2024 Disney Dining Plan Info & Tips
The 2024 Disney Dining Plan comes in tiers, with prices starting at $57 per night for adults and $23 for kids. This guide to Walt Disney World’s meal package covers costs, money saving tips, what’s included, whether it’s worth getting, participating restaurants, and likely Free Dining dates. (Updated January 9, 2024.)
Let’s start with the current status of the Disney Dining Plan. For the first time in 4 years, the Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan (QSDDP) and standard or regular Disney Dining Plan (DDP) both now available to both book and use at Walt Disney World. The Deluxe Disney Dining Plan (DxDDP) and Disney Dining Plan Plus (DDP+) are still unavailable (for now), but the two most popular tiers (by far) have made their triumphant return.
But wait, there’s more! When it comes to the Disney Dining Plan, the next question is inevitably: “When is Free Dining available?” The answer to that is also right now. Free Dining is also back for 2024, available to book now for trips later this summer and fall. As discussed in our Guide to 2024 Free Dining at Walt Disney World, we’re expecting a second wave of dates to be released covering more travel dates. If you’d like to be notified if/when it’s released again or we have more details, sign up here for our FREE Disney newsletter here.
Prior to the return of the Disney Dining Plan in 2024, the DDP had evolved over time before disappearing for over 3 years. The most significant change that’s still relevant for the 2024 Disney Dining Plan is the inclusion of alcoholic beverages on all tiers of the Disney Dining Plans. This is a nice perk for drinkers, but has downsides–particularly for families, as kids obviously cannot order alcohol.
As a result of the addition of alcohol coupled with menu price increases, the Disney Dining Plan had actually become a better value in the last two years prior to being suspended. The return of the DDP has actually thrown us more value-for-money curveballs, as 2024 Disney Dining Plan prices for kids have decreased while adult prices have increased.
With that said, the 2024 Disney Dining Plan does cost more money…one way or another. Even with prices decreasing for kids, there’s also the big asterisk that Walt Disney World is reducing the number of snacks available on the Disney Dining Plans from 2 to 1 per night. So that alone achieves cost-savings for the company and reduces the per night value by $5-6. (More than offsetting that sticker price decrease.)
For another thing, Walt Disney World has already engaged in aggressive culinary cost-cutting, especially at counter service restaurants. They’ve substituted suppliers, changed ingredients, and reduced portion sizes. All of this means that even at the same prices, the 2024 Disney Dining Plan will offer less than before–or you’ll have to spend more to get as much.
Here’s everything else you need to know about the Disney Dining Plan…
We’ve used each tier of the Disney Dining Plan numerous times, usually multiple times per year. Our tips and opinions are based on our first-hand experience with the Dining Plan every year (minus the 3 it hasn’t been available) since 2007. Equally as important, we have not used the Disney Dining Plan many, many more times than we have used it.
That may not seem important, but it is. In researching Walt Disney World, you’ll learn that there are diehard Dining Plan fans, and others who hate it with the fiery passion of one thousand suns. Both groups have their biases, and often make sweeping generalizations about the Disney Dining Plan based on how well it works–or doesn’t–for them.
Seriously, Walt Disney World fans have a lot of surprisingly strong opinions about things that might seem silly to the average person. But few subjects are as irrationally polarizing as the Disney Dining Plan. Even ~15 years after its debut, we still don’t totally “get” that. We see the DDP’s pros and cons, and recognize that it’s great for some families and awful for others. In short, the Disney Dining Plan is very much not one-size-fits-all, and this post reflects that reality!
Before we get to dollars and cents, let’s cover some basics. The DDP is a prepaid meal plan offered at Walt Disney World so guests can budget their dining costs in advance and (potentially) save money. It provides guests with credits that can be redeemed for snacks, counter service meals, table service meals, or fine dining meals.
Gratuity is not included on the Disney Dining Plan, meaning guests need to pay that out of pocket. This is one way that the Disney Dining Plan actually catches people by surprise–even during Free Dining or when paid for in advance, tips can add up and be a considerable and sometimes unanticipated expense at the end of the trip. Otherwise, it’s a fairly all-inclusive meal plan, albeit with some limitations.
Disney Dining Plan credits are stored on the guest’s MagicBand or Key to the World card, with the receipt provided after redeeming the credits indicating how many credits remain. That’s the old school way of knowing how many credits you have remaining.
We recommend monitoring your 2024 Disney Dining Plan usage–including credits issued and redeemed–via the My Disney Experience app. Within the app, you’ll want to navigate to “Resort Hotel” (either from the home screen or the tiles) and then “Check Dining Plan.” That’ll take you to the screen above, showing you how many credits issued and remaining.
For counter service restaurants, we highly recommend using the Mobile Order feature in the My Disney Experience app to redeem your credits, too. This is because the process is even more streamlined for 2024, with a little pop-up ‘reminder’ indicating when you’re not fully utilizing the DDP and would be letting credits go to waste.
