Disney Dining Plan 2024 Price Increases & Decreases
Prices for the 2024 Disney Dining Plans are now known thanks to Walt Disney World’s release of vacation packages for next year. Like clockwork, there are price increases–totally unsurprising after 3 years and given food inflation. Shockingly, there are also price decreases! This covers how costs have changed for kids and adults on the Quick-Service and standard DDP, plus our commentary about potential explanations for new pricing.
As was the case pre-closure, Walt Disney World has not released official pricing for the 2024 Quick Service Disney Dining Plan (QSDDP) or the regular Disney Dining Plan (DDP), so we’ve reverse-engineered the pricing by selecting a January 2024 travel date for one night at All Star Sports, and done the math ourselves to remove the costs of the required park tickets.
Not publishing prices of the Disney Dining Plan upfront is a way of obfuscating costs and avoiding sticker shock on individual package components. Walt Disney World must’ve determined that a package total increasing by a couple thousand extra dollars was preferable to displaying a daily dining cost for whatever reason. This approach also allows Walt Disney World to, at least in theory, quietly raise the price of the Disney Dining Plan or institute seasonal surcharges during peak times of year, like Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Based upon our theoretical 2024 Walt Disney World travel dates, adult per night pricing for the plans is as follows:
- Quick Service Disney Dining Plan: $57.01 per adult and $23.83 per child
- Disney Dining Plan (standard): $94.28 per adult and $29.69 per child
These prices all include tax, but guests must pay for tips or gratuity out of pocket. Children 3-9 must order from the kids menus; under age 3 eat free from an adult’s plate.
If you want to cut to the chase, this is a hefty increase for the adult tier of the standard Disney Dining Plan and nominal increase for the adult tier of the QSDDP. For children, it’s a slight decrease on both tiers as compared to 2020 prices.
For the sake of comparison, 2020 Disney Dining Plan prices were as follows:
- Quick Service Disney Dining Plan: $55 per adult and $26 per child
- Disney Dining Plan (standard): $78.01 per adult and $30.51 per child
- Disney Dining Plan Plus: $94.61 per adult and $35 per child
- Deluxe Disney Dining Plan: $119 per adult and $47.50 per child.
Here were the 2019 Disney Dining Plan prices:
- Quick Service Disney Dining Plan: $52.50 per adult and $23.78 per child
- Disney Dining Plan (standard): $75.49 per adult and $27.98 per child
- Deluxe Disney Dining Plan: $116.25 per adult and $43.49 per child.
Before we get carried away with commentary, we need to offer the caveat that this isn’t an apples to apples comparison. As a reminder, here’s what each tier of the 2024 Disney Dining Plan offers:
Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan Details:
- 2 Quick-Service Meals Per Night of Stay
- 1 Snack or Nonalcoholic Beverage Per Night of Stay
- 1 Resort-Refillable Mug Per Trip
Regular Disney Dining Plan Details:
- 1 Quick-Service Meal Per Night of Stay
- 1 Table-Service Meal Per Night of Stay
- 1 Snack or Nonalcoholic Beverage Per Night of Stay
- 1 Resort-Refillable Mug Per Trip
One big reason why this is not an apples to apples comparison is because Walt Disney World has reduced the number of snacks available on the Disney Dining Plans from 2 to 1 per night. When it comes to typical guest behavior, this was an easy thing to cut to achieve cost-savings, as many people either wasted snack credits previously or used them to stock up on stuff to take home from Goofy’s Candy Co. at the end of their trips.
Not only does this achieve cost-savings for the company, but it also decreases the utility and value of both tiers of the DDP. In past breakdowns, we’ve ascribed a $5 value for each snack credit. Given current menu prices, that’s probably $6 now. So if you added $5-6 back into the 2024 Disney Dining Plan prices for an accurate apples to apples comparison, there would be increases across the board.
