Here’s How Everyone Wastes Money When Dining in Disney World

It’s easy to bust a budget when dining at Walt Disney World. Restaurants can be expensive, meals are sometimes overpriced, and visually appealing snacks can cause you to overspend.

Cookie Dough and Everything Sweet

There are a few common ways that people tend to waste money when dining in Disney World, and we’re going to dig into three of them so we can avoid them in the future!

Here are three common ways that people overspend when dining in Disney World.

Making Too Many Table-Service Reservations

There are SO many delicious Table Service restaurants spread across Disney World. This makes it tempting to book two or three a day, but that may not be necessary for every group, and it will really depend on your family.

Be Our Guest!

If you’re trying to stay within a budget, you can totally do Disney with one or even zero Table Service meals per a day. There are plenty of wonderful snacks and Quick Service options that will allow you to eat well while keeping a few dollars in your pocket.

Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe

We suggest picking one REALLY good Table Service meal and filling the rest of the day with delicious snacks and Quick Service meals. This will allow you to eat a bunch of different types of meals and foods while keeping a little money in your pocket.

Not Using the Disney Dining Plan to its Full Potential

The Disney Dining Plan CAN be a great investment if used properly. Oftentimes guests will waste their snack or dining credits by not using them at all or by choosing to purchase inexpensive meals and items that don’t allow them to maximize the DDP. Sometimes guests will choose the wrong plan for their family and end up having so many credits that they don’t know what to do with them.

Mickey Mouse Club Cupcake

We suggest really taking the time to break down the Disney Dining Plan to see which option, if any, is good for your family. Then if you choose to purchase it, make sure that you’re purchasing meals and snacks that are costly since you have pre-paid for the meals. This will help to offset the cost and increase your value.

Columbia Harbour House

Be sure to do your research to make sure that the Dining Plan is right for you and your family. Read more about the Disney Dining Plan here!

Purchasing Too Much Food

It is so tempting to buy large meals for everyone in your party when dining at Disney. But honestly, less can be more!! There are SO many locations with large servings, like Blaze Pizza and D-Luxe Burger in Disney Springs, that give parties the opportunity to split their meals.

Holiday Turkey Burger

Remember: you can always buy MORE food if your party is still hungry, but you can’t give food back after it’s been purchased! So try the less is more method: purchase a few sharable items for the group, and see where you stand after that!

Have you found that you overspend when dining at Walt Disney World? Tell us about your experience and your money-saving dining tips in the comments below!  

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5 Replies to “Here’s How Everyone Wastes Money When Dining in Disney World”

  1. DDP is great when it’s free, but i don’t think i’d pay out of pocket for it. when it was free it allowed us to book a ton of character meals the kids loved and all we had to pay was tip. i wouldn’t go to those places if paying and wouldn’t pay for the dining plan at this point. we’d split quick service meals out of pocket if we went that route.

    now if they offered a snack only option dining plan, i’d be very interested in that. lots of snack options that are large enough to be a meal.

  2. Value also involves enjoying what you’re eating, not cost alone. If you feel that you must order the most expensive items you can find, that’s far from a good value if they’re not what you want to eat and would order if cost weren’t a concern. A pleasure-robbing trap like that to save money on a vacation makes no sense to me.

  3. We’re from the uk and got free dining when we booked a package with hotel and tickets in 2017, I kept a running total on a family of 4 ,3 adults and a child and without dining plan we would have spent nearly $3500 on food and snacks for 14 days wow so it’s expensive to eat and snack at this magical world

  4. Just a thought-
    Even on a non-Park day, how could you do 3 table service meals in one day? If you’re not eating, you’re bouncing around on Disney transportation to get to the next Resort or Disney Springs. Sounds like a full day in more than 1 way!

  5. I don’t participate in Disney dining anymore because I don’t like being told what to do and I don’t want to get fat. It really is that simple.