This listing of the best-value character meals on the Disney Eating Plan at Walt Disney World will assist you to maximize your desk service credit to get essentially the most worth. Consuming at these eating places will get you essentially the most bang on your buck and saves you essentially the most cash on the DDP, as a result of these are usually the costliest meals if paying out of pocket.
For these confused as to why you’d wish to eat at the costliest eating places potential when on the Disney Eating Plan to “save” extra money, it’s actually fairly easy: because you prepay a set day by day quantity for the Disney Eating Plan, no matter the place you eat, you get essentially the most worth out of the Disney Eating Plan if you happen to eat at eating places that might be costlier if you happen to have been paying out of pocket.
For instance, if you happen to pay $60+ per particular person per night time for the usual Disney Eating Plan, you save extra money by consuming dinner on the $50+ Akershus character meal than you save if you happen to order a burger and dessert at Seashores & Cream. Within the former state of affairs, you solely should eat a counter service meal and snack with a mixed price of ~$10 to interrupt even on the Disney Eating Plan, which may be very simple to do.
Within the latter state of affairs, you’d should eat a $30 or extra counter service meal and snack simply to interrupt even on the Disney Eating Plan. This may be unattainable to do. For those who’re simply utilizing the Disney Eating Plan for comfort, this listing will serve little worth. For the remainder of you making an attempt to stretch your trip {dollars} so far as potential, this rating of best-value Disney character meals on the Disney Eating Plan ought to show useful.
Even if you happen to’re doing “Free Eating” it’s good to know you’ve put your credit to good use, and that’s what we’ll assist you to do right here. Once more, this may increasingly not make sense or appear obligatory. In spite of everything, if it’s free, who cares about maximizing worth? Effectively, there’s no such factor as a free lunch. Figuratively and, on this case, actually. Profiting from the Free Eating deal comes with the chance price of forgoing one other low cost. Level being, you must nonetheless make some extent of making an attempt to place your credit to their finest makes use of.
Throughout the board, you must keep away from 2-credit eating places in order for you the most effective worth. This implies you’ll wish to skip Citricos, Narcoossee’s, Tiffins, Brown Derby, Be Our Visitor Restaurant, and each different 2-credit Signature Restaurant. For ages, this has meant avoiding Cinderella’s Royal Desk, the flagship princess meal at Magic Kingdom.
Sadly, it now additionally means skipping Akershus Royal Banquet Corridor at EPCOT for lunch or dinner and Story Ebook Eating at Artist Level with Snow White. Beforehand, each of those eating places have been in our prime 5 on this listing–and you continue to would possibly discover them on different, outdated assets. Sadly, these have been elevated to 2-credit standing for the 2024-2025 Disney Eating Plan and are not a terrific–and even good–worth in consequence.
Regardless of their greater menu costs, two-credit meals aren’t nearly as good of a worth. Let me reiterate this, as some readers have requested about them: the whole price of meal at a Signature Restaurant is $100 per particular person, it’s nonetheless not a greater worth than a 1-credit restaurant with a complete price of $60 per particular person. (It’s basic math: $60 x 2 = $120 > $100.)
With that background set, let’s focus on the eating places that made the listing. Along with being nice character meal choices on the Eating Plan, they’re additionally nice values compared to different choices on our Prime 10 Desk Service “Finest-Worth” Disney Eating Plan rankings. That is true even of the eating places right here that didn’t make that listing–most simply missed it.
Particularly, just about all character dinners have a “worth” of above $60 per grownup, which makes them a terrific use of a desk service credit score on the Disney Eating Plan. In contrast, breakfast is a little more hit and miss. Most of these might be good to nice makes use of of a DDP credit score, however the tipping level virtually at all times comes right down to ordering an alcoholic beverage. Good excuse to imbibe early on–for the sake of financial savings!
