Can We BEAT The Disney Dining Plan?! Best & Worst Ways To Use In Disney World 2024 | Guide, Reviews 

You know what you do better than anybody? You teach people. You show what's going on in the app, and you explain things really well. And you make it so much fun to watch! The balance of tangible info and light-heartedness is the best on RU-vid in the theme park space! I click so fast when I see a new video. Thanks for everything! :)

I'd love to see a comparison of prices between what you would acutally like to get vs. what you got to "beat the dining plan."

One thing I noticed when we used the dining plan was we order apps, entree and dessert to try to maximize the plan when normally we would only order an entree. Then we had to pay a tip on the food we normally wouldn't have bought so we spent more on tips than we budgeted.

Could not help but chuckle when Molly said she is not a fan of Mickey pretzels while wearing a pair of Mickey pretzel earrings 😂

The Mammoth Club folks are real Disney enthusiasts and are the real deal. I binge watch this channel

PRO TIP: If you want to budget food but don’t want to do the dining plan, BUY DISNEY GIFTCARDS at wholesale clubs or at target. You can purchase a $500 card for $485 and I used my discover credit card and got 5% cash back. We ended up saving $40 for every $500 we bought in gift cards and that helps us stay on budget throughout the trip👍🏼

Pro Tip: If you need two rooms for your trip. Split the reservation and only get the DDP on one room. Then you can share.

Molly is the top Disney vlogger and her husband adds some magic to the vids as well. This channel is better than 90% of the theme park channels out there. I believe Molly deserves to get to a million subscribers or more.

My pro tip....DON'T BUY THE PLAN. Seems like a lot of planning to beat it. There's already enough planning 😅 Also they wouldn't sell it if it wasn't to their benefit

Am I the only person that likes it because I want to beat the plan? I enjoy all the endless planning and math. Lol. Let the eating games begin. And may the odds always be in my favor!!!

SPLIT STAY - get the dining plan for only a day or 2, hit the expensive stuff, get your refillable mug, continue on with the rest of your trip as you would. thats the key. Its not fun to only get the most expensive stuff your whole trip, but easy to do for 1 or 2 days. Easiest way to do this is renting or owning DVC since there is no package requirements. Love your guys’ channel!

My parents and I got the dining plan once, during one of our trips, and our experience was about the same as yours: we were determined to get our money's worth, went for more expensive items, made sure to definitely eat every single table service meal we were allotted... and then found ourselves extremely stuffed every day, AND we found we were burning more time than we would have liked of our vacation on sitting down to eat. I can see how it might be a good choice for some, but after doing it once, we decided we likely wouldn't do it again... and never have.

i feel like this kind of seems like more of a hassle than it’s worth. i remember when my family went back in the summer of 2008 and we got breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. i swear we got apps, dessert, and everything. it was so wild. i will never forget how full we all were lol.

I wish you also bought the “what I usually get/what I want” to compare how that would work with the plan.

I think the DDP is great for a weekend trip, but beyond that, no way! It’s just too much food. Plus, I don’t want to run around trying to “beat the plan.” However, I loved your thorough explanations of the madness!

It's a snow day, I can happily live vicariously thru Alan and Molly in warmer weather! ❤. Now if only there was smell vision 💕💕

I went to Disney with family for a wedding in 2009 (my dad’s cousin was getting married and I was a bridesmaid, with my brother as a groomsman). On our last day, we had a bunch of meal credits because my dad had gone home early (he was in the end stages of Stage 3+ metastasized colon cancer and died the following weekend), but we took home SO MANY chocolate covered Mickey Rice Krispy treats that I have never looked at a Rice Krispy Treat the same way since (also just mixed emotions about Disney in general because it was our last holiday as a family before dad died).

OMG! I didn't know about Pro tip #1. I would have been so mad to use a snack on extra cheese.

