Is Disney World's Quick Service Dining Plan Worth it?
How the Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan Works
When you think of quick-service dining, do you picture burgers, hot dogs and chicken tenders? That’s exactly what I thought when I booked the Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan for my family of five.
But when we arrived and I ordered our first meal at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort, I was honestly surprised by what was on the menu.
Let’s start with the basics. Everyone in your party who is 3+ gets two meals and one snack per night of stay, plus a refillable resort mug. Each mug is about $22 plus tax, so for a family of five that’s already over $100 just in mugs. The mugs only work at your resort, but that was fine for us.
Now for the nitty gritty of how the plan works. Every meal equals one credit. At the start of your trip, Disney loads your account with all your meal and snack credits for the entire stay.
We stayed Monday–Friday. Even though we didn’t technically get meals for Friday, we saved two meal credits each to use that day because we were going to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
Your meal and snack credits expire at 11:59 PM on your checkout day. They’re non-transferable and non-refundable, so you really want to use them all before you leave.
Here’s a perk I loved: every quick-service meal comes with a drink. At the resorts, that means a bottled drink, and in the parks it’s a fountain drink. Snacks don’t automatically come with drinks, but you can:
Use one snack credit to get a drink, or
Just ask for a free cup of water to have with your snack.
Why I Think the Quick-Service Dining Plan Is Worth It
Now for the best part: the Quick-Service Dining Plan is not just burgers, hot dogs and chicken tenders.
Think salmon with mashed potatoes, stew beef with mashed potatoes and rice — and those are just a couple of examples. Every resort has its own variety of food, and if you want to try something different, you can resort hop using Disney transportation and eat at other resorts too. The only rule is that you need to use Disney transportation; they don’t allow guests to drive to other resorts just to eat if you’re using your own car.
Some meals will cost two dining credits (like a whole pizza), but it’s usually a full pie that can feed the whole family, so that trade-off made a lot of sense to me.
To give you an idea of prices:
Bottled sodas are around $6 each
Most adult meals are about $10–$20 per person
Kids’ meals are around $9–$12 per child
For an expensive theme park, that’s actually pretty reasonable. But once you add in the drink, I personally feel it’s better value to get the dining plan.
Another thing I loved: we didn’t have to stress about food at all. We just ordered what we wanted and went on with our day. Some days we only ate one big meal because it was extremely hot and we weren’t very hungry, but it was still amazing not having to figure out a food budget on the fly. And I have to mention this: their vanilla pancakes are a total hit for me.
So, is the Quick-Service Dining Plan worth it?
For us, yes — especially with the promo Disney was running at the time. Kids ages 3–9 ate free, so two of my children were free. We only paid for me, my husband and my 13-year-old daughter. Our total for the dining plan was $732.93.
On top of that, I saved about $40 by buying $200 Disney gift cards for $190 each. (If you want to know exactly how I did that, please ask — I’m happy to share!)
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