Hi Maggie, welcome to planDisney!
I'm excited to hear you will be utilizing the
Disney Dining Plan! You will love having the convenience of prepaid meals and snacks!
With the Disney Dining Plan, each member of your party (age 3 and up) will receive a resort refillable mug and the following per night of your stay:
1 Quick-Service Meal
1 Table-Service Meal (includes Character dining locations)
1 Snack or Nonalcoholic Beverage
The Disney dining plans are very flexible. All meals and snacks are combined into one total per category to use at any time throughout your vacation. For example, if you have a travel party of 4 staying 5 nights and you purchased the Disney Dining Plan, in total you will have the following meals and snacks to use at any time during your vacation:
20 Quick-Service Meals
20 Table-Service Meals
20 Snacks or Nonalcoholic Beverages
You do not have to dine with your complete travel party for each meal. Our family will often split into smaller groups, and at times, we will dine separately for a quick-service meal. Meals and snacks are deducted from your allotment as you use them. Using the example above, if 2 people wanted to have a quick-service meal before the rest of your travel party, the quick-service meal total would be reduced to 18.
You can easily review your remaining meals and snacks in the My Disney Experience app or on your most recent dining receipt. Unused meals and snacks will roll over to the following day and any meals or snacks remaining at midnight on your day of checkout will expire.
This means you are not required to use 1 quick-service and 1 table-service meal per day. There may be a day when your travel party decides to utilize 2 table-service meals on one day and 2 quick-service meals on another day. It's your dining plan and you can use it the way it works best for your travel party.
I hope this doesn't sound too confusing. I promise once you use it the first time, you will find how easy and convenient it is to use. Please let us know if you have any follow-up questions.
Have a magical vacation!
Diane