Hiya Kristi,
Welcome to planDisney! I’m so excited that you are here today, and I get to talk about one of my favorite topics, dining. My Prince Charming and I plan all of our vacations around where we are going to dine, so anytime I get to chat about dining, I’m a happy panelist. The
dining plans are great for those who love dining as much as we do because they add convenience by pre-paying for meals and snacks. I like to joke that it is like Past Ashley taking care of Future Ashley. But can you add it to your Vacation Package after you check in?
That’s a great question, Kristi. Unfortunately, dining plans can only be added to
Vacation Packages before check-in. Once you check into your resort hotel, you will not be able to add one to your reservation, so if you are interested, do so as soon as possible. Also, a special note: if you have a Vacation Package (a booking that combines your hotel stay and theme park tickets), you should be able to add it through your
My Disney Experience account. If you aren’t able to do so, then you can reach out to a Cast Member in
Tickets and Hotel Reservations to see if they can offer additional assistance.
I hope this was helpful, Kristi. Before I let you go, if what you like about the dining plans is the ability to pre-pay for your meals, then can I share a tip with you? As much as we like the dining plans, we don’t always add them, especially now that we are Florida residents and rarely stay on-site anymore. We like to use
Disney Gift Cards to help us “pre-pay” for times we don’t have a dining plan. Most dining locations list current snack and meal prices on the
My Disney Experience mobile app or
the website, so we like to estimate what we'll eat based on our dining reservations and wish lists (adding a little extra for gratuity and unplanned must-eats). Then we add it all up and purchase Disney Gift Cards for that amount. This helps us to budget and not go too crazy, and also to keep track of our spending. Also, we use whatever is left over for merchandise (I can’t pass up Haunted Mansion merchandise) and other things that our two Mouseketeers want throughout the trip. I hope that you have the most magical vacation next week! Please come back and see us if you need anything else.
Happy Planning,
Ashley F.