Use your PassPorter! It’s packed with features to help you maximize your dining plan. Our eatery descriptions include average meal prices to help you judge relative values. We also note Disney Dining Plan participation and Signature dining restaurants (which require two table-service credits per meal). Our Meal Worksheet on page 268 and in the LIVE! Guide Tools includes columns for budgeting your dining credits, and to record actual usage. You can also use the Meals and Snacks section of each PassPocket to track these items.

Consider sharing meals to stretch your Dining Plan credits.

The computed cost of Basic Dining Plan credits is $35.59 (table service), $16.94 (counter service), and $4.59 (snack)—7% more than the price you’d pay off the plan. On the Basic and Deluxe Plans, you get decent bang from dinner shows and pizza delivery, as gratuities are also included. The two-credit Cinderella’s breakfast is a money-waster under either plan.

According to our calculations, the counter-service and basic dining plans are money-losers. Yet on the deluxe dining plan, average savings are around 20%, and it’s even more if you use every meal credit for table service. You’d have to use one out of four deluxe plan credits for counter-service meals to lose money.