Hi Annastacia,
Welcome to planDisney!
I am delighted to hear that you are planning a trip to the Walt Disney World Resort and that you are bringing your 3-year old who will be considered visiting royalty of course! My family has used the
Disney Dining Plan on prior trips and have found it to be a good value. According to the current plan guidance, guests much purchase the plan for each guest ages 3-years old and up on your vacation package reservation and it must be purchased for the length of stay.
When we have used a dining plan in the past, we realized that we would likely not be able to eat all of the food. But, we were excited about trying different food at each dining location visited! Keep in mind that you could possibly pack your unfinished food and take it with you in to-go containers. Occasionally, we have used our leftovers from dinner for a quick breakfast the next morning.
As you consider purchasing a dining plan, keep in mind that the number of meals you receive will be based on how many nights you stay. We always pick our dining locations and then calculate how many meals we will eat on each day. We usually will do one meal on arrival day and another meal on departure day and then we enjoy the remaining meals on all of the days in between. I also suggest that you actually compare the cost of meals with and without the dining package. We always estimate our meal costs using the menus from the restaurants we plan to visit and then we compare that to the cost of the dining plan keeping in mind that select drinks, snacks, and a resort refillable mug are included on a dining plan.
Annastacia, keep up the excellent research! This kind of planning is what we call
practically perfect. Remember to take note of the date your
advanced dining reservation booking window opens. And be prepared. Prioritize your dining locations and try to reserve the most popular ones first. Sending you a little extra pixie dust trusting that you select a dining plan and then make dining reservations!
Magic and memories,
Donyell