Review: Standard Disney Dining Plan

Disney offers 3 different types of dining plans, Quick Service, Standard Dining Plan, and Deluxe Dining Plan.  This is a review of the Standard Dining Plan.

The Standard Disney Dining Plan includes:

• Per Night each person receives
• 1 Quick Service meal
• 1 Table Service meal 
• 2 Snacks per person
• Per your stay each person receives
• 1 refillable mug

A couple things worth noting when you have a child (9 or under) on the plan they have to order off the kids menu at table service restaurants.  This will have a relatively mild impact on your planning especially if  you have a child that wants to meet characters as those meals are generally a high priced buffet or family style option anyway.  Children (9 or under) on the plan can order anything at Quick service locations.  In other words Disney lumps all your Quick Service credits together to use as you see fit.

So for this review I will give you an idea of how we used our credits and also what those credits included. 

• 2 Adults and 1 child (4 years old) for 7 nights
• 3 refillable mugs 
• 14 Adult Table Service credits
• 7 Child Table Service credits
• 21 Quick Service credits
• 42 snack credits

How did we use those credits?  Mostly character meal dinners or "experience" meals so that adds to the cost, there is no cheap way to eat at Chef Mickey so that make the dining plan a better option for those meals vs other menu order table service options.  First we will look at what were our table service meals.

• Garden Grill Dinner
• Whispering Canyon Dinner
• Tusker House Dinner
• 50's Prime Time Dinner
• Coral Reef  Dinner
• Hollywood and Vine Dinner
• Chef Mickey Brunch

We had planned to have a guest with us at Chef Mickey so I set aside a Table service credit to use at that meal.  I decided that at 50's Prime Time my husband would order the sampler, and a milkshake and a dessert, I would order the wedge salad appetizer and a iced tea.  We swapped the milkshake for the tea and I had the meatloaf from the sample with my salad.  That meal ended up with terrible service issues and they comped the drink (and my daughter ended up with a giant cup of sprinkles to take home since she fell asleep waiting on her ice cream with mickey sprinkles) so it was $9.10 out of pocket there.  Ended up that our guest did not make it to Chef Mickey so we used the credit for last minute snacks which was not a good value however I it made much more sense to pay $9 for a meal than $45 brunch buffet.  We really enjoyed Garden Grill and Whispering Canyon and our family is not a big fan of buffets so those meals were just ok.  We had a long slow meal at 50's and probably would have felt better about that meal if we had not overheard the tables around us discussing getting an anytime fastpass because of their issues.  However, we did not get charged for a drink and my daughters upgrade to a sundae, but like I said she never took a bite of the ice cream because she fell asleep, that also the reason we were so patient because she needed the nap and we had a comfy place to sit while she slept.

Now for the quick service credits, remember we had a toddler with adult credits.  Also our toddler is more likely to nibble off our plates rather than eat a full meal.

• Breakfast - Be Our Guest - 2
• Lunch - Pecos Bills - 1
• Lunch - Santuli Canteen - 1
• Lunch - Back lot - 1
• Lunch - Be Our Guest - 3
• Lunch - Wolfgang - 3
• Breakfast - Pop Century  - 1 
• Dinner - Liberty Tree Tavern - 2
• Breakfast - Art of Animation - 2

So you can see that a lot of the time we just split a larger portion meal like the fajitas at Pecos Bill or the chicken and beef salad at Santuli Canteen.  Even at breakfast we could split a bounty platter or at Be Our Guest we could easily share with our toddler.  I do wish we would have picked up a few more quick service meals to at least try a few more places.  Our surprise best meal was at Liberty Tree Tavern in the American Pavilion at Epcot.  That was a selection my husband made looking through the app while we waited at Character Spot.  I got the Cobb salad and he got a Crispy Chicken sandwich and we got a cupcake to split.  When we finished my husband said "I could eat that meal again right now it was so good".  That night we realized that the kids meals had our daughter's favorite drinkable yogurt in them and I think looking back I would have ordered her a few kids meals here and there to get some kid friendly items just on our trays since we had extra credits anyway.

Next to discuss snacks, our trip before this one I found us using snack credits on things we wanted but that were not a good value use of a credit.  We used all of our snack credits through out our trip and I even paid out of pocket for a cupcake to take with us on the way out.  What I did this time was I purchased $35 worth of snacks from Amazon Prime Now.  That included 12 bottles of water, a pack of bagels, bananas, strawberries, grapes and similar items.  I also brought granola bars and fruit snacks in our luggage.  So I was able to utilize our snacks for much better value items but I had a ton to use at the end of the trip.  I used 20 snack credits at Goofy's candy company in Disney Springs which was fun and made for a good value as the check out price was over $110.  

