The Disney Dining Plan Returns in 2024

Walt Disney World has reopened sales for one of your favorite amenities! Yes, the Disney Dining Plan is back on the menu as of January 9th, 2024, with sales already open to guests with 2024 reservations. Here’s what you need to know about the dining plan’s return!

What Is the Disney Dining Plan 

The Disney Dining Plan (DDP) allows guests to pay a set fee in exchange for two daily meal entitlements. When you participate in a dining plan, you may “pay” for a Disney meal with an entitlement. So, you can think of entitlements as meal credits akin to ones you may have used in school/college. 

The Disney Dining Plan (DDP) is the name of one version, while the other is entitled the Quick-Service Dining Plan (QSP). Each one provides two daily meal credits. The difference involves how you can spend one of them.

With the QSP, you may exchange your credits at Quick-Service restaurants only. When you purchase the costlier DDP, you may use one of your entitlements at a Table Service restaurant instead. Disney isn’t offering the Deluxe Dining Plan or its variants for 2024, or at least it isn’t yet. 

What Do You Get with the Disney Dining Plan?

When you purchase the QSP, you’ll receive:

• 2 Quick-Service Meals Per Night of Stay
• 1 Snack or Nonalcoholic Beverage Per Night of Stay
• 1 Resort-Refillable Mug

Your “meal” includes:

• 1 Entrée
• 1 Nonalcoholic Beverage (or Alcoholic Beverage, for Guests 21 and older)

This is true for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and it should include combos with a side. The company hasn’t been as forthcoming with details as in previous years, though. So, the combo part isn’t assured based on the official site, just internal documents. 

Meanwhile, the DDP offers:

• 1 Quick-Service Meal Per Night of Stay
• 1 Table-Service Meal Per Night of Stay
• 1 Snack or Nonalcoholic Beverage Per Night of Stay
• 1 Resort-Refillable Mug

The Table Service meal includes a dessert, which isn’t the case with Quick-Service entitlements this year. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, that may matter to you.

Also, there’s one other caveat here. You’ll receive dessert with brunch, lunch, or dinner…but NOT breakfast! Please keep this in mind when planning how you use your entitlements. 

The refillable mug works the same as in past years. You’ll grab one at your resort. It’ll include an RFID chip that signals Coke Freestyle machines and the like that you’re entitled to free refills. 

As for Snack credits, here’s what qualifies in 2024:

• Frozen ice cream novelty, popsicle or fruit bar
• 2 scoops of hand-scooped ice cream
• Popcorn scoop (single-serving box)
• Piece of whole fruit
• Single-serve bag of snacks
• 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola® products, including Dasani® water
• 20-ounce fountain soft drink
• Single-serve coffee, hot chocolate, hot tea, milk or juice
• Cup of soup
• Add-on toppings or sauces 

How Much Does the Disney Dining Plan Cost?

On Wednesday morning, just before the booking window opened, Disney finally confirmed pricing for the 2024 dining plan options. As usual, prices have increased a bit, but we should remember Disney hasn’t offered the dining plan since 2020, either. Everything has grown more expensive since then.

For the QSP, adults will pay $57.01 per person per night plus tax. For children ages three to nine, this dining plan costs $23.83 plus tax. With the DDP, Disney charges adults $94.28 per person, while kids cost $29.69. 

For comparison, in 2020, the QSP was $55. So, it hasn’t increased significantly at barely $2 per day. However, Disney only charged $78.01 for the DDP. Its price has gone up by more than $16 per day in four years. 

Which Dining Plan Is Better?

As always, this answer depends on your vacation preferences. However, Disney has created a clear line of demarcation for 2024.

Let’s say that you’re spending a week at Walt Disney World. Would you eat at least five Table Service meals during your visit? If you answered yes, you should consider the Disney Dining Plan. That’s roughly the breakeven point wherein you start to save money by using the dining plan. 

Those of you who won’t eat five Table Service meals during a six-night vacation may safely choose the Quick-Service Dining Plan instead. The only caveat here is that you’re sacrificing “free” desserts by taking this approach. 

Of course, you’re also saving $37.27 per person per night plus tax. That’ll buy you a lot of desserts. Really, the only debate centers on how often you eat at sit-down restaurants during a Disney vacation, though.

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