You can still use the Disney Dining Plan at counter service cash registers, and it’s often helpful to go this route if you have questions that a Cast Member can answer. And they also can help make sure you’re taking full advantage of your DDP credits. Of course, this is how you’ll also do things at table service restaurants–tell your server you have the Disney Dining Plan before ordering, and they’ll make sure you’re using your entitlements properly.
Walt Disney World has released the Full List of Restaurants on 2024 Disney Dining Plans, and there are currently 230 participating locations along with a handful of conspicuous omissions. That list is now pretty close to final, but will likely see a few changes throughout the year as new restaurants open and are added.
The big restaurants that are missing from the 2024 Disney Dining Plan are Space 220 and California Grill. The commonality is that both locations are immensely popular and both serve prix fixe menus. If either of those things change (popularity or menu types), we’d expect to see them added. Both would likely be 2-credit Signature Restaurants, making them poor uses of credits. There are also a handful of third party restaurants that don’t accept the 2024 Disney Dining Plan.
In addition to this, many menus at Walt Disney World (especially counter service restaurants) are still scaled-back, but we’ve already seen a few receive refreshes in the last couple of months. Even so, not everything on every menu is eligible for the DDP. You’ll need to look for the symbol (see below).
Walt Disney World guests purchasing a vacation package with a room and tickets through Disney are eligible to buy the Disney Dining Plan. This means that if you want the DDP, you cannot save money by staying in off-site hotel or by purchasing discount Walt Disney World tickets through a Disney-authorized ticket seller.
Disney Vacation Club members staying on points are also eligible to add-on the Disney Dining Plan, without the purchase of park tickets through Disney (as many of them either have Annual Passes or prefer purchasing discounted tickets through authorized third parties). You can also add-on the Disney Dining Plan when renting DVC points, which is a great way to save money on accommodations.
Let’s get more into the nitty-gritty of the Disney Dining Plan, starting with the basics: prices and what each plan includes…
Disney Dining Plan Overview
For the purposes of the Disney Dining Plan, a “counter service meal” consists of a combo meal (entree plus side) and beverage, including alcoholic beverages for adults (where available). It no longer includes a dessert. Also as of this date, a counter service meal may also consist of 3 snack items (defined below) in a single transaction.
A “table service meal” consists of an entree, dessert, and beverage, including alcoholic beverages for adults. For those guests on the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan (unavailable for 2024), this also includes an appetizer.
As part of Walt Disney World’s healthy living initiative, the dessert in the table service meal may also be substituted for a side salad, cup of soup, or fruit plate.
A “snack” includes items sold at snack carts around the park or in quick service restaurants. The definition of a snack has been expanded to include any single serving side item, which means more items will now be considered snacks (snacks were previously determined on a case-by-case basis with the DDP symbol (the purple thing above) denoting what was a snack). A snack now includes every side item, hand-scooped ice cream, and many other items that previously did not qualify as snacks.
Tax is always included, but guests pay for tips out of pocket. Children under 3 eat free from an adult’s plate.
Two-Credit Table Service Restaurants – Some dining experiences at Walt Disney World require 2 credits rather than just a single credit. By and large, these are premium offerings, such as Signature Restaurants, Dinner Shows, Pizza Delivery, or Room Service Meal.
In terms of value for money (or credit), there is not a single 2-credit premium experience that’s worth it from an objective perspective on the regular Disney Dining Plan. None of them–not one–offers per-credit value that’s on par with the ‘average’ redemption of a single table service credit. These are, across the board, a waste of DDP credits. Nevertheless, here are the options:
Character Dining – Certain ‘fancier’ character meals require two credits instead of one. These are Fairytale Dining at Cinderella’s Royal Table in Magic Kingdom, Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (at lunch and dinner only) in EPCOT, and Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White in Wilderness Lodge.
Fine Dining or Signature Restaurants – Experience an elegant Table-Service option with a wide selection of cuisines ranging from traditional African, Indian and Mediterranean to premium steaks and fresh seafood in Signature Restaurants, which are mostly the fine dining restaurants in Deluxe Resorts. There are about a dozen of these, and it’ll specify ‘Signature Dining’ in the restaurant description.
Dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant– Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom requires 2 Table-Service meal credits to be exchanged for a single dining experience.
Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue Dinner Show – Enjoy family-style dining with live entertainment at a themed dinner show. All dinner shows require advance reservations. Two Table-Service meals will be redeemed from the dining plan for each person dining at a dinner show experience.
Private In-Room Dining or Pizza Pickup – When staying at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, indulge in the comfort and convenience of dining in your room. At the other end of the spectrum, grab a mediocre (but large!) pizza to eat in your room from one of the Value Resorts. Neither option is as good as it sounds.
