Hi Vanessa,
Thank you for visiting the Disney Parks Moms Panel with your question. I know that sometimes planning a Walt Disney World Resort can be slightly overwhelming, but once everything is in place, you will have the trip of a lifetime!
With the
Dining Plan, guests are given "entitlements" based on how many nights you are staying. So with the Disney Dining Plan, each night of your stay, you will have one Table-Service entitlement, One Quick-Service entitlement, and two Snacks for each guest in your party. These entitlements can be used from the time you check in until midnight on the evening you check out. They do not need to be used each day, you can divide them as you would like.
In theory you are allocated two actual meals per night of your stay, but with the Snack entitlements you should be able to manage without having to purchase any other meals out of pocket. What my family does is typically share a Quick-Service meal for lunch and use a snack if we need a little more. There are so many healthy snack options, my daughter will typically choose fruit or veggies for her snack and with our Quick-Service meal and the extra snack it is more than enough. I find that the portion sizes are large enough for my daughter and I, even with sharing we usually have leftovers. We typically will pay for a breakfast or two out of pocket during our stay, but we could actually get away without having to add this expense, but being on vacation, sometimes we indulge in a few too many Dole Whips and Mickey Bars.
I hope that helps explain the Disney Dining Plan, Vanessa. Please let us know if you have any other questions, we are always happy to help.
Stephanie