2020 Disney Dining Plan Includes Alcohol
Walt Disney World’s vacation packages have been released, and the 2020 Disney Dining Plan will include alcohol for the third year! In this post, we’ll take a look at the original announcement of beer, wine, and cocktails being added to the Disney Dining Plan, and offer some thoughts as to what that means.
Even before it happened, there were rumors about alcohol being added to the Disney Dining Plan. Being something of a cynic, my initial reaction to that was, “oh great, that means they plan on big price increases and want a way to justify it.” It seemed like a plausible rumor on that basis.
My expectation was an increase of about $10 per meal that included alcohol, so potentially $20 for each of the two lower tier plans and $30 for the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan. I have to say I’m a bit surprised by the actual amount of the price increases for the Disney Dining Plan…
The price increases are much more modest. The Quick Service Disney Dining Plan nightly cost is $52.49 per adult, up from $48.19 this year. The standard Disney Dining Plan is $75.49, up from $69.35 this year. The Deluxe Disney Dining Plan is $116.24, up from $106.68 this year.
In terms of percentage increases, these are all almost exactly 9% increases, which is more than the 4-6% jumps last year. While that’s ostensibly significant, adding 2-3 alcoholic drinks to the equation more than offsets those price increases.
In reality, the inevitable, ongoing price increases to menus throughout Walt Disney World is what will help ‘offset’ most of the price increase, making the addition of alcohol gravy, so to speak. At most, I’d say you can attribute at most $2/night of these price increases to the addition of alcohol and/or non-alcoholic specialty drinks. Even if only half your party drinks, that’s good value.
Now, if your party is mostly adults who drink, the value proposition is significantly better. Doing the math, a regular drink at a counter service restaurant has a value of around $3-4. An alcoholic beverage has a value of around $8-10. That’s a value difference of around $5-6. Double that, and the effective value gain is around $10. Not too bad for a $4.30 price increase. And, if you’re dedicated to optimizing your value, you can do even better.
The value maximization possibilities are even better for table service restaurants, where single glasses of the standard “featured wines” at some restaurants can eclipse $20. It’s entirely possible some of these will be excluded, but if not…prepare yourself for a new slew of spreadsheets and blog posts analyzing the restaurants at Walt Disney World with the most expensive wines! 😉
The caveat is that Magic Kingdom does not serve alcohol in its counter service restaurants, and that’s the park where guests spend the most time. So, unless you’re planning a hunger strike or trip to the monorail loop resorts during your Magic Kingdom days (mad props for that value maximization dedication), you are not going to realize full value potential out of the alcohol component.
The other caveat is that families with “Disney adults” who are under 21 must pay the adult price for the Disney Dining Plan, yet only will be able to use credits towards the non-alcoholic specialty drinks, which are generally cheaper than alcohol. Again, full value cannot be realized from the alcohol component from this perspective.
If you don’t drink or want a non-alcoholic specialty drink, you may not look at this change as one for greater value potential. Instead, you might be perturbed. My response: the Disney Dining Plan has always been about giving guests things they didn’t want or need.
That’s been our argument against the Disney Dining Plan for ages, so we’re not exactly receptive to those guests who are suddenly agitated about being “forced” to order alcohol or a specialty drink. Personally, a milkshake you don’t “need” sure sounds a lot better than taking home a Mickey Mouse rice krispie treat you don’t “need,” although each present waste.
All in all, it seems like a low price increase given the potential value of the addition, which makes me wonder if Dining Plan sales were low last year, and this is Walt Disney World’s way of improving sales without decreasing prices. Alcohol is incredibly high-margin, so that would make sense.
If it’s not a matter of stopping a decrease, it’s a matter of wanting to increase sales of the Disney Dining Plan, which itself is also a high-margin product (and also helps “discourage” guests from going off-site). Either way, it’ll be interesting to see whether this strategy is effective.
I think the problem for a lot of guests ultimately comes down to sticker shock. No matter what additions are made to the Disney Dining Plans, the higher sticker price leads many to balk at adding the Disney Dining Plan (unless it’s “free”) to their vacation package. For many, it does not require complex analysis to determine whether the Disney Dining Plan is “worth it.” I can quickly glance at the prices and pretty easily deduce that I could eat for less money by paying out of pocket.
