The Disney World Dining Plan is BACK, baby!! We’re testing it out to see what’s changed and bring you all the best tips!

The Disney Dining Plan has been unavailable for years, but it finally returned on January 9th, 2024. Dining Plans are optional add-ons to your Disney World trip (your trip must include a stay at a Disney-owned hotel) and allow you to pre-pay for your meals and snacks. But how exactly do you USE your Dining Plan that you’ve purchased? We’ve got a complete, step-by-step guide for you right here.

Disney has set up two versions of the Disney Dining Plan for different budgets and dining tastes. If you purchase a plan as part of your trip, all you have to do when you get to Disney World is head to a restaurant on the list of participating locations, EAT!, and scan your MagicBand, Key to the World card, or Disney MagicMobile pass.

The credits for the meal will be deducted from your pre-paid meal or snack allotment, so you don’t pay while you’re at the restaurant. (Note: Gratuity is not included for table-service meals.) You can use it with Mobile Order, too! Here’s how it all works.

Locate Your Disney Dining Plan in the App and View Remaining Credits

To see your Disney Dining Plan, open the My Disney Experience app and click the three stacked horizontal lines in the bottom menu.

This will bring you to your profile, with lots of options like “Tip Board,” “My Disney Genie Day,” “Virtual Queues,” and more. You’ll want to click on the “Resort Hotel” one.

Here, you can see details about your Disney World hotel reservation. Scroll down a little until you see your room number (or a notice to check back for the room number) along with a menu of options beneath that section. That menu is where you’ll find your Dining Plan! We’ve circled it in red here.

Once you click on it, it’ll show you how many credits you have remaining.

As you use your credits throughout your trip, these numbers will update to show you how many credits you have left in each category. You can keep checking back to make sure you know what you have left!

“Pay” With Your MagicBand, Key To the World Card, or MagicMobile Pass

If you’re not using Mobile Order, you’ll order your food like normal at any participating quick service or table service restaurant. You can let your server know that you’re using the Disney Dining Plan before you order, and they can help answer any specific questions you have about how the plan works at that particular restaurant.

As a reminder, here’s what you get with each plan:

Quick Service Dining Plan

Inclusions Per Person in the travel party (ages 3 and up), Per Night: This plan includes counter service (i.e., fast food) meals and snacks at most quick service dining locations in the Walt Disney World Resort.

• Two Quick Service meals — entrée or combo meal at lunch and dinner and a beverage; Guests under 21 years of age can choose one non-alcoholic beverage (including specialty beverages for guests 10 years old and over — i.e. Artisanal Milk Shakes,  Fresh Smoothies, Premium Hot Chocolates, or Soda, Coffee or Tea — where offered). Guests 21 and older can can choose either one non-alcoholic beverage (including specialty beverages where offered) or one single serving mixed cocktail, beer, or wine (where offered) within their meal entitlement.
• One snack/nonalcoholic drink
• One Resort refillable drink mug per person, per package

Standard Dining Plan

Inclusions —  Each person on the meal plan will receive credits for the following, per night:

• One table service entrée, dessert (lunch and dinner only), OR full buffet;
  • Guests under 21 years of age can choose one non-alcoholic beverage with their Quick Service and Table Service meal (including specialty beverages for guests 10 years old and over — i.e. Artisanal Milk Shakes,  Fresh Smoothies, Premium Hot Chocolates, or Soda, Coffee or Tea — where offered).
  • Guests 21 and older can can choose either one non-alcoholic beverage (including specialty beverages where offered) or one single serving mixed cocktail, beer, or wine (where offered) within their meal entitlement.
• One quick service meal, including entrée OR combo meal;
  • Guests under 21 years of age can choose one non-alcoholic beverage with their Quick Service and Table Service meal (including specialty beverages for guests 10 years old and over — i.e. Artisanal Milk Shakes,  Fresh Smoothies, Premium Hot Chocolates, or Soda, Coffee or Tea — where offered).
  • Guests 21 and older can can choose either one non-alcoholic beverage (including specialty beverages where offered) or one single serving mixed cocktail, beer, or wine (where offered) within their meal entitlement.
• One snack/nonalcoholic drink
• One Resort refillable drink mug per person, per package

After you’ve ordered (and eaten, in the case of table service restaurants), you’ll pay using your MagicBand, Key to the World card, or Disney MagicMobile pass. Your Dining Plan credits are linked to your account, so you need to use one of those methods of payment in order to use your credits.

Mobile Order with Disney Dining Plan

You can use your Disney Dining Plan credits with Mobile Order, too! To Mobile Order, just click the little “+” button at the bottom of your screen in the My Disney Experience app and select “Order Food.” 

Then, choose a participating quick service restaurant and hit “Begin Order.” 

You should get a notification that lets you know your Disney Dining Plan credits can be used at that restaurant.

Once you’ve made your order, you can begin to check out. We discovered a cool new feature — the app will let you know if your plan includes something that you didn’t already have in your order! When we went to order a Hot Dog, the app had a notification at the top of the screen that said, “Don’t Miss Out: Your dining plan allows you to add another Standard Beverage to your meal.”

At this point, if you DON’T want to use your Dining Plan credits on your meal, you can click “Modify” once you get to the order review page and then choose “I don’t want to use my dining plan for this item.”

You will need to update that payment selection for every item in your order. The Disney World app automatically applies your Dining Plan credits to all the items, so you’ll have to go through each item individually and choose “I don’t want to use my dining plan for this item” for each one.

Then, you’ll either finish your order (if you’re using your Dining Plan to pay for it) or pay for it using another payment method. And you’re all set!

If you want help planning your upcoming Disney World trip, talk to our friends over at Small World Vacations. They can get you set up with the best deals and discounts, and their services are completely free!

We’ll continue to watch for updates and changes to the Disney Dining Plan, so stay tuned to DFB!

Click here to see ALL the Disney World restaurants that participate in the Dining Plan. 

Are you using the Disney Dining Plan on your next vacation? Let us know in the comments.

The post STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE: How To Use the Disney Dining Plan in the Disney World App first appeared on the disney food blog.