Disney Dining Plan Tips and Tricks

Welcome to the MouseSavers guide to Disney’s Dining Plans at Walt Disney World! We’ve collected all the best tips, tricks and hacks to help you maximize your dining plan credits. The dining plans at Disney World, including the Quick Service Dining Plan and the standard Dining Plan, are very convenient, but not necessarily designed to save money. We’re here to tell you: you can save money with the dining plans, and still have plenty of food at the restaurants you want — IF you plan ahead and use the options carefully.

If you aren’t familiar with what’s included in the Disney Dining Plans, use the links above.

Please note that all information below is subject to change at any time.

Jump to:

• Helpful Tips for Making the Most of the Disney Dining Plans
• Getting the Most Value for Your Table Service Meal Credits
• Getting the Most Value for Your Quick Service Meal Credits
• What Can You Get With Snack Credits?

Helpful Tips for Making the Most of the Disney Dining Plans

• All of the meal credits for everyone in your party are “pooled” in the sense that any member of the party has access to all of the credits assigned to the entire party, and all of the credits are available as soon as you arrive and check in, as early as the morning of your first day. Even if your room isn’t ready yet, you can still check in and start using your credits. The credits are good until midnight on the day you check out.
• Just as an example, here’s the credits a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids ages 10 and 8) staying for 5 nights would have available, based on which dining plan they chose:
  • Quick Service Dining Plan: 30 adult quick-service credits (the 10-year old counts as an adult), 10 child quick-service credits, 20 snack credits
  • Standard Dining Plan: 15 adult quick-service credits (the 10-year old counts as an adult), 15 adult table-service credits, 5 child quick-service credits, 5 child table-service credits, 20 snack credits

• You do not have to use a credit for each person in your party, at most restaurants. The big exceptions are buffets and all-you-can-eat restaurants: at those, everyone has to pay, either with a dining plan credit or out of pocket. But for most restaurants, you can order using credits for some people and pay out of pocket for others, or some people can just not order anything, or order something small like a salad or appetizer if they’re not super hungry. Restaurants are technically not supposed to “split” a dining plan meal credit for two people, but if one person orders a whole meal and the other doesn’t, they’re not going to stop you from sharing your food, and will usually be willing to bring you an extra plate. They just won’t necessarily split the entree onto two plates for you.
• You can use your meal credits whenever you want during your Disney World vacation. For example, if you want to eat two table service meals one day and three quick service meals the next day, no problem. Or if you want to use up all of your snack credits in one day, that’s fine.
• Gratuities are NOT included except for In-Room Dining (room service), Pizza Delivery, Disney Dinner Shows and Cinderella’s Royal Table, so you’ll need to budget for that. No gratuities are necessary at Quick Service dining locations.

• The list of participating restaurants changes occasionally. Note that when packages are first put on sale for the following year, contracts may not be in place with all of the non-Disney-owned restaurants yet. (Several restaurants at Walt Disney World, especially at Coronado Springs Resort, Epcot and Disney Springs, are not owned or operated by Disney.) If your favorite restaurant was participating in past years and is suddenly dropped from the brochure for next year, don’t panic — it will probably be added later, when the contract is signed.

• Some special menus (i.e. special prix fixe menus at certain restaurants) and menu add-ons (such as “add lobster tail” to a steak entree) will not be included in the dining plans. The menu will note an upcharge, which may be based on the type of dining plan you’re using.

• Leftover snack credits can be exchanged for small packaged snacks at lots of locations, including quick service restaurants, candy shops, souvenir shops. If something looks like it could be a snack, ask if you can buy it with a snack credit. For example, Mickey-shaped rice krispy treats are often available at hotel souvenir shops. These make cute gifts to take home for friends and family — or you can eat ’em on the plane!
• A good use for leftover snack or quick service meal credits is to buy snacks for the trip home. All Disney resorts have packaged food in the food court or main store.
• You can use a table service credit at a quick service location, as long as you’re out of quick-service credits and still have a table service credit left. This is a terrible idea from a value standpoint, but it does add flexibility. You cannot, however, go the other way. Quick service credits are not worth anything at table service locations. Note that this is an unpublished policy, but has been allowed for years. 
• Dining plan credits can usually be used to pay for other people who are not on a dining plan. For example, if a friend visits you one night and you all go to dinner you can use one of your credits to pay for their dinner. Similarly, if you have two rooms booked, you can get the dining plan for just one room and not for the other, but use the credits from one room to pay for meals for everyone (someone who is actually on the dining plan must be present at each meal to use the credits). If you really only want to use dining plan credits for one meal a day, this can be a good way of stretching the plan to cover more people. Note that this is an unpublished policy, but has been allowed for years. 
• MouseSavers.com reader Christie B. says she learned “we could use our snack credits to buy German, Swiss and Belgian chocolate bars in the candy store in Germany at Epcot. On our last day we used all of our remaining snacks at the candy store on Main St in the Magic Kingdom. After eating all we could, we brought pounds of homemade fudge, candy apples, truffles, etc. to friends and family back home. Don’t think all your snacks have to be used at the carts — we found out several stores had included items.”
• Each time anyone in your party uses one or more credits, their receipt will list the remaining credits for the entire group. You can also check your total in the Disney World app on your phone, ask for a current total at any food service location that accepts dining plan credits or at Guest Relations, and they can scan your ticket or MagicBand and give you a printout of your remaining credits.
• Want even more tips? The author and founder of The Disney Food Blog, AJ Wolfe, has written The Disney Food Blog Guide to Dining at Walt Disney World, a stunningly illustrated, annually updated guide that lays out what meal choices are available at Walt Disney World, provides excellent planning tools, and offers useful tips and tricks that you just can’t find in one place anywhere else.

