Dining plan confusion, need help please!

owensdad

Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
Hi all, we haven't been to Florida in years, 2011 last time and we have never stayed on site, we are looking at next May for a fortnight on resort and have been looking at the very confusing dining plans, and this is where we need some help really.

We are Disneyland Paris veterans having been most years, I understand WDW works in a totally different way, we do like a nice buffet type breakfast to set us up for the day, am I correct in thinking the quick service plan doesn't include something like this? what do the hotel/resort restaurants do for breakfast with a quick service plan, also is it actually worth having the regular dining plan over quick service? we do like buffet meals like in Disney Paris as we always ate in the evenings at one of the Disney hotel restaurants which are buffets, would this kind of thing be with the regular plan only at WDW?

One thing to note, out of the 14 day stay we do intend on going off site for 4 or 5 days but will obviously have breakfast of some kind at the hotel/resort before starting the day.

Any help and tips appreciated.
 
Buffets as far as I know would only be on the DDP as they're at TS restaurants. What kind of meals hotels serve would depends on which hotel you're planning on staying at, but a lot of people will reserve breakfast at other hotels or in the parks as well. We usually stay at POFQ which has a food court, so we use our QSDP there and there's plenty of different options. This year we've upgraded to the full DDP so we can do ore TS meals. Wether the full DDP is worth it for you would depend on how many TS meals you want to do.

If you're staying for 14 days you would get 2 QS credits and 2 snacks per person per day on the QSDP, and you'd get 1 TS credit, 1 QS credit and 2 snacks per day on the DDP. This article from a blog explains a little more how it works:

https://mickeyfromthe.uk/is-the-disney-dining-plan-worth-it.html

There's a calculator where you put in which restaurants and meals you're planning on having at TS restaurants and it'll calculate wether it's worth having the full DDP or if it's better paying OOP for those meals:

https://www.distripplanner.com

In general the value resorts only have food courts which will take a QS credit for your meal as it's self serve. The moderates, except POFQ, should all have a TS restaurant. I would assume the deluxe restaurants would have TS restaurants as well. My advice for you is to have a look at all the restaurants at the WDW website and have a look at which restaurants you want to eat at. You can see the menu of each restaurant and it'll also tell you if they accept the QSDP or DDP. When you work out how many TS restaurants you want to eat at, you can work out wether it's worth having the full DDP or not. Just remember that some restaurants will charge 2 TS credits per person (like CRT, Hoop-Dee-Doo, Tiffins etc)
 
You are correct.
Current qsdp is two ‘takeaway ‘ meals (Disney speak counter service) and two snacks per day.
You can spin them out anyway you want.
We tend to do something like this.
Breakfast at resort. Use refillable mug for coffee or got chocolate plus one snack credit for a pastry or fruit cup.
When the kids were younger we would order cereal and milk etc from garden grocer but now it isn’t necessary for us.
Lunch at a theme park. Check out menus on disboards.
Maybe pizza or salad or chicken- adults have an alcoholic drink included if they want it. Soft drinks, flavoured milk etc are also an option.
Nowadays no dessert is included.
Evening meal another cs maybe at a resort where there is often more choices or Disney Springs. Maybe ribs or burger.
Evening enjoy a Frappuccino or ice cream sundae while watching the fireworks.
In the Summer we have found this to be more than enough food.
When we used to visit October/November we preferred the normal dining plan as we ate more.
 
I love the regular Dining plan and we have upgraded from the 'free' QSDP this year as we are staying at a moderate hotel. We take advantage of the free dining plan offer but I don't think we would consider buying it outside of this offer. If you stay deluxe the regular is free, moderate you get the QSDP.

We worked out that it was cost effective for us to pay to upgrade to have the sit down meals as we knew what restaurants we wanted to eat at. As 2 adults and 2 children we enjoy having the time to sit and take time out during the day/evening. You need to look at menus and prices to get a rough idea if it's worth it for you (it's all part of the fun)

We have universal days planned but have a reservation at Disney springs for the evening and will prob grab a quick service breakfast before we leave our hotel.

It was very daunting at first but it is very straight forward :)
 


Sorry to jump in on this but, I am in the planning stages and would like to stay at OKW in November. As this is a deluxe villas resort would my reservation qualify for any DDP?
 
Sorry to jump in on this but, I am in the planning stages and would like to stay at OKW in November. As this is a deluxe villas resort would my reservation qualify for any DDP?

