It doesn't cost any money to be kind. Well said Jackie!!!

so pleased you guys brought Jackie back. she is great

If you're planning on doing the character dining buffets, I think the dining plan makes sense. Especially for kids.

And that was an excellent point! Tier it for kids: 3 to 6, 6 to 9, 9 to 12....

I know you mentioned a 10-11 year old kid with a bigger appetite could get an adult size portion of a kid's menu option and how accommodating they can be. Kids do NOT have to order off the kid's menu. We were told a quick service meal is a quick service meal, regardless of who it is for. My adventurous 7 year old son was more interested in fish and chips from the harbor house than anything on the kids menu and there was no questioning if it should be made smaller for a kid. If you want to get more for your money, DON'T order off the kids menu if there is something on the adult menu the kids will eat.

Again.... Deluxe Dining Plan: Character breakfast, snacks during the afternoon, signature dinner.... 👊

Just wanted to mention food and wine as well as other Epcot festivals, which seem to be year round lol, a lot of items are snack service credits at kiosks. This is a great way to make use of the ddp, especially if you're not just into sweets

Spreadsheets? Omg, I've said before that i use the ddp and the deluxe works for us. We split the day, usually character breakfasts then signature restaurants for dinner. This leaves plenty of time throughout the day to ride rides etc. We use the snack credits when we get peckish mid day. I love that Jackie is on the show to give new perspectives on this subject.

Question: Can your kids eat $70.00 of food per day? Answer: Easily! My kids, now 12 and 13, both girls, are foodies with large appetites. For many years now they've gone beyond what's on the dining plan. We play a game, figuring out what stuff is worth using the dining plan. We pay cash for a few things. We've never had unused dining credits and always feel we've saved some money. Plus it's kind of fun.

Think about it, if you do one nice table service dinner a day. It’s like 59.99 . You pretty much paid for the whole day of eating one the regular Disney Dining plan. Do the math people. Has anyone priced the menu items, at these restaurants. Disney Dining plan all the way!!!

One point with kids who are considered adults at Disney is the fact that the dining plan now includes alcohol for adults, and the price reflects that. Paying for a 12 year old to get the dining plan at the adult price - there is no drink that I’m aware of that a child can purchase that’s equal or similar to the price of an alcoholic beverage an adult could order. I think the closest drink is maybe a milkshake but still way cheaper than a $13 Long Island. Just something to think about - it seems difficult to get the value for anyone under 21 or someone over 21 who just doesn’t drink alcohol 🤷‍♀️

We visited WDW for the first time with my husband and 3yo on the QS dining plan (I got a package where my 3yo's dining was free). It was too much food and I really struggled with touring and planning meals. I wouldnt get the dining plan again. However, I did enjoy the ability to say "yes" everytime my son wanted snacks like popcorn, mickey bars, etc. We did end vacation with 13 snack credits and purchased treats at Main St Confectionnary to bring home for family.

I personally love the Disney Dining Plan. But I would only recommend the dining plan for foodies. I like being able to purchase an expensive meal or whatever I want during my vacation. I really feel like the dining plan adds extra magic to a Disney vacation. It is a luxury that I can't do at home.

So nice to see Jackie again! Thank you.

What we are planning to do with our DDP is use our 1 TS Credit for a Character Breakfast most days, snack early afternoon, Quick Service in the evening and our last snack for fireworks etc. When the Character Breakkie is around $150-$200 for a family of four, the normal DP looks like its worth it.

They changed the free dining. Moderates get quick service now and not regular.

A great way to pay in advance and not spend as much as the DDP is to buy Disney Gift Cards ahead of time. It gets rid of the stress and over planning meals while allowing you to stay on budget.

Going for 14 days in October, booked 6 two credit meals including 2 character meals. We are going to universal for 2 days so it all works out.

On our last trip to Disney World my wife and I went with my parents. They each got the dining plan but my wife and I did not. My parents had some meals left so at several restaurants we used one of their dining credits to share a meal and my parents shared a meal together. The servers never gave us any hassle about this. Obviously this wouldn't work at buffets or family style dining, but we didn't having any trouble sharing meals.

