In a recent post about Disney Discounts for 2025 I gave a quick overview of the free dining offer for Summer 2025. Free Dining gives guests one of the two Disney Dining Plans for free. Sounds great right? But there are other discounts to consider as well. Guests can also purchase the Dining Plan out of pocket as part of their vacation packages. But is the Disney Dining plan a good deal or a good discount to take advantage of? Let’s dig in and find out.
Disney Dining Plan Cost
We can’t talk about if the dining plans are a good deal with level setting the costs. As of early 2025 the costs are as follows:
In 2025, Disney offers 2 levels of free dining, the Disney Quick-Service plan and the Disney Dining Plan. The details are as follows:
- Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan
- $59.14 per adult
- $24.71 per child
- Disney Dining Plan
- $97.79 per adult
- $30.56 per child
Prices include tax, but do not include gratuity. Be sure to tip your waitstaff!
What’s included in the Disney Dining Plan?
- Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan
- Each person on the reservations receives:
- Two counter-service meals per night
- One snack or non-alcoholic beverage per night
- One refillable drink mug
- Each person on the reservations receives:
- Disney Dining Plan
- Each person on the reservation receives:
- One counter-service meal per night
- One table-service meal per night
- One snack or non-alcoholic beverage per night
- One refillable drink mug
- Each person on the reservation receives:
Worth noting is that guests 21 years of age and older can choose one single-serve alcoholic beverage to have with their meal. Disney defines a single-serve alcoholic beverage as 1 beer, 1 glass of wine, or 1 cocktail. Also worth noting is that some of the most popular character dining experiences and signature dining experiences cost 2 table-service meal credits per person.
There are two other options for using credits. If you’re staying at the Grand Floridian, you can use 2 table-service credits to pay for the unique in-room dining experience offered at that resort. And finally, you can use 2 quick-service meal credits to pay for a pick-up pizza meal, which includes 1 whole pizza and 2 beverages, including alcoholic beverages for guests 21 and over.
Is the Dining Plan a good deal or not?
Ok, so now we know what the plans cost, and what you get, but is it a good deal? The answer to this is definitely going to be in depends. We can do some quick back of the napkin math as a start though. A table service meal at Walt Disney World costs roughly $60-70 on average, we’ll call it $65. A quick service is probably around $25. A snack is usually $5 or $6. The refillable mug is now around $25 with tax, but spreading that across the duration of a stay means it’s basically a throw in.
So, Disney Quick Service is approximately $55 worth of value and the Disney Dining Plan is approximately $95, compared to costs of $59.14 and $97.79 for those plans respectively. The average Disney guest is not going to come out ahead, though it’s close.
Obviously, the average person doesn’t really exist in the real world. Some people are going to come out ahead if they use the Disney Dining Plan. Who are they? Let’s find out.
Who should get the Disney Dining Plan?
There are some easy ways to make the Disney Dining Plan work out for you. First is to have a drink with your meals, if you’re 21 of course! Alcohol at Walt Disney World is expensive. The $15 glass of wine or cocktail is common place, the $12 IPA is as well. If you’re someone that enjoys a drink with your meal then you can easily make the dining plans a good deal.
The party that consists of several children can also come out ahead fairly easily. This is due to the relatively low cost of the Dining Plan for children. For those on the Disney Dining Plan just a single 1 credit character dining experience will cost more per child than the cost of the plan. As an example, dinner at the Crystal Palace is $42 for a child. That’s alone is a savings of $12 for the dining plan for that day without factoring in the quick service meal and the snack. Similarly, if your child eats like an adult that the dining plan will be a considerable source of savings over out of pocket costs.
Not straying too far from the previous example, if your party is big on character dining in general then the Dining Plan can make a lot of sense. Character dining is expensive for adults. Crystal Palace is $62 an adult for example. The caveat here is if you intend to do a lot of princess themed dining. Cinderella’s Royal Table and Akershus Royal Banquet Hall are both 2 credit experiences. Using 2 credits on one meal is almost never a good use of those credits.
The last type of guest that is likely to benefit from the Dining Plan is the hardcore planner. That’s because there are plenty of options to ensure you spend more than the cost of the Dining Plan each day. If you’re the type of person (or someone if your party is) who is going to compare menus across each restaurant to find the best way to maximize the dollar value of each meal or snack, and then plan around eating at those locations including getting reservations as necessary, then you can find fairly significant value. At this point you’re basically planning your entire vacation around eating. This may be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective.
Who should not get the Disney Dining Plan?
Basically, it’s the opposite of the guests described above. If your party won’t be drinking alcoholic beverages at meals, doesn’t care for character dining, or doesn’t want to plan your vacation around eating, then the dining plan is going to be a tough value proposition.
As a party of 2 adults who is fairly savvy at planning for Disney, but doesn’t really do character dining and when we do it’s the fancy 2 credit kind, I’ve never been able to make the math work for the dining plan. Instead I look for savings elsewhere. Check out my recent post about how I saved over $1000 on my upcoming 5 night stay at Port Orleans French Quarter.
In this discussion we sought to answer the question of whether the Disney Dining plan is worth it from strictly the cost perspective. That could be an over simplification of worth it for some folks. I know plenty of people who love the Dining Plan because they value the feeling of showing up for vacation and knowing everything is paid for. Tickets, hotel, food, all taken care of for their entire party. If that is you, then pay for the Dining Plan and have a great trip!
Ultimately the question of what is worth it is one only you can answer for your circumstances. So let’s hear it. What are your thoughts on the value of the Disney Dining Plan?
