you guys loving Sanaa makes me so happy!! i'm one of the cooks at Sanaa and when people talk about how much they enjoyed their dinner totally makes my job worth it!! 💛
As a Canadian, the ability to purchase and prepay for the dining plan is a huge benefit. We can choose to do it when the exchange rate is best and then simply enjoy and not stress about food costs while on vacation. I also think being able to tell your kids that they can choose whatever they want that has the symbol is really exciting for them!
I loved when Jen said this is one of the most beautiful lines and Tim said it was because of her. That is something my hubby would say to me. Made me laugh.
I think as someone visiting the park who does not come often (every 5 years or more) I really love the idea of being able to go all out with food via the dining plan, and eat lots on vacation!
We found the best way to utilize our dining plan was to eat quick service for breakfast, snack for lunches and then sit down for dinner. That way we could eat a little earlier dinner to make sure we could see all the nighttime shows. Also I will say we also found it more economical when the kids got a bit older and ate more. Thanks for doing what you guys do! Hope to see you someday Orin Clermont again!
Great video, thanks for the information about the dining plan. Oliver is so cute, the way he listened to the waiter explain the sauces as if he was going to have some for dinner was adorable!
I love to use the Disney Dining Plan when I do a split stay. I can do half of my week with the character dining that I'd usually be too cheap to do, but not stuff myself all week long.
You guys nailed it! The plan is NOT practical. Getting your money's worth is not the same. We come from Chicago once or twice every year and would never do the plan. Love your channel!!!
For those of us that live out of state and enjoy a Disney World vacation I think the dining plan is worth it. Planning ahead is important for me because I don’t get there often. I think it’s easier when you live there to fly by the seat of your pants because there is always tomorrow.
I see a lot of bloggers that go to Disney all the time talking about the dinning plan. They often forget that the vast majority rarely gets to Disney, and want to experience as much as possible, including dining. This means they may not want the cheap meals like hamburgers, and chicken nuggets and pizza. This allows people to pre-pay for meals that they might really want to eat at including character experiences. Another great video by The Tractors thank you guys for what you do.
When Tim said he’s a fly by the seat kind of guy and it didn’t makes sense for him, that is ok if you live here. For us visitors who want to eat at certain places, Disney trips are highly planned in advance with reservations. I wish it wasn’t that way but it is these days. I did do the running plan before and the snack credits were extra and not always needed but we made use of the meals. We can eat a lot lol. It is nice to “spend” more on high priced dishes you may not normally get if you were paying ala carte.
When we came to Disney in 2019, we "worked" the dining plan to our advantage. We had Character dining every night. We had the quick service for breakfast and filled in with snacks until dinner. It forced us to slow down and enjoy our meals.
We used to always use the dining plan. We would order our kids adult meals to share, so our meals would stretch even more! Leftover meals can be converted to snack credits that we would cash out on our final day and take home for a touch a Disney at home too! We always got the quick serve dining plan because that suited our family’s holiday style. So happy the dining plan is back!
I have priced the Disney dining Plan so many times and there is absolutely no way I could eat that much food and so frequently. Watching your video was the backup science I needed! 😂 Watched the whole vid! They are counting on you taking home 5,000 krispy treats with remaining credits.
1. The servers have a vested interest in helping you “work the dining plan” as their tips are based upon the value of your meal. The servers at AKL seem to be particularly well versed in helping customers maximize the plan. #disneymath 2. Snack credits are for Epcot or Disney Springs. 3. Not everyone eating has to have a dining plan. So, if you invite friends or family, you can use 4 credits at a sit down meal even if only 2 individuals have the plan.
I really enjoyed this video and the cost breakdown at the end. We always do the quick service dining plan and we just love it. We buy fruits, yogurt and cheese at Walmart for the mornings then we use our meal credits for lunch and dinner. We love the quick service, you don’t need to make reservations ahead. We have gotten it for free many times and have paid for it as well. We went to WDW last year when they didn’t offer the dining plan and didn’t enjoy it as much, we were always looking at the prices and trying to choose the cheapest option. We are also coffee drinkers so the refillable mug is a big bonus for us. Our favourite snacks are a grande Frappuccino at Starbucks that my husband and i share and the smoothies at Auntie Gravity’s Galactic at MK. And since we are Canadians we use any snack credit we have left to buy snacks for the plane on our way home. We are very very excited to have the free dining for our summer vacation. Hope we can see you in the parks ❤️❤️❤️❤️
It would be interesting if you did the exact same trip and just ate what you wanted and where to really compare. So you have what you would naturally do with out the pressure and then what you're doing because you have the plan and you're trying to maximize.