Even doing that we still had 5 Quick Service and 1 Table Service credit we had to convert to snacks.  We used our snacks to create a better buffer between our meals we would get a snack at 10-11 am then we could eat lunch at 2pm.  This was good and bad for our toddler she would share the snack, say a pretzel or the mac and cheese (at AK Smiling Crocodile) and last a little longer then be asleep before we sat down for lunch.  That was part of the reason we had left over Quick service credits because had she been awake I would have been more likely to purchase a second meal but with her asleep we would share one and pick up something small or she would have a granola bar after her nap. Then she would last until our early dinner ADR usually between 4:30-5:30 pm.

The refillable mugs are a blessing and a curse, by that I mean having unlimited beverages are great but the refillable mugs leak and get cumbersome if you take them to the parks with you and don't actually hold that much.  So here is how I handle them.  I brought refillable water bottles to take with us in the parks.  I would take our three mugs and our two water bottles with me in the morning I would make fresh brewed sweet tea for my husband (because he hated the fountain sweet tea).  He ended up with a water bottle full of sweet tea and I had my bottle with unsweetened tea that we would take with us each morning and a bottle of water.  That easily lasted until lunch and we would refill our water bottles at lunch if we could.  So we really limited what we had to purchase as far as drinks by being a little more prepared.

Here is what the numbers ended up looking like.

• 2 Adults and 1 child (4 years old) for 7 nights
• 3 refillable mugs - $60.68
• 13 Adult Table Service credits & 7 Child Table Service credits - $829.36
• 16 Quick Service credits - $290.94
• 5 Quick Service credits converted to 15 snacks - $66.85
• 1 Adult Table Service credits converted to 3 snacks - $15.00
• 42 snack credits - $220.78

• Was it worth it?
• The plan cost $1,237.11
• Cost of the items we purchase $1,483.61
• Value? We saved $246.50

Could that number have been more?  Yes it could have been, it also could have been less.  With any Disney Dining Plan  you can not leave credits unused, when you do Disney wins.  Also, the dining plans now include a "specialty" beverage that can include alcohol, we don't drink alcohol so we can't tell you much other than if you do you will save more because alcohol at Disney is expensive.  Ask your server what is included and sometimes you can get the "fancy alcohol" drinks without the alcohol but still with the light up glow cube.  

In full disclosure, we got the quick service dining free with a free dining discount and paid to upgrade to the standard dining plan.  I really think this is the plan that we will use more regularly moving forward.

Review: Disney World - Tony's Town Square

We had dinner with a group of 3 (including one 3 year old).  The food was pretty average to below average.  We had a calamari appetizer and it was chewy and ended up being left mostly untouched by our family. 

Our waitress was very kind and we discussed if the kids Ariel cup was considered a specialty beverage and she said there was discussion last week that it was but if its not she would not charge us.  She confirmed it was not considered a specialty beverage but did not charge us so my daughter was a happy camper.  She also suggested we get our daughter an adult appetizer because my husband and I both wanted a salad bur wanted to try the calamari.  She even reminded us that we could order my daughter an adult meal (since we were on the deluxe dining plan) but she was happy with the kids pizza.

We have been to Tony's a couple time before and really enjoyed our meals. However, this meal was not worth the price at all and I would have been even more disappointed if I had paid out of pocket because the check was one of the most expensive of our trip.  So, I have to agree with the reviews of hit or miss with this place. 

Not a specialty drink

Review: Disney World - Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

There is a check in station near the main walking path toward the lake side.  Its easy to walk past it if you only are looking for the restaurant sign and then you have to head back toward the lake and look for the check in station again.

We had dinner with a group of 6 (including one 3 year old).  The food was good standard breakfast food.  My family is not adventuress enough to try the lunch or dinner options so we stick to breakfast here.  Its a good mix of buffet and family style where you can go immediately to the buffet and they bring your table the warm options of eggs, potatoes, bacon and sausage.

Our waitress was good just as you would expect.

The characters were good and spent plenty of time with us. They have a princess parade which my toddler enjoyed but it was a little odd because she was big enough to want to participate but not big enough to go on her own.

Overall this is a good use of a Disney dining credit and a good option if you cant get an ADR (Advance Dining Reservation) at Cinderella's castle. 

3 Adults and 1 Child

Review: Disney World - The Garden Grill Review

First off this was the best character meal we had during our last visit.

We had dinner with a group of 6 (including one 3 year old).  The food was great, basically all of it.  More specifically the meats were great even the french fries were amazing.  The broccoli was great too.  The mac and cheese was extremely cheesy.  Honestly all the food was good standard home cooked food.