Dining Packages – Packages that include reserved seating for a show, such as Fantasmic or the EPCOT festival concerts and Candlelight Processional, are typically included in the Disney Dining Plan. Thus far, Walt Disney World has only confirmed that this will be true for Fantasmic, but we’d expect the same for EPCOT, as well (those will likely be 2-credits each, whereas it varies for Fantasmic). Here are the official details about using the DDP for Fantasmic Dining Packages:
1 Table-Service meal will be redeemed from the dining plan for each person dining at:
- 50’s Prime Time Café
- Hollywood & Vine
- Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano
- Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant
2 Table-Service meals will be redeemed from the dining plan for each person dining at the Hollywood Brown Derby.
Each Fantasmic Dining Package includes:
- An entrée and appetizer or dessert at select full-service restaurants or one full buffet (where applicable), along with a non-alcoholic beverage
- One voucher for guaranteed seating at Fantasmic! in a reserved area
Quick Service Disney Dining Plan (AVAILABLE FOR 2024)
The Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan is the lowest tier of the DDP. This is the tier that is typically included with Free Dining at the Value and Moderate Resorts.
For each person on the room reservation, the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan includes:
- two counter-service meals (per night)
- one snack (per night)
- a refillable drink mug (per stay)
For 2024, the per night price of the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan is $57.01 per adult and $23.83 per child. (Previously, it was $55 per adult and $26 per child ages 3-9.) That amounts to an increase of a couple dollars for adults and a decrease of a couple dollars for kids over the course of 3 years.
However, it’s again worth emphasizing that both of the 2024 Disney Dining Plans only offer one snack each, whereas their counterparts previously offered two snacks per night. (That’s a difference in value of $5-6.)
Standard Disney Dining Plan (AVAILABLE FOR 2024)
This is the standard tier of the Disney Dining Plan, and what’s typically included with “Free” Dining at the Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts. For the price difference between the plans, you can upgrade from the Free Quick Service Dining Plan to this plan at the Value Resorts.
For each person on the room reservation, the Standard DDP includes:
- one counter-service meal (per night)
- one sit-down meal (per night)
- one snack (per night)
- a refillable drink mug (per stay)
For 2024, the per night price of the standard or regular Disney Dining Plan is $94.28 per adult and $29.69 per child. (Previously, it was $78.01 per adult and $30.51 per child.) As you can see, that’s a huge increase for adults (+$16 per night!) and a slight decrease for kids in 2024.
Disney Dining Plan Plus (UNAVAILABLE FOR 2024)
This is the upgraded tier of the Disney Dining Plan, which is best for guests who want to do table service lunch and dinners, or breakfast breakfast and dinners every day of their vacation. For the extra cost, you receive a second table service meal in place of a counter service meal–but you have the option (or “flexibility” as Disney calls it) of simply using those credits at quick service restaurants.
For each person on the room reservation, the DDP+ includes:
- two meals at your choice of table service or counter service restaurants (per night)
- two snacks (per night)
- a refillable drink mug (per stay)
The per night price of the Disney Dining Plan Plus was $94.61 per adult and $35 per child when it was last available. If it returns later in 2024 or 2025, expect it to cost over $100 per night for adults, and around the same price for kids.
Deluxe Disney Dining Plan (UNAVAILABLE FOR 2024)
This is the upper echelon of Disney Dining Plans, and the closest thing Walt Disney World offers to an all-inclusive meal package (albeit not covering tips and other things you may want to order/purchase). By default, no resort tier receives this for Free Dining, but you can pay the difference to upgrade to it.
Those on the Deluxe Plan may officially mix their adult and child credits, meaning that child credits may be used for adult entrees. This has long been an unofficial loophole (and remains one) for the lower tiers of the plans, but it’s officially allowed on the Deluxe Plan.
For each person on the room reservation, the DxDDP includes:
- three meals at your choice of counter service restaurants or table service restaurants (per night)
- two snacks (per night)
- one refillable drink mug (per stay)
The per-night price of the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan was $119 per adult and $47.50 per child during regular season, and more during peak season, when it was last available. If it returns for 2025, don’t be surprised if it costs over $130 for adults (maybe even $140!) and $50 for kids.
DDP credits don’t have a set dollar value, and how much they are “worth” widely varies based upon your dining preferences. For example, a table service credit may be redeemed at an inexpensive restaurant for a water, sandwich, and ice cream dessert that would normally cost $37 total. Alternatively, it can be redeemed at a nicer restaurant for a glass of wine, swordfish steak, and Copetta Sotto Bosco that would normally cost $73 total.
These are actual examples from Walt Disney World restaurants, demonstrating the big difference in value a credit may have depending upon at which restaurant and for which menu items it’s redeemed. You could get even less or even more value out of the Dining Plan, depending upon what you order.
