Hey Howdy Hey Kelly and welcome to planDisney!
I am so excited to hear that you will be visiting the Most Magical Place on Earth really soon. The
Disney Dining Plan can be helpful on trips to Walt Disney World Resort for so many reasons. Not only does it take the guesswork out of spending on food and drinks, but it also allows you to easily track your credits during your vacation so you can spend more time enjoying yourself. Thank you for your question about modifying your current reservation with the dining plan. Let's get you all set with some things to keep in mind going forward.
If you have already placed your down payment on your vacation package including your Disney Resort Collection hotel accommodations and theme park tickets, you are well on your way! You can easily make modifications to your vacation package any time before your final payment which currently is due 30 days before your date of arrival. Typically with the dining plan, you may also be able to set it up after this period as well, it would take
calling Disney and speaking to a Cast Member about making the addition. Considering your final payment has also been made, you may also be required to make the full payment at that time as well.
I am sure you are also well aware of the advanced dining reservation window timeline, but let's review that really quick as well as some tips to get you the best chance for snagging your top dining reservations. Dining reservation windows for those staying onsite at a Disney resort are open
60 days from your date of arrival. On that date, you can start making reservations on the day you arrive as well as 10 days in the future which should cover your full trip. If you have some very highly sought dining reservations, such as
Cinderella's Royal Table in Magic Kingdom, one strategy would be to book this first towards the end of your trip. Fewer people will have access to booking dining experiences towards the end of your vacation so if you shoot for making the highly sought reservations later rather than earlier, you may find easier access to them and at the times you want compared to earlier in your trip. You can use this strategy to start later in your trip and work backward from highly sought to lesser to give yourself the best chances for the reservations you want!
Best of luck as you continue to weigh the options if the dining plan is right for you and your party or not. Hopefully, this information helps get an idea of when you might want to decide as well as some tips for dining reservations. Thanks again for stopping by and if you have any further questions, feel free to reach out and let us know, we are always happy to help!
Have a Magical day,
Nick