The price reductions for kids on the 2024 Disney Dining Plans also makes sense. It’s been a while since Walt Disney World advertised the Dining Plans as saving money, but, intriguingly, that has returned:
“Save up to 20% on dining for kids ages 3 to 9 when you purchase a dining plan for your family as part of a Walt Disney Travel Company package. Savings compared to the nondiscounted price of menu items available to kids ages 3 to 9 at participating locations when purchased without a dining plan. Actual savings varies based on menu items ordered.”
As for the “why” of reducing prices for kids rather than adults, it’s likely that families are the demographic that Walt Disney World wants to target with the Disney Dining Plans. Perhaps combing through data from 2018-2020 revealed that fewer families and more couples were purchasing the DDPs, and Walt Disney World wants to reverse that trend. (Anecdotally, this would track with what we’ve observed and heard from readers.)
Speculating further, our assumption is that families with small children do not use the Disney Dining Plan nearly as efficiently as couples or those with older children. Young kids are less predictable, and credits may go to waste as a result or not ‘optimized’ nearly as often. On average, the Disney Dining Plan spillage is probably much higher with this demo. There’s also probably less food inflation on core components of kids meals–especially at counter service spots–than there is on adult meals at table service restaurants.
As always, you’ll want to do the math to determine whether the 2024 Disney Dining Plan is right for your party. Overall, we consider the ‘damage’ here to not be too bad from an objective perspective. Given food inflation, the increases could’ve been far worse for adults.
However, for us personally–as a party of 2 adults with no kids over age 3 next year–the 2024 prices make the regular Disney Dining Plan a non-starter. In the past, we usually got that or (ideally) the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan. Next year, the DxDDP won’t be an option and the math doesn’t appear that it’ll work out on the regular DDP to justify it for us, especially given that we rarely order alcohol these days.
Of course, those are our unique circumstances and yours could differ. For example, if you’re a solo parent with triplets who are 9 years old and would buy the Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan, there’s a good chance these changes will be (very) favorable to you. At the other end of the spectrum, an older couple doing primarily Signature Restaurants shouldn’t even consider the DDP. We can tell you without breaking down the numbers that it won’t work out for you.
Nevertheless, the lower costs for kids–and relatively minor increase for everyone on the Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan–may seem especially surprising in light of inflation, which has been “elevated” over the last couple of years, to put it mildly. Inflation has hit the cost of food especially hard, with the prices of essentials like bacon and butter up big time. Probably no need to fixate on this, as at least 50% of you see it firsthand while grocery shopping, and the only half either hear about the high price of food or see it for yourselves on receipts. This is no big secret and no one has been immune.
Given this, it would stand to reason that prices of food would likewise be up significantly at Walt Disney World. After all, businesses attempt to pass higher costs on to consumers. But that isn’t really what we’ve seen, and the USDA’s tracking show a similar trend industry-wide, as restaurants have not increased in lockstep with grocery stores, despite higher ingredients costs and higher labor costs.
We’ve noticed this at Walt Disney World restaurants in the time since reopening. Don’t get us wrong–table service entrees are very pricey at Disney, but they have been for years. Walt Disney World has raised prices on plenty of things, but on the food front, price increases have disproportionately impacted snacks and other impulse purchases and not items that have seen the highest inflation.
It’s also not as if Walt Disney World is cutting consumers a break, realizing their budgets are already stretched too thin. Not only has Walt Disney World increased prices on a multitude of things from tickets to resorts to snacks to upcharge experiences, but they’ve also eliminated or monetized perks over the last few years. Things like FastPass+, MagicBands, Evening Extra Magic Hours, or Disney’s Magical Express–all of which used to be included in the base cost of a vacation package–now will cost you extra, directly or indirectly.
One potential industry-wide explanation is trepidation among restaurants about their ability to pass on higher prices to consumers without seeing a corresponding drop in demand. Overall food inflation is up by approximately 25% over the course of the last 3 years (!!!), and it might be exceedingly difficult for Walt Disney World to raise its already high menu or Disney Dining Plan prices by another 25% across the board without losing business. (Or maybe not–nothing would surprise me anymore!)
