Disney Dining - The real planning begins.

Last year, as we were planning our one day excursion to Animal Kingdom, my oldest daughter asked me, "Is there anything to eat there besides burgers and hotdogs?" A lot of people believe that going to a theme park you are going to be stuck with theme park food, that couldn't be further from the truth. There are so many great restaurants to choose from at Disney World you're only limited by your imagination, how much you want to spend and getting a reservation. Advanced Dining reservations come available 6 months from the date of the visit. there are several restaurants that you will want to make your reservation that far out. Things like Cinderella's Royal Table, Ohana and Be Our Guest all fill up fast. I list those because they are among our favorites. Chef Mickeys and other signature restaurants will need to be looked at early too. 

Before we talk about Advanced Dining Reservations though lets discuss another thing you need to consider when making your Disney plans: The Disney Dining Plan!
the Disney Dining Plan at Disney World is Disney's way of trying to make your trip more "all inclusive" There are three levels to choose from

1. Quick Service Dining Plan: Includes two quick service and two snacks a day. This plan runs $52.50 a night for adults and $23.50 a night for kids. 
2. Regular Dining plan: One quick Service meal, One table service meal and two snacks a day. Same rules apply, meals include the entree and sides but not dessert. dessert would be considered a snack. $75.49 for adults, $27.98 for kids. 
3. Deluxe Dining Plan: 3 meals a day, any combination. $116.25 a night for adults and $43.49 for kids. 

A couple of other quick notes about the dining plan's. Only Disney Resort guests can use the Disney Dining plan. If you are staying off property it is not available. Your party's reservation is assigned a number of credits for your dining plan. Your dining plan is based on the number of nights of your stay not the number of days. A party of 4 on a 4 night stay using the quick service plan would get 32 quick service meal credits and 32 snack credits. Your credits can be divided and used however and whenever you want. Meals include Entree (combo plate in quick service) and a drink. Desserts would use a snack credit. Starting in 2019 all Dining plans allowed a specialty drink, like a shake or smoothie or an alcoholic drink as your beverage with a meal.  Each Dining Plan also comes with a refillable drink mug that can be used for your entire stay at any resort. (This are not refillable inside the parks). Table service meal credits do not include tip. If you purchase a regular or deluxe dining plan make sure you budget for tipping on those table service meals. 

I don't believe the Dining Plan saves any money and I am sure there are ways to do food at Disney cheaper than any of these Dining plans. For me though, it is convenience. The food is already paid for and I don't have to freak out about the price of each meal as we are eating, because I will.  I also look for the most expensive thing on each menu, to make sure I'm getting the most money for my Dining Plan Dollars.  

Two Tips:

• Don't use snack credits for drinks or water. Every quick service location will give you free water. You get a beverage with your meal. Stay Hydrated this way not by wasting a snack credit on a bottle of water. 
• Use all your snack credits. On our last trip I was so worried about wasting or running out of snack credits that on our second to last day we had 20 snack credits left or something like that. We wasted snack credits on candy and boxed mickey mouse animal crackers to bring home. Use these up. 

Deciding whether or not to use a Dining Plan may affect your Decisions on Advanced Dining reservations. If you choose a Regular Dining Plan you are choosing at least one Table Service meal a day. You will need to make reservations for those. meals We have always done the Quick Service Plan; it is cheaper and we aren't tied to as many dining reservations. 

As a last note about Disney Dining I wanted to tell you about two of our favorites.

Be Our Guest, is the, Beauty and the Beast, Themed restaurant where you get to eat in Beast's Castle. Not only is the theming fantastic, the food is great. This is the only restaurant that is Table Service, Signature Dining for Dinner but Quick Service for breakfast and lunch. You have to make reservations though and they are tough to get. Make sure you are making them six months in advance.

Ohana, 

is located at the Polynesian resort and is our favorite. It is all you can eat, family style. Hawaiian bread is served, then Salad and a plate of appetizers: wings, noodles, vegetables, dumplings. You can ask for more of any of this. After the apps are finished servers will begin to bring by skewers of meat: Grilled Shrimp, Chicken and Beef. They will keep bringing it by and sliding it off the skewers onto you plate until you tell them to stop. Finally a huge Bread Pudding with a Spiced Rum Banana's Foster sauce and Ice Cream on top will be brought out. This, in my opinion, is a cannot be missed experience and you will need to make those reservations 180 days out.

There are so many other places to choose from. You can use Disney's site to explore all the restaurant choices and filter searches by food type, cost, park. Then you can make your reservations there too.  https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/ 

Hope that helps with any questions you may have about Disney Dining. If I can answer any more or you have any thoughts, feel free to comment.