The NEW Rules You Have To Follow for the Disney Dining Plan

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The Disney Dining Plan returned to Disney World in 2024, and it came with a NEW set of rules!

Cinderella Castle

Disney changed its Dining Plan offerings, as well as increased the price, so our recommendations for how to fit the plans into your vacation are a bit different these days. That’s why we’ve rounded up the NEW rules you have to follow for the Disney Dining Plan.

NEW Plan Types

The first thing that you have to know when trying to use the Disney Dining Plan is that the plan types have CHANGED since the offering returned. Now, there are two options — the Disney Standard Dining Plan or the Quick Service Dining Plan. 

Casey’s Corner

The Disney Standard Dining Plan comes with one table service credit and one quick service credit per person, per day. It also offers one snack credit per day and one resort refillable mug per person in your party. So if you’re interested in table service dining at all, this is the option you should go with!

50s Prime Time Cafe in Disney World

The Quick Service Dining Plan is for those ballin’ on a budget. It offers two quick service credits and one snack credit per person, per day. It also includes a resort refillable mug for each person.

Securing Discounts or the FREE Dining Plan

Before you book your Disney World vacation, we recommend checking the “special offers” tab on the Disney World website to see if there are any deals for you. Since the Dining Plan returned, we’ve seen a few offers specifically for helping you save on this add-on.

Full spread from our meal at Cinderella’s Royal Table

Sometimes Disney runs discounts on the Dining Plan, or offers things like “kids eat free.” They’ve even shared deals for snagging a free Dining Plan with your vacation booking. But there’s a catch — usually, in order to secure these Dining Plan deals, you have to book your tickets and room at full price, and there are sometimes minimums in place (like you have to book a certain days’ worth of tickets or length of stay). So if you plan to use one of the special offers, make sure you run the pricing to ensure that it’s ACTUALLY a good deal. 

Getting the Best Value at Restaurants

The Dining Plan sounds like an easy way to pay for your meals in advance, but you have to make sure you’re actually getting the full value. Purchasing the Dining Plan is actually more expensive than dining at the parks regularly for most families — that’s how Disney makes money off of Dining Plan sales!

Plaza Restaurant

But you CAN break even or even save money if you choose your restaurants well. In 2025, the Quick Service Dining Plan costs $59.14 per adult, per day, while the Standard Dining Plan costs $97.79 per adult, per day. If you break that down further, one table service credit costs about $65 per adult, and one quick service credit costs about $27 per adult. This means that your meals need to cost MORE than that amount for you to actually save.

Beach Club Marketplace

For table service dining, you might want to avoid the restaurants that cost 2 credits each, which are Cinderella’s Royal Table, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (lunch and dinner), and Artist Point. However, character meals like 1900 Park Fare or Chef Mickey’s that typically cost $69 per adult for dinner would be GREAT values. 

Hey, Aladdin!

If you’re not doing one of those “one price” all-you-care-to-eat meals or character dining experiences, then it’s best to go for the pricier entrees on the menu. This applies to both table service and quick service dining — now is the time to live it up large! And of course, each meal credit comes with a beverage included. Adults can use that beverage allotment for select alcoholic drinks to get more value.

Using Your Snack Credits Wisely

The same value problem goes for using your snack credits! Try to use those credits for more expensive snacks (think like items that are $8 or more), but if you’ve already hit your value for the day by using your meal credits, then you can be a bit creative with your snack credits.

Popcorn

Many EPCOT festival items are available as snack credits, and at many quick service restaurants, you can use your snack credits to buy extra sides for your meal. And if you’re left with several snack credits at the end of your trip, you can always use them to go buy prepackaged treats in some shops (not our favorite use of the credits, but helpful if you want to actually use them and take some snacks home).

Flexibility is KEY

Finally, the last point we really want to stress is that you need to BE FLEXIBLE. Sometimes, your mileage will vary when using the Disney Dining Plan — like when sides are included for some Disney World quick service meals but not others. If you have any questions about your meal, make sure to ask the Cast Members at the restaurant, and then accept whatever answer they give you.

San Angel Inn

And of course, keep following along here for all the coverage of the Dining Plan — we’ll continue to share all the information that we learn while using it.

That’s a wrap on the new rules for the Disney Dining Plan! For more tips on how to use this offering to your benefit, check out our video below.

Stay tuned to DFB for more tips and tricks on how to conquer Disney World!

Click Here for the List of 2025 Disney Dining Plan Restaurants!

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The post The NEW Rules You Have To Follow for the Disney Dining Plan first appeared on the disney food blog.

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