Disney Dining plan and Disney Vacation Club

Disney announced this year that they are bringing the Dining plan back, so lets break it down for your DVC rental!

We have done the Disney Dining plan a couple of times in the past (it has been years though).  It was included in a couple of packages we bought through Disney when they were running a killer deal to entice guests to stay on property during off season.  Our plan had one quick service meal and one sit down meal with a snack each day.

Things to consider when deciding about whether the Disney Dining plan is for you

• Guests ages 3 to 9 must order from a children’s menu, where available
• Plan must be purchased for entire length of stay and for the entire party (ages 3 and up).
• If you are planning on a split stay, you can do the dining plan for one stay and not for the other.
• Meals are non transferable between guests and expire at midnight on day of checkout. This means you can use credits the day you check out. You also get credits for the day you check in and pay for that day also.
• Any unused credits (including snacks) will roll over to the next day if you don’t use them.

What are the Different Plans?

Quick service plan

• Two Quick Service meals (entrée or combo meal at lunch and dinner and a beverage)
• Guests under 21 years of age can choose one non-alcoholic beverage (including specialty beverages— for example- Milk Shakes, Smoothies, Premium Hot Chocolates, or Soda, Coffee or Tea.
• Guests 21 and older can choose either one non-alcoholic beverage (including specialty beverages where offered) or one single-serving mixed cocktail, beer, or wine (where offered) within their meal.
• One snack or non-alcoholic beverage Per Night of Stay
• One Resort refillable drink mug per person, per package

Dining Plan

What is the cost for each plan?

Quick-Service Plan – 2024
Adult $57 per night ages 10 and up
Child $23.83 per night age 3 to 9

Disney Dining Plan – 2024
Adult $94.28 per night ages 10 and up
Child $29.69 per night age 3 to 9

What counts at a snack?

Most single serving snacks count.  Ice cream bars, popcorn (box not bucket), pretzels.bags of candy, etc. Sad day Dole whips did not make the list (which they were before)

How do I keep track of Credits?

3 ways to track your dining plan credits and snacks.

• Use the My Disney Experience app
• Check your most recent dining receipt
• Visit Guest Relations and ask them to check your dining credits.

To track your remaining meals and snacks on the My Disney Experience app, visit the “My Resort Stay” section. Then, select “Check Dining Plan” to view all the info.

What about a tip?

Gratuities are not included, so please add that to your bill when they bring it to your table if it isn’t automatically charged.

can you add a dining plan on your DVC rental?

Yes.  The owner can add it to your reservation at the time, or even after until before you check in. You will need to pay the owner directly as they will pay for the plan through Disney Vacation Club.

how to add?

Disney Vacation Club Owners can add the plan online, or can call member services during business hours.

Is it worth it?

We say pass.  If you do some quick math, it isn’t a great deal and at best case scenario you are just prepaying for food.  Let use the quick service plan as an example.

Two quick service meals (we usually average around $15-$20 per meal with a drink)=$30-$40

one snack- let’s say you want a mickey ice cream bar =$6.25

total = $36-$46 per day.

even if you add a alcoholic drink, the meal plan might be a wash, but there really isn’t a discount on the plan.

And the Dining plan is worse, especially if you consider all the restaurants that require TWO credits for a meal!

Other Reasons We say no to the dining plan

We have two other reasons we say pass on the Dining Plan.  First is that we like to use Capital One miles to pay for food at Disney. It’s a great use of miles to make your vacation special with a couple of character meals!

The other reason is that it can end up being a huge amount of time and food on your vacation!  When we paid for the Dining plan years ago, we tried hard to maximize our investment. This meant we spent a huge amount of time at sit down restaurants and time traveling to and from restaurants. Even more than that, frankly we ate SO MUCH FOOD.  We also were so full from meals that we didn’t use all the snack credits which meant we were at the resort before our shuttle trying to buy all the bags of Goofy candy to take home-it was kinda comical how much candy we had in our carry on. By the end of our stay I vowed never again.

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