With that said, I do think that the Disney Dining Plan is going to be more attractive than this year’s version for a lot of guests. If you’re a drinker or a milkshake fan, it’s easy to see the value of what’s being added to the Dining Plan and get more bang for your buck. This is true even for parties with kids or some adults who don’t drink. Even as someone who is generally critical of the Disney Dining Plan, I think the DDP presents an increase in overall value on balance, and I’d be more inclined to purchase it or recommend it next year. This does not mean I’m suddenly on Team DDP, it just means I think the changes are for the better here, for most people. The Disney Dining Plan is still not for everyone.
Want to know where to eat or if the Disney Dining Plan is right for you? Our Walt Disney World Dining Resources will help. For comprehensive advice, consult our Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide! Once you have an idea of what you want to do, or if you want personalized recommendations for Walt Disney World, click here to get a vacation quote from a no fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner.
Your Thoughts
What do you think about the addition of alcohol to the Disney Dining Plan? Any other concerns it raises for you? Can you think of ways to leverage this change to get greater value out of the DDP? Do you think the prices of the Disney Dining Plans have reached a breaking point, irrespective of what they offer? Hearing your thoughts is half the fun, so please share any questions or comments below!
I think that I am going to ‘pay as you go’ on my next trip. I think it will work out better. Not sure about free alcohol — I don’t drink but my adult children do.
So can I order 2 beers? One from my meal and the other from my 11yo daughter’s meal? She only drinks water and gets full from half a rice cake; unfortunately I’d have to buy here an “adult” meal plan.
I don’t think we’ll know until next year once people test this, but I think it has a decent chance of working. If you were to order a second (your daughter’s) dessert, no one would bat an eye at that.
The only question here is whether each drink allocation will be “tied” to the ID of the person ordering it. Since your daughter does not have an ID to order the drink, that may be an issue. I guess we shall see!
I wish they had more options to pick whatever you want in the menu like appetizers, starters (soup/salad), and desserts. Seems like you must pick their set menu items. Just let us pick and not charge us extra for what we want like 2 options of anything instead of drinks and dessert. The dining plan is a horrible value unless we stick to it to the letter.
I wanted to thank you Tom, for opening up my eyes to how controlling the DDPlan can be! The freedom of prepaying is what initially made it so attractive, but once I started to think that I would rather eat the way I WANTED to eat rather than how disney DICTATED me to eat, then it seemed like there was more freedom in paying out of pocket. First of all, we don’t drink all that soda. That’s a lot of pop you’re paying for. And we don’t drink alcohol, so we REALLY don’t need the new changes. Plus I like how I can eat light for one meal and save room for a signature meal if I want. Also – eat two appetizers for dinner and skip dessert – or whatever. We priced it out – not only would it be cheaper for our all adult vaca but there was a lot more wiggle room to eat spontaneously. thanks again!
I’m guessing that one reason for this change is as a way to overcome one of the objections to the DDP. Anytime a conversation about the value of the plan is had, those in the “anti” camp (which I’m usually part of) get around to mentioning that if you want to have an alcoholic drink with your dinner you have to pay for that out of pocket. It’s a very simple part of the argument. Until this goes into effect it is easy to see that not ALL of your dinner is covered by the DDP. This move takes that objection away from the “anti” camp, and overcoming objections is a huge part of salesmanship. Most of the rest of the argument boils down to math and individual tastes, which are much murkier elements of the topic. Math is hard, after all, and most people would rather not do it.
I think what you’re saying will be true for some people, while for others, it opens their eyes to the fact that “all inclusive” can sometimes include paying for things you don’t necessarily want.
This was a fact that was true with the DDP before, but now will be a lot easier for some people to recognize.
What each family needs to do is to price out on the menus and see if it really is a savings. We only save if it is free. We save over 1000 for a family of 4. If we have to pay for the dining plan then it is not worth it as it is cheaper for our family to purchase our food out of pocket. We save money not to mention we are under budget with breakfast and lunch and dinner. You are only getting 2 meals with the dining plan. We are getting quick service free this trip.
We have 2 preschoolers, age 5 & 3, the only reason for us to do DDP is the character meals. WE are planning to make the before park opening breakfast reservations so we can take advantage of some hard to get FP rides, FEA for instance. Now we have to think twice, does that make sense to have alcohol drink that early?
We’re a childless couple in our mid-20s, and we like to have a drink with dinner, so I think this is a value-add for us. We did some serious number crunching for our January trip, looking at a room only w/OOP food cost, or a Stay Play Dine package deal, and ultimately stuck with the room only and no dining plan. We were factoring in OOP alcohol costs at most of our TS meals with and without the dining plan, so I think this addition would have changed our minds.