That safari guide sounded amazing, not only was she bilingual, her voice was simply like butter! 🧈 Also, Animal Kingdom Lodge is honestly one of my favorite resorts! Being local-ish, staying or just going there for a few hours feels like a true getaway from Florida! I love it especially in winter months or at Christmas, it feels warm and “cushy” 🥰👏🔥🐃🐗🦒🦓🦩🐆 Can’t go wrong with Sanaa or Boma!
We like the all inclusive feel of the dining plan. My husband relaxes more on the dining plan. With 4 adults (2 older teen boys) food adds up so very quickly and it can be stressful. Also if you use it for a 1 credit character meal it definitely helps get you the value!!
Absolutley love the longer videos, the longer the better for me! We come from the UK and the dining plan is included in our package at certain times of the year. For my family it's definitley worth it even when we pay to upgrade from quick service to standard, it takes so much worry out of our stay and allows us to try so many things that we wouldn't if we had to pay out of pocket. We love how easy it makes things.
Personally I’ve done both but loved going for the quick service dining plan. You could also trade in 3 snack credits for a quick service credit. I’ve done this at the festivals; Try three festival foods (all snack credits) and it will equate to one quick service meal. It gives an opportunity to try three different festival foods at a booth.
Disney closing off a lot of the value of the plan, and honestly, even if you "come out ahead on paper" the house wins because you may not have actually purchased that much food to begin with
Thanks for mentioning that tipping isn’t included in the dining plans! My wife is a server cast member and these individuals work hard to make meal time magical for guests. They work for tips and a very very low hourly rate (ride operators make more per hour). Many guests don’t know about tipping standards at Disney. Appreciate all you do!
Back in the 90s & early 2000s I recall Tipping WAS included in the Dining Plan. The waiters would always encourage us to get the most expensive items on the menu, as then their tips would automatically be bigger.
I love the longer videos! Today here in Texas it is 12 degrees and I’m not going out at all, so I got to take a virtual trip to animal kingdom! Yayyy! And thank you!!
I always did the quick service meal plan most. The sit down service is nice but so time consuming when you are trying to experience as much of WDW as possible.
My friend loves the planning phase of Disney and actually put together a spreadsheet parsing out the meals we would like to buy at the restaurants we reserved, adding everything up, and comparing the price to just buying it all on the dining plan. Turns out there was very little difference, for our 6 night stay we pay about $100 more on the plan than if we bought it all at the table instead. We decided the convenience of pre-budgeting was worth that cost.
For those traveling to Disney World, the dining plan helps, so you don't have to guess how much money to budget for food. Prepaid costs when planning vacations sure helps. The old dining plan, if you had service meals left at the end of your stay, you could get those changed to snacks and fill your suitcase with snacks. I loved the dining plan pre-covid and am glad it's back!
Free dining is a dream, it has saved us much more than the low room discount at Pop in the past. We have it lined up for our end of September trip! We get all our preferred snacks limostly figured and if someone is waiting until after the next ride for their snack someone is always ready to share because snacks are big. Quick service is much less of a time suck. If we want a table service we pay out of pocket and use credits to buy a sandwich for the plane or snacks for friends at home. Quick service gives more flexibility! Loved this video so much!!!!
Loved the dining plan- it gave us a chance to try foods we may have skipped previously. It is a lot of food but the snacks can be used for prepackaged foods which make great gifts to bring home. Taking the cups along gave us a chance to refill at different resorts close to the parks (coffee) and use the "drinks" with quick serve for water or bottled drinks. Heads up- wasn't worth it when travelling with older kids that could only eat from kids menu but wanted adult options/ more food.