Our waiter was amazing had been working at Disney for something like 26 years.  My family is a bunch of jokers so we had some great moments of banter.  He was funny and very attentive we never had to worry about our drinks going empty.  Additionally he confirmed that Garden Grill is one of the few places on property that brews their own sweet tea.  That's huge plus for my husband as he drinks a ton of tea and was bummed by the gold peak tea everywhere else.  So as a part of our waiter's joking my husband ended up with multiple glasses of tea at a time which was great because he drank the majority of them or filled up our portable travel bottle when we left.

The characters were great and spent plenty of time with us and even a couple even made it around more than just once.  Which was great because we were not waiting on that last character when we really wanted to be on our way.

This was the first time we ate here but definitely will not be the last.  We already plan to stop there on our next trip.

3 Adults and 1 Child

Value of Deluxe Dining Plan 2018

We are back from our January 2018 Disney trip.  We added the Deluxe Dining Plan to our trip because the math worked for us.  You can see the pre trip numbers here.

Our meal schedule was heavy in the character meals as it was our 3 year old's first trip.  My mother-in-law joined us in the parks for 3 of our days, that is really where our value was added by having deluxe dining.  She used 6 of our credits, without her there those credits would have had much less value.  Generally speaking we would have used those credits but probably more as a shareable lunch at a quick service instead of a full table service meal. So those 6 credits would have gone from a $35-49 value down to $20-25.  We would have still saved some money, so its still good to do the math.

Big things to remember when thinking about the difference of the deluxe dining plan and the quick or standard plan is that deluxe included an appetizer and desert for table service meals.  Our 3 year old also was not required to eat off the kids menu (I think that is not the case for standard dining plan table service).  Only 3 of our meals were not buffets the first one I did not realize that she could order a standard meal/appetizer, the second we ordered her an adult appetizer (after the waitress suggested it) but a kids meal and the third (Be Our Guest) I did not order her a meal she shared with us.  It's my understanding that for quick service the meals are all grouped together and kids are not required to order kids meals so that makes for much better value.  I would recommend knowing where the best shareable quick service locations are to maximize your value.  We used one of our credits at Flame Tree BBQ and shared it between 4 people (toddler included) because we got the chicken, ribs, and pulled pork combo.

I will admit that I did not maximize our snack credits  because I had just intended to use them instead of spending any money on snacks.  Looking back I wish I would have gotten water to take into the parks as I bought several bottles of smart water, at $4.5 a bottle its a good value but if I would bought it before hand at $1.50 a bottle it would have freed up several snack credits.  Even if I only had a bottle a day to start our day with it would have given us 5 extra snack credits.  I only purchased one cupcake out of pocket when we were leaving the hotel so our credits really covered our needs just not anything extra to take home.  I also wish I would have had a better plan to have a grab and go breakfast in our room for my husband.  A bag of bagels would have saved us a lot of stress.  I had planned several late breakfasts so that we could ride stuff first then head to breakfast on those days we really needed something to take with us for he and my daughter to eat at the bus stop or walking through the park.

As I look back the best advice I can give you is check the numbers based on what you would order at each location you want to visit.  If you plan to have two rooms really check the value of one room with deluxe dining and one room with a different plan until you find a combo that will benefit you.  Be creative if you planned on having two rooms one with 2 adults and one with 2 adults and 1 child it might make more sense to have 3 adults and 1 child on the deluxe plan and the other adult on no plan.  You have to be careful because this affects your room entry but if your all going to be together or if  your rooms are adjoining keep the door open and it wont matter.  When doing the math it always makes more sense for kids to be on the deluxe plan rather than an adult.  My sister and I have discussed this option and really think the next time we visit it will be the way to save money.  What you need to do when you plan ahead is to be sure that the standard dining plan is used for buffet meals and the deluxe is used where at non buffet table service options.  You also need to be sure that you plan if you all wont be dining together that someone has meals on their account to use.  I would also have a written plan of what room will pay for which meals so that you don't have to think about it once your there.