Thanks to Heather G and Small World Vacations for suggestions.

Getting the Most Value for Your Table Service Credits

• Each adult table service meal credit is “worth” about $61 on the 2024 plan (including beverage and dessert). Child table service meals are “worth” about $13. If you get food worth less than that at a meal, you’re not likely getting your money’s worth.
• If you typically drink alcohol with meals, it is much easier to save money with the dining plans. On the other hand, if you never drink alcohol, it will be much harder to get your money’s worth from the plans. Remember that young people ages 10-20 are charged the adult rates, but can’t drink alcohol.
• Paying for breakfast with a deluxe or table-service credit is typically a very bad deal. Breakfast is relatively inexpensive, even at sit-down restaurants, so you’re usually better off paying out of pocket as a general rule. The big exception here is character breakfasts, which tend to be pricey.
• Using table-service credits for quick-service meals is always a terrible deal. There is no way we know of to come out financially ahead on that.
• Signature restaurant meals and the two-credit princess buffets are almost never a great value, at least on a dollars-and-cents basis, because they cost two dining plan credits but the food isn’t twice as expensive as other restaurants. The average prices at signature restaurants are in the neighborhood of 50% higher than the regular restaurants, but you’re using 100% more credits. That said, signature restaurants typically have elevated service and decor, and who’s to say what that’s worth?
• Often the highest value for a single table service meal credit is a dinner buffet. Buffet dinner prices are very high, starting at around $46 per adult and $27 per child (at Cape May Cafe in the Beach Club Resort), with character meals being even higher, starting around $62/$39. If you plan to eat at a lot of buffets (like 50% of your meals or more), you’re more likely to save money with the dining plans, especially if you have several children 9 or under, as the child price for a buffet is much higher than any other children’s meals at table service restaurants.

Children’s Meal Selections

Kids’ selections at some restaurants can be limited. Some table service locations in the theme parks are using a standardized kids’ menu that some feel is not very good. Two things to keep in mind:

• Ask for alternatives. If your kids don’t like anything on the kids’ menu, ask the server if they can have a child-sized portion of something from the adult menu. Often this will be accommodated.
• Ask to see the chef if your child has an allergy or dietary issue (i.e. vegetarianism) that causes a problem with selecting from the standard kids’ menu. If you are making a reservation in advance, you can note your child’s dietary issue or allergy in your reservation. If you child has an unusual allergy or intolerance, contact Special.Diets@DisneyWorld.com no more than 14 days prior your reservation for additional assistance. Disney is very good about accommodating this sort of issue.
• Choose buffet locations, where the selection is broader and your child can pick what he or she likes.

Getting the Most Value for Your Quick Service Meal Credits

• Each adult counter-service meal credit is “worth” about $24 on the 2024 plan (including beverage). Child counter-service meal credits are “worth” about $8. If you get food worth less than that at a meal, you’re probably not getting your money’s worth.
• If you typically drink alcohol with meals, it is much easier to save money with the dining plans. On the other hand, if you never drink alcohol, it will be much harder to get your money’s worth from the plans. Remember that young people ages 10-20 are charged the adult rates, but can’t drink alcohol.
• It’s rarely a good deal to spend a counter-service meal credit for breakfast. Be Our Guest’s very expensive breakfast is one example where it pencils out as a good deal, but most of the time it’s a losing proposition unless you order the most expensive thing.

