Hi Melissa!
Welcome to planDisney!
My family and I were huge fans of the
Disney Dining Plans so I am right there with you with a pot of gumbo wishing on the Evening Star for them to return! I am so sad to say that, at this time, we do not yet have information on the return of dining plans. Having said that, on our last trip, we made
advanced dining reservations and estimated our dining costs using the menus from the restaurants we planned to visit. I factored in sales tax and 18% gratuity as well. At the end of our trip, I was relieved to see that we spent just under what I had estimated. Even though we did not get the value of a dining plan, doing that estimation helped me get a sense of how much our food costs were going to be and having that close approximation is one of the reasons I love the dining plans.
As you plan, stay tuned to the
dining updates. Any news about returning dining plans would be posted there. Given the dates of your trip, you have some time to get creative with your wishes. The good news is that you also have time for some additional dining locations to open prior to your arrival. On our last visit, dining availability was somewhat limited, but we planned carefully and tried a few places we had not visited in years prior.
Consider also using
Mobile Food & Beverage Ordering and
Mobile Dine Walk-up Availability. Although we prefer making advanced dining reservations, we did use Mobile Food & Beverage Ordering on a few mornings at our resort hotel. One of my girls and I walked over to pick up the food and brought it back to the room to enjoy on our patio before hitting the parks. The
My Disney Experience Mobile App also made it so easy for us to do
Mobile Dine Check-in. So, in some instances, we checked in for our dining reservation while walking to the restaurant and by the time we arrived our table was ready!
Melissa, I can imagine the excitement in your household as you plan. You will soon be joining
The World's Most Magical Celebration!
Magic and memories,
Donyell