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!
You need to update this article. Disney has increased the price of the 2017 dining plans by 25%. I confirmed this today.
Sorry I had too many people on reservation, but I don’t know why the disney employee confirmed the raise in price.
My husband and I are non alcoholic drinkers and usually buy the Dining Plan. Going forward, we might re-think this practice.
Could you not just take 2 alcoholic drinks for yourself at a meal and request water or purchase a non alcohlic beverage for your underage party? Or use a snack credit for a non alcohlic drink? I know right now they dont keep track of who is eating or drinking what at quick service restaurants, one person in your party can take credits off theyre magic band at the cashier for food and drinks and snacks for 2 or 3 or 4 ppl.
Theoretically, yes. I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney finds a way to prevent this from happening–but hopefully not! 🙂
The server should notice (I would hope) that there’s one adult and a child at the table so only one person eligible for an alcoholic drink. I don’t think they’d be kept long at their job if they served two (or more) alcoholic drinks at a table but only charged one person for them.
QSRs are a little different from table service restaurants. I believe they pay closer attention at those because the cost of the meal is much higher. I would also think that using your band would also have the information of the child’s age since it’s plugged into the system (Disney knows how old my granddaughter is, that’s for sure!) so using the band might signal that. Snacks are a little different since anyone in the party could eat the snack. Not everyone in the party can consume alcohol, though.
Probably not, since dining credits are bundled into the reservation/group as a whole, rather than individual allotments.
This change isn’t one that works for us. We have always gotten the Disney Dining Plan when we’ve gone to WDW, but won’t when we go in 2018. While the plan may give things someone doesn’t want (as you mentioned) like a snack…a snack is much cheaper than an alcoholic drink. I don’t want to pay for alcohol that we won’t be ordering, and at least with a snack, it’s something you can pack & take home (I once got a lot of Disney candy from leftover credits and took them home for the grandkids that didn’t go with me). I don’t drink and my granddaughter is in that too-old-for-kids-meal-dining and too young to drink stage. So that’s two plans we’d be paying for alcohol that won’t be ordered. I’ve reviewed the restaurant prices and it’ll be much cheaper for us to just pay for our meals without a dining plan. A LOT cheaper!
Hi, i was wondering, they are still made the free dining promotions with this update? I am planning going next sept, and that would be great.
Thank you Tom, and thanks for all your post! They help me a lot!
Disney usually always does the “free” dining plans in September when it’s hurricane season (in case no one’s noticed that). But it’s not really free. Often, a room only discount ends up costing you less out of pocket, even with purchasing your own meals, then a “free” dining plan with no discounted resort room does. And you can’t combine offers, so it’s one or the other. When next year rolls around, I’d look closely at all their offers and not just the “free” dining plan one.
Assuming you get the deluxe dining plan, including three sit down meals….. and you go to a two credit restaurant, would you be entitled to two alcoholic beverages for that meal?
And these said beverages must be obtained with the meal, not at another time during the day??
At firts I was really disapointed, because we will miss this new and improved DDP,( we are visiting disney this year), but thinking about, this would not work for us.
I like a glass of wine, and would be happy with that, but my son will be in the gap, paying for an adult but ordering milkshaks.
I’m happy with him having one milkshake a day, not one with every meal. On the money side, we would loose, trying to balance even ordering one wine or cocktail just because it is the most expensive is not always a good idea.
As a person making a solo (as in just ME!) trip to WDW this year and NOT spending any of my time at MK, the addition of alcohol swung my decision to “yes” for the regular DDP. Cost savings… not really…. convenience… yes! Nice to have all my meals pre-paid as pert of my Magic Your Way package. Soooo looking forward to a few selfish days at AKL, Ak and EP with no one’s wants but mine to consider.
Oh I so wish they’d done that this year. We’re taking our first trip and no kids. That would’ve been amazing! Next year then!
Does this mean that they will now add alcohol to Magic Kingdom? I thought that was the only park you couldn’t get any alcoholic beverages from.
There are quite a few in magic kingdom you can get alcohol. Only at lunch and dinner times tho
“prepare yourself for a new slew of spreadsheets and blog posts analyzing the restaurants at Walt Disney World with the most expensive wines!”
I was kind of hope to see that hard hitting analysis here.
I’m not sure how this would work but what would make this even better in my opinion is to have “drink credits” similar to snack credits. This way if someone wanted an alcoholic drink while walking around the World Showcase they could, or if someone wanted a milkshake at Beaches and Cream, they could. If I wanted two glasses of wine, with dinner then just use my two drink credits. I would love to see a little more flexibility with this but love the addition to the dining plan.
Agree 100%. And so it could be used at places like Trader Sam’s, even if on the non-souvenir cup versions of the drinks.
