Eating in Disney with the Disney's Dining Plan

While planning your Disney vacation, why not plan all of your meals ahead of time by adding the Disney Dining Plan to your reservation? There are multiple options that will suit every need and you’ll save up to 30 percent on your meals while you’re there.

The basic Dining Plan, Magic Your Way plus Quick-Service Dining include 2 quick service meals and 2 snacks for each night of your stay. However, you can upgrade from the basic Dining Plan to include table service meals, refillable mugs and more.

The only things not included the dining plan cost is tips at table service meals and alcoholic drinks.

We found we saved a lot of money by purchasing all of our meals ahead of time, and then we didn’t have to think about the cost of food while we were in the parks. Most days, for a combo meal at a quick service location in the parks, and dessert (all of which are included in the quick service meal) for two people typically cost around $35.

For dinner, at many of the buffets at the Walt Disney World Resort Hotels is between $25 and $35 per adult.

Paying ahead of time for all of our meals through the Disney Dining Plan we saved quite a bit of money, and because of it we highly recommend the Dining Plan to anyone heading to Walt Disney World.

Vinylmation

The newest fad at Walt Disney World is called Vinylmation. These three inch Micky Mouse shaped guys are then designed to resemble Disney characters, park icons, and some are just fun.

The key behind Vinylmation is they are sold in sealed boxes that you can’t see what’s inside. You know what is potentially inside (the entire collection is pictured on the back) but the exact one inside is a mystery.
However, if you don’t get the one you want or the one you need, you have two options. Many stores that sell Vinylmation have a clear case with three Vinylmation inside that you can trade for.

If you don’t like any of those options, there is also a black case with 24 options. You can pick a number to trade for, but don’t have to commit. However, you can only trade once per store per day.

Disney's FASTPASS

The worst part of visiting any amusement park is waiting in line – especially a long one for a ride you really want to get on. Disney’s FASTPASS service allows you to save your place in line and come back later while you ride other rides, eat lunch, watch other shows, or just generally enjoy the parks.

The FASTPASS is only available on certain rides – typically the ones with the longest waits – and only so many are allotted per day per ride and each park visitor can only have one FASTPASS at a time. You return to the ride for a much shorter wait.

We planned our days around what rides had FASTPASS available and which typically have the longest lines and worked our way around the parks from there. For instance, at Hollywood Studios, Toy Story Mania always has a very long line (getting up to a 90 minute wait on the off season) and FASTPASS tickets are distributed quickly by the morning. So we started our day by getting a Toy Story Mania FASTPASS ticket and then riding rides until our FASTPASS time.

Once we were able to get our next FASTPASS ticket, we headed for Rockin’ Roller Coaster Staring Aerosmith, another ride with long lines and then headed for other, shorter lined rides.

FASTPASS distribution is a free service provided at Disney parks. To get a FASTPASS, insert your admission ticket, readmission ticket, Disney Resort Hotel key or Annual Passport into the FASTPASS service machine.

The return time given is always an hour window so you don’t have to return at a specific time and can more leisurely enjoy your day.

For a list of the rides and attractions that currently offer FASTPASS service, please click here. (This is also denoted on all park maps.)

Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney is a bus ride away from all of the Walt Disney World Resorts and the Disney parks. It’s a great place to spend some time during the day or in the evening. Great shopping, dining and entertainment abound, in Downtown Disney’s three sections: Pleasure Island, Downtown Disney West Side and Downtown Disney Marketplace.

Pleasure Island features shopping and dining and is being transformed throughout 2011. Here you’ll find Raglan Road Irish Pub & Bar and Orlando Harley-Davidson, among other outdoor dining options.

West Side has the AMC theatre and the Cirque du Soleil La Nouba show (which is supposed to be amazing and requires advance tickets). This is also where the famed DisneyQuest can be found, a one of a kind gaming experience. Here you can design and ride your own roller coaster, among five floors of other interactive gaming.

Marketplace provides unique shopping experiences, including World of Disney store, the largest Disney character store in the world and has a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique tucked inside.

Across the street is Disney’s Pin Traders, the biggest pin trading location in Walt Disney World Resort and is great for experienced and novice pin traders and collectors. You can also trade with cast members and other pin traders.

If you are not staying at the resorts but are traveling to the Walt Disney World resorts or the parks, save the parking fees and park at Downtown Disney, where parking is free, and then take the free bus transportation to the parks or to the resorts.

Disney Pin Trading

When it comes to Disney collectibles, they hit the nail on the head with pins and pin trading. Pin trading stores and racks are all over the parks, resorts and even Downtown Disney, where the biggest pin trading store can be found.

You can trade pins with cast members and other visitors by asking to see their lanyards, many of which are covered in pins. To start trading you can purchase a starter set, which includes a set of pins and a lanyard or hip display, or you can purchase a lanyard and individual pins.

Pins can be traded for pins of a similar style. Each cast member has 12 pins on their lanyards which can vary from regular pins to special cast member only pins, that you can only get by trading with a cast member.

New pins come out all the time and some are only available at the parks, while some can be purchased online.

To save money, before you head to the parks, you can purchase 25, 50, 100 or more pins online in a “lot” on eBay for less than it would cost to purchase them in the parks. Then you can use the pins for trading with cast members and other park visitors.

Disney's PhotoPass

Everyone’s experienced it. You go on vacation, but you never have a picture with your entire group because someone always has to be behind the camera (or you have to carry around a tripod the whole time). Disney World has the solution for families and couples alike and its called PhotoPass.

If you are staying at Walt Disney World Resort, you’ll get a PhotoPass card and all the information in the mail before you leave. However, there is no limit to the amount of PhotoPass cards you combine on one account. So if you forget your card, leave it in your hotel room, or your group gets separated, no worries.

All you have to do is hand your card to a PhotoPass photographer, which can be found around the parks and with many characters and they’ll take group photos for you. They’ll even pose you. PhotoPass photographers are in front of Cinderella’s castle in Magic Kingdom, the Tree of Life in Animal Kingdom, the Epcot ball and Mickey’s hat in Hollywood Studios as well as throughout the parks.

When you get home, log into www.disneyphotopass.com and look at all of your photos. You can edit them, crop, and even add special borders. Certain characters even have their signatures in the border options that you can add to the photos you took with them.

You can also order photo books and photo gifts from the Disney PhotoPass photos, or upload your own vacation photos.

You can download images individually or order a CD will all your photos – originals and the edits versions. If you pre-order the CD here you’ll save $50 on the regular price.

For more about Disney’s PhotoPass or to see online maps of where PhotoPass photographers will be please click here.

Yak and Yeti Local Foods Cafe at Animal Kingdom

Even after only a few days in the parks, burgers and fries can get old – and there’s a lot of food to explore at Walt Disney World! At Animal Kingdom, Yak and Yeti Local Foods Café, in the Asia area of the park, offers a lot of food, some unique choices, plenty of seating and takes the Disney Dining Plan for quick serve meals.

For the meal, choose between honey chicken, sweet and sour chicken, kung pao chicken, an Asian Chicken Sandwich or a Mandarin chicken salad. They also serve pork egg rolls, chicken fired rice or baskets of fries. The egg rolls count towards the dining plan snacks.

Around the corner, there are lots of tables, many with umbrellas to shade you from the sun, as well as restrooms nearby (however, they are small compared to other Disney Parks restrooms).

Compared to other places in Animal Kingdom, Yak and Yeti Local Foods Café has delicious food and the lines are not nearly as bad, so you’ll be eating sooner and back to enjoying the park sooner.