Hiya, Tom, and welcome back to planDisney! I'm so glad to hear that you'll be returning to the Most Magical Place on Earth again later this year! Dining is one of the things that I think about for months in advance, so I'm right there with you on this timeline! My family recently had a great experience with the Disney Dining Plan, and I'd love to share a little about that with you.
Tom, it sounds like you've been doing your research on the
Disney Dining Plan, and you know that some meals at table service restaurants do count as two meals, rather than one. Many of these locations include meals with certain characters, Dinner Shows, and Fine/Signature Dining Restaurants. Private In-room dining at your Disney Resort Hotel and Pizza Pickup also count as two meals. If you scroll down about halfway on
this webpage, you'll see a list of the locations that will count as two meals. It includes (but is not limited to):
Tom, when in doubt, you can always search for the name of a restaurant on the Walt Disney World Resort website. Let's try
Narcoosee's, for example. You'll see in the bulleted description at the top, that it says, "Fine/Signature Dining." So that should tell us that a meal here will count as two table service meals on your dining plan. But, to be completely sure, just click on the link that says, "View Dining Plans and Discounts." Click the arrow to expand the information for Dining Plans, and you'll see a helpful chart with the number "2" to indicate the number of meals this will be.
During our recent vacation, we found that our Servers and other Cast Members at the individual dining locations were the most knowledgeable about how to use the dining plan at their restaurants. Occasionally, there would be a menu item that was not included in the dining plan, or there was a specific adult beverage menu from which to choose. Our Servers were always happy to help us understand how we could best use our dining plan, and we were thrilled with how it turned out in the end.
I hope you have a wonderful experience with the dining plan during your vacation! If you need any recommendations on where to find great snacks, meals, and beverages, I'm here and happy to help!
Bon appetit!
Jennifer