My sister and I took my 8 and 9 year old nephews to WDW a couple of years ago. We all ate a big breakfast at the resort, enjoyed big snacks for lunch, and then deliberately selected buffets for our table service. That way they got all the food they could eat.

Looking great, Pete! Keep up the good work. It would be totally rad if you did a show on the best restaurants for accommodating healthy eating. I'm a Whole 30/Paleo eater and go back and forth over whether I want to completely blow it for a Disney trip or eat healthy.

We love the DDP. Last trip my 12 and 15yr loss ate more than I did. We get the value and convenience.

Loved this discussion! Jackie was absolutely right that you should always ask your server if they can accommodate your requests.

The mid level dining plan was to much for our husband and I last year due to the heat and we did not like the commitment that had to be made months in advance. The first year we had it we loved it, but not so much the last time. For us the quick service plan works because we often share a breakfast and lunch and then we both eat a quick service meal for dinner. With just the two of us, the alcoholic drinks will help offset some of the costs.

We opted not to get the dining plan our last trip because it wasn't cost effective. However, a great benefit, especially with kids, is that the qs meals are not differentiated between child and adult. With our family of four we would often get two was meals plus some snack credit pastries for breakfast to share and then do the same for lunch or dinner with a table service meal thrown in at some point. There is so much food included in most meals it's easy to share if your family isn't big eaters or if you do a buffet meal for your table service.

Great sequel to last week. Thanks for bringing back Jackie! Good job everyone!

The logic that a room discount is "better" only works if there was one person in the room. When there are 4 of us in the room we would need a discount of $200 a night for that to save more money then the quick service dining plan. Even more a night to beat out the regular dining plan

Buying snacks is a great idea with leftover credits. However, learn from my mistake and watch your luggage weight! My girls were thrilled when we had 12 leftover credits (36 snacks to bring home!) on our last trip, 2 weeks ago. However, we got to the airport and I was charged $75 for overweight luggage! Total bummer. We had free dining on this trip. It didn’t end up so free after all!

Our family always does the regular dinning plan. We love the fact that its Pre-paid. However gratuity does add up on the full service dinning plans in the weeks time.

Pete, so thoughtful of you to include Jackie for her expert mama viewpoints! Our family has come to Disney with free dining twice - once ten my boys were 9 and 11, and this month at 15 and 17. We had the standard plan. Neither time did we waste a single meal or snack credit. Here's the key for us, with advice gained from Touring Plans. We would have some small snacky breakfast item in the rooms or on the way to the bus. We would rope drop and hit those heavy lines when they are mercifully shorter. We schedule a brunch meal around 10:30 - when most lines start getting worse anyway. The restaurants are much emptier then, so we get in and out faster. We start hitting the queues again when most people are hitting restaurants for lunch. Getting hot or escaping an rainstorm in the early afternoon can be resolved with a snack break. We schedule our second meal as linner around 4:30. It's serves the same time saving purposes as brunch, and it's a lot easier to score high demand reservations at off times, too! Back at the resort at night, we grab those mugs and head to the food court, where we get a late night snack or grab a pastry for the morning. Now, this month's trip, we varied a little, as we would try a snack to share a few times, but it's easy to keep up with what you have left. Now that there's a Starbucks in each park, we used some built up credits for a high value snack credit - Venti Anything for each of us! I know not everyone likes to plan this way, but with that basic structure, you make out really well on the dining plan and on time saving, too. Hope that helps some viewers out there!

I love me some Jackie, shes brings a different perspective to the discussion!

Our tip for dining on the regular plan and getting one to two Two Point table services meals in. The day we land we pay out of pocket for quick service or someplace at Disney Springs. That gives you one extra meal to do a two point meal. Then we pay out of pocket for a show (our favorite is the Spirit of Aloha show) or a buffet. This gives us a second meal to use towards a 2 point place. The two point places we pick are always more expensive than what we paid for the out of pocket meals and we get an amazing meal. I also love Jackie's idea with the sandwich bags.

