There has been a lot of interest lately on the Disney Magic Your Way dining plan. What exactly is it? How much does it cost? Is it really worth the money? Is the dining plan something that would work well for your traveling party?
Recently I’ve also been asked about how the Disney Dining Experience compares with the Disney Magic Your Way dining plan.
If you are considering either the Magic Your Way Dining Plan or the Disney Dining Experience but aren’t sure about how they work or if they are a right fit for you, then today’s article is just what you may need to help you make the right choice.
Let’s look at both programs and how to determine if they fit your WDW vacation needs by putting together a hypothetical five-day trip to Walt Disney World, and look at how differently your dining costs can be with these options.
Finally, I’ll try to wrap everything up with my honest take on both and their merits and shortcomings.
Disney Magic Your Way dining plan: The Basics
Think of the Disney Magic Your Way dining plan as a way to prepay your meals before you go on your trip. You are paying for snacks, counter (quick service) meals, and sit-down (table-service) meals well before you even get to Orlando.
To be eligible for this plan, you must purchase a Magic Your Way vacation package, which includes your room and a minimum of a 1-day Magic Your Way base ticket.
You must purchase the dining plan for everyone in the party ages 3 and up.
Your length of stay determines how many dining days you purchase, with the number of nights equalling the number of dining days you purchase. For instance, if you stay seven nights, you must purchase a seven-day plan for all in your party.
Disney Vacation Club members are not required to secure a vacation package to purchase the plan as long as they are using their DVC points to stay at the resort.
The cost is $37.99 per day per adult (ages 10 and older) and $10.99 per day for children (ages 3-9).
The plan includes one quick-service meal, one snack, and one table service meal per person, per day.
Quick-service meals
A quick-service meal is what formally was known as a counter-service meal. Some quick-service meal locations include Pecos Bill’s in Magic Kingdom, Electric Umbrella in Epcot’s Future World, Backlot Express at Disney-MGM Studios, and Pizzafari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. A quick-service meal includes:
- Entrée and dessert (lunch and dinner)
- non-alcoholic beverage
The alternative meal is a combo meal plus one dessert and one single serving of a non-alcoholic beverage.
Snacks
A snack is one of the following:
- Frozen ice-cream novelty, Popsicle or fruit bar
- Popcorn scoop (single serving box)
- Single oiece of whole fruit
- Single serving bag of snacks
- 20-ounce bottle of Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite or 24-ounce Dasani water
- Medium fountain soft drink
- 12-ounce coffee, hot chocolate, or hot tea
- Single serving prepackaged milk or juice
Tablesservice meals
A table-service meal is a meal is commonly referred to as a meal at a sit-down restaurant where you have a server handling your food and beverage requests. A Table Service meal includes:
- Juice (breakfast)
- Appetizer (lunch & dinner),
- Entrée and dessert (lunch & dinner)
- Non-alcoholic beverage.
The alternative is one full buffet.
So what isn’t included in the dining plan?
- Room service (in-room dining)
- Pizza delivery
- In-room mini-bars
- Souvenir or refillable drink mugs
- Glow cubes
- Merchandise and photo imaging
How does it work?
Your dining plan information is encoded on your Key to the World card. You present this card to the cashier when getting a snack or quick service meal. For table service meals you present it to your server prior to ordering so your server knows to charge meals to your Disney Dining Plan. Gratuities/service charges for table service meals are included in your Disney dining plan.
Disney Dining Experience: The basics
The Disney Dining Experience is offered to Florida residents and all Annual Passholders 21 years or older.
The cost for Florida residents is $85 ($70 for renewals) and $60 for Annual Passholders.
Program benefits include:
- A 20-percent discount off on food and beverages at participating restaurants throughout Walt Disney World. The discount is good up to a party of 10 people. There is a limit of one Disney Dining Experience card per table.
- Free parking at theme parks. Actually it’s a refund that is given at Guest Relations when you show your Disney Dining Experience card, parking receipt, and dining receipt. Of course if you are either an Annual Passholder or staying on property than this perk is moot. Also, after 5 P.M. Disney Dining Experience members can park at theme parks for free… no need to do the Guest Relations and receipt dance.
- Disney Dining Experience members also receive a newsletter that talks about upcoming events which they may partake.
Keep in mind that I said “participating restaurants” so that means not all locations offer the discount. These restaurants are always subject to change so I hesitate to list them here. For more information you can call the Disney Dining Experience office at (407) 566-5858.
I will tell you that the Disney Dining Experience is accepted at all the Value Resort food courts. Other than those food courts and the quick-service locations at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park, the only other places accepting the card are full-service restaurants.
A closer look
Okay, so you are getting close to booking your vacation and all of a sudden you hear about the Disney Dining Experience and the Dining Your Way plan.
You happened to be an Annual Passholder, so you are eligible for the Disney Dining Experience.
The best way to determine what works best is to put together a hypothetical 5-day vacation and make some comparisons.