This would certainly seem to be the company’s perspective with 2024 Disney Dining Plan prices as nothing–not even the regular DDP for adults–increased by 25%. That $16 increase is an increase of around 21%, which is still a lot, but not 25%. And that’s the biggest jump–everything else is insignificant by comparison, or a downright decrease. (Well, before factoring in the value of the lost snack…in which case, the adult DDP is at or above 25%!)
Nevertheless, we know there’s trepidation about raising food prices too much because Walt Disney World has admitted as much to investors! During an earnings call last year, the company’s CFO discussed what was being done to avoid price increases and manage costs. She mentioned changing suppliers, substituting products and more. That was also the source of her now-infamous line: “We can cut portion sizes, which is probably good for some people’s waistlines.” (Sorry, I know I reference this a lot. I still can’t get over the absurdity of her thinking this was a thing she should say out loud.)
This is also hardly unique to Walt Disney World, as “shrinkflation” and “skimpflation” have entered our collective vernacular as companies have found clever new ways to maintain margins without raising prices. The Disney Institute could probably teach a master class on these topics, as portion sizes and quality cuts have become par for the course in the parks. Purely anecdotal, but this seems to be worst at Walt Disney World’s most popular restaurants.
Those same concerns almost certainly exist with the Disney Dining Plan. Even in the last few years pre-closure, the rate of its price increases had slowed significantly. Menu item increases had outpaced Disney Dining Plan price increases pre-closure, making the DDP a better value in early 2020 than it was in ~2017.
The theory for that was Walt Disney World had reached its price ceiling with the Disney Dining Plan or come very close to it, but individual component prices could go higher when sold a la carte. Now, food costs are even higher. Consumers might be more willing to pay this impulsively and in smaller increments, but balk if the regular Disney Dining Plan is priced at $100 per person per day.
The takeaway from all of this should not be “wow, Walt Disney World is really generous” with such insignificant price increases. I mean, I guess you’re welcome to that charitable conclusion. My suspicion, supported by plenty of past precedent, is that there’s a catch. I’d really love to be wrong, but I feel like another shoe is going to drop, and we’ll soon find out the clever new ways Walt Disney World is leveraging “shrinkflation” and “skimpflation” with the Disney Dining Plan beyond just cutting the snack. Perhaps I’m being overly cynical, but it just seems too good to be true.
One way that Walt Disney World could quietly cut costs with the Dining Plans is by reducing their maximum value. There are a few of ways to accomplish this, one of which has already happened with the removal of the snack. Others are more sneaky. The one that we’ve already seen play out in the past is reducing the number of high-dollar menu items. This happened during the phased reopening, and particularly apparent at counter service restaurants with many of the pricier combo meals no longer being offered.
Along these lines, another possibility would be excluding certain menu items from the Disney Dining Plan. Maybe the Sampler at Flame Tree BBQ or the Cedar Plank Salmon at Polite Pig won’t be offered to those on the Disney Dining Plan. It’s possible that what qualifies as a snack will change, and fewer prepared items will make the cut.
Another possibility is an expansion of what’s 2-credits on the Disney Dining Plan. Signature Restaurant status might be bestowed upon more restaurants. Or, it might become a thing for higher caliber fast casual establishments like Polite Pig. (Honestly, I’m slightly surprised to see Polite Pig on the Full List of Restaurants on 2024 Disney Dining Plans. That and other popular third party restaurants of that nature probably could’ve opted out and not suffered much loss of business.)
Optimistically, perhaps none of this will happen. Even then, smaller portion sizes, cheaper ingredients, and reduced quality are all already happening by Disney’s own admission. So this will impact the Disney Dining Plan by extension, as equivalent menu items ordered today or in 2024 (to the extent that they exist) won’t be on par with their ~2019 counterparts.
Another possibility is that Walt Disney World has lowered Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan prices because they want to incentivize guests to purchase that tier of the DDP. Counter service restaurants have the most bandwidth and highest hourly capacity, so it’s plausible that the company wants to increase utilization of these restaurants and maximize their revenue.