By analyzing pricing, we can reverse engineer an approximate value that Disney places on each meal type within the various DDPs. Based upon our calculations, a table service meal is worth approximately $63, a counter service meal on the DDP is worth approximately $25, and a snack is worth approximately $6. (For the purposes of these calculations, we view the refillable mug as a throw-in, since its value could fluctuate widely depending upon length of stay.)
Those numbers are updated to account for price increases and decreases on the 2024 Disney Dining Plan. Honestly, it’s difficult to contort the numbers to make the math work, but the above values are pretty much the only way for the discrepancy between the two tiers to make sense. The result is a slight increase in the value ascribed to snack and counter service credits, and a massive increase for table service credits.
By comparing those dollar amounts to online menus available for Walt Disney World, you can get a pretty good idea of whether the Disney Dining Plan is right for your family. We write a long review below and also have resources for getting more value out of the Dining Plan, but ultimately it’s a personal thing. With those rough numbers, you can do the math for yourself and make an informed decision as to whether the DDP is right for you.
Spoiler: unless you drink alcohol at almost every meal and order expensive entrees at nice restaurants (but not 2-credit ones!) or do a lot of character dinners (but not breakfasts!), it’s going to be very difficult to make the regular Disney Dining Plan work out in your favor. That’s especially true if your party skews towards adults, rather than kids.
If you want to read more about most common circumstances when the DDP does or does not make sense, see When You Should Buy & Skip the 2024 Disney Dining Plan! That’s a long read, but it provides a breakdown of different demographics that likely will–and will not–benefit from buying the DDP. Or you can simply follow the above rule of thumb, which is all ~90% of guests need to know.
If you’re on the fence as it’s a close call as to whether the Disney Dining Plan is right for you, it is possible to plan ahead to squeeze more bang for your buck out of the DDP. For this, see our popular ‘Value Maximization’ series of posts:
- Top 10 Restaurants for Maximizing Table Service Credit Value
- Top 10 Restaurants for Maximizing Counter Service Credit Value
- Best Ways to Maximize Snack Credit Value
Frequent users of the Disney Dining Plan become pretty adept at getting more bang for their buck, as they know these strategies are the difference between saving hundreds of dollars with the Disney Dining Plan and losing hundreds of dollars with it. With these posts, quick menu review, and some advance planning, first-time visitors to Walt Disney World can also make the most of the Dining Plan!
As noted at the top of the post, the Disney Dining Plan is offered throughout the year for “free” to Walt Disney World guests who purchase a vacation package (this is not offered to Disney Vacation Club members staying on points). Typically, Free Dining is offered for select dates in August through December.
The Free Dining promotion is incredibly popular with Disney fans. However, you need to remember that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. When Free Dining is available, you forfeit another discount that might be offered–like a room-only discount. You’re also locked-in to buying tickets directly from Disney, which means no discount tickets. Suffice to say, you need to do the math and compare the “Free” Dining Plan to other discounts.
Before even booking the Disney Dining Plan, you should determine where you want to eat and secure Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs). It should be easy to see which Disney Dining Plan best suits your needs, or if the Dining Plan is even necessary.
Even for many on-site Walt Disney World guests, the Dining Plan is not the best option. For example, if you want to splurge and stay Club Level (read our Guide to Club Level & Concierge Lounges at Walt Disney World for more info), it’s not a good fit for you. If you primarily want to indulge in Signature Restaurants or fine dining, the Disney Dining Plan isn’t a good choice. Vegans and vegetarians also will not be well-suited by the Disney Dining Plan. (The list goes on…)
For a simple system, it’s surprisingly complex, so don’t feel bad if it takes some reading before you fully understand how the Disney Dining Plan works and whether it is a good fit for your party. If you only anticipate eating inexpensive meals or want to stay on a tight budget, the Dining Plan probably won’t make a lot of sense. But we’ll get to that…
Is the Disney Dining Plan Worth It? – Pros & Cons
Savings – You can save on the Disney Dining Plan, but you have to be a certain type of eater and not waste any credits. If you are a big eater who likes steak and would like to order it at every meal, you can save money with the Disney Dining Plan. This requires that everyone in your party is a big eater, and that all of you use all of your counter service and snack credits wisely. (See our Worst Snack Credit Uses on the Disney Dining Plan list for more on that.)
If your teens are human garbage disposals and the adults in your party love steak, the Dining Plan can offer some savings. As soon as anyone in your party starts ordering chicken or pasta, those savings disappear to the point that you start losing money on the Disney Dining Plan. No matter what they order, a vegetarian will lose money by using the Disney Dining Plan–without exception.
With the addition of alcohol to the Disney Dining Plan, anyone who enjoys a drink or two per day will also come out ahead. The cost of drinks at Walt Disney World restaurants average around $8-14, which is larger than the price increase of the Dining Plans this year. If you get two glasses of wine per day, you’re looking at around $20-25/person more in value every day.
