Hi Tina!
Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! Mine is a Military family too. We love so much how patriotic Walt Disney was, and that Walt Disney World Resort continues to honor service members today. Be sure to catch the
daily Flag Retreat Ceremony in Magic Kingdom Park! It's really neat to see so many guests and Cast Members come together to thank our nation's heroes.
Disney Dining Plans are only available for guests staying at a Disney Resort Hotel as both the number of entitlements as well as the system used to keep track of everything is linked to each guest room reservation. While these plans can be convenient in a lot of ways, I like making my own dining plan by pre-purchasing
Disney Gift Cards ahead of my vacation and using them to pay for our meals and snacks. Buying a few Disney Gift Cards every few weeks kind of acts like its own payment plan. And even better, there are certain warehouse club stores and big box retailers who sell the cards with slightly more value loaded on them than what you end up paying.
I like that by using Disney Gift Cards, we can order exactly what we want, where we want. Only certain dining locations and specific snack items qualify as a meal or snack credit; however, the only place I've ever had trouble using a Disney Gift Card was at the AMC Dine-in Theatre at Disney Springs. And a really neat bonus is that at the end of the vacation, if there is still some value left on your cards, those funds can be spent on bonus souvinEARs or saved for a future visit!
Do note that Disney Gift Cards are not currently able to be used for Mobile Dining Orders, but keep checking the
Disney Parks Blog because that could always change.
We'll See You Real Soon, Tina!
~Kristen