10 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Quick Service Dining Plan

The Quick Service Dining Plan at Walt Disney World can be a great value to your vacation package. You get the all-inclusive feel while on vacation, and you have your food costs budgeted and paid for already. This can reduce a lot of stress while on vacation. We all like a good deal, though, and want to get the most bang for our buck, right? So here are 10 tips for getting the most out of the quick service dining plan, so you get your money’s worth:

10 – Know the basics.

If you are on the Quick Service Dining Plan, then you will definitely need to understand how your plan works and what is included. The plan included 2 quick service meals and 2 snacks per person, per night of your stay. You must be staying at a Walt Disney World Resort to be eligible for the dining plans. You do not have to use your entitlements on certain days; you can combine them and/or stretch them over your vacation; however, works the best for you and your family. Since you will be dining quick service meals, you won’t have to worry about gratuity costs, which definitely add up at table service locations.

9 – Make good use of the Rapid Refill mug.

With any dining plan, each paid guest on the plan gets a Rapid Refill mug that can be used for unlimited refills at any of the Disney resorts. This is great to leverage for drinks and not have to always use your dining plan entitlements for them. You can make good use of them by keeping your mugs with you and taking drinks to go so that you won’t need to purchase one later.

8 – Dine at your resort.

It is great to dine at the resort here and there if you can. You get a drink with your meal entitlement, but if you are dining at the resort, you can use your Rapid Refill mug for your beverage and get a bottled or specialty beverage to save for later, or carry into the park with you. It helps the entitlements stretch a little further and get more bang for your buck.

7 – Use a snack entitlement for breakfast.

On the quick service dining plan, we feel like you get the most value if you use your entitlements for lunch and dinner meals since they are more expensive. We recommend that you consider using a snack entitlement for a muffin or something like that for breakfast (and you can fill up your Rapid Refill mug at your resort with coffee, soda, etc.) and save the meal entitlements. You can also pay for the breakfast items since they will still be less expensive than the lunch or dinner options that you should use the entitlements for.

6 – Good snack selections are around $6 to get the most value.

Pay attention to snack selections. It is rarely a good idea to use snack entitlements for beverages if you want the best value. The best-valued snacks are usually over $6 in price. If they are much less than that, it would likely be a better deal to just pay cash for those items and use the snacks for a little bit higher priced items if you think you will need more than your allotted requirements.

5 – Drink free water at Quick-Service locations.

While you are in the parks, you can get free cups of ice water at quick-service locations that serve fountain beverages. You don’t even have to make a purchase to get the free water. This is a great way to stay hydrated and save entitlements. When you stop to eat a meal, you can also order water and see what bottled options they may have or substitutes for the drink on the plan. If you can substitute for something else or get a bottle of something to carry with you, then that will be a better value.

4 – Check your remaining entitlement totals.

Keep tabs on your entitlement totals. The remaining entitlements are typically printed on your receipts. You can also ask for a register of your activity from the front desk at your resort. This helps ensure that entitlements have been applied correctly, and you have a handle on how much you have left so that you make sure you use everything. Never leave with unused entitlements. You can always convert remaining meals to 3 snack entitlements per meal and buy treats that you can bring home to have a little Disney magic at home.

3 – Share meals amongst your party.

It isn’t usually allowed to share meals at the table service locations, but it is easy to share at quick-service locations. Many of the meals are large enough for 2 people to share, especially with the kiddos. You can stretch your entitlements further if your family can share a couple of meals!

2 – Don’t miss Be Our Guest.

Be Our Guest is a quick-service restaurant for breakfast and lunch but switches to a table service location for dinner. For breakfast and lunch, you will still need to make a reservation, but the meal is still technically quick service. The beauty with this is that you get to dine in the restaurant, which is gorgeous, and you can still use your entitlements. You can also order your food in advance on the My Disney Experience app and save time when you get there! This meal is definitely a great use of a meal credit.

1 – Do your research and compare prices.

As always, do a little bit of research on menu prices and what looks to be the most intriguing your family while giving you the best value. If you think you will run out of credits and have to pay for some of your meals, then plan to pay for the meals that look to be the cheapest, so you get the most value. This just requires a little bit of research to coordinate but will be well worth it for the cost savings.