The underside line is that if character eating is one thing that pursuits your occasion and also you’re on the Disney Eating Plan, these are the eating places you must take into account to be able to maximize your worth for DDP credit…
1900 Park Fare (Breakfast) – Want Makers Enchanted Eating at 1900 Park Fare options Aladdin as Prince Ali, Cinderella, Mirabel, and Princess Tiana who consider within the energy of needs, or one thing like that. This new grabbag of characters (controversially) replaces the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast and Fortunately Ever After Dinner.
Our full evaluation of the Want Makers Enchanted Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare gave the person elements principally excessive marks. On paper, it’s arguably the most effective character breakfast at Walt Disney World. The issue, for us at the very least, is that it doesn’t fairly coalesce into one thing that’s nice as a complete and worthy of the astronomical price ticket.
Each meals are proving common, as is the case with virtually something new at Walt Disney World, however breakfast is the more durable Advance Eating Reservation to attain. That’s in all probability as a result of the worth is decrease, making breakfast objectively extra enticing–particularly for households who wish to see the characters as cheaply as potential. For those who’re on the Disney Eating Plan, your incentive is to go for the upper priced meal, although!
Akershus Royal Banquet Corridor (Breakfast Solely) – Akershus is nice for maximizing your worth on the Disney Eating Plan if you happen to’re wanting solely at value. Even then, it’s a reasonably shut name and is without doubt one of the few breakfast that hardly makes the reduce for this listing.
By way of meals, the breakfast lacks selection and is manner overpriced for what’s supplied (making it a qualitatively poor use of Eating Plan credit), so that you would possibly wish to look elsewhere. Due to that, we used to suggest doing dinner because the meals was far superior and the bang-for-buck was higher. The issue is that lunch and dinner now require 2-credits on the Disney Eating Plan, making them poor makes use of of credit.
Chip ‘N’ Dale’s Harvest Feast Dinner at The Backyard Grill Restaurant – Backyard Grill’s dinner is considered one of our favourite character meals. For a meal with Mickey Mouse inside a theme park, it’s stunning that it’s no more common with everybody else. EPCOT having a wealth of choices in World Showcase in all probability performs a giant half in that.
Backyard Grill options Farmer Mickey Mouse, Chip, Dale, and Pluto. Backyard Grill is a rotating restaurant in The Land pavilion in Epcot’s Future World that provides a view into the Livin’ with the Land attraction. For Disney geeks like me, this alone is a big draw. It positively has old skool EPCOT Heart vibes…which newcomers would possibly mistake as “datedness.” (One particular person’s datedness is one other’s nostalgia.)
At dinner, Backyard Grill is an all-you-care-to-eat, family-style dinner, serving grilled steak, roast turkey, sustainable fish of the day, sides, and desserts. A few of the meals served are grown in The Land pavilion, which is doubly cool. The final time we dined right here, the meals was glorious. Household model meant a little bit of a extra restricted menu, however I’ll gladly commerce in a restricted menu for scrumptious selections. It’s arduous to name a preferred character meal “underrated,” however in comparison with the opposite Mickey Mouse character meal, Backyard Grill is precisely that. Click on right here to learn our full Backyard Grill Evaluate.
Chef Mickey’s Dinner – Chef Mickey’s may be very common and iconic as a result of it’s been round ceaselessly, creating multigenerational enchantment and a status that precedes it. That is additionally the one character meal the place you may meet Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto all wearing culinary costumes. Its location (exterior the parks however at a monorail resort) additionally will increase demand.
One among our absolute least favourite meals at Walt Disney World, Chef Mickey’s makes the listing as a result of it’s an goal one, not as a result of we wish to see it right here. The meals is terrible, however hey, at the very least you may “get pleasure from” a whole lot of it? Past that, the ambiance is loud and the decor is dated. If this have been a subjective listing, we’d suggest breakfast at Chef Mickey’s, which we choose.
Nonetheless, great character interactions right here will doubtless redeem Chef Mickey’s within the eyes of many households, and in case your youngsters are choosy eaters, they could identical to the meals. Followers of Chef Mickey’s would possibly argue that it’s iconic for a motive. They’re not fallacious.