Personally, I’m skeptical of this. Not the part about counter service restaurants having the most bandwidth and hourly throughput capabilities–that’s definitely true. Rather, I doubt that Walt Disney World will want to nudge guests towards these restaurants. That’s possibly true right now as the DDPs are being rolled out–and that’s probably the biggest reason why the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan (DxDDP) and Disney Dining Plan Plus (DDP+) remain unavailable. (We discuss all potential reasons for not restoring the DxDDP and DDP+ yet here.)
However, if that is the internal thought-process within Walt Disney World, I think it’s a shortsighted perspective that takes the dynamic today, freezes it in time, and assumes it’ll be the same in 2024. Already, we’ve observed a massive drop-off in ADR difficulty, including at some of the most popular restaurants at Walt Disney World. It’s probably at least somewhat safe to assume that’s a trend, and those restaurants will continue getting easier to book.
(With that in mind, I’ll go out on a limb and make a very early pricing prediction for the 2025 Disney Dining Plan: the regular tier decreases in price for adults. I’d also expect to see at least one of the two higher tiers restored–possibly prior to 2025.)
If Walt Disney World’s goal is increasing per guest spending–and it is–steering people towards the least expensive tier of the Disney Dining Plan is likely counterproductive. The only way it isn’t is if demand remains high for table service restaurants via cash-paying guests (questionable), and if there’s no fear of the Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan cannibalizing business or reducing demand for sit-down restaurants.
Basically, if there’s reason for Walt Disney World to believe that a cheaper Quick-Service DDP won’t cause downgrades, but rather, will cause those who were previously doing counter service restaurants as economically as possible to upgrade. Now that is a possibility. And one that would also explain the more attractive pricing for the QSDDP.
Maybe Walt Disney World has already seen a pronounced drop-off in food & beverage sales at that level or anticipates it occurring based on past data. With a pullback in consumer spending, decreases in sentiment and confidence, and economic downturn or recession on the horizon, I would hope that Walt Disney World is being proactive with pricing for 2024 in an attempt to avoid issues. It’s even possible that this was starting to occur pre-closure, which is why counter service quality and portion sizes have been reduced, but price increases have been minimal.
Finally, there’s the possibility that this is another move to increase guest satisfaction. The announcement early this year about the return of free self-parking at resorts, relaxed reservation rules, and on-ride photos coming to Genie+ also suggested that more improvements to address feedback were on the way. The 5 Major Improvements for 2024 at Walt Disney World revealed alongside the vacation package announcement also reinforces this.
Independently, we’ve heard that Walt Disney World wants to address common complaints and improve satisfaction scores, which have been lagging for the last year-plus. Bringing back the Disney Dining Plan is one way to accomplish exactly that, especially without astronomical across-the-board price increases overshadowing the substantive news. Of course, there are still going to be complaints, especially as the adult price of the regular Disney Dining Plan is going up by quite a bit and that’s the tier that many fans favor.
However, even the damage there isn’t as bad as it could be given food inflation over the course of the last few years and the upward trajectory of Disney Dining Plan pricing in any 3 normal years prior to 2020. Given the circumstances, we’d consider the pricing of the 2024 Disney Dining Plans something of a small victory…so long as our fears about skimpflation or shrinkflation turn out to be inaccurate.
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YOUR THOUGHTS…
What’s your take on the 2024 Disney Dining Plan pricing increases and decreases? Do you use the DDP for eating at Walt Disney World? What advantage or disadvantages do you think it offers? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of the Disney Dining Plan? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I personally don;t think its not worth the $95 a day . I can have a QS for $20 for lunch, then do a TS for dinner just say at Italy for $30. Have a $12 drink. I don;t need an dessert. Later grab a Mickey Pretzel and still be less. If I don;t want a full TS meal we do either appy’s or I order off the kids menu. which is even less than what DDP is a Day. Oh yes you let’s not forget the Mug.,…
Any clue if they will still allow you to use a QS meal for 3 snacks?