Day 1:
Hollywood and Vine (Fantasmic Package) - 3 credits
Sci-Fi Drive In - 3 credits

Day 2:
Crystal Palace - 3 credits
Tony's Town Square - 3 credits

Day 3:
Akershus - 4 credits
Garden Grill - 4 credits

Day 4:
Be Our Guest - 3 credits
Cinderella's Royal Table - 8 credits

Day 5:
Tucker House - 4 credits
Flame Tree BBQ - 1 credit

Out of pocket	$1,339.86
Deluxe Dining	$1,090.00
Refillable Mugs (3)	$53.97
Snacks ($4.50 each)	$96.00
Total Value	$399.83

3 Adults and 1 Child

Disney Dining Plan 2018 - Specialty Drinks

So as of January 1, 2018 the Disney Dining Plan includes specialty drinks.  We just finished a 5 day trip on the deluxe dining plan under the new specialty drinks plan.  Short version: If you drink alcohol you will get great value from the new plan, if you don't you will have to be aware that there is not much for you that changes other than the price of the plan.

In previous years you could get a milkshake for your drink if you asked (or had a waitress/waiter that suggested it for you).  So that makes the value added for milkshakes not anything new.  Previously you could also get flavor added to your drinks as well, I remember getting several vanilla cokes the last time I was at Disney.  So what can you get?  If you were hoping for some new line of specialty non-alcoholic drinks available for all the kids and non-drinking adults you're out of luck.  I was hoping for some specialty coffee drinks or additional flavor options but none of that either.

What was there?  The alcoholic beverage menu that you used to have to pay to drink off of is now available to choose items.  You can order virgin items off of that menu if there are options like the pina coloda from Sci-Fi or other locations.  Also, remember that if its merchandise it is not included so no glowing lights for the kids or souvenir cups.

So if you were going to pay for alcoholic beverages you will benefit from the new change to the dining plan.  Otherwise if you decide a dining plan is a good value for your family then take a minute to ask your waitress what non-alcoholic drinks are available to you before you order.

Not Included - Merchandise 

A day in the schedule of my Disney trips

A basic day for us at Disney would generally start out getting to the bus stop early we found that generally the buses came on the hour in the mornings then every 20 mins.  So meet your group at the bus stop a few minutes before the hour (for us that was before 7 or 8 am).  Some days we have reservations before park opening for breakfast.  I liked being in the park with only a few others but one time we had an 8 am reservation when the park was supposed to open at 9, however they extended hours to open at 8 so we lost the first hour of park time.  

We were on the deluxe dining plan so we usually had breakfast and dinner scheduled.  Due to the portion size two meals a day is plenty.  So we utilized two credit options most nights.  The first couple of hours we would use the standby lines, then we had our fastpass+ selections for mid afternoon.  Then if you want to head back to your room for a break once you use all your fastpass+ that would be a good time. Realize that it could take upto an hour to get to your hotel and an hour to get back so use caution with your dinning reservations. Also as soon as you use your third fastpass+ you can schedule the fourth one so do that right away to have the most selection but make sure it's not too soon after your dinner.  Give yourself 1.5 hours for your meal then schedule your fastpass+, you will have an hour window so that should be safe without a terrible gap.  If you are going to be eating near the attraction you select you could schedule it an hour after your dining time then you would have half an hour to use your fastpass+.

Generally when I was at Disney with my 5 year old in May we did more afternoon breaks, due to the heat and just needing a break.  When I was there with my husband we never took breaks, we were there in December and it was just very manageable.  I would recommend a break day mid trip.  I would plan a day to sleep late have breakfast/lunch at the hotel then afternoon at the pool then a dinner reservation at either another resort (Chef Mickey, Hoop Dee Do Music Revue, or Downtown Disney).  I thought just sleeping in was good enough for a mid week break, not so, really take a good break where you can limit the walking you do as much as possible.  The average person walks 8-12 miles a day at Disney give your body a break.

Anything you must have in your daily schedule?  Let us know in the comments below.

Thinking of the next trip

Sorry for the huge gap in articles but after our last trip to Disney, my husband and I found out we were going to have a daughter. Long story short she decided to come 6 weeks early after a long time in the hospital on bed rest.

So now we are looking ahead to her first trip to Disney and our first trip with a toddler.  Since the only break in pricing that you will ever get is by taking a child under 3 that's our plan.  She changed our September trip to a May trip with her early arrival as I will never go to Disney in the summer.  I can't handle the heat or the crowds.

Children under 3 don't need a ticket, don't count toward the number of guests in your room, and eat off your plate at buffets.  The ticket savings is a huge one as children's tickets are only a few dollars less than adult tickets and tickets are one of the largests expenses while at Disney.  I have already been asked the question why so early... She won't even remember.  Well we will remember and she will have the pictures and video to enjoy later.  We also know we will go back eventually so this will not be her only Disney trip.  

