Is the Disney Dining Plan Worth It?

Walt Disney World Resort guests can add the Disney Dining Plan to their vacation package, making their stay similar to an All-Inclusive experience. With two types of dining plans to choose from, is the Disney Dining Plan worth it?

Walt Disney World Dining Plan

The Disney Dining Plans have always been fairly popular and everyone was very excited when they finally returned in January, 2024.

But the question we all want to know, is the Disney World Dining Plan worth it?

Let’s put those planning and math skills to work and find out!

Who is Eligible for Disney Dining Plans?

Seeing as you’re looking into the dining plan, it’s safe to say that you will be staying at a Disney resort for your Walt Disney World vacation. Why? Because the dining plan is only available to guests staying at a Disney Resort hotel ages 3 years of age and up.

If you’re staying off property, including Disney Good Neighbor hotels, you do not qualify for the dining plan.

Do Your Research and Plan Ahead

As a resort guest, you will be able to reserve your dining 60 days before your trip. Once you have your dining reserved, you have some time to run the numbers based on the restaurants/meals you’ve chosen, and the cost of the items you and your family will most likely order. 

You can find the menus, which include prices, on the Disney website. The cost of character dining experiences can also be found there so you can get a great idea of what you’d be spending ahead of time. 

You may find that your selections may end up being more out of pocket than what you would be paying/day with the dining plan. In this case, you’d benefit from purchasing the plan.

However, you may find that your family doesn’t often eat expensive cuts of meat, or large meals and you find that your selections would be less than you’d pay on the dining plan. In this case, the dining plan is not the right choice for you or your family.

I highly suggest taking the time to try and price it out. You do not have to add the dining plan to your reservation when you make it and you can add the dining plan up until 24 hours before your check in date. 

This gives you the time to run the numbers to see if it will be worth it. You don’t have to be 100% accurate with this but it will give you a really good ballpark number of what your meal costs could be.

How Much is the Disney Dining Plan?

The cost of the plan depends on which type of plan you choose and how many nights you’ll be staying. Here are the numbers and what each plan includes:

Quick Service

• 2 Quick-Service Meals (per night of stay)
• 1 Snack or Nonalcoholic Beverage (per night of stay)
• 1 Resort-Refillable Mug

The Quick Service plan costs $57.01 per adult and $23.83 per child ages 3-9. Click here for a detailed breakdown of the Quick Service Plan, what’s included, what qualifies, and participating restaurants.  

Table Service

• 1 Quick-Service Meal (per night of stay)
• 1 Table-Service Meal (per night of stay)
• 1 Snack/Nonalcoholic Drink (per night of stay)
• 1 Resort-Refillable Drink Mug

The Table Service plan costs $94.28 per adult and $29.69 per child ages 3-9. Click here for a detailed breakdown of the Table Service Plan, what’s included, what qualifies, and participating restaurants.

Note: Table service meals with the dining plan do not cover gratuities, with the exception of Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue and Cinderella’s Royal Table. Otherwise, you are still responsible for leaving a tip at the end of your meal. Please don’t snub your servers!

Character Meals and Other Dining Experiences

Many character meals, signature / fine dining restaurants, and dinner shows are included in the dining plan if you choose to do sit-down meals.

Just be aware, if you choose to use your table service credits for character meals, keep in mind that they often use 2 table service credits. That means you’ll have to use a credit from another night of your stay. Therefore, you’ll have to pay out of pocket for your meal another night.

If you pay out of pocket, the cost will vary depending on whether you’re eating breakfast or lunch/dinner. It will also vary depending on the location. For example, dinner at Be Our Guest (a Fine Dining/Signature Meal) is $70/adult and $41/child. Whereas dinner at Chef Mickey’s is $66/adult and $41/child.

Chef Mickey’s is also only 1 table credit per person while Be Our Guest will use 2 credits per person.

To see if the dining plan is right for you, you will have to determine which, if any, character meals you’d eat, how many credits it would use, if you’d have to purchase additional meals from multiple credits used/meal, and the total cost of the meal vs. your dining plan cost/day.

