Don’t Eat at Buffet Restaurants on the Deluxe Dining Plan

There are three dining plans offered to guests staying at Disney Resorts: Quick-Service Dining Plan, Disney Dining Plan and Deluxe Dining Plan. For each plan you get a certain amount of credits to be used at a variety of restaurants found on Walt Disney World resort property. On the Deluxe Dining Plan you get 3 meal credits per night of your stay. The plan costs $116.25 per adult and $43.49 per child per night of your stay. These 3 meal credits can be used at any of the restaurants. These can be quick-service restaurants or table service restaurants. At a quick-service restaurant you will get an entree and drink for your meal credit. At a table service restaurant you’ll get an appetizer, entree, dessert and drink. At a buffet restaurant you get to enjoy the buffet and a drink.

To make sure you get the value of your dining plan investment, you need to be wary where you’re using your dining plan credits. The largest value for your dining plan credits is found at the table service restaurants. At these meals you’ll receive appetizers, entree, dessert and drinks for your meal credit. The lowest value is at the quick-service restaurants. Another style of restaurant where you’re not really recouping ultimate value is at the buffet restaurants. These restaurants are a set price. If you were paying out of pocket you’re paying a flat rate no matter what you choose to put on your plate. This lowers the opportunity for you to bridge the gap between how much money you spent on the dining plan and the value of the food consumed. Let’s say you head to a table service restaurant, Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen for example, you have the Shiriki Noodle Salad ($11.00), the Whole Fried Fish ($33.00), and the Kungaloosh! for dessert ($8.00). Add a glass of wine ($12.00) to your bill and you have a total of $64. Bringing you half way to your daily total. Now if you’re visiting Disney World in a busy season than the cost of buffet restaurants will be close to this. But if you’re visiting during any other time of year the total will not be this high.

Visiting a couple of buffets is not going to affect your overall outcome but visiting only buffets and all-you-care-to-enjoy places will. One of the reasons you purchase any of the dining plans is to save money. So make sure you are making dining choices that will insure you do just that. Take a look at these previous posts on the Deluxe Dining Plan to make sure you’re making the most of your purchase:

Our Thoughts on the Deluxe Dining Plan

Disney Dining Plan VS Deluxe Dining Plan

Did we save money on the Deluxe Dining Plan