We did the math. For my kids aged 10, 10, and 11 it did NOT make sense to pay adult pricing for the plan. If we had not gotten for free for our upcoming trip, we would not have used plan this time around. I think tiered approach where between the ages of 10-14, the family has a choice between kids or adult plan and pay rate accordingly. Some kids will eat more than others. My kids would have been happy ordering from kids menu for our upcoming trip.

Another fabulous episode & lovely to have Jackie back - she’s such a warm and positive person. One small correction to the level of dining plan that goes with each resort - moderates only get the quick service plan. While moderates got it in the past, the regular dining plan starts at deluxe level now. Keep up the excellent work guys 😃

Great discussion! On the subject of adults eating kid meals I vividly remember my trip to WDW in high school performing with marching band. My 17 year old self ordered off the kids menu and got the light up Tinkerbell clip that went on my straw. Still have it on my shelf lol

My son (12) will DEFINITELY eat through $75 in a day. I have to stop him all the time. He also wants to be a chef, so he's obsessed with food.

Great idea as always, thx for all the info!!

In order to know if the Dining Plan is 'right' for your trip, answer the (3) following questions: > What is your family's / party's eating habits? (ie. do you eat breakfast, or skip straight to lunch? Are you more of a habitual snacker? Do you eat only one 'big' meal a day?) >What restaurants do you plan to dine with? (this is the easiest question to answer, since dining reservations are inevitable and necessary nearly everywhere you go). >What will you order at said restaurants? (research menu items and prices). *And thank you DIS for the insightful discussions!*

Last vacation we took our refillable mugs and tried out quick service restaurants at the various resorts. We were able to use our mugs to go with our meals and saved money and tried new menus.

Since we never stay on property (Timeshare) DDP is not part of our plan/budget. And I’m glad. We have a lite breakfast in the AM, then have QS lunch in the parks, we bring snacks and waters into the parks and then we usually have a lite dinner in the park or at Disney Springs. Much less expensive than DDP, and we never get hungry.

LOVE having Jackie’s opinion. Helps so much with my understanding on how kids vs Disney works! Thanks guys!!!

I have a 10 year old boy, he will polish off an adult meal and still want more. He can easily eat $75 worth of food at Disney

Interesting discussions. Thank you!

The dining plan is SO worth it in my opinion. I'm a huge foodie and tend to gravitate towards more expensive food items. Not only that, but I'm Canadian so it is not only the convenience factor as described in your video, but also convenient in the sense that I don't have to worry about conversion. I really ate a ton of food while I was there...and it's so worth it cause there's so many special treats you can try that you can't (or wouldn't) get elsewhere. Also, I should add that if you don't want too much sweet stuff, ask if you can substitute the dessert in a table service meal for an appetizer. Depending on the restaurant and the pricing, they may offer you some selections! I once got lobster bisque instead of dessert, and just got dessert later using my snack credit. There are also plenty of snack credits you can use for savoury food as well :)

7:20 easy work-around for this problem. I asked a cast member during my planning, and they confirmed that Table Service credits can be converted into multiple Quick Service credits, and we all know that Quick Service credits can be converted into multiple Snack credits. So if you decide that you're not hungry enough to eat where you planned to six months earlier, just get yourself some more snacks to take home on the plane.

You guys brighten my day.

We're going to WDW in April for the first time since 2001. We're staying at POR and got the QSDP for free and have upgraded to the DDP. It's going to mean all food and drinks for each person for 2 weeks is costing about £150. However we would never pay for the dining plan. It could never be worth it for us. I'm a vegetarian so even if I could eat that amount of food I'm not convinced my choices would amount to what the plan cost.