While it often worked, it was always hit or miss whether it worked. Even the same location didn’t always do it if the CM and/or their manager didn’t know (or know how).
Until it actually comes back next year, I’m assume the answer is the same “probably” as before.
My twins are 11 and there is no way they come close to $90+ of food per day. Never understood why Disney does not have a tween/teen price, especially since they the “adult” price factors in alcohol which they obviously are not drinking.
Same here, my kid is small and don’t eat a lot. Might have to lie her age to get the kids meal plan.
I guess I’ll never understand why anyone would want to give Disney money ahead of time for meals they might eat in 6 months. I would compare it to paying the government too much in taxes each paycheck (for that annual tax refund), but with Disney there is no refund if you didn’t eat all the food. If a family wants to stick to a budget, then put that DDP money on a debit card that YOU own and have control of. Use the debit card for meal purchases. You’ll likely come out ahead, and if you don’t use all the money then it’s yours to do what you like with. Again, Disney offers no refund for food not eaten. My wife and I looked at the pricing and we could never eat that dollar amount in a day. We eat when we’re hungry (few snacks), and I usually get a kid’s meal (I’m a 65 year old kid).
Not sure either plan is really worth the price for most people. The list of restaurants is nice. Any chance of getting one just for the quick service plan? While I like that they have included alcoholic drinks for adults but it might have been more tempting if it has just been a snack choice. I prefer at nice drink at the end of the day !
Thanks
Tom, do you think there is a possibility of the free dining plan in 2024?
Our updated predictions are covered in full detail here: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-world-free-dining-dates/
(TL;DR – Yes, but probably not with as early of a release as normal.)
Previously the regular dining plan included an alcoholic beverage- it looks like now it does not-
am I reading that correctly- if so that just increased the price of the meal.
It still does.
See “what’s included for each type of credit” in yesterday’s post: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-dining-plan-returns-2024-info-changes/
We always did the standard dining plan on our trips and worked it to get the best value thanks to your tips Tom, however these new prices at $94 per adult don’t seem worth it to me if you do the math deduction of a snack and QS meal and then what is left over for the TS meal, especially since there is one less snack credit. We have been eating without the dining plan since the reopening and have come to see that we can pay less for food if we “pay as we eat” and still eating table service meals once a day on our week long trips. Curious to see how this all plays out for our next big trip in 2025.
I totally get the big jump in price for the dining plan. Things cost A LOT more now than they did in 2019 and 2020, and I doubt it will improve any by 2024. That being said, however, I can’t fathom paying close to $100 a day for two meals, even at Disney prices unless I’m eating steak or lobster every day. I just spend a year loading up the Disney gift card (you can transfer funds from one card to another until it reaches $1K) then use the gift card for meals. It’s like the convenience of the DDP without the ridiculous cost of it.
Thank you for the write up! I can’t seem to find if the dining plan will be available to add on for DVC trips, is that something that has been confirmed or not?
Nope, not a fan. Disney needs to add a Junior price for ages 10-17 who still eat less than an adult and may go for the burger, nuggets and fries more than the steak dinners. In addition to dropping a snack credit, Disney also eliminated dessert from QS a few years ago. Disney will not lose money on the dining plan.
I totally agree! I have a 16 year old that is a picky eater and eats like a bird. Given the option, she’ll usually eat from the kids’ menu, which really gets costly at buffets and prix fixe restaurants. This has made things a lot more difficult for us because so many Disney restaurants are going to the prix fixe meals anymore. We avoid them like the plague, but it’s leaving us with a lot fewer options for dining.
My husband and I are DINKs in our late 30s that travel to Disney at least once a year, sometimes twice. We have always purchased the Deluxe plan. We love the signature locations and enjoy table service during the day. We worked the system to get the best out of the Deluxe plan, eating in some great locations over the years (and yes, we always had snack credits left over, lol). Since COVID, paying out of pocket wasn’t as shocking as we felt it might be, the caveat being, some of our favorite places (California Grill, Cinderella’s Table) were not open or carried a limited experience that didn’t make it worth the price. However, this change in dining plans will force us to make a few decisions. I’m wondering if purchasing the Regular plan is even worth it? We would still likely pay out of pocket for a third meal (not necessarily Signature anymore), so where would that land us in the long run? Going to have to do cost comparisons for our 2024 trip, for sure.