They now only include one snack per day instead of two and you can no longer convert meals to snacks, so it’s not like before where you can really stockpile the snacks.
I very much appreciate this video and comment section! I’m currently planning a trip for summer and this is some info I’m very thankful you touched on because it’s something I was considering. Thank you Tim and Jenn for the extensive and detailed video on the dining plan!
Here in the U.K. we used to get “free dining” as a promotion quite often. The great thing about it was that everyone in the hotel room got it. Our two kids were in their early teens, and they didn’t really like full “adult” meals. But because they were over 12, they qualified as “adults”. So we basically had tons of “free” adult dining credits to use - my wife and I enjoyed many signature dining experiences and lots of cocktails. Thanks Disney.
I’ve done the dining plan 3 times but it was many many years ago!! Im not sure if i would get the dining plan now, i agree with Tim, the dining plan seems to just be added planning!!
We did the dining plan a few times in the past, and it was worth it(for us) for a few reasons. 1. We booked almost a year in advance, so we could pay for our trip throughout the year (which many do to be able to spread it out in a way to budget). Being able to have the dining plan as part that we were paying for over the months beforehand, made it so we wouldn’t have to worry about the food cost during our actual trip. One less expense to worry about at the time of traveling. 2. As you mentioned, you tried things you wouldn’t have normally tried. For us, that applied to cost of entrees too. When we’ve gone without the dining plan, we find ourselves looking for the cheaper options, even if something might sound better. With the dining plan, we didn’t have to think about cost, we could just order what sounded good. 3. We actually liked having extra snacks left at the end. We would use them to get some of the packaged snacks (boxes of Mickey/Minnie shortbread type cookies, packaged Mickey rice crispy treats, Goofy gummies, etc.) to take home for our daughter to have once we got home. She loved having special Disney snacks back at home. Also, I’m not sure if they’re doing it with the new plan, but you used to be able to trade out a quick service and get three snacks. On one trip we had a couple quick service credits left at the end along with a number of snack credits. We were able to get Mickey rice crispy treats to take home for our daughter’s whole preschool class. If we had to pay that during the trip, we wouldn’t have used our money that way, but since it was pre-paid it was a neat treat to be able to share. One thing I noticed you could have done differently (and still would have “spent” the same amount) was not using your two quick services the same day. If you would have switched to having the snack breakfast the day you went to the park, you may not have felt the same about having so much in one day. I would have saved the quick service breakfast for your checkout day.
Well one point is you said you don't eat that much food but the majority of the time you order several entries to show us the different choice. So you kinda do run your bill up showing choices and that is expensive, even if you are only tasting..
Great video! It seems like a lot of food but on a longer stay you wouldn't be having two quick service meals, a table service meal and a snack in one day. We have done mostly the quick service plan in the past which works out better for us. We did it back when it included two snacks a day and we ended up with snack credits at the end but that wouldn't be as likely to happen with only one snack credit per day.
Love this video! AK Lodge is so beautiful. If you weren't leaving so early on check out day you would have been able to use one of your quick serve/table serve meals for breakfast - you have until midnight on check out day to use all your credits! So I understand you ate so much but typically you wouldn't do the 3x meals in one day. We always use the plan - any snack credits left we use take things home! Also they can switch 1 QS meal for 3 snack credits if you want - we've done this before at the epcot festivals so could eat at 3x booths for the price of 1 QS credit each. I hope you do try the dining plan again thats the type of video I'd love to watch x
We found the dining plan to be too much trouble. Our daughter doesn’t eat much and is very picky. We would end up with extra meals and would convert them to snack credits and buy things to take home. We found it was better to just pay your food as you want to eat. Less stress. But it could be a great option for some families. Thank you for showing us Boma dinner. Boma breakfast is our favorite restaurant on property. Maybe we will try dinner next time. Oliver definitely wanted the bread service 😂
@@firemedic2816 There are lots of videos on RU-vid if you search “hotel thermostat override”. The method is different depending on the model and there are a few different models at the Disney resorts
"The only reason I got it was because it was the most expensive thing on the menu" says it all. You have to compare what you would NORMALLY eat to what you pay for the dining plan. You didn't spend $440.72 on the dining plan. You also have to add the tips you left onto what you paid for the dining plan. Since you are eating on the dining plan and picking more expensive restaurants, your out of pocket tips are more. Also, those glasses of wine that you wouldn't have ordered was $48 on their own. I was with people who did the dining plan for a week and they were TIRED of eating by the end of the trip. There is a LOT of focus on food when you get the dining plan - where will we eat, what's the best value, and then the post meal food coma.
