The Ultimate Guide To The Disney Dining Plan
emilyandolivia
13:58:00
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Meals, Snacks and Drinks Available on The Dining Plans
Before going into the different types of dining plans available, it is important to understand the different types of meals and snacks included within the dining plans and what they consist of. Most foods on the menus will be available but your server will go through this with you for each restaurant.
-Quick/Counter service meal (fast casual dining):
is considered to be standard food with fast service. You order and pay at the counter for your meal and then seat yourself which is why it is considered to be quick. Popular foods such as waffles, chicken nuggets, hotdogs and burgers are usually served in these places (with exceptions such as be our guest).
-A standard table service meal (unique or character dining):
is a sit-down meal were you are taken to your table and waited on but can also include a buffet. These are your typical restaurants but with a twist! Each Disney restaurant offers unique theming which usually links in to the type of food served there. For example, Sanaa in Animal Kingdom Lodge is themed to make you feel like you are in Africa, looking out onto the savannah to see the roaming animals. They serve Indian/African dishes to match this setting. Some table service meals also offer character dining which allows you and your families to interact with special characters such as Winnie the Pooh and friends at Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom. For each table service meal, you receive an entrée, desert and drink (now 1 alcoholic beverage included!). However depending on the restaurant, you are sometimes able to swap your dessert for a starter…make sure you ask as they won’t advertise this but we did it at a few places!
-Signature dining meal:
these restaurants are worth two table service credits (two days usage of table service meals) when being used on a Disney dining plan. These are good to book if you know you are going to be out of Disney for at least one day of your trip and are not going to eat at one of the restaurants. This means you will have one credit left over which you can use to combine two table service credits to eat at one of the signature restaurants...quite confusing I know! But I would definitely recommend doing this at least once if possible as it is truly an unforgettable dining experience with high class food.
-Snacks:
a snack credit on the Disney dining plan includes most foods at Disney which are priced anything up to around 5/6 dollars. Some of these poplar snacks at Disney include dole whip, popcorn, mickey pretzels and churros! To find out what can be used as a snack credit on the Disney dining plan, look out for the Disney snack symbol. They will be located on every Disney menu and will indicate what snack you can get by using your snack credits.
-Refillable Mug:
each person in your party will receive a refillable mug when on the Dining plan at Disney which is worth $18.99. You can use this insulated mug at your resort for as many refills as you like for the duration of your stay. All resorts offer a great range of drinks such as fizzy drinks like coke to hot chocolate and coffee. You are also allowed to keep this mug after your stay and take it home with you as a souvenir (it’s a great cup to take your coffee to work in a morning!)
Different Plans Available
The Disney dining plan is a prepaid meal plan that consists of three main tiers that cover either some or all of your meals during your stay at Walt Disney World. It can be used anywhere is Disney, including the parks, resorts and Disney Springs. You can only book the Disney dining plan if you are staying at one of the Walt Disney world Resort Hotels/Villas. The three different types of Disney dining plan are:
Quick service Plan: (£38 Adult per day)
This is the lowest tier of the plans and can be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are over 50 locations to choose from.
This includes: (per person, per night)
-2 counter-service meals
-2 snacks
-refillable mug
Standard Dining Plan: (£54 Adult per day)
This is the most popular type of plan. We would personally recommend this plan as it makes the part of your Disney day extra special. Having a relaxed sit down meal and being looked after for breakfast, lunch or dinner is exactly what you need for an active day at the parks! Don’t forget...you can also use you table service dining for many other dining experiences such as character breakfasts. There are over 100 locations to choose from with this type of plan.
This includes: (per person, per night)
-1 table service meal
-1 counter service meal
-2 snacks
-refillable Mug
Deluxe Dining Plan: (£84 Adult per day)
If you would like to eat like royalty every single day of your stay, then this plan could be for you. You will have the option to eat at a table service for EVERY meal of the day! That’s a LOT of food! In our opinion, this plan is more time consuming and you could end up losing a lot of precious park time on eating in restaurants. If you use the table service meals for every meal of your day, you are using up to a minimum of 4 hours which could be spent having fun in Disney! However, if you enjoy amazing cuisine for every meal, then you should consider this plan.
This includes: (per person, per night)
-3 counter service meals
OR
-3 table service meals
-2 snacks
-Refillable mug
How to get the dining plan for FREE
With some planning, there are ways you can get the dining plans greatly discounted or completely FREE! Every year, Disney release the free Disney dining plan promotion for a period of time that allows guests who book within this time to get this amazing deal. Based on previous years, this offer usually becomes available in the middle/end of April and is valid through to 3rd July. This is possibly the biggest discount you could save for your Disney holiday, with potential savings up to £756 per person! (Based on a two week stay at Disney). The free dining plan is also offered for most school holidays. The dates you can book the free dining plan for this year are shown below (mostly the same dates every year):
**please note this is for UK residents only. The dates available for US residents differ. **
- 1st January- 7th April 2019
- 26th April – 30th November 2019
The higher standard of Disney Resort you stay at, the higher tier meal plan you will receive:
-Value Resorts- Free breakfast
-Moderate Resorts- Free Quick-Service Plan
-Deluxe Resorts- Free Standard Dining Plan
Consider your options first!
Staying at a value or Moderate Resort does not mean you have stick with the free breakfast or fee quick service plan. You can decide to upgrade to the quick service plan or the standard dining plan for an additional charge but at a discounted price due to the offer. If you would like the standard dining plan during this offer, we would recommend staying in a moderate or deluxe hotel as there is not a big price difference between each level of resort (sometimes only around $80-200 more between each level of resort).
How to Reserve Your Dining
reservations can be made for the first 10 days of your holiday 180 days before you go, then each day after that. This can either be done through the My Disney Experience App, on the Walt Disney World Website or by calling The Walt Disney Travel Company. We would recommend doing this as soon as you can as some restaurants such as Cinderella's Royal Table get fully booked very quickly.
How To Redeem Your Meal Credits
when it comes the time to ‘pay for your meal’, your magic band will cover this! Your magic band is given to you when you first check in to your Disney hotel and is used for lots of different things with redeeming your meal credits being one of them! When paying for a quick service meal, you simply just scan your magic band on the reader and it will take it off your meal credits used. When using it for a table service meal, make sure you notify the server that you are on the dining plan (they will usually ask you anyway) and they will bring the scanner over to your table. Only one person in your party will have to scan their magic band in this instance or if you all order together with a quick service. You will also receive a receipt every time you use one of your dining plan credits. This receipt will tell you the total of how many quick service, table service and snack credits you have left which is good to keep an update for the duration of your holiday.
So that’s it! This is everything we think you need to know about the Disney dining plans at Walt Disney World! We hope this has given you a good idea of if the dining plan is for you and if so, which one is best suited to you and your family.
Have fun planning!
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