Everyone looks for ways to save money when planning a Disney vacation, and booking one of the dining packages they offer is one way to do that. Right now Disney is even running a promotion where if you stay at one of their resorts, you get free dining, and even when it isn’t free, you can still save money, if you plan right.
Disney dining packages include on-site accommodations, park tickets and a dining plan that will pre-pay all or part of your dining for the duration of your vacation. These plans at first may seem pretty expensive, ranging from $31.99 to $71.00 per adult per night depending on the plan you choose and the time of year you vacation. However, once you take a look at some of the prices at the restaurants, it’s easy to see that you could wind up saving money, depending on how your family eats and how well you use your dining credits.
First, some general information on how the plan works. When you book your package you will have to book tickets also; you can’t book the dining plan and not buy tickets. Also, everyone in your room must be on the same dining plan, for example, mom and dad could not book the dining plan and leave the kids off of it. When you check into your resort your will be given your room key, which will also be your ticket to get into the park and will have your dining plan credits on it. You are free to use those credits however you want. If you want to use 5 credits one day and none the next day, that’s fine, it’s up to you when you use them as long as you use them by midnight on the day you check out; they do expire then. If you have children that are on the dining plan, there will be children’s menus they will have to order from. Tax is covered by your dining credit; however, gratuity is not.
The least expensive plan is the Quick Service Dining Plan. It costs $31.99 per adult and $9.99 per child per night. For each night you are at Disney you will receive two credits for quick service (think fast food) meals and two snack credits. The quick-service credit allows one entree, one dessert and one non alcoholic drink, or one combo meal, at most of the counter service restaurants in the Walt Disney World Resort. For your snack credits, there is a lot to choose from, including bottled water, pop, ice cream, popcorn; there are too many things to list. This plan also includes one refillable mug per person that you can use at your resort only for pop or coffee. If you are staying at a "Value Level" resort (All-Star resorts or Pop Century resort) this is probably the plan you will get as part of the Free Dining Promotion through Disney. You can then pay to upgrade to one of the higher-tier plans if you choose.
The next tier up is the Disney Dining Plan. It costs between $41.99 to $46.99 per adult and $11.99 to $12.99 per child, depending on what time of year you visit (President’s Day through Spring Break, mid-June through mid August and mid-December until New Years Eve are the more expensive times). The Dining Plan is the original plan that Disney offered and it allows one counter-service meal credit, one sit-down restaurant meal credit and one snack credit per night of your stay. This dining plan is a little more complicated. The quick-service and snack credits work exactly the same way that they do in the cheaper package, the sit-down meals include an appetizer, entree, dessert and a non-alcohoholic drink. Where it gets complicated is when some of the restaurants "cost" one credit and some of them "cost" two credits. Most of the sit-down restaurants will only cost one dining credit, including all the character buffets except Cinderella’s Royal Table; however, some of the fancier restaurants at the deluxe resorts and all of the dinner shows are two credits. A good rule of thumb is to look for the words Signature Dining Experience, this will tell you that restaurant uses two dining credits per meal. If you stay at a "Moderate" or "Deluxe" level resort this is the plan you will get. You can pay to upgrade to the next level plan if you want.
The third and most expensive of the dining plans is the Deluxe Dining Plan, it costs $71.99 per adult and $20.99 per child per night. This plan allows three dining credits per night for you to use as you wish. You can use them for sit-down restaurants or for counter-service restaurants (although this wouldn’t be the best value for you ). You also will get two snack credits per day and one refillable mug per person for use at your resort. This plan allows the most flexibility, but it also costs more.
There are also two more upper level packages, the Premium and the Platinum packages; they include everything the deluxe plan includes but also include unlimited recreation, tours spa treatments and child-sitting, among other things. They are extremely expensive and include a lot of things most people simply don’t have time to take advantage of; however, with that said, some people really like for everything to be paid for in advance. For pricing on either plan, call 1-407-WDISNEY.
Once you take a look closely at some of the restaurants, it’s easy to see how these plans could be a good deal. Here’s a breakdown of what it would cost one adult to have lunch at a fast food establishment and dinner at a one credit sit down restaurant. All of this would count as one Quick Service credit and one Sit Down credit on the regular dining plan
Sunshine Seasons Counter Service Restaurant (Lunch) Le Cellier Restaurant (sit down Dinner)
1/2 Rotisserie Chicken (with 2 sides) $9.99 Sautéed Prince Edward Island Mussels $11.99
Soft Drink $2.29 New York Strip Steak $34.99
Chocolate Mousse Cake $3.99 Maple Creme Brulee $6.99
Soft Drink $2.29
Total Lunch: 16.27
Total Dinner: 56.26
As you can see, even if you paid for the dining plan during the most expensive time of year ($46.99) you are still coming out ahead. Now, if you weren’t on the dining plan would you still have ordered dessert and an appetizer? Maybe, maybe not. That’s why it’s really important if you are paying for the plan to sit down and analyze whether or not it suits your family’s eating habits. If you have a family of grazers who like to eat little bits all day, it may not be the best thing for you as you can’t split the credits up. What that means is that if you go to have dinner at Le Cellier, you have to have dessert then or lose it; you can’t decide to stop somewhere else later to have dessert.
If you are on the Quick Service plan, you are basically getting a pre-paid meal plan, there isn’t a whole lot of savings there, but if you have a family that does not like to sit-down to restaurant meals, this is probably the plan for you. Disney does have some good fast food counters, especially in EPCOT, where all the restaurants in general are better.
On the regular Dining Plan, if you plan well you can see some real savings. First of all, make sure you use your credits well, use the sit-down credits for dinner rather than lunch or breakfast. Second, watch your snack usage; it’s possible to buy pastries to serve as breakfast, eliminating the need to buy breakfast. Finally, and most importantly, make sure you plan where you are going to eat. I know this sounds crazy, but especially since the dining plan came on the scene, it’s hard to get into the better sit-down establishments. You need to sit down, make up a plan of what parks you will visit on what days and then decide where you want to eat. As of October 27, 2009 you will be able to make reservations 180 days in advance, and the hot places will sell out quickly. Cinderella’s Royal Table, for example, will sell out within minutes because it is relatively small and all little girls want to eat in Cinderella’s Castle with Cinderella!
The deluxe plan provides you with a lot of food and if you want to really take advantage of it, you need to spend a lot of time planning and a lot of time eating in restaurants. If you are travelling with young kids, I don’t necessarily recommend this plan. It’s hard to get kids to sit down for three meals a day; they want to be out on the rides and visiting with Mickey Mouse. If you want to eat in some of the Signature Restaurants, however, this plan can work well for you. My husband and I made a trip to Disney one year for our anniversary and we bought the deluxe plan. We ate in a lot of two-credit restaurants that were absolutely fabulous, for example the California Grill at the top of the Contemporary Resort and Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had some fantastic meals in some fantastic settings and would do it again if we were travelling alone, but not with kids along, it’s just too much food.
For more information on planning a Disney vacation, see this article factoidz.com/we-are-going-do-disney-world/ and for more tips on saving money on a Disney vacation, see this article factoidz.com/save-money-on-a-disney-vacation/ .