I'm a disabled woman in the UK who will probably never get to go to Disney so I love watching your videos and pretending I'm there xx

I got the deluxe dining plan one year and we ended up cancelling a few reservations because we could not eat another bite! We do gift cards now ... gives that same feeling of not having to spend money on vacation... just by using credit card points in Target rewards points. I have $800 worth of gift cards that I didn't pay for! It allows you to budget so much better ❤

I did the dining plan once in 2018, I intentionally tried to beat it which I was successful at since I did character dining everyday, but it was sooo much food. I also seemed more stressed out trying to figure out what counted and what didn't the whole time. I think I'll stick with only stressing about Genie plus and not throwing food on top of that! lol

Glad to see what happened in animal kingdom because if they’re gonna pull all the good snacks off the dining plan there’s no point in having it! I’m also curious to see what happens with the food and wine festival’s. In the past you could get three items at one booth and it would count as a meal credit, I’m interested to see if they carry that on or if they wipe the festival items off the snack menus as well 🤨 and honestly I am extremely disappointed in Disney not updating the signs! I get that it takes time to update signage, but they need to go out and put a piece of masking tape over the icons at least, you can’t leave the signs up with incorrect information and not even cover them up! I’m surprised because Disney is a lot usually a lot more on top of things.

Loved the throwback picture of you and your Grandpa 28:47 ❤️

Alan’s face with the pretzel 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I feel like RPS should have been part of this at some point. 😄

Prior to COVID, I tried the Quick Service dining plan. Like you, I tried to maximize everything to get a head or at least break even. I was successful, however, I had to pick items that I really didn't want just get my money's worth. I even traded some of my quick service credits for snack while eating around Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival. It was a lot of food and I really hated having (in my mind) to pick the most expensive items despite not having a taste for them, just to break even. I also didn't want to leave with a bunch of frivolous snacks to go home with if I didn't use all my quick service credits. I realized during that trip that I really don't eat that much. I rather have a small snack at my resort before heading out (or not at all), snack mid-day and have one meal at night. It all depends upon how long I'm at the park and if I'm at a festival. Oh, using quick service credits at a festival kiosk -- had to use all of them at the same kiosk. I didn't like that at all since most of the time I only wanted one item at the kiosk and not multiple items. I'm not saying dining plan is not good. It's just not good for me.

I appreciate that you hit some roadblocks. As wonderfully as I try to plan, I don’t go to Disney often so I run in to hiccups, and get frustrated. Actually refreshing to see it happens to the Pros!!

This is girl math. If I prepay, food day if is free lol plus my hubby would make this worth my while no problem.

this was helpful and helped me realize i dont want to buy something because its more expensive to beat the plan when in reality i prefer another option at a location that may happen to be cheaper. i think my anxiety could never handle the plan. I think instead buying $200 in giftcards with a discount from target or costco will work better for me. THIS WAS GREAT THANK YOU!

Another thing we found when we did a 2 different resort stay. One was 3 people in a resort, the other was a 2 person stay in a DVC resort. Your dining plan is good until midnight on check out day, and since we were checking out of our regular resort, we saved some credits till that day...then used them up since we had a microwave and fridge. There is so much food on the dining plan that we were able to stretch it to cover 2 more days for the 2 people! We used the credits for things that would do well with reheating or things like a chicken caesar salad that was quick serve and didn't need reheating.

I think you guys should do another one of these! This was so fun to watch. We have a trip in August and the dining plan came included in our package so this was so nice to be able to see you use it in the best ways! Id love to see you do a beat the plan at each of the parks!

The U.S is so confusing having to pay tax separately and then gratuity. Just charge me all at once.

As a plant-based eater, I have about as much chance of making the DDP worth the cost as Philly Cheesesteak Pringles do of winning a Taste award! 😉

I'm an "off-property" girlie so the Dining Plan isn't an option, but I honestly don't think I could eat enough every day to make it worth it! It's great they include Disney Springs too - so many options there! I definitely appreciate the in-depth (and delicious-looking) research.

I saw you both today at Epcot. I was eating a few table to your left during lunch. I wanted to say thank you for your Genie+ videos. They really helped me since it's my first time getting an annual pass and going alone.