Would that be this November? If so, the current free dining offer is for 2019 holidays.

Also I think OKW is a dvc resort and they are booking 11 months out ( new policy ) so I'm not sure how that works when booking the free dining offer. I am not 100% but someone on here will know more.

Another thing people have been talking about us that there is/was no availability for October/November 2019 maybe due to Star Wars opening.

Have you tried searching on Virgin holidays or WDTC?
 
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Sorry to jump in on this but, I am in the planning stages and would like to stay at OKW in November. As this is a deluxe villas resort would my reservation qualify for any DDP?

For 2019? It should qualify for the full DDP. Usually you get nothing or breakfast at a value resort, QSDP in moderates and full DDP in deluxe resorts. I don't know if you get the free dining within all moderates or deluxes though, as I've only ever booked POFQ within moderates that included free dining.
 
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Hi just returned having had the QSDP. Something to remember is that if you have any meal credits left you can convert them to 3 snack credits. However please be aware that there are only certain locations you can do this and, unfortunately, we found there is no definitive list that Disney can provide.
 
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Check allears.net for great dining information, including restaurant locations, type of dining plan credits they require, and menus. The info right here on the DISboards is good, too. IF the dining plans offered internationally work the same way as the plans offered to US residents, the following information might be helpful.

When you stay at a Disney resort, you can opt to purchase any of the Dining Plans: Quick Service (2 quick service meal credits and 2 snack credits per person, per day), regular Disney Dining Plan (1 quick service credit, 1 table service credit, and 2 snack credits per person, per day), or the Deluxe Dining Plan (which is good for 2 meals of any type and 2 snacks per day... may also have a few other benefits that the DDP doesn't offer). The dining plan credits are good at all Disney food service locations, be they at resorts (hotels) or theme parks, restaurants or food court/take outs, and many of the restaurants at Disney Springs also take the credits. You are not limited to eating only at your resort; as long as you have the appropriate credit-type (quick service or table service) for the location, you can eat there. At Disney, the value resorts only have food court-style eating areas, and these all require quick service credits. The moderate and deluxe resorts all have one or more table service restaurants, and most (if not all) also have a quick service location (not sure about the Grand Floridian). You use quick service credits at quick service locations, table service credits at full service, sit-down restaurants. MOST of Disney's buffets are character meals, and require one (or more) table service credits per meal; I know that Boma at AKL and Biergarten in Epcot are buffets that are not character meals. It's pretty easy to check the online menus and decide if you'll spend more money by paying out of pocket for food, or if the dining plan is a more affordable option for your family.

Sometimes, Disney runs a special offer they call "Free Dining," which is only valid for specific time periods/dates. The type of meal plan offered with free dining is linked to the level of your resort; right now, the offer that was most recently available to US residents offered a free Quick Service Dining Plan if you were staying at a value or moderate resort. The Disney Dining Plan was offered for free if you stay at a deluxe resort. Both meal plans also give you a refillable mug per person. If you are staying at a value or moderate but want the DDP, you can pay to upgrade your free QSDP to a DDP. The "free dining" offer is tied to a couple of requirements; the most recent offer requires that you pay rack rate for your room, purchase a minimum of a 3 day park hopper pass, and everyone in the room MUST be on the same dining plan. This is where it gets interesting, because sometimes this is a good deal and sometimes it's not. People spend hours looking at Disney menus, trying to decide what it's going to cost them to eat the meals they want, then compare this cost (plus the cost of whatever discounted tickets they can buy and the cost of whatever hotel discount they can use) with the cost of paying rack rate/park hopper tickets and getting the "free" dining. On our most recent trip, I had a "free" dining plan offer through POP Century. Because we wanted 6 day park tickets and upgraded the QSDP to the DDP, the total cost was going to be $2800 (for 2 adults). Looking around, I found a deal through a travel agent where I got 6 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge with a 6 day base ticket (and one free water park admission) for $1900. For the way we eat (the dining plan would have meant a lot of food waste), we decided we'd rather stay at the deluxe resort and pay for our meals. I kept track of our total food expenditures and found we paid less staying at AKL through the travel agency offer and paying for our meals than if we'd stayed at POP on the "free dining" offer.
 
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Check allears.net for great dining information, including restaurant locations, type of dining plan credits they require, and menus. The info right here on the DISboards is good, too. IF the dining plans offered internationally work the same way as the plans offered to US residents, the following information might be helpful.