Conversely, if you’re non-drinkers or using the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan and spend most of your time in Magic Kingdom (where alcohol isn’t served at counter service restaurants), you come out behind. Alcohol is the huge new wildcard to the Disney Dining Plan, and can really swing the pendulum of value. Whether that’s in your favor or out of your favor depends almost entirely upon how many alcoholic drinks you enjoy per day.
Speaking of which, the Disney Dining Plan is potentially very valuable for those who visit during Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival or any other Epcot festival (basically, any month except summer). The good news is that taking advantage of this value does not require drinking–this is all about snacking!
Some of the best snacks at the Epcot festivals can cost as much as $10 and can be purchased using snack credits. We highly recommend stockpiling snack credits and using them during your Epcot days, as not only are these festival snacks a great use of credits, but the Epcot festivals are a ton of fun, and this is a way to avoid the sticker shock of paying out of pocket.
The Deluxe Dining Plan can be utilized well if you follow the strategy of eating breakfast (or an early lunch) at a Table Service restaurant (character breakfasts are great for this) and dinner at a Signature Table Service Restaurant, plus snacks whenever. Read How We Saved 50% on the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan for a specific example of how we’ve leveraged the DxDDP for maximum value!
It’s worth noting that prices have risen dramatically for the Disney Dining Plan since it was introduced, meaning that just because you used it on your last trip ~5 years ago and found it to be a good value, does not mean it’s still a good value. The appetizer and tip were cut ages ago, and prices have increased.
However, the biggest of the price increases occurred a few years ago, and prices have not climbed much since then. It would seem that Walt Disney World has reached its price ceiling (or close to it) with the Disney Dining Plan. Prices are only up slightly, and that has been true of previous years, too. Prior to that, there were some double-digit price spikes.
By contrast, table service menu prices have steadily increased since the introduction of the Disney Dining Plan, and at a higher rate (~15%) than the Disney Dining Plan pricing. This means that the relative value of the Dining Plan versus paying out of pocket actually has improved of late.
Effort – If value is your main concern and you aren’t a steak-addict, it can take a lot of pre-planning to save money by using the Disney Dining Plan. Because the margin of savings can be so low, in many cases the Dining Plan causes guests to order the most expensive item on the menu to get “value” out of the plan.
Same goes for choosing more expensive restaurants. There have times on the Dining Plan when a cheaper menu item sounded good, but there was that lingering thought in the back of my mind that if I didn’t order something more expensive, the Dining Plan would actually cost us more than paying out of pocket.
This blog alone has at least 10 articles about the Disney Dining Plan, and we could probably have another couple dozen and still have people asking us questions. Saving money on the Disney Dining Plan requires a good amount of pre-planning or knowledge of how to work the system if you’re just a normal eater.
It’s good to pre-plan where you want to eat at Walt Disney World regardless of whether you’re on the plan (not all restaurants are equal and you’ll need ADRs for some), so that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but using the Dining Plan increases the amount of pre-planning that’s necessary–if you care about saving money. We’ve found that we normally save more with the Tables in Wonderland card than the Dining Plan, and the former requires no pre-planning maximization effort.
Amount of Food – One common complaint is that the Disney Dining Plan often “forces” guests to eat more than they want. While Sarah and I are both big eaters, at times, the Dining Plan is just too much food. There have been occasions when we otherwise would have eaten small counter service meals, but because we had the credits to use, we have eaten at Table Service restaurants. Not only did this result in over-consumption, but it also burned valuable vacation time.
If you have a short trip and want to experience as many attractions as possible, this is something to keep in mind. While you can get value out of the Disney Dining Plan, that savings requires sitting down for longer meals and eating a lot of food. If you don’t normally eat as much food as the DDP provides, you aren’t actually saving money–the savings are illusory. You’re over-consuming in the name of (false) savings.
Convenience – Many visitors argue that the Disney Dining Plan is about convenience. We contend that it is not convenient. In terms of convenience, look at it this way: you’re reading an in-depth article about using the Disney Dining Plan, and you’ll probably read other such articles.
How many articles have you read titled “Paying for Meals with Cash Info & Tips”? Hopefully none. A convoluted credit system cannot possibly be more convenient than the universal standard of paying money for a billed amount. It just can’t.
Budgeting – This is probably the most contentious point. In addition to supposedly being convenient, a lot of its fans advocate the Disney Dining Plan because it helps them stay on a budget and avoid thinking about money on vacation. Again, this doesn’t pass the smell test.
In most cases, when people try to stay on a vacation budget, it’s because there is a need for that budget. Overspending might cause financial strain. Viewed in that light, the Disney Dining Plan doesn’t help with a budget, it helps with predictability. Meals cost the same amount every night, regardless of what’s consumed.
If you’re on a tight budget and you’d normally spend $35 per person per night on food if you paid out of pocket, but you end up spending ~$60+ per person per night on food with the DDP, isn’t that predictability doing you more harm than good?
