Walt Disney World (WDW) has been offering Disney Dining Plans (prepaid meal plans that allow for really nice discounts on food prices) since 2005. Since then, they’ve slowly evolved and developed in complexity, with various options of sit down meals, character meals, quick service meals, snacks and, most recently, alcohol, that can fit almost any budget. However, there was one thing that has always been a constant – to be able to buy a Disney Dining Plan, you had to be staying at one of the 25 or so hotels owned by WDW and on Disney property. That is, until relatively recently…
Since September 2016, a new form of the Disney Dining Plan has been available – the Walt Disney World Quick Service Dine Card. The biggest difference between this plan and all the other?
You don’t have to be staying at a WDW-owned hotel in order to participate.
Nope! The plan is specifically available as an option to WDW Guests with qualifying vacation packages at eligible WDW-area hotels, including:
- Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
- Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
- Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels (8 hotels that are on Hotel Plaza Blvd., between Disney Springs and Rt. 535. They include Best Western Lake Buena Vista [well, until they close and turn into a Drury Hotels chain], B Resort & Spa Lake Buena Vista, DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Orlando, Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace, Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista, Holiday Inn Orlando, Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista and Wyndham Lake Buena Vista)
- Walt Disney World Good Neighbor Hotels (dozens of chain and non-chain hotels in the Lake Buena Vista, Celebration/Kissimmee and International Drive area of WDW)
Be Our Guest, at the Magic Kingdom is a quick-service restaurant for breakfast and lunch
The WDW Quick-Service Dine Card can be used to buy meals and snacks at participating Quick-Service dining locations, food carts, food trucks, and kiosks on WDW property and adult and child versions are available for the length of your vacation package (3 days or longer).
You can smell those turkey leg carts from a mile away
Just like the Disney Dining Plans offered to guests staying at WDW-owned hotels, using the dining plan can give you a discount. Here’s the example Disney uses on their web page:
When you book a Walt Disney World vacation package at an eligible hotel, you can add a Dine Card for each person in your party ages 3 and older. This option can be added up to 5 days in advance of your stay.
Value & Price
These gift cards have a value of $40 per adult (ages 10 and up) per day and $15 per child (ages 3 to 9) per day—which is more than the price you pay for the card.For example, if you have a party of 2 adults, one 12-year-old and one 8-year-old, and you select the 5-Day Dine Card, you’d get 3 cards with a value of $200 each and one card with a $75 value. That’s a total value of $675—at a cost of just $587.50.
The value of these plans varies from party to party, so whether or not you should get one is a case of Your Mileage May Vary. But if you think this is something you might be interested in for your next WDW vacation, just check out this page of WDW’s website for more info.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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