I've been to Disney World dozens of times. Its dining plan is a great value for families like ours — especially when offered for free.

14.10.2024 - 11:18 / insider.com

My family of four has visited Disney World over a dozen times.

We love the attractions, shows, and characters, but we've also developed an appreciation for the food — we look forward to indulging in meals on the property more than we do meeting Mickey.

But with Disney ticket costs going up and our kids aging into the "adult" pricing bracket, filling our bellies means emptying our wallets.

Fortunately, Disney brought back its dining plans this year, and I find them to be a great value.

Disney dining plans were suspended in 2020 but reinstated this January. The returning plans are similar to those of the past, offering visitors a discount if they prepay for meals as part of their resort and parks package.

Guests can choose between the standard dining plan or a quick-service one — the main difference between the two is that the former replaces one quick-service meal with a sit-down one.

At the time of writing, Disney World's standard dining plans cost about $95 per person per day for those 10 and up. The quick-service plans are about $57.

However, Disney sometimes offers promos that allow its resort guests to get them for free.

Earlier this year, we got free dining plans through a Disney+ subscriber promotion that required us to book at least a four-night resort stay with park tickets during select dates.

My family booked an eight-night, nine-day stay in July at our favorite moderate resort, Port Orleans Riverside, which made us eligible for free quick-service dining plans.

Here's what this plan provided for each member of my family for every day of our vacation:

Through this same promotion, guests staying in pricier deluxe hotels could get free standard dining plans.

Since we love sit-down dinners, we paid a fee of about $37 per person per day to upgrade to standard dining plans. This added about $1,200 to the cost of our trip, but it was well worth it as we'd typically spend $200 to $300 a night on sit-down dinners at Disney.

The upgrade also allowed us to stay at our preferred moderate resort while also enjoying the benefits of the deluxe-tier plan.

The paid dining plan is worth it for folks who enjoy Disney's food as much as its entertainment. It's an especially phenomenal deal for families like ours who like to have at least one sit-down dinner a day.

In fact, I think we would've saved money even if we'd paid for the plans in full — my family usually spends more than $95 per person per day on food and drinks at Disney.

That said, you might struggle to find the savings in the standard dining plans if your family doesn't usually do sit-down dinners every night of your stay.

Additionally, standard dining plans might not be the best idea for those who don't want to do extra planning or spend too much