From someone who has kept every food receipt from WDW for 15 years running, I can say that, for my family, the DDP is not worth it. The most economical way to go is to do a combination of eating in your room with quick-service meals and 1 or 2 table service meals as a treat. Eat breakfast in the room and have mainly q-s meals (use the mobile app when you can, it's awesome!) and a couple t-s meals at restaurants that you really love or want to try. Our most recent trip cost us $53 per person per night consisting of 3 meals a day plus snacks and a resort mug and we paid all of it out of pocket when we were there versus pre-paying. That total included the cost of breakfast food for the week and also the 2 ts meals we had, too, so if we had taken qs for those meals instead, we would have averaged $43. We use a combination of debit card, mobile app, charging it to our room via the magic band (the debit card again) and cash. It all comes out of our bank account, so no interest fees to a credit card. We did not have to work our trip around food, but ate when and where and how much we wanted. We never felt like we were doing without and we never felt that we HAD to eat, either, or we would lose something. Keep in mind, too, that some restaurants like Yak and Yeti, for instance, serve the SAME FOOD as both a ts and qs. Take the cheaper route by eating your food al fresco next to the restaurant and save lots of $$$. Quite often, the restaurants at Disney Springs do the same thing. Pre-paying for food is foolishness. If someone gets ill (it happened to us, once) or doesn't feel like eating (it's happened more than once) you're not scurrying to use up credits at the end of your trip, or worse, losing them and giving Disney your charity. I can't say that we've never used the DDP. We have, and more than once, but on the last 3 trips, we ditched it and found that, for us, there's no going back.

From the dozen or so times I've been to Disney we have never used the dinning plan. It sounds like the people that have it get nuts over using it. I don't see it at a convienence. If You are constantly worried about getting out of it what you put into it in terms of money how is that a value? Plus some days you will be less hungry than others. I find on days we have a big breakfast buffet we never have lunch or anything in terms of snacks pretty much the rest of the day.

for our family the free dining is a bargain that CANT be beaten we have 5 kids, 3 are now 10+ we get 2 basic rooms 1st trip AOA, this time all star music, both times 2 rooms were around $127 a room a night, but our dining package saved us around $280 a night, so about $140 a night saved per room on a $127 a night room, thats saving more than we paid for the rooms, no room only discount at a value resort can save anywhere near that

When we went the year my son turned 10 we listed him as 9 on our reservation. No way I was paying the extra since he’s very very picky. Also, we’re going next may with my mother-in-law and getting two rooms. So we’re planning to do the dining plan on just one room and splitting it up since we’ll be dining together the whole time.

The only addition on the free dining vs. room discount is the number of people in your party. There is only one room to discount, but if you have a party of four, that is four people on free dining. We had a party of six, and we saved more than $2,000 vs. the room discount. As far as how much you might eat, remember that you will be walking about 12 miles a day. If you don't do that on a regular basis, you will want the extra food. We have never felt 'forced' to eat just to get the value. You are going to get hungry, and the dining experiences are just as memorable as the attractions (I'm talking to you, Whispering Canyon Cafe!).

We have 3 kids when we went they were 2 boys 9, 5 & our daughter who’s 1 1/2. & we went to Disney World for 9days & 8 nights. We did the deluxe plan & we found it very pleasant. We did a sit down breakfast & dinner. This way they had a relaxing breakfast & they can relax for a bit before the night starts. Our daughter got to eat off of our plates at table service & she actually got her own plate at buffets. I managed to only have 1 table service left for each of us and only a few snacks left. Our kids love popcorn & ice cream and they had that everyday. We actually saved $400 doing our plan this way. Our kids were so hungry from all the walking there were always asking for food. If you manage it right you can save. We looked at each menu to make sure our kids would eat something at each restaurant.

If you're a DVC member check the member dining discount before getting the dining plan. Sometimes it's 20% off most non-alcoholic food purchases which is much more cost effective than the DDP.

With the no lid and straw policy, I wouldn’t even mind if you paid a lesser price to fill up the reusable mugs at the parks.

We purchased the quick service a plan for our upcoming trip bc it was much easier for us to pay it off over the year we paid off the trip than to try and save the money back to pay for all those meals. Makes perfect sense to us.

Tell you what, last December I would have paid $100 just to sit in the AC in a relatively quiet room, the food they brought was really just icing on the cake. We made a same day reservation at Skipper Canteen and really liked it. Good service, good food, cool theming, and you sit the in AC for a while and take a breather. That's more what a sit down meal is for our family. Pausing to take a break and eat. I'm doing the Dining Plan for the first time this trip coming up, I'm excited about the simplicity of it, and being able to order whatever. I'm not a chicken nugget person, I tend to order on the higher end. So I feel like this will work for us.

