Hiya David!
Welcome to planDisney! My family has enjoyed using dining plans before and we are so glad to have them back. I love having a huge part of my vacation essentially "pre-paid" and ready to be enjoyed.
Dining plans are available for guests who have purchased certain vacation packages to Walt Disney World Resort and the plan provides a certain number of meals and snacks per each night of your trip for all guests on the reservation. The meals and snacks are all loaded right at the beginning and can be used as you like during your trip. In addition, guests who are sharing a room, if deciding to purchase a dining plan must all have the dining plan. It also must be the
same dining plan. You have to determine if the
Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan or the
Disney Dining Plan is best suited for your family as everyone will have to use the same one. However, if you have different families staying in different rooms or reservations but traveling together, there can be some variety. Each family or room can choose their dining plan type. Just because you are all enjoying a vacation together and linked on the
Family & Friends List does not mean you all have to have the same plan. One of my favorite character dining experiences is
Tusker House Restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. The food is so flavorful and the characters are so cute in their safari looks!
I tell everyone who asks (and some who don't) that the best use of the dining plan is for
Character Dining. Most of the Character Dining experiences use one Table-Service meal and these meals are the best value. You will have a yummy meal with fun character interactions using your dining plan excellently. However, the meals that use two Table Service meals, while a bit more extravagant should only be selected if it is something you really want to enjoy.
I hope this helps and if you continue to have questions feel free to
let me know!
Happy Planning!
-Nimmy