The Disney Dining Plan allows you to fall back on this predictability and ‘turn off’ your brain with regard to how much dining costs on vacation. If you don’t want to worry about money, purchase (discounted!) Disney Gift Cards before the trip. While we don’t advocate making that psychological disconnect between actual and “fake” money, if you really don’t want to think about money, go that route.
We will be blunt: if you are too lazy to make a dining budget before your trip, chances are you’re too lazy to figure out where to dine to maximize your value. Given that, you’ll probably end up saving more money with the gift card method.
Sticker Shock – Even if you’re not on a tight budget, menu prices at Walt Disney World can be a bit…shocking. The psychological disconnect we mentioned above isn’t always a bad thing, particularly if you want to splurge or have financial means, but can’t bring yourself to order certain items when directly paying menu prices.
The Disney Dining Plan won’t scare you away from expensive menu items. If you love filet mignon, but would shy away from ordering it upon seeing the menu price, the Disney Dining Plan might be for you. However, you might have some sticker shock when you see the nightly prices of the Dining Plan, in the first place…
Conclusion
Overall, whether the Disney Dining Plan is right for you is a personal decision based on a lot of variables. We estimate that for the majority of guests, it is not a good value. This doesn’t mean it’s not a good product, as it will offer monetary savings for some families, and psychological comfort for plenty of others. I can’t say whether the DDP is right for your particular circumstances, but hopefully the considerations above can help with your decision. If you use the Disney Dining Plan for your vacation, make sure you do your homework and plan accordingly!
If you are still unsure of whether the Disney Dining Plan might be right for you—or need personalized help with any aspect of your trip from hotels to the DDP and more—we recommend contacting a no fee “Authorized Disney Vacation Planner” (basically, Disney’s term for a travel agent) to get a quote and to help you plan. They get their commission from Disney, so none of the authorized (key word) planners will charge you for booking their trip and helping. Here’s one such recommended Authorized Disney Vacation Planner.
With regard to the Disney Dining Plan and restaurants in general, this article is just a jumping off point. First-time Walt Disney World visitors often underestimate the importance of planning (especially for restaurants, many of which are booked solid months in advance) and have a bad time because they didn’t plan enough. Want more dining recommendations? Check out our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. For info on whether the DDP is right for you, read our Ultimate Guide to the Disney Dining Plan. For comprehensive vacation advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What is your experience with the Disney Dining Plan? Thinking about buying the 2024 Disney Dining Plan once it becomes available? Does the DDP work for you? Is it a bad fit for your family? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? 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!
Very informative blog and the last straw for me to opt out of DDP. We’re Canadians and are already paying a 30-35% plus premium due to exchange rates. On our last trip in 2014 that premium was 10-15 so it made a little more sense but we also thought it included way too much food. One thing nobody mentions: food items have a set value and even though they are included in the plan, they add up to provide the basis for the 18% gratuity you somewhat feel obliged to pay. Therefore, servers wil often encourage you to order “included” items you’re not hungry for to get a better tip. This year we’re doing cash or charge and we’ll do the math at the end of our trip.
Hi we are here now in animal kingdom. It’s our first Disney dining plan experience too. Yes the staff do push for you to have a big desert even if you’re full so they’ll get a bigger tip. We got chased out of rain forest cafe as we never left our waitress the tip she asked for!! Being British we are not used to leaving such huge tips for average service. But it seems we have no choice! They add it anyway to our room!!! So now we chose the least expensive meal on the menu so our compulsory 18% tip is less
Hi, all the time i used to check weblog posts here early in the daylight, since i enjoy to find out more
and more.
The Disney DP makes kids 10 & under use the kids menu – if that particular restaurant asks/ cares. I have boys 8 & 11 and we did have the 8 year old eat as an adult a couple of times. It doesn’t seem like the restaurants know who is a kid and who is an adult when you check in – not an issue until you scan your wrist thing?
There is a discrepancy concerning your comment on the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan as it relates to children entitlements. According to the official plan sheet on Disney’s website, a child must order off the children’s menu if one is available. Every restaurant I have booked from California Grill to Le Cellieur has a children’s menu, so this has not been changed on the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan from what I can see thought many sites state it is. Perhaps this is still unofficial? Please clarify if you can. Thanks.
I think this issue is contentious because everyone has their own idea of what “value” is.
For my parents, they have always felt there was immense freedom in the “it’s already paid for” feeling. They really like buying the deluxe plan because, for them, the feeling that they can eat wherever they feel like and it’s already been paid for is well worth the money. They never made ADRs, they would just see what was available when they were at the park. Spontaneity and not worrying about anything is at the core of a good vacation for them.
In fact, when I took my mom to Disneyland for her birthday last year, she was really upset by the fact that Disneyland doesn’t have a dining plan because the idea of thinking about money, and which place you can eat, and who is picking up the check, etc. just adds to her stress. We ended up buying gift cards before the trip so we could use those to pay for meals so she wouldn’t “feel” like she was paying for things while we were there but, she definitely would have been happier with a dining plan.