When you stay at a Disney resort, you can opt to purchase any of the Dining Plans: Quick Service (2 quick service meal credits and 2 snack credits per person, per day), regular Disney Dining Plan (1 quick service credit, 1 table service credit, and 2 snack credits per person, per day), or the Deluxe Dining Plan (which is good for 2 meals of any type and 2 snacks per day... may also have a few other benefits that the DDP doesn't offer). The dining plan credits are good at all Disney food service locations, be they at resorts (hotels) or theme parks, restaurants or food court/take outs, and many of the restaurants at Disney Springs also take the credits. You are not limited to eating only at your resort; as long as you have the appropriate credit-type (quick service or table service) for the location, you can eat there. At Disney, the value resorts only have food court-style eating areas, and these all require quick service credits. The moderate and deluxe resorts all have one or more table service restaurants, and most (if not all) also have a quick service location (not sure about the Grand Floridian). You use quick service credits at quick service locations, table service credits at full service, sit-down restaurants. MOST of Disney's buffets are character meals, and require one (or more) table service credits per meal; I know that Boma at AKL and Biergarten in Epcot are buffets that are not character meals. It's pretty easy to check the online menus and decide if you'll spend more money by paying out of pocket for food, or if the dining plan is a more affordable option for your family.

Sometimes, Disney runs a special offer they call "Free Dining," which is only valid for specific time periods/dates. The type of meal plan offered with free dining is linked to the level of your resort; right now, the offer that was most recently available to US residents offered a free Quick Service Dining Plan if you were staying at a value or moderate resort. The Disney Dining Plan was offered for free if you stay at a deluxe resort. Both meal plans also give you a refillable mug per person. If you are staying at a value or moderate but want the DDP, you can pay to upgrade your free QSDP to a DDP. The "free dining" offer is tied to a couple of requirements; the most recent offer requires that you pay rack rate for your room, purchase a minimum of a 3 day park hopper pass, and everyone in the room MUST be on the same dining plan. This is where it gets interesting, because sometimes this is a good deal and sometimes it's not. People spend hours looking at Disney menus, trying to decide what it's going to cost them to eat the meals they want, then compare this cost (plus the cost of whatever discounted tickets they can buy and the cost of whatever hotel discount they can use) with the cost of paying rack rate/park hopper tickets and getting the "free" dining. On our most recent trip, I had a "free" dining plan offer through POP Century. Because we wanted 6 day park tickets and upgraded the QSDP to the DDP, the total cost was going to be $2800 (for 2 adults). Looking around, I found a deal through a travel agent where I got 6 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge with a 6 day base ticket (and one free water park admission) for $1900. For the way we eat (the dining plan would have meant a lot of food waste), we decided we'd rather stay at the deluxe resort and pay for our meals. I kept track of our total food expenditures and found we paid less staying at AKL through the travel agency offer and paying for our meals than if we'd stayed at POP on the "free dining" offer.

Thank you so much for all this information.
My original plan was to try and get one of these free dining packages but I noticed that as you mentioned I would be paying full rack rate and need to buy park tickets too. I then had the idea of renting DVC points and then adding on the DDP and appropriate park tickets and have since found out that this would be the cheaper option for us.
My next challenge is to decide on which DDP to have, although I have read that if you stay at say OKW which is our preferred resort you get the DDP rather than QS plan because the resort is Deluxe, is that correct?
I have watched so many YouTube videos about the type of food you can get I am totally confused. We think it may be the DDP so that we can take time out in evening to enjoy a meal or a leisurely breakfast on a down day, we will have to see I guess.
Thanks again. ❤️
 
I don’t think you can have the DDP if you are renting points... to have DDP you have to book tickets, hotel stay and DDP all direct from Disney. At least, that certainly used to be the rule.
 
I don’t think you can have the DDP if you are renting points... to have DDP you have to book tickets, hotel stay and DDP all direct from Disney. At least, that certainly used to be the rule.
Ok thanks for that, I will contact the rental company to confirm. Appreciate your reply.
 
If renting points, to add the dining plan you have to ask the owner to do so. You would have to transfer the money to him and he would add it to your reservation.
You can decide which level of dining plan to buy (and pay for) you are not restricted to a specific level depending on resort. That happens only for the "free dining offer".
If it's not included in the booking, I would suggest to reevaluate the decision to buy a dining plan. It's often more flexible and convenient to pay out of pocket.
 
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