Great show! I really like the dining plan it forces me to plan meals better and as a result gives my family of 5 a better experience on vacation. We have tried going without it and found ourselves searching for places everyone liked, and wasting valuable park time marching around in the hot sun.

Good video! Love the vibe.

we always go for the "D-Plan"; because we dine 2 credit rest. each day as well as we have friends that join us for each least one or two meals each visit ! therefore we max out the "D-Plan". in regards to too much food, no one is holding gun to your head that you have to "clean" the plate ! we enjoy IT !!! Great Show Again !

I'll be going to Disney next June with my then 11 year old niece. She definitely doesn't eat like an adult, so I can't imagine needing that much food.

I had 12 snacks left at the end of my stay a few weeks ago. I was speaking to a cast member at the gift shop at Coronado Springs who said he had one group of people who had over 300 snacks left at the end of their stay. Apparently this group really didn't know how the dining plan worked.

Newest release says moderate resorts get quick service free dining, not the middle plan.

Love Jackie on the shows! So informative and great energy! I was going to also add that the cast members are super helpful most of the time. We eat a little of alot of items when we go by converting vouchers into snacks... i.e. 1 meal credit at gastons can get 1 a drink a giant roll and a brownie.. perfect and cheap share for a family of 3!

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but you can use the refillable mug at all the resorts, not just the resort you are staying at. We do it every trip. We take the mug with us to the park bc we often leave the park for lunch to go to a resort's qs. Don't have to pay for a drink that day. It saves money in the long run. If not on ddp. (I have done it more than once since the rfid cups, and still works at multiple resorts.)

I split my room reservation to 1 night and 2 nights and do the dining plan only on the 1 night reservation. Good deal because I did Akershus breakfast and had Mongolian fish in Landscape of Flavors + 2 snacks.

Another note: The Deluxe plan includes an appetizer, entree and dessert PER PERSON PER MEAL, three sit down restaurants per night that you're staying (plus your two snacks). This is a LOT of food. My family likes to eat and this plan defeats us every time. If you add up what you would have spent on the food that you are getting, this by far is the most substantial savings. But you better bring your appetite.

Please always have Jackie on this show and Best and Worst. She adds so so much!

PLEASE don't say that it is meals per day when describing the dining plans. It is per night. People will have the wrong expectation of the number meals they get. If you are on a 5 night/6 day trip and you get the Disney Dining Plan, you get a total of 5 table service meals, 5 quick service meals, 10 snacks and a refillable mug for your trip...because it is based on the number of nights, not the number of days. If it was based on days, you would get 6 table service meals, 6 quick service meals, etc. I feel so sorry for people who find out they don't get as many meals as they are expecting, and will have to pay out of pocket for that last reservation or skip it.

For me, the dining plan makes sense. When I went with my family we only had a few snack credits left over so no big whoop. This time I’m going with just one other adult so we plan to use a quick service for breakfast and have late dinners. We also used credits on dinner shows. To use up all the snacks, I’ve allotted 14 of them for food and wine so we can pretty much have a little taste of everything. I’m hoping this plan works out 😬 The convenience is also a big selling point for me.

Key to the world card? Hello 2009!! 😜 Everything is on your magic band now!!

If you're only buying the dining plan for the peace of mind knowing your food is pre-paid - there is another way to go about this. Just put aside the same amount in a savings account, and transfer it over to your CC when you return. If you make the payment within 30 days you won't even pay interest. Also, you can factor in tipping and souvenir purchases as well, which you cannot do with the dining plan.

We always use the DDP. It made life so much easier when the kids were 5,7 and 11 on previous trips. Bank a couple of credits and treat them to culinary experiences that we couldn't otherwise afford. As the kids will be flying in from college to meet us, this trip will be our first with the deluxe version. We just booked signature dining for each evening and good sit down lunches. With 2 snack credits per day, we probably won't have to eat breakfast, but it is always an option to eat at the food court before hopping on the bus. As a numbers guy, I gladly concede a few dollars for the confidence of utilizing 2 credits for places like Brown Derby, California Grill, Monsieur Paul etc. I would never flip that kind of bill for dinner if I was taking out my credit card each time. For a bonus, the included cocktails should alleviate any remaining concerns about frugality. BTW months of planning and watching videos such as this extend my wife's and my vacation far beyond the few days spent on property. Thank you for your efforts.

