Hi Kimberly,
Welcome to planDisney!
Let's first celebrate your upcoming visit to the Walt Disney World Resort!
To add one of the
Disney Dining Plans, you would need to book a vacation package with a
Disney Resorts Collection hotel. Although I realize there could be several reasons why you are staying offsite, I also encourage you to reconsider and book a
vacation package with a Disney Resort. There are a variety of resorts with incredible amenities! We love the variety because it helps us to find one that fits with our budget for a given trip.
If you stick with the decision to stay offsite, I encourage you to review the menus of Disney dining locations to get a sense of how much it might cost you to dine for the length of your stay. To find the menus, just go to the home pages of the restaurants and click on View Menu. A few of our favorites include the
dinner menu at 'Ohana, the
breakfast menu at Tusker House Restaurant, and the
dinner menu at Coral Reef Restaurant. Prior to each trip, my girls and I decide where we want to dine and then we all review the menus. One of my girls then helps me estimate our food costs using the pricing on those menus.
If you do decide to stay at a Disney Resorts Collection hotel, you would be able to use one of the Disney Dining plans. My girls and I used the Disney Dining Plan on our last trip about a month ago and it was fabulous. If you get a plan, remember to make good use of the resort-refillable drink mugs!
Kimberly, sending a little extra pixie dust hoping you are able to book a vacation package with a dining plan!
Magic and memories,
Donyell