Disney’s resort food courts tend to have the greatest selection of high-end quick service food selections. If you want a change from the typical burgers and chicken strips, consider these locations:

• Landscape of Flavors at Art of Animation Resort has many interesting offerings, including a tandoor oven producing items like naan, tandoori chicken and shrimp; a Mongolian grill; gelato; coffee/espresso drinks; and a variety of “better for you” foods such as multigrain rice, buckwheat pasta and waffles, egg white frittatas, make-your-own yogurt parfaits and low-fat smoothies. The usual burgers, fries and Mickey waffles are also available.
• Everything Pop at Pop Century Resort has a great selection, including flatbreads (pizzas), grill items, Italian and Asian options.
• Pepper Market at Coronado Springs Resort has many more selections than the average quick service location. From the various stations you can get Mexican food, steaks, ribs, Caesar salad with shrimp, pasta, pizza, rotisserie chicken and more. Note that this restaurant is not operated by Disney and may not appear on the list of allowed restaurants currently, but based on previous years, once a contract is signed, it will be added.
• Mara in Animal Kingdom Lodge has a few “exotic” quick service food choices. The soups are the same African-inspired ones served at Boma, the buffet restaurant at the Lodge.
• Contempo Cafe at Contemporary Resort has some nice options such as a spicy mahi sandwich, marinated beef flatbread and chicken basil pasta.

Kids’ quick service selections can be very limited. At some locations, the only side orders listed for kids are carrot sticks, grapes and applesauce and all the drinks are “healthy” (milk, juice, water), but you can usually substitute french fries and soda if you wish. If your kids don’t like the kids’ meals, here are a couple of ways around that:

• A few quick service locations don’t have a kids’ menu. That means you can order any combo or entree on the menu with a child credit. These locations are: Casey’s Corner at Magic Kingdom; Sommerfest at Epcot (Germany) and Yorkshire County Fish Shop at Epcot (UK).
• You can buy your adult meals and kids meals at two different locations, if that works logistically. Send one adult to buy the adult food and one adult and the kids to buy the kids food, then meet back at whichever place has more seating.

If you are on the Quick-Service or regular Disney Dining Plan, you may want to consider sharing quick service meals. For instance, a family of four might try ordering two adult quick service meals and sharing the food, possibly supplementing the meal by paying out of pocket for a few a la carte items (like extra side orders or drinks). If this works for you, you may be able to stretch your quick service meals to cover two meals a day. Some of the best locations for this strategy:

• Sunshine Seasons at Epcot (Future World) – there’s an Asian combo that allows you to pick two entrees and two sides, plus they have a much more extensive selection of desserts than most counter service locations
• If you like chicken, the following restaurants offer a half chicken meal, which can serve two people who aren’t big eaters: Flame Tree Barbecue at Animal Kingdom; Cosmic Ray’s at Magic Kingdom; Mara at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

What Can You Get With Snack Credits?

Look for the purple “snack” symbol on the menu (at left), or just ask if something is or is not a snack. As a rule of thumb, most snacks will cost less than $8 (before tax), but Disney has lately expanded the definition of snack considerably, so that price is no longer the primary determining factor. Generally speaking a snack includes any single-serving item that isn’t an entree (i.e. a muffin, pretzel or cookie is a snack, but a sandwich, bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese or hot dog is not), anything that is listed as a “side” at a quick service restaurant, any single-serving non-alcoholic beverage in a regular (not souvenir) cup or any ice-cream novelty or up to two-scoop ice cream creation is a snack. In addition, many small prepackaged food items like small boxes of cookies, pretzels, etc. are snacks. In some cases, optional add-ons (like sauces, toppings or syrups) are included, and in other cases not. Again, ask first if it’s included.

Snacks can be redeemed at quick service, theme park shop, resort shop or snack cart locations. Qualifying locations display a “dining plan” logo on their menus indicating items for which you can use your snack credits.

Among the items usually available with Disney Dining Plan snack credits:

• Starbucks or Joffrey’s coffee or tea beverage (any normal beverage is covered, even fancy caramel macchiatos and frappuccinos)
• ice cream novelty
• frozen fruit bar
• box of popcorn
• piece of fruit
• snack-sized bag of chips
• bakery items like cookies and brownies
• fudge
• caramel apples
• Mickey rice krispy treats
• bottled soft drinks
• bottled Powerade
• bottled water
• bottled fruit juice
• plain or flavored milk

Also, during the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, snack credits can be redeemed for most “tasting portions” offered in the booths around World Showcase.

Want more details on Disney dining plans or specifics on meals, snacks or how to use credits? The author and founder of The Disney Food Blog, AJ Wolfe, has written specialized e-Books about everything related to food at Walt Disney World, including a general guide to dining, a guide to the dining plans, the festivals, and guides to the snacks at all of the parks, which are ideal for helping you get the most from your snack credits.

Thanks to Sue Pisaturo of Small World Vacations for updated information.