So, now I have been looking at how to have some balance with this trip as we will also be taking my other daughter who will be graduating college the same month.  We will most likely head to Disney shortly after her graduation.  I realized on my last trip that a break day would make things more enjoyable, so I am looking to work that into our plans.  Our last trip we used the deluxe dinning plan (DDP) and determined that we only saved about $110 dollars which could have been done by my husband and I splitting and apitizer and dessert instead of getting two each meal.  Seeing as so much food was wasted I think I would feel better about it anyway.  However, my older daughter thinks DDP is the way to go as the idea of order anything is not the norm for us and she is a bit of a foodie and loves the variety at Disney.   Honestly, I will just be doing the math ahead of time and decide later what the best value is for our family.  If free dining is available or not that will add into the decision.

So I look foward to sharing what I learn about toddler trips and plan to write some dining reviews in the near future.

Disney's Deluxe Dining Plan Evaluation

Well, we got back from our 7 night, 8 day Disney trip with the Deluxe Dining Plan.  If you have read my posts before you know I am a big proponent of the Deluxe Plan.  Well, not anymore, I saved a whopping $109 dollars over 8 days by using the Deluxe Dining Plan.  7.54 percent was our savings, that is a tiny percentage compared to the commitment you make to eat at Disney Restaurants.

We all ate more than we normally would have chosen to, our choices were limited if I would have prefered to have poutine instead of an appetizer at Le Cellier I would have had to pay extra.  If I was paying out of pocket the choice would have been mine to make.  So when you add that in it makes it less of a convenience.

I knew that it was not going to save me a ton of money but I never would have guessed I would have saved only a little over a hundred dollars.  That even adds in the snacks we purchased to use up our credits that we did not need.  Most every meal my husband barely touched his dessert so that would have saved a lot by just not ordering those.

I do like having my meals prepaid for it was nice to not have to worry about the bill or what we decided to have especially at places like Le Cellier and Be Our Guest.  I do feel like pre purchasing gift cards or mastercards would make more sense then at the end of the trip what you did not spend on meals you could spend on souvenirs or just take back home.

Its not like you will be surprised by the prices so you can plan ahead.  We averaged $38 per table service credit, or $114 per day.  I really think that next time I will not purchase the dining plan, I will do the the math ahead and if its close (it was this time but I wanted the convenience) plan to pay out of pocket.  We had all of our meal ADRS ahead of time so I could estimate the cost as well.

Disney Dining Plan (Deluxe Version)

So I have been reading several articles about the Disney Dining Plan and want to point out a couple of things I have noticed about the Deluxe version.

You have to eat 3 huge meals a day! - False

First they reference having 3 meals a day, that is not exactly the case you get 3 meals for each night you stay.  Our next trip we will arrive in Orlando in the late evening, stay at a cheap offsite hotel then arrive at the counter as early in the am as we can to get our vacation started.  Then we will be staying an extra night (not on our reservation) at the end of our trip so we end up with 8 nights but 9 days.  So take 24/9 and you get to spread out the meals a little more.  We will be eating at the castle one morning (before the park opens) and going to Hoopy Doo Music Review (also 2 credits).  So now we are taking 22/9 so that is 2.5 meals a day so now we are at 3 meals every other day.

You will waste 1.5 hours each time you eat! - False

Plan to eat at the restaurants that let you in the park early (Castle, Crystal Palace, Tusker House).  That way you will get you in the parks before it opens.  That will actually add to our usable park time as we will already be in the park at rope drop and be able to enjoy some great photos without a lot of people.

So if we start our day at 7am get to a before parks character meal at 8am.  Share a quick service meal in the afternoon (say in our hotel before our afternoon nap/pool time) everyday and then have dinner around 7 that is all we need to do (only time out of our park hours will be for dinner).

Character meals are the only time I will meet and greet with characters so it actually saves time from waiting in line you can multi-task.

The cost is too high / not a good value! - False

The Deluxe Plan is expensive but when if your going to eat sit down twice a day it is pretty similar in pricing except you get more times to eat and  more selection (as you don't have to worry about the cost of what your eating).  Also if you don't need to eat your 2 snacks you can purchase items that you can take home as gifts.  Some examples are popcorn, rice crispy treats, bagged candy and more...  If you don't use all your dining credits try and purchase snacks with them sometimes they let you.  Generally speaking you really need to plan out what you are going to eat as it might be cheaper to pay out of pocket but you might end up skimping out on a lot of fun.  Don't try and eat counter service for a week just to save $100 as you will really miss out on a lot of unique dining opportunities.

Convenience is not really something to count! - False 

My opinion is I like to have everything paid for before I go so I don't worry about money while on my trip it is not fun to see costs add up at every meal I don't want to be thinking about the bill I want to be enjoying Mickey and Eeyore.