Maximizing the Disney Dining Plan in 2024 - PREP 397

What is the Disney Dining Plan? Who can purchase it? How do the credits work? What has changed with the Disney Dining Plan? And, most of all, is the Disney Dining Plan worth it? Listen for the answers to all of that and more in-depth analysis.

In this article

Basics

Here are some important things to know about your Disney Dining Plan:

The Disney Dining Plan can be added on to a package. A package includes your hotel reservation and tickets or a ticketless package. This means that if you have an annual pass, military tickets, or a DVC reservation, you can add the Disney Dining Plan to your ticketless package.
The Disney Dining Plan allows you to prepay for your food and use credits to buy food during your trip.
The number of credits is determined by the number of nights you’re staying, not the number of days of your trip.
The Disney Dining Plan must be purchased for everyone on your reservation for the whole trip. You cannot purchase it just for some people on your reservation or for only a portion of your reservation.
You can use your credits from your check-in day through midnight on your checkout day. This means if you check out at 11 a.m. you can continue using credits until midnight that day.
There are two Disney Dining Plan options. The Regular Disney Dining Plan includes 1 table service credit, 1 quick service credit, and 1 snack credit per night of your trip. The cost is $94.28 adults and $26.69 kids per night.
The Quick Service Dining Plan includes 2 Quick Service credits and 1 snack credit per night of your trip. The cost is $57.01 for adults and $23.83 for kids per night of your trip.
Both plans include a refillable mug good for the length of your stay.

Using Your Credits

When you are ready to use your credits, you can redeem them with a MagicBand or room key. Be sure to check that the restaurant or location takes Disney Dining Plan credits.

You can also use your credits when mobile ordering. The credits can be used in a similar way as charging things to your room.

Keep track of credits using the receipt and in MyDisneyExperience. This is in your resort hotel section of the app.

You can use your credits however you’d like. They are given to you all at once, not one day at a time. You can use them anytime from when you check-in through midnight on the day you check out.

A Quick Service credit includes an entree and drink. This drink includes 1 alcoholic drink or milkshake. A Table Service credit includes drink, entree, and dessert. Note that there are no dessert options given with breakfast. The drink also includes 1 alcoholic drink, shake, or smoothie.

Most Table Service restaurants take 1 credit per meal, but some are 2 such as signature restaurants, lunch or dinner at Akershus, festival dining packages, and Hoop-dee-doo Revue.

Snack credits can be used for anything with a DDP icon on the menu. You can search for whether or not a restaurant takes the Disney Dining Plan, but you have to check for snacks in person. They will have the DDP icon next to them if they can be used for a snack credit.

Why People Get The Disney Dining Plan

The number one reason to get the Disney Dining Plan is to make your trip feel all inclusive. There are so many things sold a la carte so having this large expense makes the trip feel more all-inclusive.

Sometimes Disney Dining is free. Remember to do the math and make sure that the free dining promotion makes the most sense for your trip.

Another reason people get the Disney Dining Plan is to save money. It was easier to maximize your credits previously. It is still possible to save money, but it is much more difficult.

Things That Have Changed

There are a few things that have changed with the Disney Dining Plan coming back. If you used it when it was available years ago, here are some things that have changed.

Quick Service credits are now divided into adult and child. They were previously not divided between adults and children. If you have a child under 10 in your group, they will get a child’s Quick Service credit.

You can’t easily redeem 1 QS credit for 3 snacks. We have tried this at the end of a previous trip and were unable. We have heard that some people have had luck doing that. It used to be much easier.

Using credits for other people isn’t as easy, but it is possible. You will need to split your bill because they are looking for how many people are on your reservation. If you have two people on your reservation and want to use three credits, you will need to split your bill.

Maximizing Credits

If you are looking to maximize your Disney Dining Plan and make it worth what you paid for it, here are some things to keep in mind:

Quick Service credits are worth about $23
Table Service credits are worth about $59
Snack credits are worth about $6

This means that in order to maximize your credits, you want to be sure that your meals are at least as much money as how much the credit is worth. This is challenging.

There are good uses of credits. This includes character meals and ordering a more expensive meal including steak or lobster. You will also want to focus on ordering shakes, alcohol, and any snacks over $6

If you are trying to maximize your credits, be mindful that 2 credit meals and breakfast are a bad use of credits.

There are some great uses of your credits.

Here are some great use of your Table Service credits where you can get a value of up to $77 per credit:

Chef Mickey’s dinner
Crystal Palace lunch and dinner
Hollywood & Vine lunch and dinner
Ohana dinner
Tusker House lunch and dinner
Garden Grill lunch and dinner

Here are some great use of your Quick Service credits where you can get a value of up to $35 per credit:

Polite Pig lunch and dinner
Docking Bay 7 lunch and dinner
Siestas Cantina lunch and dinner
El Mercado de Coronado lunch and dinner
La Cantina de San Angel lunch and dinner

There are also great options for maximizing your snack credits. This includes credits that are more than $6.

Epcot festival foods over $6
Mickey pretzels (usually around $8)
ice cream sundaes and shakes ($7-8)
Starbucks drinks with lots of flavors and add-ons ($9-10)

Is The Disney Dining Plan Worth It

The Disney Dining Plan is worth it if…

You are using it for mental or emotional reasons, it is worth it. If you are hoping to simplify your trip or want to make it easier and more inclusive, it is worth it.
You plan to do a lot of character meals and order alcohol, it is likely worth it to have the Disney Dining Plan. The character meals and ordering alcohol increases your value .
You plan to attend the Epcot Festivals. If you plan to go to the outdoor kitchens and booths you can use your Disney Dining Plan snack credits there and use that as a meal. You just need to be sure that you are using your Table Service and Quick Service credits on other days.

We do not recommend the Disney Dining Plan for:

people not eating character meals
who want to do a lot of breakfasts
who don’t eat that much food (especially if your child is 10+ but doesn’t eat adult portions because you will be paying adult prices but they won’t be eating adult portions)

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