Quick-Service Dining Plan VS Disney Dining Plan
*Disney World is suspending all dining reservations and dining plan purchases until further notice. For the latest click here.
When planning your Disney vacation at a Disney Resort, deciding on which dining plan best suits your vacation is certainly part of the process. As an overview, a dining plan is a meal plan you can purchase along with your vacation package. You pay a flat rate and then redeem meal credits at restaurants throughout your stay. The only thing you need to pay for throughout your vacation is gratuity, if you are dining at a table service restaurant. There are four dining plans that guests can choose from: Quick-Service Dining Plan, Disney Dining Plan, Disney Dining Plan Plus or the Deluxe Dining Plan. In this post we are going to compare the Quick-Service Dining Plan and the Disney Dining Plan.
The Quick-Service Dining
The Quick-Service Dining Plan has two quick-service meal credits per night of your stay, two snacks per night of your stay and one refillable mug. A quick-service meal credit includes an entree and a drink (this can be alcoholic, where available). The Quick-Service Dining Plan costs $52.50 per adult per night and $23.78 per child per night.
The Disney Dining Plan
The Disney Dining Plan has one table service meal credit per night of your stay, one quick-service meal credit per night of your stay, two snacks per night of your stay and one refillable mug. A table service meal credit includes an entree, a dessert and a beverage (either alcoholic or non). Table service restaurants are found at every park, at Disney Springs and there’s a table service restaurant at every Deluxe resort, Disney Vacation Club resort and Moderate resort. All the buffet restaurants are table service restaurants and will therefore require table service meal credits. The cost of the Disney Dining Plan is $75.49 per adult per night and $27.98 per child per night.
Quick-Service VS Disney Dining
Cost
The difference between the two plans is 23 dollars per day per adult. So if you’re vacationing with a family of four, that’s 50 dollars a day difference. You will see that money though. When you dine at a Table Service restaurant the entrees are more expensive than the entrees you’ll find at a quick-service restaurant. Plus when you are dining at a table service restaurant a dessert is included in that meal, which it is not for a quick-service meal. To give you a visual, let’s look at some menu items and compare. At Be Our Guest-Quick Service lunch, located in Fantasyland Magic Kingdom, their most expensive entrees are $16.99. At Jungle Navigation Skipper Canteen, located in Adventureland Magic Kingdom, you can order the most expensive item, a Grilled Steak which rings in at $35.00. There’s 18 dollars difference there and then you add on the 8 dollar dessert and you have 26 dollars. More than the extra money you’re spending.
Time
When dining on the Disney Dining Plan you will end up spending more time dining. Enjoying a sit down meal means waiting for your name to be called to be seated. It means choosing an item from the menu. It means receiving your drinks, then your entree and then your dessert. The experience will likely take an hour. Which if you want an attraction filled vacation, this time spent dining can take away from that. It may mean you miss out on a couple of rides. On the other hand, taking time to sit and dine at a table service restaurant can give you that break you need from the busyness of the parks. Gives you a chance to relax and enjoy the company of those around you. So it depends on what you’re looking to get out of your vacation.
Planning
On the Quick-Service dining plan not a lot of prep work is required. Maybe you want to narrow down your options by glancing at the menus a couple of weeks before your vacation. Or look at your Itinerary and find out what restaurants are closest to where you’ll be during your day. When dining on the Disney Dining Plan, guests need to make reservations ahead of time, otherwise you may find yourself wandering around the park looking for a location that has an opening. Don’t worry, if you are making last minute plans you can still make reservations, use the tips found in this previous post. Planning out where you want to eat and when, takes a lot of planning and preparation. Something those on the Quick-Service dining plan do not have to worry about. So if you don’t want to worry about the headache, stick with the Quick-Service Dining Plan.
Character Meals
All character meals are table service restaurants. If you want to even enjoy one of these meals then the Disney Dining Plan is for you. These meals are extremely expensive. You do not want to pay for a dining plan and then pay a $115 bill after the fact. The more character meals you enjoy on the Disney Dining Plan the more money you will have saved.
Food Quality
The Quick-Service restaurants have really upped their game. You now have to search to find burgers and fries. Many Quick-Service dining experiences have one of a kind dishes that are delicacies in their own right. Satu’li Canteen has guests flocking to it for its pods and bowls. Sunshine Seasons in Epcot uses fruits and vegetables from its very own greenhouse found in The Land. Offering Fish Tacos, Slow-Roasted Pork Loin and Rotisserie Chicken. You may not find the exquisite steaks you’d find at Le Cellier or the huge portions at the Diamond Horseshoe. But the quality is still there. By choosing the Quick-Service Dining Plan you will not be sacrificing quality.
Accessibility
If you are staying at a Deluxe resort, there will be at least two table service dining experiences on hand for you to enjoy. If you’re staying at a Disney Vacation Club resort, you will have at least one table service dining experience to eat at. When staying at a Moderate resort you will have at least one table service restaurant to use your meal credits at. If you are staying at a Value resort you will not have any table service restaurants at your resort to be able to use your table service meal credits. Not a huge deal, you can use all your table service meal credits at the theme park restaurants, choose from a variety of table service restaurants at Disney Springs or go visit another resort and enjoy their table service restaurant. Not the most convenient but if you don’t plan on having any non-park days this shouldn’t be an issue.
It all comes down to what kind of vacation you want to enjoy and how much money you are willing to spend. As I said earlier, by spending less money on the Quick-Service Dining Plan you won’t be sacrificing the quality of the food. You can still have very healthy and hearty meals on this dining plan. Just be sure to read the menus ahead of time to figure out which quick-service dining experiences best suit your families needs. If you choose one plan and decide you want to switch to another plan. No big deal simply call Disney and they’ll make the change. Happy Planning, Friends.
