DDP - Don't Leave Home Without It

My Mom is in Disney World for 2 days for a meeting - I mean, is that even fair?  She went out last night to a restaurant and she reminded me how nice it is to go to Disney restaurants and have the Disney Dining Plan.  DDP is one of the best things that Disney has implemented in the last couple years and I recommend that it is part of your vacation package.  

The Disney Dining Plan is basically pre-paying for your meals.  It is about $38.99 a day per person.  Now up front this may seem like a lot of money, but I guarantee that it is a deal.  Food is very expensive in WDW - I'm talking $10 - $12 for a hamburger and fries.  So the Dining Plan allows you to budget exactly how much money your family will be spending on food.  

Here's a quick run down of how it works.  First of all, you have to be staying in a Disney Resort to even have this option.  But if you are staying on-property and do choose the Dining Plan, you will get meals for every night of your stay for every person (over the age of 3) in your party.  For each night, you will get one (1) table service meal, one (1) quick service meal, and one (1) snack.  So if you are a family of four, staying four nights, you would have 16 Table Service (TS) meals, 16 quick services, and 16 snacks on your "Key to the World" card - aka your room card.  

So what is a Table Service, Quick Service, and Snack?  A Table Service is a restaurant where you will be seated and waited on for the meal.  Quick Service is a place where you order from a Counter. Both quick service and table service meals cover an entree, dessert, and non-alcoholic drink.  Snacks can be many different things ranging from Popcorn, to a 20 oz drink, ice cream, etc.  There are over a 100 participating restaurants, so it is easy to find something to chose.  

Our family usually uses the Quick Service for our lunches and then the Table Service for our dinners.  There are restaurants - that happen to be some of my favs - that are a little nicer than the normal Table Service.  You can still eat there with the DDP, however some of the nicer restaurants are labeled 2 TS because eating there will require two of your Table Service meals. 

While it may sound a little overwhelming, it really isn't.  What you need to do is plan where you want to eat your TS meals and make advanced dining reservations (ADRs) as far in advance as you can - 120 days out is the limit.  Once you check-in at your hotel, they will give you the card that will have everything preloaded.  At your meal, when you would pay, you just give them the Key to the World card and they will swipe it like a credit card and the meals will be deducted off your card.  The receipt will give you the remaining balance of meals left.  

Since Disney has implemented the DDP, I have only gone one time and not had it and boy did I regret it because I spent so much more money on food than I would have needed to.  But in order to get the plan, you have to book it before you arrive in WDW.  

I will be blogging about some of my favorite restaurants in the next couple of blogs, so get hungry!