I think that the Dinning Plans work well for some folks but not for me and my family. I have found over many years of trial and error that the Tables in Wonderland discount works way better for us. We typically only eat at Table Service restaurants any usually only eat lunch and dinner. With Tables in Wonderland we’re able to eat where we want and more importantly when we want. If we only want to eat one large meal per day then we’re not leaving unused credits on the table. Maybe we only want to eat apps and/or deserts at California Grill and watch the fireworks. I’m not spending 2 dinning credits for that but I can use the TIW discount. By the same token we can also eat three big meals a day if we want. The TIW is way more flexible and works really well for us. Thanks for sharing.

While your ideas are good, there is not much specific. Here is my guide: If you are getting the Disney dining plan, pick at least some of the following. 1) Be Our Guest Breakfast scheduled before the park opens. The breakfast would be $24 + tax for the cash price, which is too high for what you get. However, for a Quick Service (!) credit, you can get the breakfast and if you schedule it before the park opens on a day without extra magic hours or early morning magic hours, you will be out of your meal in time for park opening - and you will be right at the entrance for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. You can ride it either right when the park opens and before the rope drop crowd appears, or sometimes the ride opens slightly before park opens and you can get a few rides on the roller coaster before park opens. Either way, you get to save a Fast Pass or not worry if you couldn't get the Fast Pass. 2) Akershus scheduled before the park opens. Akershus is the princess character meal at EPCOT. If you can get a reservation for this before the park opens, not only will you get good food, princess greets (and a fun interaction with a princess parade), but you will exit the restaurant into the line for Frozen Ever After - before the rope drop crowd arrives. Again, saving a Fast Pass for a ride such as Test Track or Soarin' and getting food and meeting characters. By the way, this is also the only meal with Belle. 3) Other character meals - Garden Grill in EPCOT is wonderful, both for the interaction and the food, Chef Mickey's is great for character interaction but the food is not awesome, O'Hana at breakfast is the only place where you can meet and greet Stitch at a meal and the food is typical breakfast food, Tusker House has great interaction, great food and an option for a Rivers of Light seat, so you get the best view of the Rivesrs of Light show, don't have to wait in line for an hour to see if you will get in, and don't have to waste a Fast Pass on a late night attraction. These meals average about $55 pp with tax (higher for dinner, lower for breakfast) and you avoid the lines for meeting the characters in the park, using your time to both eat and save 20-60 minutes in the lines to meet characters, so you don't even feel like your time at a table service is a long break from the park attractions. 4) Use the snack credits at EPCOT festivals for the most value and savings on festival food. If you are planning to do a character meal at least half of the days of your trip and you are able to use the Be Our Guest breakfast Quick Service credit, chances are you are going to save money with the dining plan.

If you want to do the dining plan, just put that amount of money in a separate checking account and use that debit card for food. It's the convenience, with the possibility (probability) of saving hundreds of dollars. You are then not forced to eat an enormous amount of food, but you will be able to if you want to.

I love Jackie, she discusses things so beautifully and give her point of view so well. I really really like the vlogs and reviews but lately some are being so negative reviews on disney and is not everyone. I respect all opinions. For example in the best and worst, Rhyno is the best, he speaks out what he likes or doesn't but does it in a playful way that make your go and have fun anyway. In the other part I think Craig is a bit bitter lately, i don't like his vibe. Don't get me wrong I love the shows and we as a family take many tips you all give in consideration to plan our vacations but it seams nothing is good enough to exceed his expectations or anyones and that is sad. We have enjoyed disney vacay for years at Christmas, Halloween and many food and wine, have our favs and opinion about them. Like I first point out, Jackie make her point of view with out the hate and always good tips to acknowledge. Maybe we need more of her on the shows and less bitterness.