Do you think this means dining credits might be accepted at lounges in the future? We absolutely loved the lounges for a low key, outside the park break.
Its very possible that we are seeing the end of the free dining plan hence the more reasonable price. It will be very interesting to see about what goes on with that next year.
I think rather than eliminating Free Dining, Walt Disney World would just dilute it to the point that it offers no value at all. The promotion is soooo popular and is so well known that I doubt Disney would stop doing it completely for fear of losing fall bookings.
Even though people who read blogs like this one would realize Free Dining is no longer a good deal, there are plenty of clueless first-timers who don’t do the research, would see the “Free Dining” marketing, and just assume it’s a good deal, due to the word of mouth from friends who took advantage of it in the past.
I do think you’re potentially right about Disney wanting to convince more people to pay for the Dining Plan, though. Even if Disney offers more, selling the DDP is incredibly profitable for them.
I’m not sure why you don’t consider ‘free dining’ a good deal. For our family of 4, (‘children’ are 15 & 19), 7nts @ AKL with free dining is the same price as it would be for 7 nts @ at a value resort w/meals OOP,
(considering rollaways may not be available, we’d need 2 rooms since husband 6’2″ & son 6’3″ won’t share a bed). I’ve looked and looked to find ways around free dining so as not to be restricted by the dates, including ‘agency exclusive offers’, and cannot find a better deal.
I thought milkshakes were part of the 2017 dining plan already? For example, in 2017, can you get a milkshake at Whispering Canyon or Sci Fi Diner as your beverage with the dining plan?
I know specifically that the bottomless milkshakes at Whispering Canyon Cafe and Plaza Restaurant *are* already included, but the literature seems to suggest drinks that are not included, such as ‘artisanal’ milkshakes and fresh smoothies will now be included.
It’s possible this is just marketing spin, but the implication is that drinks that were not previously included now will be. I guess we will know definitively once some examples are given?
If I’m having a drink with every meal in that heat it’s safe to say I won’t last an entire day at the park. Can you say, NAPTIME
Maybe the second phase of this plan is to install $99/hour “nap stations” all around the parks! 😉
Didn’t they try that already with the Tomorrowland rest stations.lol
I would only ever purchase this for an adults’ only trip at this point, and only b/c my husband is that person who wants the steak every meal regardless. For those of us whose kids are “Disney adults” and pre-high school at that – it’s just an awful value unless you are letting them have milkshakes AND more dessert AND sugary drinks daily. Going on vacation means treats, of course, but that’s insane, and that’s exactly what I’d make myself as I weighed DDP value vs “how many treats can I justify for my 10yo?” in my head throughout the entire vacation. Looks like we’re only getting it if it’s free, when it won’t hurt my brain to tell the kids they have to have water and pick between the milkshake or, uh, post-entree ice cream treat.
I wouldn’t say it’s an “awful” value. You just are not able to maximize it as much as parties consisting entirely of adults who like to drink.
Let’s say, for example, that you’re a family of 4 with only one person who drinks. Assuming a ‘standard’ price increase would’ve occurred to the Disney Dining Plan this year anyway (a safe assumption given that one always occurs to keep it in line with increasing menu prices), the DDP ‘cost’ of the new drinks is ~$2/person.
In other words, your party still benefits from the change so long as the one drinker in your party orders one drink per day that is more expensive than a $7.75 Budweiser. If that person orders two drinks per day, it’s a windfall for you.
I actually kind of meant that the dining plan in general was an awful value, and this just makes it worse for the 10-20 age bracket, although I see your point. I already strategically plan how to maximize value, which is easy enough for adults, but try to get a “Disney adult” upper elementary aged child to go along with that, nope! Now, mine would totally be down with drinking milkshakes twice a day on top of 2 desserts, but that isn’t happening even on vacation, and even doing that – we’ll lose money b/c she will naturally gravitate towards the cheapest entrees anyway. I think it makes me cranky b/c the very least they could do, if implementing an alcohol inclusion for adults – is to introduce a new pricing structure that has an ages 10-20 category for slightly less. Just to make us FEEL better – like we aren’t buying a package with a perk that we literally cannot use. I get that this is a problem specific to those of us with kids in this bracket, and we are (usually) already kind of crabby about how much we’re paying for 10 year olds to eat, many of whom are never going to eat adult portions of the least-cost-maximing entrees they’re ordering to begin with.
Maybe just extra incentive to go in 2018 vs waiting until SWL in 2019?