Exactly ! The convenience is nice but that’s just about it. If you got a $60 steak and $25 glass of wine because you trying to get your money worth and passed on the $20 burger and $5 sprite that you really had a taste for … how does that make it worth it?
Back in the 90s & early 2000s the Tips WERE included in the Dining Plan. The waiters would always encourage you to get the most expensive things on the menu, because then they would automatically get bigger tips.
Sanaa provided one of the best meals I've ever had... at Disney for sure, but maybe ever. I still think about it 6 years later. Truly exceptional and so much fun! I'm a big fan of dipping, so that bread service was my jam! So good! I can't wait to go back someday!
Favorite part of this entire video is Oliver looking like a little man listening and following everything the server pointed out about the bread service. 🥰
What a great video and so informative. I do like the Disney dinning plan. If I do get to go to Disney this year I will get it. Thanks for the great content. Wow, Oliver was really paying attention to the server when he did the bread service. He is very aware of his surroundings. I suffer from depression so your videos always lift my spirits. Pray you know how much you help people. Love you all ❤
Very true about using all your dining plan credits! We go down there for a week and on leaving day, we have had to go into the resort food area and load up on all the left over snack credits we had. The dining plan has changed in the past years, pre covid even, where you got more snacks than you do currently. I remember one time we had to get 27 snacks on our last day to zero out our plan. LOL
We had a free dining plan back in 2016 and have another one for this year in September! We use our quick service for breakfast, we picked a snack item for our lunch or got a treat. (we were usually still full from breakfast so didn’t need something too big) and had our table service at night. We think it was worth it. We didn’t have a meal plan during our honeymoon last June and we missed not having to think about our budget for food. It was nice to just have the dining plan in place and not think too much about it. We like to be in full vacation mode when we are at Disney. 😎
That's how my family feels. Food is Paid for with dining plan. We enjoy Signature Dining like Narrcoosses, Jiko etc. We r hoping that California Grill will eventually come back to Plan as that is one of our Favorite places
I would love for ya’ll to go back for another 2 night stay without the dining plan and keep track of how much you spend. I really am curious! I also would love to see ya’ll do the quick dining plan as well! Thank you for this video!
I think the dining plan can be worth it, if you either eat a lot, or you combine credits to eat at more "fancy" places. I also like that prepaying can be great for budgeting if you want to lighten your mental load. You can certainly eat cheaper at Disney, but having it all taken care of is pretty nice too. More like going on a cruise.
When we last bought the dining plan, it was almost for the opposite reason that you two spent time wandering around the park: my husband gently suggested that we'd be more likely to just get the snack/meal that sounded good if we (me) weren't looking at the price. So we didn't try to maximize value, we did it for our convenience and for the lack of worry. And we only did the quick service. I hope you two try that one.
Thanks for the great video! I LOVE a long format video every once in a while and this one was exceptional. Great footage to you both and great edits Jenn!
This is by far the most accurate description of the DDP. You guys did the eating…the drinking…the math and the comparison!!! Us New Yorkers cling to every word you guys say so 7-8 days at WDW …this is so helpful! Thanks Tracker family!💜💜💜💜💜💜
Loved this video - thank you so much for sharing and showing what’s changed with the new Disney dining plan!! My family have done the dining plan before for a 2 week holiday in WDW and it was definitely worth it during that time but I definitely agree that it isn’t cost effective for everyone. Coming from the UK where we were spending a lot already on flights and such so we liked that we paid for our food in advance and new what we had leftover for souvenirs- we actually used leftover snack credits on souvenir packets of sweets (although this may have changed now). It’s very much the cruise/all inclusive perspective where you try and get your money’s worth out of it. Totally agree with the girl math too Jenn, when you’ve already paid it feels like it’s free hehe!☺️
I don't think the Dining Plan is too bad, it depends where you live for the offers they give. Booking here from the UK used to give really great offers like getting the plan for 'free' when you booked your park tickets so curious how that's changed. When we last went late 2019 with two kids who was 3 and 4 it was worth it, I know a lot of people feel forced to eat so much due to all the meals, but we discovered you could swap 1 quick service meal for 3 snacks, so it made for getting things like cereals, milk etc for kids or other smaller bites through out the day a lot better.