We chose not to get the dining plan, and with my annual pass holder discount for 2 adults and 2 children, the meal cost $212.79 (with tax but not including tip). For math’s sake, the discount was $22.20.  With the table service plan costing $94.28/adult and $29.69/child, it may not make sense for your family to use 2 nights worth of table service credit for a single meal. But using a single credit for a character meal seems to be a good value. 

Ways to Save on Dining

There are several ways to save on dining at Disney. Other than bringing your own food and drinks (which you can do!), taking advantage of free dining plan offers and member discounts are the top ways to save.

Free Dining Plans

The Disney Dining Plan 2024 current offer for a free dining plan has been extended to Disney Visa Card Holders. Earlier this year, a free dining plan was offered to Disney+ Subscribers who purchased a package with hotel and park hopper tickets. 

​Free Dining Plans cannot be used in conjunction with other discounts, such as room or ticket discounts. You will need to price out your resort cost and cost of tickets to see if you will save more with a room discount, ticket discount, or free dining plan.

Because we usually stay deluxe, a room discount almost always saves us more per night than free dining would and forgoing the dining plan is a better option for us.

If you’re staying in a value or moderate resort, the free dining plan may save you more than a discount on room rates or tickets.

Pass Holder and DVC Member Discounts

Additionally, Annual Pass Holders and DVC Members are often eligible for discounts at many dining locations and experiences through the parks, resorts, and Disney Springs when not using the dining plan. As a pass holder, I saved 10% at every table service meal we had, including meals at Be Our Guest, Storybook Dining at Artist Point, and Cinderella’s Royal Table. 

Please note, alcoholic drinks are not included in the discount but 1 alcoholic drink is included for guests 21+ on the Table-Service Meal Plan.

Gift Cards

If you’re a member of some warehouses, such as Sam’s Club, keep an eye on gift card sales. They frequently offer $500 disney gift Cards for less than the face value. You can then use those discounted gift cards to pay towards your dining plan or use them in the parks to pay for your meals as you go.

If you have a Target Credit Card, you can save 5% on the purchase of Disney gift cards. While 5% doesn’t sound like a lot, if you’re spending $1000, the savings come to $50. When it comes to saving at Disney, every little bit helps!

So, is the dining plan worth it??

Unfortunately, this is an “It depends!” moment and there is no right or wrong answer to this question. It really comes down to how much your family eats, the type of food and meal experiences they enjoy, whether or not you’d be having an alcoholic beverage with your meal, and whether or not you have special discounts such as an Annual Pass Holder Discount.

The best way to know is by looking at the Disney menus and figuring out what ordering a la carte might cost based on your eating habits and preferences. Then compare that to the cost of the dining plan and see which will cost you more per day.

I will say for our family of four, with 2 adventurous eaters, 1 with food allergies, and 1 very picky eater who only eats Mac and cheese and chicken tenders, the dining plan is not worth it and we spend less without it.

For a total of 8 nights, we spent $1,726.90 on snacks, drinks, and meals. We didn’t hold back and ate and drank what we wanted, when we wanted. This included a table service meal every night and we dined at Be Our Guest and Storybook Dining at Artist Point.

To be clear, we’re not ones to overindulge and we’re not heavy eaters. We like to savor and enjoy but don’t go overboard to the point where we’re over-full or uncomfortable.   

The dining plan would have cost $377.12/day for a total of $3,016.96. I will say for our family of four, with 2 adventurous eaters, 1 with food allergies, and 1 very picky eater who lives on Mac and cheese, pretzels, churros, and chicken tenders, the dining plan is not worth it and we spent less without it.

We saved $1,290.06 by not purchasing the table-service dining plan. 

I will say, if you are like us, with 2 children who are too old to be charged as children for pre-fix meals and the dining plan but prefer to order from a children’t menu, the dining plan is probably not right for you. But if your party is made up of teens and adults who are big eaters and/or drinkers, the dining plan could end up saving you money.

I hope this breakdown has helped you try to figure out if you should or should not add the dining plan to your vacation package. The information provided here was based off of my real-life, first-hand experience and was not written, researched, or generated with AI.

Now let’s hear from you!

Your answers will help others trying to decide if the plan will provide them with a great value or end up being an extra expense!