2019 WDW Dining Plans – Pricing and How to Get Your Money’s Worth

One of the things that really bugs me about Disney’s website is that the actual prices of the Dining Plans aren’t posted in plain English, and combined with the lack of price listings, using the Dining Plans can be very confusing for those who are budget-conscious. Yes, we could all sit and calculate the daily cost, but seriously, it would make life easier if they just put the price right in front of our faces. One thing to note is that you get as many credits per day as the nights you are staying in a Disney resort…so if you are visiting for 6 nights and 7 days, you would get the allotments illustrated below times 6.

Here’s the per night price breakdown…

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Now, I’m going to give you an idea of how much each meal should cost for you to break even with your spending on meals. (This is where it gets all “mathy”.) I’m basing all prices on a 6-night, 7-day stay. For our example, we’re going to use $4 as the price of a snack, since there are many snacks both below and over that price.

Here’s the formula for the Quick-Service Dining Plan: Price per night x 6 = Total Price. Total Price – $18.99 for Refillable Mug = Cost for Food. 2 x $4 x 6 nights = Cost of Snacks. Cost for food – Cost of Snacks = Cost for Meals. Cost for Meals divided by 6 = Cost for meals per Night. Cost of Meals per Night divided by Number of Meal Credits per Night = Cost per Meal.

For the Quick Service Dining Plan, each adult meal should cost $20.67 and each child meal $6.31 for you to break even. Trust me…those are easy numbers to hit.

For the Regular Dining Plan, each Adult Quick Service meal should cost $20.67, and each Table Service meal should cost $43.66. For a Child, the Quick Service meals should cost $6.31, and the Table Service meals should cost $10.51. Again, these numbers shouldn’t be too difficult to reach.

For the Deluxe Dining Plan, each Adult meal should cost $35.03, and each Child meal should cost $10.78. Granted, most people don’t eat Table Service for every meal, but the more expensive meals will more than make up for the cheaper ones.

Now, there are a few things to keep in mind when using the Dining Plans…

• Children under age 3 do not qualify for the dining plan, but may eat off their parents’ plates.
• Children ages 10 and up are charged the same price as adults.
• Gratuity is NOT included, so make sure you budget for tips. 18% gratuity is automatically added for groups of 6 or more.
• Breakfast tends to be the most inexpensive meal of the day (unless it is a character dining experience), so it’s worth thinking about whether you are better off using snack credits to get bakery items or to pay for an inexpensive meal out-of-pocket and to save meal credits for more expensive meals.
• Any meal that has character interactions tend to be pricey, so these are a good use of a table-service credit.