*Dining @ Disney*--Disney Dining Plan

I thought we'd dive right in to one of the top things everyone asks about... FOOD! At Disney World, the options are limitless... They have everything from fast food to fine dining and it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the choices (and the prices :) ).  But, no fear, your DWTravelGeek is here with some info and advice to help you make wise decisions and make the most out of your time and money.

First up in our "Dining @ Disney" series is the Disney Dining Plan. If you are purchasing a vacation package through Walt Disney World, you have the option of choosing one of the Disney Dining Plans to add on to your Magic Your Way Tickets. For the sake of time, I'm going to just focus on the main two dining plans that most people purchase: The Disney Quick Service Plan and the Disney Dining Plan.

The Disney Quick Service Plan includes:

• 2 quick-service meals per person, per night (lunch/dinner includes entree, drink, and a dessert)
• 1 snack per person, per night
• 1 drink mug per person, refillable at any quick-service restaurant at your Disney Resort hotel

• And it costs (as of 1/16/2013... prices subject to change):
• Guests age 10 & up: $37.58 per person, per night
• Guests ages 3-9: $14.32 per person, per night

So, let's answer some questions:

1. How can I save the most with this plan?  Eat like a lumberjack :).  Don't use your meal credits for Breakfast (don't get me started--yet--on breakfast at Disney World.  People, just know that early morning is precious park time... bring poptarts from home and eat in your hotel room or on the bus... please?  Promise??? ).  Pick the most expensive item on the menu for lunch and for dinner.  Never use snack credits for drinks... pick something like a pretzel or cinnamon roll from the Main Street Bakery (yum!... you could even save it for breakfast!). Use that refillable mug like crazy. According to my calculations, you could save 10% if you did all of this. 
2. Could I lose money with this plan?  Yes.  If the idea of eating a 1/2 slab of ribs, cole slaw and chocolate mousse at noon in Animal Kingdom on a 90 degree day makes you a little queasy, then you will probably lose money with this plan.  If you are more likely to order a Barbecue Chicken Salad and skip the dessert, don't buy this plan.  If you have several kids between the ages of 3-9, this plan is probably not for you. Most kids meals are around $5 and they include a drink and sides. If the child has two kids meals and a Mickey's Premium Ice Cream Bar for a snack ($3.29), you end up losing about $1 per kid, per day.  If you are not careful, you could easily spend more than if you had just bought the food without the Quick Service Plan. 
3. Would the DWTravelGeek purchase this plan?  No.  For our family, I haven't been able to make this plan work for us, financially.  I've gone to great geek lengths to test this plan, and for us it just doesn't make sense to order more food than we can eat in order to save money.  If we order what we normally eat, we could lose about 7% per day. 

The Disney Dining Plan includes:

• 1 quick-service meal per person, per night
• 1 table-service meal per person, per night
• 1 snack per person, per night
• 1 drink mug per person, refillable at any quick-service restaurant at your Disney Resort hotel

• And it costs (as of 1/16/2013... prices subject to change):
• Guests age 10 & up: $55.59 per person, per night
• Guests ages 3-9: $17.16 per person, per night

Let's answer some questions about this plan:

1. How can I save the most with this plan?  A lot easier than the Quick Service Plan...   Don't use your meal credits for Breakfast.  Schedule your reservations AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (if you are within 180 days of your trip, and you haven't made any dining reservations yet, STOP READING NOW AND GO DO IT!) and schedule more dinners than lunches... IF, you MUST schedule a Table Service breakfast, get the latest time possible and consider it lunch.  Our family has gotten reservations at Chef Mickey's at 10:45 several times and then not eaten again until 5:00 with a snack in between. Pick LOTS of Character Meals for your Table Service Credits.  Most of the time these meals are buffets and the experience is incredible! (Have you made your reservations yet?  Why did you keep reading???)  Don't order the cheapest thing on the menu for lunch and for dinner.  Look at the menus on Allears.net and decide ahead of time what you're going to order.... pick the most expensive thing if it sounds yummy!  Never use snack credits for drinks... pick something like a pretzel or cinnamon roll from the Main Street Bakery (save it for breakfast the next day!). Use that refillable mug. According to my calculations, you could easily save 15%.
2. Could I lose money with this plan?  Yes... but only if you used your table service credits for breakfasts everyday, ordered the cheapest thing on the menu for your counter service meal, and used your snack credits for drinks.  So, don't do that! 
3. Would the DWTravelGeek purchase this plan?  YES, if we wanted to be committed to a table service meal every single day of our vacation.  We have done this, and it was certainly nice to have a long lunch or dinner in air conditioning where we could relax and take our time eating some delicious food.  But, on our last trip we decided to skip out on the Disney Dining options all together and make a food budget.  We scheduled two Character Meals that we really wanted to do and then ate at counter service the rest of the time.  This worked great for us, but we are the type of people who pack our days at the parks FULL and we strive to hit as many attractions as possible. Allowing over an hour for one of our meals once a day is a lot to ask of us :). 

That about wraps it up!  I hope this helped you make some decisions about your next Disney World vacation.  Got questions? Email me and I'll do my best to help!

*GEEK TIP: Eat breakfast in your room or on the bus (Hopefully you figured this one out from earlier in the post :) )... Pack some poptarts, mini muffins, granola bars, etc into one of your suitcases (or pack a small suitcase full of yummy things).  Then, when you get ready to go home, you'll have extra room in your suitcase for all of your souvenirs!