Magical Journey, Part 3 "Disney Dining"

So far, we've discussed when to go and where to stay.  NOW EVERYBODY ON SPACE MOUNTAIN, WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Hold your horses, space cowboy.

Before you get into the fun of planning which parks and which rides to visit, you need to consider your dining options.  Why?  Because any sit down dining place in Disney requires advanced reservations.

If you want to do Cinderella's Table, located in Cinderella's Castle, you need to book it months in advance.  In your mind, you may want to go to Magic Kingdom on a Thursday.  However, Cinderella's Table is only available for breakfast on a Tuesday.  That pretty much determines your park schedule.

Lets break this down to make it easy for you.

1. Dining Plan vs. No Dining Plan

The Dining Plan is a Disney offering that allows you to purchase all your meals ahead of time in one lump sum.  Typically, it saves you about 20%  on your total food budget.  One of the most common questions I get is, "Should I do the Dining Plan?"  First, consider these questions.

Are you staying on Disney Property?

The Dining Plan is only offered to folks staying in one of Disney's hotels.  So...there you go.  HOWEVER, every Fall and Spring Disney offers Free Dining Plan.  It might actually save you money to spend more on your hotel and get all your meals for free!

How old are your kids?

If you are staying on Disney Property , the Dining plan is offered for everyone 3 years and older listed in your package per night of your stay.  If your child is younger than that, do the Dining Plan! When my son Caleb was only 2, we didn't have to pay for his Dining Plan.  The meals were big enough that he could just eat off of his 4 year old sister's plate and it saved us tons.

HOWEVER, once Caleb was 3, we tried to not do the Dining Plan.  We thought we could just have everyone split meals instead of being forced to essentially pay for 4 meals every single time.  This did not work out.  You just don't realize how many times you eat at Disney!  All the Mickey Premium bars just to keep a crying child happy or sips of Coke to wake them up enough to hug Cinderella...they all cost.  In our fear of spending a large lump sum of money up front, we ended up nickel and dim-ing ourselves to death and spending even more.  Not. Cool.

Do the Dining Plans meet your family's needs?

There are three types of plans on Disney's Site.

The Quick Service Plan includes 2 quick service (fast food-style eateries) meals, 1 snack per person per night of your stay, plus 1 refillable beverage mug per person to use during your trip. 

Typical Child's Quick Service Meal

The Deluxe Plan is the typical plan.  It includes 1 quick service, 1 sit down (reservations must be made prior to your visit), 2 snacks, plus 1 refillable mug.

The Premium Plan includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus 2 snacks and the refillable mug.

We do the Deluxe Plan, which costs our family of four $932 for 7 nights.  Don't. freak. out.

Go on Disney's site and search for a couple quick-service and sit down restaurant's prices...its actually a good deal.

We like the Deluxe because we eat a light breakfast that we can make in our room or buy fairly cheaply.  We then are too antsy two sit through 3 sit-down meals when we could be riding rides but also need to force ourselves to take a break once a day for a nice meal in a (semi-)calm and air conditioned environment.

Edit:  Yesterday, I noticed a plan called Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining, which offers 1 quick service, 1 sit down and 1 snack per day.  My friend, Sarah, also brought it to my attention, because they always had too many snack credits left over and couldn't use them all.  I have never seen that before, but its definitely there if you go to actually book a package.

Do you want to do Character Dining?

Meet Pooh and friends at The Crystal Palace

If you want to have a sit down meal where your kids can meet Mickey and friends, Pooh and friends, or Cinderella and friends, then a Dining Plan might be a good choice.  These meals cost more than the normal sit down meals at Disney.  We have never been able to do Cinderella's Table (which books up VERY quickly and requires reservations 30-180 days in advance, depending on when you go).  It was important to me on this trip but to pay cash would be $200!  Now, it DOES require TWO of our sit down meals per person, because its extra special, but we'd gladly grab a burger for much cheaper on a different night and have that special experience through our Dining Plan.

Do you want to be counting pennies in The Happiest Place on Earth?

In these hard economic times, this seems very trite, but guess what?  You are going on a trip to Disney during these hard economic times, so you must be at least somewhat willing to spend a little money.  Here's the thing...Disney is very special.   But every bad thing is magnified in Disney.  So what if my daughter has the stomach flu here at home?  But once she had the stomach flu IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!!  See how that seems tragic?

So, do you really want to have a melt down with your spouse over if you should buy your children popsicles in Fantasyland?   HOW COULD HE ARGUE WITH YOU IN THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!!!

I swear, I have almost served my husband with papers more times in THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH than anywhere else.

With the Dining Plan, you just present your "Key to the World" card to the cashier or waiter.  Each person in your group is issued a "Key to the World" that has all your info and each person's allottment of meals, snacks, etc.  Use them like debit cards.  You can even just use one person's card until it runs out and then start using someone else's.  So easy.

For us, anyway, the Dining Plan is one less stresser while in the parks.  I am sure there was a shorter and more normal way to tell you that.

Sigh...Okay...I've only gotten through the first point.  I really want to guide you through some of the restaurant choices, but maybe I'll make a Top Ten tomorrow and give you all a break!

Again, this is alot of info!  PLEASE contact me if you have more questions.  Tonight, I'll come up with a top ten for you, I promise!

As they say at Disney..."Have a Magical Day"!