I think the addition of alcohol/specialty drinks is great . . . although it still won’t persuade me to purchase a Dining Plan. I’ve done extensive research on whether or not it would make financial sense for my family to do it, and the math always works in Disney’s favor (at least for us). Also, I don’t like the confinement, or “pressure” to have to plan and eat according to a plan’s rules: If I skipped a meal and didn’t get everything I paid for, I would feel like I “lost.” If I wanted something not included in the plan I would feel like I was getting gouged. So yes, I think the alcohol addition is a step to balance that internal calculation that prevents some from purchasing the plans.
I’d love to see a drink plan, similar to what’s offered on cruises . . . I would buy that, for sure, considering many drinks are $10-$15 EACH! Controlling this would be a bit more difficult, and maybe could only be offered to guests staying on-property. Like the cruise lines, if one drinking-age-adult in the room buys the drink plan, all must buy it. I’m sure this isn’t anywhere near Disney’s radar, but I’d like it!
I love this idea. I think it would be great to have just a booze package. Maybe Disney thinks it would lead to, as another reader said “rivers of vomit” however, ONE DRINK at dinner, just doesn’t make this plan appealing for us ( side note: last time we were at Epcot, there were drunk people EVERYWHERE, much more then say 5-7 years ago I thought, it actually shocked me). Anyways, we likely will have at least TWO drinks at dinner, so here we are paying out of pocket again.. We’re also the kind of people who enjoy “posting up” at a bar for a couple of hours with drinks and apps, maybe more so then sitting down for dinner, so again, the DDP just would not work out in our favor. We would end up losing dinner credits on the nights that we chose to just sit at the bar. Who knows though, maybe this is Disney’s way of slowly moving in that direction. Only time will tell!
I think they should’ve made a separate plan for this; one with just mixed drinks and beer. Instead of adding it to the dining plan or give the option of not paying for it. Some adults don’t drink. So that money would be wasted.
I would guess that is Disney’s plan, sucker non-drinkers into the increased price while tempting additional booze-loving patrons
I’m excited about this, as we are the kind of folks who would enjoy the milkshakes/smoothies/or alcoholic drink from time to time but are just too cheap to buy one when it’s not included. This mentality and our eating style makes the dining plan the most enjoyable way to do Disney–without having to really face the price of what we’re eating and feel nickel and dimed. It’s part of the magic bubble and we usually end up with a break even or better scenario. This summer, the dining plan seemed much higher than our last trips, so we’re trying a non dining plan trip and I’m already finding myself regretting it and adding numbers up constantly and saying no appetizers or desserts 🙁
Does anyone know if you get 2 Alcohol drinks Per Day with the standard dining plan? ONE at a Quick-Service meal and ONE at a Table-Service meal? ALSO — does it have to Only be at
the Quick-Service place OR the Table-Service place? Can you save it for later at night at your hotel’s POOL BAR ?
I wish this had come in for the 2017 plan, as I can see us paying OOP for a beer or wine with dinner (DDP was included with our hotel package for dates we wanted to go from the UK).
One thing I would like to see is the option to have an appetizer (starter) or dessert. I would rather use a snack credit on something sweet and have a starter.
I appreciate starters are more expensive than desserts, so maybe they could put a mark on the menu next to starters you could swap for.
Our next trip will be 2019 so hopefully alcohol is still on the DDP menu then 🙂
I personally love to get the Disney dining plan when we go. It’s worth it to me to have our meals prepaid before our trip and we always eat at places that we normally wouldn’t eat at because we can’t afford them. I don’t drink but it’s nice that the option is now available with the dining plan. We will continue to use it and I just booked our next trip yesterday with the dining plan included.
I have a family of five, the youngest of which turns ten next month, so we’ll all be “Disney adults” for purposes of dining. Only my wife drinks alcohol, and even then she might only have once glass of wine during a Disney vacation, so the new Disney Dining Plan prices just push the DDP further away from us in terms of value. That won’t really change things for us though as in the past we have only had the dining plan when it’s free (or part of a discounted Disney package where the dining plan was effectively discounted to the child price for everyone in my party). However, for those who enjoy drinking alcoholic beverages with most meals, this change in the Disney Dining Plan looks good for them.
Interesting. Thanks. I agree with your analysis.
My first thought after hearing this change was: “is this a way to quietly introduce alcohol to quick-service locations in Magic Kingdom?”
Followed closely by: “those alcoholic drinks just got smaller…”
Ooof. And more watered down, if that’s even possible.
Not sure why the Temperence society come out in floods when alcohol and Disney is mentioned, but I think this is a good thing. As an adult, I like a beer/cocktail with dinner on holiday and being able to grab one drink with a QS meal isn’t going to lead to rivers of vomit everywhere. Price was going to increase anyway and this is a nice bonus, plus for those who don’t want to drink you can get a smoothie/milkshake.
Agreed. I don’t know how so many people get drunk at Epcot anyway (I haven’t seen it myself). I can’t afford enough WDW drinks to get drunk, and one glass of wine with dinner is nothing. I just hope they don’t limit what’ drinks are included.