We started doing the dining plan when it first started back in the mid-90's. It was called the Food and Fun package then. It included an appetizer, entree, dessert and a non-alcoholic drink, and I'm pretty sure gratuity was included too. Then, in the 2000's it changed it's name, but what was offered stay the same. It continued that way until maybe 2008 or 2010 when the included appetizer was dropped. It was about that time that we decided it wasn't worth it. Trying to keep small children occupied in a busy sit-down restaurant every night for a week was a headache. You spend a lot of valuable park time loitering at a restaurant every day, and you find yourself eating way more than you usually would only to get your money's worth. It made more sense for us to do 2 table services (at restaurants we really liked) in a span of a week's visit and use a combination of eating in the room from food we brought with us on the trip and counter service meals for the rest of the trip. We could use "snacks" for a meal (like fruit, oatmeal and pastries from the resort for breakfast, like they did,) and we could share counter service meals to save money. We ate what we wanted and only when we were hungry, and saved time and money. Heads up: the value resorts, at least, do offer microwaves and toasters in the food court for you to heat up your own store-bought food.
When we went in 2017 I found that the best utilization of the table service dining credits was in character meals. The amount of time I saved not waiting in lines to meet characters was invaluable. Back then it was mostly just Cinderella’s royal table that was 2 credits though. It is a lot of food, but we were an open-to-close type family so it was a nice break from the heat and the walking to sit and eat. I also loved going to Walt Disney World knowing that food was prepaid. Food can add up so fast and those expensive meals would’ve felt like a bucket of cold water over an otherwise amazing trip. As a super planner who is also a foodie, I didn’t mind spending the time to plan all the food. It gave me a lot of reassurance.
Storybook dining with Snow white at Artist point is 2 credits. Not sure if Akersus is 2 CREDITS. I know Garden grill is One credit. Chef Mickeys is One credit. I think 1900 park fare is One credit too.
In the past we did it for a large family trip. It was great it allowed us all to eat together not worry about what we were eating . It did however make us spend a lot of time planning eating and it was to much food . I’d love to see you do this again with quick service .Also enjoyed this style of video . Love that you showed Jackson tired and what a real experience looks like.
My family has been apart of the DVC for forever so I've never known anything but! Using the dining plan and knowing how to get the most out of it was just the way we did Disney! I never really thought about the fact that others might not know so this was a great video for them. Super nostalgic for me too! I remember loving my refillable cup as a kid. There were always at least 8 of us so we'd fight over who got what color and who got to share colors with who. Years ago the cups were much bigger and I have fond memories of taking a swim break from the parks around 3pm and taking everyone's drink orders! We would get together as soon as we could to pick our reservations for locations and then would plan which parks to go to based on when we got reservations. One of our favorite sit-downs was Liberty-Tree Tavern in Magic Kingdom because you get the unlimited food like with a buffet, but they bring it out to you so you don't have to go up to get more! Also Chef Mickey's was a hit for us! If we ever felt like it was too much food, we'd buy something sealed like the popcorn that we could take home! More often than not we would pick up dessert on the way back to our room, usually a cupcake with a TON of frosting lol. As a child it was like heaven!
It's like Jen said "I've wanted to try this!" You can eat cheaper than the dining plan on a Disney trip, but you can definitely get what you pay for, it's a good way to plan ahead for the cost of food, and it let's you enjoy your vacation a little more. There's lots of good tips online for utilizing a dining plan to the fullest, you do actually have to to use all those snack credits!
Love the longer video :) Also, it seems like you probably would be spending more on tips for the more expensive meals than you normally would have spent.