A great way to use ddp is to use your snack credits for breakfast since breakfast is usually the cheapest meal, quick service for lunch, and sit down for dinner. Last time we were at Disney I booked character meals for one dining credit. It was perfect instead of waiting in the hot sun to meet characters I could sit with my kids, eat a fantastic meal (usually buffet because we wanted to beat the plan and had different diets to think about), rest my feet, and have the characters come to me. Spending an hour to eat and meet many characters beats waiting in line outside always. Plus with character meals you also get photos and autographs. Happy kids, happy parents, happy bellies wins all around. At least that was before Covid so I don’t know if any of that has changed.

We stayed at Beach Club for ten days in 2018 and got the “free” Deluxe dining plan. We used it for Character dining and mostly ice cream snacks as the weather was so hot. I remember everyone using their leftover snack credits on the final day to buy bags of candy to take home. I’m sure we had two snack credits a day each and it was a lot! We probably spent more time eating because of having the DDP included, but if we had to pay for it then we wouldn’t bother. For us we prefer to set aside money for meals and eat as we go really.

That was a truly excellent breakdown of the DDP. We did the dining plan our first two WDW trips when our son was young and we did multiple character dining meals (and this was when it was two snacks per day and alcohol was not included). We haven’t done it since. The plan forced us to have to think about stopping for meals or snacks when we weren’t really hungry so we ended up with a ton of snack credits at the end of our stay (Which we used to purchase gingerbread shingles at the contemporary since it was holiday season). We ended up doing a full excel spreadsheet comparison of what we would have to buy to use up credits vs what we would typically buy if it was all out of pocket, we spent less going out of pocket by a pretty significant amount. Great vid. Thanks for all your hard work breaking down things like this in super easy and digestible ways. 😊❤️

Molly, your "Küche" was spot on. Almost 100% Greetings from Germany.

We had the DDP back in 2018, it was great but we got so stung with tips as we kept going for the most expensive items which obviously bumped up the tip value so it still cost us a lot!! I also loved being able to convert our unused credits at the end of our holiday to snack credits and bought bags and bags of candy to take home, such a shame that they don't allow that any more!

Hi, what I'd really love to see is how you would use a quick service meal plan in each park. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. What you'd use thr snack credit for and if you'd buy anything out of pocket. Or even if you'd leave a park for a meal. On a unrelated note I've booked disney for next year with a free quick service meal plan

We got the deluxe dining plan a couple times with promotions... the pro during the time were because it was the food and wine festival so all the kiosks counted as snacks which we mainly used then... the downfall was that we were so full from sit down table meals every meal we didn't eat snacks at any other parks which we missed out on..i would do it again but like what they say in the video definitely research before you decide. We saved up to $1000 as two adults because we picked what we liked at each restaurant before reserving times... and if you can't decide always ask cast members! Some helped us pick the best options to get the most out of it

Math and food is my dream, too. So few of us. 😆

It’s sounds complicated. I think I just want to eat without having to think too hard about it LOL

My pro tip would be not to eat your snack cedits during the trip since it's so much food already - save them for the end when you can get packaged treats to take home with you! Also, since the credits last until midnight on check-out day, have that last meal or two after to spread it out as much as possible. Also, don't be afraid of to-go containers or zip lock bags lol

Shout out to the short and curly hair on your beef Wellington plate at 17:30

I was giggling at the end over your "mistake" - but not as much as the time Molly ordered the Kitchen Sink Sundae by herself. That is still, to this day, my favorite Disney Vlogger moment ever.

Thank you so much for the tips on the mobile orders! The visual walkthrough was exactly what I (and all the other visual people out there) needed. I have been worried about the plan for that very reason. So helpful. Thank you again, Molly and Allen.

We are going to WDW next month and I was wondering what the Disney Dining Plan is. But, through this video, you guys gave me a lot of useful information in an easy to understand way. Thank you so much!

I would love another video of you trying to beat the Dining Plan (Quick Service) at another park.

