Hi Sarah,
We love how easy the dining plan is and it gives us the chance to budget our meal costs for the entire trip.In order for a guest to purchase the Disney Dining Plan, you do need to have a Magic Your Way package with at least a one day park ticket per guest. If you have already purchased your tickets, the dining plan option would not be available.
Disney has plenty of food options for all budgets. Some great tips include eating breakfast in our room. Pack plastic spoons and bowls and a few boxes of cereal, you can purchase milk, doughnuts and pop-tarts in your resort gift shop. Another great idea is to bring snacks to the parks. Items like fruit snacks, nuts, granola bars, and raisins can also be brought in your bags.
We like to eat our big meal of the day in the afternoon. We start the morning out with breakfast in our room and munch on some snacks if we get hungry. The lunch menus are typically lower in price and just as delicious. By eating our larger meal in the afternoon, we often just share a lighter meal or snack for dinner. The portion sizes of many of the quick service meals are good and may be plenty for your children to share. My favorite quick service deal is found at Hollywood Studios' Pizza Planet. You can get an individual pizza and salad for a very reasonable price and one pizza was plenty for my two small children.
Select at least one character meal to enjoy during your stay as the price is worth the experience and many are buffets with a large selection of delicious meats, vegetables and desserts. You can find copies of many of the menus online at
www.allears.net under dining. There are also menus posted at the entrance to the Disney restaraunt so be sure to take a look and see if there is something your family would like.
Wishing you a magical trip. Be sure to ask for your first time visitor buttons and the resort front desk or the guest service counter at the parks.