaurants require two table service credits per person: All signature restaurants and dinner shows (such as the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue and Cinderella’s Royal Table) will require two table service credits, per person.
- If you decide to add on a Disney Dining Plan, EVERY person in your room/reservation will have to have the SAME plan.
- Gratuities (18%) will be added on automatically for parties of six or more.
- Do not forget to set your pin number before your vacation. This is done in My Disney Experience.
- Any children under the age of three will need to be included in the dining party reservation count, even though there is no charge for them.
- Alcoholic beverages are NOW included in the Disney Dining Plans. This was updated in 2019: 2019 DISNEY DINING PLANS
- At any time, you can go down to GUEST SERVICES in your resort and ask for a print out of the credits you have used and how many you have left. Meal credit balances will also be on the bottom of each receipt.
NEW Dining Updates for the My Disney Experience App
You can now keep track of all of your dining credits on your dining plan as you go through your vacation. Long gone are the days of keeping up with your receipts to tally up how many snacks, quick service meals and sit down dining credits you have left. All you have to do now is check out the My Disney Experience App and Voila.
MOBILE ORDER is available now for quick service dining locations! As of now, mobile order will accept credit cards AND the Disney Dining Plans.
Don’t be scared of My Disney Experience! It is there to help you!
Check out our Facebook group: DISNEY EXPRESS LANE, to discuss this and all things DISNEY!
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Vanda Bean
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