The Disney Dining Plan can be an excellent tool for families during their Disney World vacation. The standard Disney Dining Plan includes one quick-service meal, one sit-down meal, and one snack or alcoholic beverage per person per day of your stay. The Disney Dining Plan also includes refillable resort mugs that you can use for the duration of your stay at any Disney resort. My family loves using the Disney Dining Plan during our vacations because we enjoy the all-inclusive feeling that it provides, as well as the convenience of not having to worry about prices and budgeting as it is all prepaid. Recently, my family traveled to Disney World for a 5-night vacation including 4 days in the Disney parks. This is my review of how we utilized the Disney dining plan for a family of two adults and two children.
Day 1 – Check-in Day
Because the Disney dining plan provides credits per night of your stay, guests can begin using their dining plan once they check-in to their resort. We were due to arrive at Disney World early in the morning so we decided to use our first table-service credit for breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. We checked into our resort via the Disney app and headed straight to Disney’s Contemporary Resort for our reservations. Chef Mickey’s breakfast is served buffet-style and included classic American-style breakfast food like Mickey waffles, biscuits and gravy, and a great selection of pancakes and pastries that our little kids loved. Our children also loved meeting Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto on the very first day of our trip! It was an exciting arrival to Disney World, and a great utilization of the Disney Dining Plan due to Chef Mickey’s higher price tag of $54 per adult and $34 per child.
We remained quite full from breakfast throughout the majority of the day so we didn’t end up eating again until dinnertime. We were staying at Port Orleans Riverside Resort and so we spent the day exploring the grounds until we sat down for dinner at Riverside Mill Food Court and used our quick-service credits. We also grabbed our resort refillable mugs during this time. Since the resort refillable mugs are included with the dining plan, guests can also choose a beverage for their meal aside from the beverage that goes in the mug so we grabbed some bottled beverages for the morning. For our quick-service credit we each enjoyed an entree and a dessert!
Day 2 – Magic Kingdom
For our magical day at Magic Kingdom we enjoyed a quick-service meal at Columbia Harbour House. This quick-service restaurant is my favorite in the Magic Kingdom because I love seafood, and Columbia Harbour House’s Lobster Roll is something I must eat every time I visit! At Columbia Harbour House we enjoyed our entree, as well as a Boston Creme Pie for dessert. We enjoyed fountain beverages for our drink.
Our snack credit for this day had to be used on our favorite treat: Mickey’s Premium Ice Cream Bars! This mickey-head dessert has become a family tradition and we enjoy it every time!
We used our table-service credit for dinner at Crystal Palace. This is another buffet-style meal priced at $61 per adult and $40 per child and included a delicious selection of carved prime rib, fried chicken, shrimp creole, and a kids buffet of chicken tenders and macaroni and cheese. For our beverage we enjoyed a house-made sangria as one alcoholic beverage per person is included with the dining plan. An assortment of desserts ended our meal on a sweet note! We love Crystal Palace because it’s a character buffet featuring Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet and our children had a blast.
Day 3 – EPCOT
EPCOT‘s quick-service meal went to Katsura Grill in the Japan pavilion. This quick-service restaurant is located near a serene garden and serves some of the best Tonkotsu ramen! We enjoyed our ramen entree here as well as hot sake and a Yuzu cheesecake for dessert.
It was hard to decide what to use our snack credit on with so many delicious options at EPCOT but we ultimately decided on some School Bread at Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe. This pastry is filled with cream and rolled in toasted coconut and is one of my favorite foods in all of Disney World.
For dinner we ate at Coral Reef Restaurant. We knew our children would love the large aquarium view during the meal and it did not disappoint. We devoured our salmon entree while sipping on a glass of wine, and the Chocolate Wave cake for dessert was to die for!
Day 4 – Hollywood Studios
Our quick-service meal at Hollywood Studios was at PizzeRizzo. Our kids love pizza and we love the Muppets so we had to stop here for lunch. We loved dining in the quiet of the Reception Room while we ate our personal pizzas and enjoyed a non-alcoholic frozen peach Bellini. For dessert we enjoyed a cannoli.
Snacks at Hollywood Studios are easy to come by, and we ended up using our snack credit at Woody’s Lunchbox on Lunch Box Tarts!
For our sit-down credit we enjoyed dining at the Sci-Fi Dine-In. This restaurant was super exciting for the kids because your table is inside a car and the big screen plays clips from old Sci-fi movies while you eat! We loved the Sci-Fi’s menu and enjoyed a Drive-in BBQ burger which was topped with smoked pork. We had to get a milkshake as our beverage, and enjoyed a homemade candy bar for dessert.
Day 5 – Animal Kingdom
Our final day at the parks was spent at Animal Kingdom. For our quick-service credit we dined at Satu’li Canteen located in the world of Pandora. This restaurant was very unique in that it served entrees inspired by the world of Avatar. We dined on delicious bowls filled with chimichurri beef and chicken. We chose fountain beverages for our drink and loved the flourless chocolate cake and mousse for dessert.
Our snack at Animal Kingdom ended up being popcorn because we just can’t resist that smell!
We actually left Animal Kingdom for dinner and caught a bus over to the Polynesian for our reservation at Ohana. Ohana is one our favorite restaurants on property and we were happy to end our trip here. We loved the all-you-care-to-enjoy meat options as well as the signature Ohana bread and the bread pudding with caramel sauce for dessert. Yum!
Day 6- Check-out Day
Because we used a table-service and quick-service credit on our check-in day, all that remained for us on our check-out day was one snack per person! We didn’t get any snacks on our check-in day which is why we had them still for check-0ut. So as a goodbye to Disney World we grabbed more Mickey’s Premium Bars before heading home. Until next time!
Have you ever used the Disney Dining Plan? Let us know about it in the comments!
Featured Photo: Megan Woodard.
Written by
Megan Woodard
Contributing Writer
Megan was born into a Disney family. Her first trip to Disney World was when she was only 18 months old. Now as an adult, Megan loves to share the magic of Disney with her two toddlers. Keeping up with Disney news and Disney World knowledge is a fun hobby for Megan. Disney World is her favorite place to be and continuously brings back her childhood joy.