I've been doing DDP math for years and I could never make it work in my favor. We just don't eat enough food and we aren't at the resort enough to get that many drinks for the cup. Maybe if I had teen boys....😆
We use the snack credits for breakfast for a muffin or oatmeal. We then use our counter service for lunch and our table service for dinner. We love it and it always benefits us because when we total it up we would have spent more with out the dining plan for what we got! Love your videos!!!!
We absolutely love the dining plan. Because we are from out of town we book a table service each evening before we come and then you the quick service for breakfast and my husband's favorite snack is a turkey leg which can be the lunch in mid day if you want and snacks we usually get things for the room to have for if it is late. We haven't been back until they brought the dining plan back.
This was a fantastic video, informative and just regular Tracker fun. The length was especially nice, really enjoyed sitting down to this log video 🧡🖤🧡
The Safari Driver was Incredible, so descriptive and her voice was fantastic. Disney Meal Plan is convenient as it’s paid up front, rather than credit card charges for us out of Towners. It’s personal preference but Disney would not bring it back if they were not benefiting from it.
The addition of the alcoholic drink is nice. That is new as well. One of the things I love about the dining plan is that your meals can used anytime while you are there. Not like you have to use or lose like some places. You guys asked how you handle all the meals and snacks. all 3 times my kiddo and I went to Disney We always did the dining plan. We would use Snacks for breakfast, Quick service for Lunch and Sit down for Dinner. We always had left over snacks so we would grab a bunch of snacks to take home. We always had a quick service left for the last day and we would get food from the grab and go fridge to take on the plane.
The way we did the dining plan was to use snack credits for breakfast, as we weren't fans of the Disney breakfast foods. Then use 1 point for lunch, and 2 points for a fancy dinner or a character meal. We always ended up with a bunch of leftover snack credits, so we would hit the store on check-out day and load up for the car ride home. You just have to know your group's way of eating and make it work for you.
We’ve done both dining plans in the past. We’ve paid for dining plans and we’ve lucked up and had promotions where it was “free”. Which in our experience means when they offer free dining the room rates are up. However it was nice have the entire vacation paid for. Now days when we go we look for a deal on the room and just pay for food. Eat when we want and go with the flow. No planning involved around food. To me it much more relaxed. Love your videos.
Pre look up menus and prices. You would know where the most expensive snacks are. We look up food before our trips and reviews. We have way better food experiences when we do this. We write it all down.
We have used the dining plan 6 times for 2 weeks each time. If you want the best bang for your buck you absolutely can but you need to plan ahead and look at menus in advance. We take refillable water bottles so don't use snack credits on drinks, and usually have an idea in mind of where we want to eat. We also save up a lot of our snacks to use at the epcot festivals so that uses a ton. We also use unused credits on our last day on pre packaged snacks to take home
The CM on the Safari needs to do a Calm app! Watching Oliver watching the Waiter at Sanaa was so cute. Like he was really listening to what was being offered. Loved eating as this restaurant! I know on the old plan that by day 3 I felt the food was too much. I wanted to eat a salad because I was so full but the waiter said But You Did Pay for the Dining Plan so I had to order more. Just remember to tip!
AKL is our family's absolute FAVORITE Disney resort. Even if it doesn't have the benefit of being located within walking location of a park, it's dining can't be beat, and we think the resort and its rooms are the most immersive and transportive on property! We always rent DVC points, which brings it down to the same cost (sometimes even less!) than the cost of Disney moderates. We absolutely love Sanaa for breakfast, and it's only considered quick service! In terms of getting the most bang for your buck with the dining plan, you probably would have been better off using table service credits for a big breakfast at Tusker House, and then you could have used quick service for a late lunch or early supper with a couple of snacks during the day/night. Then you would have had a quick service breakfast to enjoy the next morning before checking out, and you probably wouldn't have felt like you were eating too much.
I did the dining plan with my kids a few years back- way too much foot in my opinion. I gained 7 lbs in a week! My teenage son gained 9 lbs and said ‘all my clothes hurt me!”😂😂😂I really appreciate this breakdown to see what you can get but it just boils down to too much food in my opinion but we still laugh about my son saying his clothes hurt 🤣