In our family, I am the one planning and paying for our WDW vacation. This topic is great. The Disney Dining shows here are my favorite topic on the DIS. As I’m paying off the booked vacation, I haven’t decided yet to purchase the dining plan. However, I penny pinch enough at home, on vacation I don’t want to do that. I want to relax, enjoy my food experiences and not worry that my 10 year old daughter pecks at food less than a bird. We don’t go unless we have the money budgeted and our kids are old enough to ride all the rides and I don’t have to exhaust myself 25 hours/day wrangling them at the happiest place on Earth. What I do is say to myself, what is the worst thing if I have to cancel my reservations? Can I afford the cancellation fee? Can I move my dining reservation out 2 days to avoid the fee or still make it? Can I afford 20% tip on all my table service meals? For me, I love the culinary experiences, but other members of my family like merch shopping. This is why I don’t go to Disney every year and plan this out like I’m planning my Elk hunting trips. I patiently, methodically stalk big game.....and Disney vacations. I relax when I go hunting and go on vacations. 😂😂 Having a sense of humor lowers the stress factors on expensive trips.

Yes even DL has different policy. I wanted a child size of a particular item. But because I told them I was going to get an appetizer and dessert, they said it was okay, no problem. I got to try three new to me items.

Thank you Jackie for commenting about gratuity. we easily dropped an unexpected FORTUNE on that..

Ive used the dining plan 3 times now. We use the refillable mugs in the parks for our water, or if we buy a drink, (especially now, no lid/straw policies) we pour it in the cup. Less spills. However, my last trip, I had a horrible experience because of dietary issues. I cannot have salt. I have stage 3 heart failure. I am limited to 2000 mg a day. Just for reference, a bagel has about 530mg of sodium. A slice of american cheese has 320mg. So, we did as told, specifically noted when making our dining reservations that I had a no salt restriction. I get to the restaurants, and 3 out of 5 could NOT accommodate me. One chef actually humiliated me in front of other guests when he came out and loudly told me that all of the food is prepped in advance and that I was at a "casual" restaurant not a signature and what exactly did I want, as the ONLY thing he could do is offer a grilled porkchop. ( which came out dry...with parboiled broccoli and small boiled potatoes. Also unseasoned. No offer of butter, pepper, etc. . ) I am giving it one more shot on my next trip. We have again, stressed with Disney Dining, my no salt restriction. I am also going to bring my own seasonings ( Mrs Dash), however, if they once again fail to be able to accommodate me, I will be taking it up with mgmt. With all the Heart Disease in this country, you would think Disney would have low/no salt options on ALL menus. It REALLY is not that difficult to prep without salt!

4th visit coming up, always get the DDP. Like the panelists said, I feel as though it’s apart of my holiday. From the moment I leave Australia 🇦🇺 and arrive at MCO its all included. Paid for 6 months out. I like it.

You can also just bring in your own food. Even if it’s just a sandwich for lunch, you’re saving $10-15 a person right there

first, let me take this time to tell people how to parent their kids! ;) In reality, the decision to get the dining plan is very family / person dependent. I think it is getting hard to save money on it so if that is your only reason to do it, definitely think twice. But the convenience factor is there and the idea of not having to worry too much about the cost of the individual item - so for some people it "frees" them to order the most expensive thing. For us it doesn't work because we don't always eat like the individual meals are laid out - maybe we just get appetizers, or split an entree, etc. I think it is easier to make it work if you are doing a lot of buffets or other "pay one price" type meals.

We are going for Mardi Gras and we got the middle plan. Between the 3 of us, we will share and the day we leave we convert the rest of our remaining credits to snacks and bring those snacks home for the drive back to New Orleans.

When my daughter turned 10, that's when we stopped going to the buffets! It is just not worth it - I would never get the dining plan at this point. She is almost 14 now and still eats almost nothing! Was very pleased on our last trip though that Kona Cafe allowed her to order from the kids menu.

