This is post is about our travels and how we do Disney Dining. I understand there are so many more options and ways to cut costs on your overall Disney Vacation. One main one would be dining.
If you have decided to stay on the Disney property you’ll now be faced the with the choice of a dining plan or no dining plan.
Occasionally when you book a vacation package through the Walt Disney Resort Vacation planning website they’ll offer free dining. However, that promotion is slowly fading out and if they do release it it’s for a limited amount of vacation packages and only for select Walt Disney World resorts.
For example IF free dining is going to be released you’ll want to be up bright and early when reservations open that day to be able to score that deal. You’ll also have to really be in the loop of when the promotion will be released, however Disney is known to make a buzz in the travel agent world prior to making such a big announcement. It always gets leaked to the rest of us waiting in Mickey’s shadow.
For my family the Dining Plan is a must do.
We’ve done both options. Our trip last September we elected not to go with the DDP and we regretted it. It was hard to swallow a Disney restaurant meal and pay $200 USD out of pocket for my family to eat. Especially since my kids are such fussy eaters.
Then there were the times we’d pack up the kids and drive off site to have a meal to try and save a bit. Wasn’t fun. Picture rangling three cats into the bath tub.
That’s what it was like peeling them away from whatever Disney activity they were doing and putting them in the vehicle.
I like the idea of being close to restaurants either at our home resort or one along the monorail line. And of course dining in the parks mid day.
Knowing it’s prepaid sets my mind at ease.
Jason and myself can enjoy that premium steak for dinner with amazing sides a martini and dessert and the kids can go to town on their chicken nuggets and lame plain pasta.
If it’s prepaid in my mind I don’t think about it.
When I’m on vacation I want to use the least amount of effort I possible can. :)
The cost of the plan can vary. We opt for the mid range dining plan which includes.
1 sit down, 1 quick service and two snacks.
Two typical scenarios for my team would be.
Breakfast at the Poly using our quick service credit -
Mid day snack of fries, fruit bowl, frozen lemonade, cinnamon bun, churro, Mickey waffle,
Dinner at one of the various Disney restaurants using our table service credit.
Late night snack using a snack credit. (Usually a cupcake) :/
The only other day this would change is our Epcot day.
We book a sit down breakfast at the Garden Grill around 8 am and use a table service credit.
We then snack as needed around the World Showcase eating delicious decadent goodness.
Dinner would be a something like a giant turkey sandwich / pizza and side using a quick service credit.
Along with the DDP you get a refillable mug that you can fill up at your resort for the duration of your trip. I always look forward to filling mine with Joffreys coffee before we start the day.
The price of our DDP:
Family of 5 was around $1300 USD for the week. (6 nights) the plan is based on nights stayed not days. You have until midnight the day you check out to use your credits.
In the past when we have had leftover snack credits we will load up on things to take home like rice crispy treats, Mickey shaped snacks, cotton candy, goofy candy :-) not the best way to optimize your snack credits - but sometimes in the Florida sun you’re just too warm to eat. And with them recently changing the dining plan to make it TWO snack credits per day some days you don’t get the chance to use them up and they carry over until the end. Our last trip we had 16 left.
And that reminds me all of your credits will get carried until you use them. They don’t expire at the end of each day.
Your credits are loaded onto your magic band and deducted as you go. Each time you use them the cast member will issue a receipt showing your balance.
Fun fact.
Quick service credits are not defined between adult and child - so a child can order off the adult quick service menu.
This is great for my kids because they eat an adult size breakfast. Bring on the Mickey waffles and sausage :-)
Dining plan or not you can start making your advanced dining reservations 180 days prior to your checkin.
Now of course there are cancellations and if you have the my Disney experience app on your phone you can refresh to check to see if there’s availability. In almost all cases and especially for the popular restaurants you cannot just walk up and ask to be seated same day. Even during the quieter times. Restaurants fill up quite quickly. But again if you have the app cancellations do come up.
We first look at the crowd predictor and determine which days were going to be in which park. We then reserve our dining based on those days.
We get asked all the time to recommend restaurants. I’ll make that it’s own post.
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