This pricing confirms a couple of my thoughts:
1. They really don’t care whether guests add the dining plan. They don’t see a need to offer discounted dining to fill up restaurants. So it’s basically, “well… if you want a dining plan so badly that you’re willing to pay a premium for it, go for it.”
2. The high priced dining plan gives them a great future discount lever to use when they need. You can’t really have “free dining” without a dining plan. And now they can say that free dining will save 2 adults nearly $200 per night!
The higher they pricing the dining value, the higher the perceived value of a free dining discount.
This also explains why no deluxe plan or plus plan — Instead; they are introducing the 2 plans that are sometimes offered as free dining.
So my guess — this is more about setting up a very effective discount lever for use later in 2024, then it is about actually selling dining plans.
Tom,
Does the DDP include an adult beverage?
Thank you,
Dan
Couple of things jump out to me.
“That $16 increase is an increase of around 21%, which is still a lot, but not 25%. ”
Yes but you have to add in another $6 for the missing snack when comparing to 2020. So really it jumped by about 28% comparing apples to apples.
Secondly, if we assigned $5 per snack and $18 per QS to the 2020 cost pre day that left about $50 for your sit down meal. 2023 sees that number increase to $66 if assuming $6 per snack and $22 per QS. A 32% jump…
I have a hard time seeing them “cutting the consumer a break” much given their already inflated prices on food…
Also, I could do some mental gymnastics and make the previous $78 per day seem “worth it”
I can’t really do that at $94 per day. I can definitely eat for less than that just paying cash.
In fairness, the parenthetical right after the sentence you quoted says this: “(Well, before factoring in the value of the lost snack…in which case, the adult DDP is at or above 25%!)”
If focusing exclusively on adult regular DDP prices, you’re absolutely right. Whether this is good or bad news is going to be a matter of perspective, and likely dependent upon how many kids ages 3-9 are in your party. (Or if you’d prefer the QSDDP.)
Sorry Tom, completely missed that last sentence somehow. Not enough coffee yet perhaps. You are on top of it as per the norm.
No need to apologize–I think this is fascinating and worthy of discussion and debate!
Also, we are right there with you. We skewed towards the DxDDP in the past, but also did the regular DDP from time to time. With this increase, I simply cannot see the math working out for us next year. (I added a section to that effect in the post, too.)
I always got the DDP, but the adult price increase and the dropping of one snack makes me think twice about this. At least they could have left the two snacks!
Tom the UK website lists the Adult and Kids per night costs when you are going through a booking and it asks if you would like to add it. They are Quick Service Adult; £47.99 Child; £19.99. Dining Plan Adult; £77.99 Child; £24.99.
it also clarifies that the dining credit that is part of the current early booker offer for 2024 can’t be used to buy the dining plan so would have that on top of any dining plan you buy.
Pricing is better than I expected. As a solo adult who pregames my menus I’m one of those less desirable guests. I don’t buy the DP for convenience but wait to see if the quick service plan is offered as a future fall free dining promo. In past years, I would upgrade from quick service to table service by paying the cash difference at booking. I won’t be doing that now. That big cash upgrade plus tips makes it really unattractive. The downgrading of table service menus since covid is also a real factor. Goodbye included crab legs at Cape May and so long lamb shank and scallops at many restaurants. It makes more sense for me to either take a room discount and leave any future fall free dining promo on the table or just take the basic quick service free dining promo and budget one or two nice signature dining experiences out of pocket including the always reasonable Orlando Magical Dining promotion in early fall. As always, the smart WDW consumer must do the math. Guests pay a huge premium for convenience. With the out of control planning that already goes into a WDW vacation, few guests actually crunch the numbers when it comes to dining. You have to be weird and actually like doing the homework. Most guests will assume all dining plans must offer cost savings or they wouldn’t be on offer. Not true for 2024 at least with standard table service dining. There really is no way to game WDW. But we can all save a few bucks if we do the math and adjust expectations. There are some great foodie offerings on those quick service menus. Many guests can’t see beyond the chicken nuggets and hot dogs and reject quick service out of hand. That’s a real shame.