Crystal Palace Dinner – Crystal Palace is a enjoyable restaurant, and can primarily enchantment to youngsters fascinated with Winnie the Pooh. We’ve dined right here a couple of occasions for each breakfast and dinner, and we choose breakfast. This isn’t to say that the meals at dinner is unhealthy. It’s not by any means–with choices like sirloin, rotisserie hen, and Atlantic salmon, plus loads of sides, and desserts.
We choose eating at Crystal Palace within the morning, principally so we will enter the Magic Kingdom earlier than the park opens for some particular empty-Foremost Road and no-one-around Cinderella Fortress photographs. For those who do that, you received’t get nearly as good of a “worth” on the Disney Eating Plan as you’d by consuming dinner right here, however don’t these particular photographs and recollections have worth, too?
1900 Park Fare (Dinner) – The Grand Floridian Resort is Walt Disney World’s flagship resort, and it lastly has a befitting character eating expertise with the reimagined 1900 Park Fare. That’s a controversial assertion amongst Disney followers, a lot of whom are nostalgic for the earlier forged of characters. Whereas we agree with them on that, the whole lot else–meals, ambiance, and total expertise–is best on the Want Makers Enchanted Dinner at 1900 Park Fare.
Objectively talking, dinner prices greater than breakfast, which is why this ranks greater as a use of Disney Eating Plan credit. Fortuitously for you, dinner can also be subjectively superior–and considerably so. Dinner at 1900 Park Fare reaches the identical excessive bar as character eating experiences at Topolino’s Terrace and Artist Level, managing to attain each top quality and excessive amount (of meals). So far as the meals goes, dinner at 1900 Park Fare is the #1 character buffet at Walt Disney World.
Even when paying out of pocket (as now we have when eating right here), we’re fairly spend the additional cash for the higher dinner. That’s doubly true if you happen to’re on the Disney Eating Plan, as each meals are 1-credit, making dinner the apparent and straightforward choose–and one that provides distinctive worth for cash.
Minnie’s Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine (Fantasmic Dinner Package deal) – Some folks received’t care in regards to the Fantasmic eating bundle (with out the bundle, Hollywood & Vine wouldn’t be on the highest half of the listing), but it surely does present worth–and we extremely suggest the reimagined Fantasmic.
Not solely that, however Minnie’s Seasonal Dine is a good use of a Disney Eating Plan credit score, regardless, it’s simply the Fantasmic bundle that places it excessive (with out that add-on, it nonetheless makes the listing–however not this excessive). That’s a distinction with the EPCOT live performance or Candlelight Processional eating bundle, all of which require 2-credits and thus are poor values in consequence.
Then there’s the massive one: Minnie’s Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine is definitely fairly underrated. Regardless of being a “fundamental” buffet with underwhelming theming, the meals is kind of good and the character interactions are top-tier. We’re enormous followers of the seasonal buffets right here, significantly Minnie’s Vacation Dine and Minnie’s Halloween Dine. You can also’t go fallacious with Minnie’s Springtime Dine.
So there you’ve gotten it–the highest character meals on the Disney Eating Plan if you happen to’re trying to maximize your worth. Though this listing supplies the best possible worth character meals at Walt Disney World, this isn’t essentially the listing of the “finest” character meals on property. For those who’re extra involved with reserving the most effective meals, we suggest utilizing this listing as a place to begin, but in addition studying some evaluations of various eating places.
Hopefully this listing helps you get extra bang on your buck on the Disney Eating Plan. Take a look at our Worth-Maximizing suggestions for Counter Service eating places, Desk Service Eating places, and Most Price-Efficient Disney Snacks to get much more worth out of the Disney Eating Plan! On the lookout for Disney journey planning suggestions? Be sure that to learn our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information.
Your Ideas
What are your favourite character meals at Walt Disney World? Which of them do you suggest? Every other tricks to maximize your worth on the Disney Eating Plan when doing character eating experiences? Do you agree or disagree with our picks? Any questions we may also help you reply? Listening to your suggestions—even once you disagree with us—is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