Absolutely fantastic that you gave a run through of how to use the app. Especially to look out for things like the cheese sauce counting as a snack! Great content as always guys ❤

Also is a good idea to factor in the time it takes to do a sit-down meal every day. If you don't get to go to WDW more than once every 5 or more years, you might not want to dedicate those multiple hours to sitting in a restaurant when you could be experiencing more park time.

We usually wld eat at at least 2 signature dining which wld use 2 table service credits and use a snack for breakfast or lunch. We almost always broke even if not ahead of the game. Also in the past unused meal credits cld be converted to snack credits and we wld come home pre packaged snacks such as pretzels , trail mix, the goldfish type crackers and gummies.

CHEESESAUCE-AS-A-SNACK AWARENESS IS WHY MAM IS THE GOAT!!!

I like the DDP because I can pre-pay and not have to budget for the majority of our food. I might not save money every day but it is easier. As teens, my daughters became adventuresome eaters because they could try anything on the menu. I am glad it is back.

22:11 i have always wondered why these nice eating places do not put sound deadening panels in the walls? The noise level is so high!

*insert gif of Joey Tribbiani saying "What was I thinking? Jeans have no give!"*

Alan and the plastic cheese…lmao! Had my gagging! Also the Mickey pretzel. Nice and dry…just like the wines I love! lol

My mom and I bought Disney gift cards every time we got groceries ( extra fuel points). We were able to eat and drink and do all that we wanted to and had money left over on the gift cards that we put it towards our next Disney trip.

I am usually a light eater when at Disney, we're more of a snacks famliy than taking time to sit down for an actual meal. I'm bummed the quick service credit can no longer be swapped over to snack credits since we would always end up bringing home so many bagged snacks at the end of our stay.

Last time I did the dining plan was back in 2019 and we had the free QS DDP, but upgraded to the Standard Dining plan for like £200. The holiday was 2 weeks…we got 2 snacks per day, which we utilised at Food and Wine but still had like 8 snack credits left over at the end of the trip and got loads of Ghiradelli chocolate with them! 2 snack credits, 1 quick service with alcohol and 1 table service. We banked some of the table service credits when staying off property at Universal and used them for things like California Grill brunch which is like $90 per person and considered 2 dining credits! Definitely made the most of the DDP which had more to offer back then but I’ve never eaten so much food on a trip in MY LIFE deffo needed the Gaviscon! Heart burn was real!

Polite Pig is definitely the best meals we had on our quick service dining plan. Portions were big and the food tasted excellent! Service was also excellent and remember to tip!

MOLLY!! You did pronounce Karamell Küche the right way!!🎉🎉 Thank you so much for showing how to modify your mobile order if you don‘t want to use a snack credit for a specific thing!!!🙌

I love Alan’s response when he first puts food into his mouth. It’s like he’s chew-meditating 🤤😋

You guys are my new favorite WDW vloggers. Great information with humor thrown in.

Thank ya'll for doing this video, you get into the nitty gritty and really give a good glimpse of logistics and practicality. We've only used the DDP one time and that was enough for us to know that the math didn't really math for us- 1 we are not big eaters, especially at disney since we find a lot of the portions at WDW to be really large and 2-even with as often as we go and would know what to eat to maximize our bang for our buck, it tends to feel restricting given we want to "eat enough" to make it make sense. The realest selling point of the DDP is that you can pre-pay for your food which lends itself to having your trip paid for and you've incurred the expense before the trip. Sort of gives it an all inclusive feel, but beyond that, it never really worked well for us.

Yay Noodle Math!

I LOVE this video! Truthfully, I love all of your videos, but this one really spoke to me. Math, food, beating the system: yes please! I am the math nerd who will spend months planning, down to the penny, to make sure I am getting the best bang for my buck. Thank you so much for making such helpful, detailed, fun videos. I love watching them! One more thing; I was laughing so hard at the part about bringing antacids because my parents call Tums “after dinner mints” 😂

Using it for the first time every this spring, was waiting for a video on this from you!

Dining plan is a Must for my Family. Its easier for us. We will have a Nanny for our Son, so we will just let her use some snacks fo herself.

The Polite Pig was probably the biggest win for us while on the Dinning Plan last week, and so good!

