Hi Michele! The
Disney Dining Plans are super convenient and may even save you money on your meals, depending on where you'll be dining. There are different dining plans available but the most popular is the regular dining plan where you'll get one table service, one quick service and one snack for each night of your reservation for each guest on your reservation. The dining plan is prepaid so you will only have to worry about gratuity (in most cases) when dining.
Our family does not always purchase the dining plan. Before vacationing, I map out where we plan to eat and do a cost analysis to see if for that particular vacation it will be a value. If I'm planning a table service meal for each day, it usually is. The plan does bring a sense of relief knowing you have already prepaid your meals and as I mentioned earlier - very easy to use.
Regardless if you choose a dining plan, you should know that reservations for restaurants are available 180 days in advance. The more popular locations and times do fill up quickly. We often see questions where guests will tell us they are on the dining plan but all the places they want to dine at have no availability so you'll definitely want to plan ahead with the reservations.
This topic can be confusing at times. I've included a hyperlink above that will give you more information on the dining plans. If you have additional questions, please don't hesitate to ask.