Navigating the Disney Dining Plan
Is the Disney dining plan worth it? Will I eat that much food? What is it? These are all questions that may go through your head when you are planning a Disney vacation, so we wanted to take a minute to give you the scoop on all the Disney Dining plans in hopes that it helps you pick which plan is right for you. Although we can’t tell you in a generic blog post if one in particular is right for your family our friends at 101 Dream Vacations can sure direct you in the right direction.
So lets start by giving you a little lingo that typically goes along with all the Disney dining plans:
TS – Table Service – can be used to describe a type of restaurant or sometimes an individual credit/meal. A table service restaurant is one which you walk in and sit down to order.
QS – Quick Service/Counter Service – can be used to describe a type of restaurant or sometimes an individual credit/meal. A quick service restaurant is one which you walk up to a counter and order your food and bring it to your table to eat.
ADR – advance dining reservations – Dining reservations are needed for most table service restaurants and can be made starting at 6 months in advance. If you are staying on property you or your travel professional will be able to make your reservations for the entire trip on the 6 month pre checkin date, if you are staying off property you will need to make the reservations 1 day at a time.
BOG – Be Our Guest – probably the most sought after dining in all of Walt Disney World, Be Our Guest is a table service dining location in Magic Kingdom at night and a quick service for breakfast and lunch (they actually take ADR’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner). You will want to let your travel professional know right away if you want this location.
CRT- Cinderella’s Royal Table – you know that big castle when you walk into Magic Kingdom, and you have probably heard people say, “We are eating in the castle” well this is where they are talking about. CRT is a 2 credit meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and it books up rather quickly as well.
General Disney dining plan information: All the Disney dining plans are sold with a package for your entire stay (you cannot only get dining for one day), and you must be staying on Disney property. You get credits per night of your stay, so if you are staying 6 nights and 7 days you will get 6 nights of credits. The resort refillable mug can be used in the resort only (not in the parks) for your entire stay, it can be used for soft drinks, coffee, and hot chocolate. “Credits” or meals can be used however you want but must be used by midnight the day you checkout, so if you want to use three TS credits in one day and three QS credits the next that is fine, you can even save all of your snack credits for the day you leave to bring home and extend the magic a little. QS adult credits include an entree, side, dessert and a drink. TS credits include, an entree, dessert, and a drink or a combo meal which includes some sort of side. Most character meals are one table service credit, there are a few however that are two including CRT. Dinner shows and some other signature restaurants are also two credits.
Okay now that we have a few of the more common Disney dining lingo, and general plan information covered, lets talk about the different plans that are offered.
Quick Service Dining Plan:
This is the most affordable upfront dining plan offered and what it includes is two QS credits, and one snack credit per night of your stay and a resort refillable drink mug per person.
Plus Dining Plan/Dining Plan:
This is the most common and in my opinion the best value dining plan offered. It includes one QS credit, one TS credit, and one snack credit per night of your stay. It also includes a resort refillable drink mug per person.
Deluxe Dining Plan:
With this plan you get three table service OR quick service credits and two snacks per night of your stay. It also includes a resort refillable mug per person.
We hope this helps you navigate the world of Disney Dining plans, and if you hadn’t heard Disney has a promotion out right now that is offering free dining for select resorts and select dates in the Fall. Get with one of the amazing travel professionals at 101 Dream Vacations to get your vacation booked and get those ADR’s made, and if you don’t know where you want to eat your travel professional can help with that also.