I find the dining plan to be worth it for me. I do it for the convenience. While you guys made several good points, I don't find that I feel pressured to maximize it, nor does it interfere with my touring or my planning. Knowing that reservations fill early, I would be making my ADR's at 180 days regardless of having the plan. As for having to know where I'm going to be, or what food I'll want to eat, well, as long as I'm flexible in my choice of restaurants/parks, that's not difficult; I have made changes to dining locations during my trips when necessary and it has usually worked out. I always do rope drop, and I tour efficiently, so I am usually done with attractions by mid-afternoon. Therefore, the park where I'm spending the major part of my day is not usually the determining factor in where I'm going to eat, nor do the meals interfere with my plans. Meanwhile, having my meals paid for, having snacks and refillable mugs included, proves to be a good value for me without adding stress to my trip. in fact it reduces stress for me.

The offer changes depending on who is in the room. Kids 3-9 tend to benefit more for the Regular plan. Most Table service restaurants cost $25+ for the kids only. Look at that way just getting a Table service for the kids now covers the cost and the quick service and 2 snacks for the kids are extra values (looking at $15-20 over the cost). And even though the food is not the cost for my kids its meeting the Fab 5 or some princesses and princes, etc, but character dinning saves me time from waiting in park for these characters about 1 hour per character. Time versus money is whatever you personally believe.

Boy oh boy is Jackie on the money !! My youngest is the kinda kid who only wants chic sandwich , burger or pizza ....he will be 12 when we go so I will have to pay the adult price for him on the dine plan !!! I know I’m wasting my money with this kid in the restaurants , especially the signature ones , but the rest of us want to go !! So glad u told me I can get an adult size meal off the kids menu !!! I’m sure I will be using this bit of advice !!! Thank you

Interestingly, those of us in the UK get a different free dining offer. It is one QS credit a day at a value resort, the QS plan at moderates and the full at Deluxe. I wonder if it varies much for travellers from elsewhere?

Love the dining plan! It just makes the vacation that much easier for me. I'm the planner, the coordinator, the logistics guru of the family/group. It just takes a load off of me. No thinking! Just fun!

Great show! I like this lineup. The dining plan never seemed worth it for us. We don't over plan our trips. We make one or two ADRs before we arrive at restaurants that we really want to try but that's it. If we don't feel like a big meal one day we don't have one if we do, we can always find somewhere to go with the My Disney Experience app. There are many days where we'll get by with only a couple of snacks.

we love the dinning plan !

While the DDP may not always make sense financially, we tend to come close to breaking even usually. Our family loves character meals, and the price for one child is nearly equal to the per night rate for DDP. While its true that the adult rate is much more costly, so are the adult meal prices.

I do this all the time! Every trip, I say “I’m gonna eat this this and this! And it’s gonna be so amazing!!! ” And in reality I only eat about HALF! Of what I think about! For me I found a good tip/trick is getting the kids meal for an adult, for example: the nugget kids meal comes with fries, 6 nuggets and usually 2 little snack bags of grapes/carrot sticks stuff like that and a drink And even that! I don’t even finish sometimes. And all that comes to under 12$ this is my go to tip!! Also BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL!! If you start off the day with a good ‘hardy’ meal (just something that fills you up. And that will set you on the right track for the day, ❤️❤️❤️

the thing that gets me with the dining plan is the no appetizers but dessert instead....I am not a big dessert person but I love appetizers so not being able to switch them really stinks.

Thank you Charles- refillable mug of Mac n cheese! 😂. Now that may be worth it. If I was ever thinking of doing the dining plan, I definitely wouldn’t do it now with a 10 year old. That’s a huge jump in price. The adult age should start at 12 or 13.

The problem with the dining plan for me is that you still need to carry cash or a credit card to pay for the gratuity. What's more, as said in the talk, the more your meal costs the more your gratuity will be. So you could well finish up getting a more expensive choice to make the plan work but finish up paying even more in gratuity.

The most expensive food at WDW is the food you leave on your plate.

My 12 year old always wants steak but won't eat it all. My 4 year old orders off the kids menu but won't finish. My 12 year old will then want to finish my 4 year old's mac n cheese. I then finish the 12 year old's steak. Everyone wins.