Yay Ty so much for doing this! It’s been so long since we got to use it and you guys always explain the best! I hope you update us in this like with genie!

Refillable mugs are so cute. Can you refill them at other resorts if you’re resort hopping?

This was so informative!! Such good tips ! Ready for my trip in May now !

Thanks for another great video! Can you do a video about using snack credits for breakfast? That was my favorite way to use snack credits prior to 2020, but it looks like snack credit options have changed. Thanks!

Omg Molly is hitting all the topics I want to know about recently because I need to brush up on my disney knowledge 😭 thank you 🙏🏻❤

We decided on the dining plan because my boyfriends worries so much about how much we went during holiday... not the actual amount we spent but he would rather starve so i can buy one more pair of mickey ears. Even if we don't beat the dining plan it gives us peace of mind which makes it work for us.

Thank You Molly and Alan for doing this vid! Very helpful information for our upcoming trip in the spring! Love You All MamFam!

🎉🎉thanks for the wonderful tips!!!

This was a really helpful video, thank you!

OMG I just came back from Disney so this video is about 2 weeks late for me but I will be following for updates 😉😜

Such a great, in-depth video. You guys really put in the work when making videos and it shows and is appreciated!

Thank you for the most informative video I have seen on the dining plan

I enjoy y'all's videos! They are entertaining as well as helpful! I like getting the dining plan for the worry-less, enjoy-more, reasoning, meaning I can just enjoy my time without the worry of seeing the huge bill every time, lol!

Sharing this video with a client that’s traveling next week and using the dining plan for the first time! Thanks guys! ❤❤❤

Thank you Alan and Molly! I learned a lot -- my head hurts from all the math! 🤣 You are both so funny! Thanks for keeping it real! Love the end of the video after your meal at Ohana. 😂🤣❤❤

Thank you for this-it was really helpful to see how this would actually play out.

Great job guys!!🎉 This video was so detailed and explained The Dining Plan so well! Great tips and tricks!!

Love it when you really tell us the best way to get the most out of something!!!! Outstanding!!! I was clueless. Thanks.

this was SO helpful, thank you!

I loved watching this to see you getting the most for your money and above! Great tips! The food looked amazing! Thanks for sharing.

wonderful video, my husband and I were just planning for our trip in April and was just having this conversation and then yall posted this video 30 seconds later. Thank you for the tips and tricks.

Ahhhh!!!! We've been here since Monday and keeping our eyes out for you two!!!! My wife and I only watch your videos when it comes to Disney information and love your videos!!!! Maybe we will see you later this week in the parks!!!

Not only are you guys wonderful humans, but you’re amazing teachers. Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge 🧡💙💖

This is the best video to explain the new plan that I have seen! Thank you

I've never used the dining plan because the first time I ever got to go to WDW was in 2022 lol THANK YOU so much for what you do, again. I can't thank y'all enough. I can't recommend your videos to other people trying to plan their WDW vacations enough!! Molly the way you explain the different aspects of planning a WDW trip (genie plus, dining plan, rope dropping, etc) CANNOT be matched. You make it so easy to find and navigate all the tools and your tips and tricks are the most helpful out of any I have seen. You've also helped grow my love for the Disney PARKS through your amazing community that I'm still so honored to be a part of. Love you guys, I can't wait to see what adventures you take us all on next!

that is so odd about Mr. Kamals! Idk if you guys did this on the first day but there were a lot of hiccups so that may be why but on the third day of the plan I was able to use a snack credit for fries at Mr. Kamals!

Brilliant! Best explanation of the dining plan I've seen!

In 2019, we used the DDP and saved ALL of our snack credits for our last day at EPCOT. We were able to “eat around the World” at World Showcase using ONLY our banked snack credits at the food booth locations. Not sure if that works for the new 2024 DDP, but it was a great use of snack credits!!

Molly and Alan, I really enjoyed this video. Apologies that I don’t regularly comment, but want you to know I appreciate you and enjoy your personalities 😊 I recently watched your Pringles and PopTart videos and they were a blast! Have a blessed day 🙏