For our trip, we are staying at Pop Century. Our family consists of two adults and two teens. Total cost for the day will include 5 percent tax and a 20 percent tip for table-service meals. Everyone in the party of four is ordering the same food.
Day 1
Breakfast – All things Pop – Adult Breakfast Platter – $5.59
Snack – Pineapple Float – $3.49
Table Service – Liberty Tree Tavern: Adults $27.99.
Total cost for the day:
- Regular – $178.06
- Dining Plan – $151.96
- Disney Dining Experience – $151.00
For this day the Disney Dining Experience appears to have worked the best by a few pennies because the discount saved on both breakfast and dinner… .otherwise the Dining Plan gets the nod.
Day 2
Breakfast – Electric Umbrella – Cheese Omelet with Bacon – $6.09
Snack – Nestle Butterfinger Cheesecake $3.29
Dinner – Le Cellier – Soup, Salad, NY Strip and Happiest Celebration on Earth Chocolate Whiskey Cake – $44.96
Total cost for the day:
- Regular – $255.21
- Dining Plan – $172.92 (must pay for second appetizer)
- Disney Dining Experience – $223.11
- Combo: Dining Plan and Disney Dining Experience – $168.74 (20 percent off that second appetizer)
Today we were able to combine the two programs. Our second appetizers at Le Cellier were not covered by the dining plan but we were able to get 20 percent off their cost which saved us almost $4.00 more than if we just used the Dining Plan and $14 off more than if we just used the Disney Dining Experience program. What worked here is that we chose one of the more expensive restaurants so we got high value from the dining plan and our ace was our Disney Dining Experience card.
If we did not have the Disney Dining Experience card then the dining plan offered the best value.
Day 3
Late breakfast/early lunch – MGM’s Backlot Express – Grilled Turkey & Cheese – $6.89, a Dasani Bottled Water – 24 oz. $2.00 and a Double Chocolate Bundt Cake $3.59.
Snack – Nestle Toll House Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich – $2.79
Dinner at 50’s Primetime Café – Smoked Seafood Dip – Flatbread $6.19, Char-grilled Pork Tenderloin glazed with port wine and served with root vegetable hash and apple raisin chutney $16.79, Dad’s Super Sundae – $5.99, Brewed Iced Tea $2.00
Total cost for the day:
- Regular – $219.57
- Dining Plan – $151.96
- Disney Dining Experience – $194.79
On this day the Dining Plan works best because it covered all meals. The Disney Dining Experience discount was good only at the 50’s Prime Time Café.
Day 4
Breakfast – Boma’s – $16.99
Lunch/snack – Soft serve ice cream $2.89
Dinner – Chef Mickey’s – 27.99
Total cost for the day:
- Regular – $238.83
- Dining Plan – $151.96
- Disney Dining Experience – $201.05
On this day we can use two of our table-service meals to cover breakfast and dinner and in fact it’s the cheapest route to go. Of course this also means we now have one snack and two quick service meals left.
Day 5
Breakfast – All things Pop – Adult Breakfast Platter – $5.59
Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich $3.59
Dinner – Pecos Bill’s – chicken wrap $7.49, Diet Coke, $2.29, and Peanut Butter Brownie Mousse – $2.29
Total cost for the day:
- Regular – $89.25
- Dining Plan – $151.96
- Disney Dining Experience – $89.25
On this day neither program worked well. This is because we could not use the Disney Dining Experience at any of the locations and because our total cost per person was far below the $37.99 per day cost of the Ddining plan.
For the five days here’s how the different costs lined up:
- Regular – $973.92
- Dining Plan – $780.76
- Disney Dining Experience – $859.20
The figures do not lie. The dining plan is an obvious route to take if you want to save on your dining budget.
However, for those who have Annual Passes the alternative is the Disney Dining Experience and in some cases the Disney Dining Experience may be the better route. Here’s why. The rack rate cost of a 5-night stay at Pop Century is $551.93. An Annual Passholder rate would be $412.55 or a savings of $139.38.
Here’s a better way of putting it. The non-AP holder will pay a total of $1,332.69 for room and meals for our 5-day vacation. That is through his MYW package which includes the Dining Plan.
The AP holder will pay $1,271.75 for his AP rate and using his Disney Dining Experience card. But there’s the odd coincidence. Remember that the AP holder had to pay $60 for his Disney Dining Experience card? Add that to his cost and he is now looking at $1,331.75, which is less than $1.00 from the cost of the non-AP holder.
So what’s my point? It’s very simple: Use whatever you can. If you are not an AP holder you should really look into the dining plan, especially if you’ve always wanted to try some of the WDW elegant restaurants and especially if you expect to spend more than $38 per day on food.
If you’re an AP holder and want the plan, then get the MYW package but realize you get no room discount.
I don’t take any chances. As an AP holder I like the flexibility of looking at my options. Depending upon my plans, I go with what suits me wallet best.
You should do the same.
Next Time
There is nothing worse than an overlooked WDW book, especially when it has so much value. We’ll talk about two of them next time.
Class dismissed.