We are APs and don’t ever use the DDP. But some friends of ours swear by it and never travel without purchasing it. So I’m wondering if it would be of value for us. We do typically eat breakfast on the way to the parks, do a sit down lunch, and a quick-service supper. We always buy at least one snack in the parks. Do you think it would save us money? I’m not worried about a break-even. We do sometimes eat at restaurants that are offering the current 20% off for APs, but not every meal.
No. It is probably less than 5% who would save money with the current plans. And if you would have any restaurants with an AP discount you absolutely won’t save.
“And, if you’re dedicated to optimizing your value, you can do even better.”
This is why I read your blog.
We’re kiddoless 20something’s so for us, I’m gonna have to sit down and crunch the numbers again. We’ve never used a dining plan but this is definitely more attractive to us at first glance
It makes me wonder if they’re taking your (and currently still my) market more seriously as childless adults. It’s never been worth it to me to do the Dining Plan, always cheaper to do AP/Tables in Wonderland discounts, though as this includes alcohol I can see it being a decent value for a honeymoon or adults-only trip. Although seeing as I’m preggo I will not be childless for long….ah, youth.
Not surprisingly, this is more of a “win” for Disney than for guests.
A 9% increase is significant… especially when menu prices are typically going up more like 4-6% per year.
Looking at the DDP… A $6 increase. Now, for people who want a beer with lunch and a cocktail with dinner, this may indeed be “value.”
For people only having 1 drink per day, it is “break even” or so.
And what about the myriads of guests who don’t think, or don’t drink every day?
Or what about guests between the age of 11 and 20?? They have to purchase the adult dining plan prices, but they don’t get the alcoholic beverages!
There was a time, the DDP was a good deal as long as you used most of the credits.
Then, there was a time it was a good deal, as long as you used all your credits, and used CS credits at lunch instead of breakfast.
Then, there was a time when it was a money saver, as long as you used all your credits and ate dessert at every meal.
Then, there was a time when it was only a good deal if you ate steak and dessert at every meal.
Now, it seems it is only a good deal if you eat steak and dessert at every meal, drink gallons of soda at the resort, and have 2 alcoholic beverages per day.
$75.. Since Magic Kingdom has limited alcohol, let’s price it at DHS:
PizzaRizzo lunch: Meat lover’s pizza — $10.69
Bud Light — $7.25
Dinner, at Mamma Melrose:
Shrimp Campanelle — $25
Tiramisu — $6.50
Sangria — $9.50
2 snacks — About $10
Total: About $68
With tax — About $74
So even using all allowances, on above-average priced items, it is break even at best. If every credit was maximized, would have saved a few dollars. But skip 1 alcoholic beverage, and it’s a loser for the day.
Of course, now when they offer free dining, they can boast it is an even better savings. But I no longer see a reason for 95% of families to purchase the DDP.
I’m on the same page with your train of thought (more or less), but I think it’s fair to point out that kids under 21 can order specialty drinks (like milkshakes), so it’s not a total loss for those under 21 or who do not drink.
For me, this is *not* the change that should push 95% of families away from the DDP. That change occurred several years ago (and I’d put the estimate at more like 75%).
Fair enough… it hasn’t been a value for most people, for several years.
I noticed at some point, Disney changed the marketing — they used to say “save up to 40% on dining”.. then 35%.. then 30%..
Now they just say “pre-pay your meals”
My guess is the menu prices you are using to do your comparisons will also see a price increase next year. Even still, if you assume 3-4% it’s only a slight benefit or break even proposition. But the DDP has been like that for a while now. Once we decide where we want to eat I can get a good feel for how much it should cost out of pocket and then compare that to the expense of the DDP. That’s the way to go IMO. But it’s never really that much of a difference either way.
Well, the DDP was already arguably too much foos in a day so let’s add a milkshake as our drink!
It was also already a pretty rotten deal for the 10-18 year old crowd – this just made it worse.
My hope is that the addition of alcohol increased the “perceived value” of the DDP and so that they do not feel the need to have a further 9% increase on menu prices.
Normally, I’m not a fan of Disney making ANY changes. However, I love the changes to the Disney Dining Plan–GREAT MOVE! My son and I always buy the Disney Dining Plan whenever we go to WDW. In 2018, we will be meeting up with my sister and her famiy during Christmas time there. The Standard Disney Dining Plan will be perfect for us! 🙂
We’re planning on going next February, and we’ve never not gotten free dining. With a toddler, we decided this year we were going to just pay out of pocket and not get the dining plan because we won’t be able to do as many sit-downs. But not looking at this, I’m debating on purchasing the counter dining plan…