100% agree with all of this.
I’ll also go out on a limb and make a very early pricing prediction for the 2025 Disney Dining Plan: there are increases for kids and the QSDDP, a decrease for adults on the DDP, and a restoration of at least one other tier. Frankly, wouldn’t be surprised to see that last thing happen sometime during 2024.
I think Walt Disney World is assuming way too much with table service demand going forward–especially given that it has already been dropping sharply in the last couple months.
I must translate with Google translator, because I am French Canadian.
I calculate an ideal day of meal, at Magic Kingdom park.
I don’t understand why is the advantage of buying the Dining Plan, if I take meals at the regular price in the menus for the same price .
Tony’s Town Square Restaurant
spaghetti and Meatballs : 26.00$
Tiramisù Cannoli : 9.00$
Canella Bellini : 12.00$
Pecos Bill Tall Inn and Cafe
Fajita Platter : 15.49$
Strawberry limeade Slush : 5.99$
Aloha Isle:
Pineapple Dole Whip Cup: 5.99$
Pop Century Resort food court:
To replace the Resort Refilliable Mug of my day.
Freshly Brewed Joffrey’s Coffee : 3.49$
Hot Cocoa : 3.50$
Coca – Cola Zero sugar Bottle : 4.69$
Total : 86.15 $ usd
Sorry , I don’t know the amount of taxes
Dining plan : 94.28$
Bonjour, ma canadienne! J’habite en Ontario.
L’explication: repas de caractère
My family only does character meals for TS or the prix fixe meals. There is no way to save money at those venues by skipping an appetizer or sharing dessert. If we want to eat with Disney Jr. characters, the price is set, and you can come out ahead on the DDP. (Google Translate: “vous pouvez sortir en tête” MDR, NON!) But making more princess meals cost two credits has lowered the value tremendously for us. Our children are also aging out of the kids’ tier. I have a young “Disney adult” who will never eat enough to justify the price. We do get alcoholic or specialty drinks at every meal, but now they cut a snack. So the math has changed a lot for us. Now our only hope is for a Free Dining promotion.
I don’t understand the adult price increase at all, unless they plan to significantly increase the menu pricing next. Looking at the high end of menu pricing, it would be $14 QS, $10 QS alcoholic drink, $40 FS, $10 FS alcoholic drink, $10 FS dessert, and $6 SN. That has a total of $90 plus tax. At best, we’re break even. I think they missed the mark. Not to mention my 10 year old would be more than a little tipsy if she has to drink all that in order to justify the cost. 😉
‘unless they plan to significantly increase the menu pricing next’
This exactly. In dribs and drabs over the next 6 months but food prices will be increasing. It’s inevitable with food inflation. How much WDW can increase those prices without alienating guests is the question. The 2024 dining plans are a tell. At least for the first quarter, they show us how high food can go.
Normally, I’d totally agree with this assessment of menu price increases–and it’s (sadly) probably true this year, too.
However, I really wonder to what extent Walt Disney World can still push menu prices higher and maintain demand. If the summer slowdown is any indication, consumers are already cutting back. Sooner or later, something’s gotta give–they can’t keep raising Lightning Lane, food, etc. prices without seeing a pullback. The question is whether they know this…or if they care?
It’ll be interesting to watch and see what happens!
I agree here. And I’m not even sure how much more they can increase food prices to make DDP seem “worth it.” As you said, you are already pushing $60-65 per adult for a sit down meal currently. Even as someone who loves doing the table service meals, I have to start asking how am I ok with paying that much? In the real world I would easily balk at those prices, and the Disney bubble can only go so far…