For me, I feel differently. While my parents loved the freedom of feeling like they could eat whatever they felt like without pressure, I always felt like the deluxe plan was too much food and I frequently felt pressure to “make the most of it”. That pressure just came from my own personality, they weren’t feeling it. For myself and my husband, unless my mom was along, we would go for a standard or lighter plan. I like those plans because I feel like they give me permission to not just order the cheapest thing on the menu and I like pre-paying for things to avoid sticker shock afterwards. For me, those plans are inexpensive *enough* that don’t stress too much about “making the most of them”. I would never order a $5 cupcake if I hadn’t already paid for it but, I would be sad about not trying those awesome looking cupcakes.
Neither my nor my parents’ reasons for liking the plan have to do with overall saving money. They have to do with experience and giving yourself permission to have fun. For us, that’s the most valuable part of the plan. For other people, it won’t be. I would hesitate to ever tell someone that the plan isn’t a “good deal” just because they aren’t a big eater… or to tell them it’s a good deal just because they are. Vacation should not be stressful so, whatever will alleviate stress the most for you: pre-paying, packing your own sandwich, pay-as-you-go, etc., is really the “best deal”.
Very good points, and you’re absolutely right about not being able to put a price on peace of mind and less stress. Thanks for the feedback!
I agree I’m coming next year to Disney world from the uk for 11 nights with my four year old and I will definately have the dineing plan not because I think I might save money but I’m definately the sort of person that never orders what they acturly want because of the price and I think just for 11 days on holiday I would like the freedom of ordering whatever without worrying about the cost! My daughter is allready asking me to google pictures of Disney cupcakes! It’s gonna sort of be a one off trip so I don’t want to have to be telling her no the whole time! So at least with the dineing plan cupcakes I won’t be saying no to, well within reason…….!
We are thinking about purchasing the deluxe plan. Are we aloud to share credits at table service meals if family decides to join us?
Technically, no, but the system can’t stop you and the restaurant won’t know. We’ve done it a few times without issue.
Great article and so true! I am a DVC member and go often since I live in Florida and find that the Dining Plan is so not worth it. Honestly, the prices are crazy and they keep raising them, plus it almost forces you to eat. Sometimes we just eat appetizers and that is almost like a meal and save money that way. I will be going for the holidays and don’t plan on using the plan, when I calculated everything I would spend (it’s easy now with the menus online) including tip, it came out to about $200 less without the plan, ha, go figure. Sadly, this will probably be my last year in a long time at Disney they changed the annual passes as well and upped them substantially, so just going to take my $$ elsewhere.
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Hi great article! Im planning to go to disney world for five days for my sweet 16… so I’m trying to figure out a good price to present to my parents. We would drive down from New York in 24hrs (we have done this many times before) and stay in the Caribbean Beach Resort. I wouldn’t need to buy my tickets from disney because I have a cheaper way of getting them so they wont be an issue…. Im trying to keep my budget under 9,000. I can’t decide which dining plan i should get though. The group would have a total of seven people and Id like to eat at some of the nicer food places (Cinderellas royal Table, Be Our Guest, Chefs de France) because of my birthday (and also get an in room celebration package). I also wouldn’t be with my parents the entire time so I was thinking if i got the deluxe i wouldn’t have to worry about my friends racking up a thousand dollar bill if we decided to sit somewhere for lunch or a late dinner. Any advice would help thank you!
I love the deluxe Disney dining plan! My husband and I did a Character breakfast or sometimes lunch then a signature dinner. BIG BONUS, hubby didn’t see the prices.
We tried restaurants we wouldn’t have otherwise.
Tom’s analysis is pretty right on. The dining plan, in my opinion, is a bit of a rip off. Take the standard plan. A typical counter service meal including a non alcoholic drink is $12-$15. The table service meals are tougher to judge. A burger or something similar is about $15-18. An entree meal might be $20-25. Add another $3 for a non alcoholic drink. A typical snack is $5. So even using high end figures that totals about $45, or $15 less than what the dining plan would’ve cost. If your gonna dine at higher end table service restaurants or do a few character meals then the dining plan might be worth it. The thing is that when you have the dining plan you are always conscious of making sure that your getting enough value out of your meals. You don’t want to waste money. That forces you to plan your vacation around your meals. I just went to disney a few months ago and ended up canceling or changing most of my ADRs simply because my plans changed or I wanted to stay in the parks or pool longer. If I had gotten the dining plan I would’ve basically been forced to plan my day around meals instead of meals around my day. So unless you are gung ho about definitely eating at the more expensive restaurants or always ordering the most expensive item on the menu the dining plan just doesn’t make sense or save you money. Trust me, disney has thought of everything and is not gonna let people save money on food. Maybe they did in the past, but not anymore.
HELP, I have tried to get the free dining you talk about for this fall Tom. According to Disney resort reservations and Disney Chase they do not have one. ???
It’s too late to book the Free Disney Dining Plan promotion now. It was available, but no longer is.
Do you know what the seasonal upcharge is? We are planning a trip in mid DEC. Do restaurants have seasonal price increases?
Thanks
Hey Tom,
First time commenting on your website, so I need to say good job on such hard work put into this. The page is amazing and I love spending hours reading everything over and over again. 🙂
My parents, partner and I are going to Disney World in September and we already booked everything directly through their website. We are staying in Disney All Stars Sport and at the time of purchase of the vacation package we didn’t considered Disney’s Dining Plan. To be honest, I don’t even remember seeing anything related to the Free Dining Plan listed on their checkout page, but anyway…
Independently of it, if in case we changed our mind now and we decided on accepting the Dining Plan, would that still be possible, or the only time that they offer it is once we are paying for the vacation package on the first place?
Thanks for your time,
-Matheus
Hi, so when I asked a Disney representative about using child credits for adult meals, at first they said that on the Deluxe plan and up, you could, but then she quickly came back and said she was mistaken, that only adults could choose to order off the kid’s menu, but kids cannot order off the adult menu. Where did you get your information?
We are getting the free quick service dining plan at the end of Oct. 2015. Booked into All Star sports. Out plane arrives around 10:00 pm, it’ll be 11:30 when we check in. What happens to our dining credits for that day, do we lose them, do they roll over? Or do they start the nexr day?
P.S. Wonderful blog…very helpful.
You’ll still have them. You receive all of your credits for the duration of your trip as soon as you check-in, and they all disappear (if you haven’t used them) at midnight of the day you check-out.
My family just took our first trip to Disney World this June, and the Dining Plan was a huge savings for us. We have 2 small children with big appetites, and we wanted to fit in as many character meals as we could. It also doesn’t hurt that my fiance is “meat and potatoes” guy.
I can completely understand how other families might not save money or get the best value by having the Dining Plan, but for us it worked out great!
Hi,what I understand from the fine print of the DP, it will shows as credit for kids meal i hope this help.
Hi, hopefully I can word this question correctly. We will be in DW this coming up August! We have always gotten the deluxe dining plan, but this year we are opting for the standard plan. I have a 12 year old and a 9 year old. Are the “child” table service meals separated on my magic band? Meaning if I pay out of pocket for the 9 year old at one of our sit-down meals, will we have 1 extra credit to use at another restaurant in general or would it show up as a child credit. I hope this makes sense to you. Love all your posts!!
Yes, child and adult table service are separate credits. You can totally do exactly what you said – pay out of pocket for the 9yo and save that adult table service credit. They’re really good about separating out charges so you use as many credits as you want and pay cash for whatever you want. Now – whether or not they will let you order a table service kids’ meal for a 9yo that you pay for out of pocket, I can’t answer. You’ll get away with it at some places, I’m sure. Others might be not-so-helpful. Or maybe the 9yo is sharing with others, so that’s not an issue. Ordering some of those adult meals for a 9yo is crazy!! I cannot for the life of me figure out that age cutoff. We’re headed to DL in Apr, and at 10yo, this is the first time we have a kid 9yo or older. Totally ordering her sides and apps instead of huge entrees, but we’re not tied to a dining plan there.
So I just noticed that you change this blog slightly every year to account for changes when I scrolled down to see how many replies there were! This will mark the first year that my wife and I do NOT plan on buying the dining plan due to the cost. Last year we spent close to $800 for the dining plan, but when did the number crunching at the end of the trip, found that we only “spent” $600 through it at the end of the trip, and that mean drinking sodas we don’t normally order when we prefer water, and eating desserts that to be honest weren’t that great and are also something we don’t typically eat. Granted, we were sick one day and had to cancel a reservation at Akershus, which also kinda sucked because it meant eating the cancellation fee for the reservation on top of it all.
We’re thinking of doing Tables in Wonderland this year, and going again in the summer so that we can maximize the value out of it. If our budget for the next 2 trips is in the ballpark of $1000 for dining, would this be the better option? Thanks!
I think your review hits the mark. We have been travelling to WDW for 12 years running. We have stayed outside the park, in the park, have gotten the (Deluxe) dining plan numerous times, and have also dined without the plan. We independently arrived at the same conclusions you did – the way to maximize use of the Deluxe plan is 2 table service meals per day – preferably lunch and a Signature dinner, still using 3 meal points per person per day. And don’t leave credits behind! We have gotten into the situation during past trips of having to scramble and use 10+ snack points over the last couple of days. But good point also – on the plan, you really do feel compelled to maybe eat way too much food. We have recently decided to revert to the “no dining plan” plan.