Deluxe Dining Plan

In case you missed it, we recently went to Disney World and ate all the things at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. BUT, to be honest, that post did not do the food we ate that long weekend any justice.

Just to review, Disney has three different dining plan levels – Quick Service Dining Plan, Disney Dining Plan, and Deluxe Dining Plan. Read more about the details of that here. After a lot of consideration, we ended up with the Deluxe Dining Plan, because we didn’t want to be limited to how many courses we could order and which wines we could choose. Plus many of the restaurants we wanted to eat at counted as two table service meals, so this made the most sense to us. 

Here you’ll find a day by day meal breakdown, a brief review of everywhere and everything we ate, and how we used up 12 table service credits per person on our quick trip, “saving” over $400 on dining (while still riding all the rides, and even seeing some hotels). 

Day 1 – 1 Table Service Credit used (1 total)

We got to the hotel around 6:15 and decided to do a convenient dinner at Ale and Compass right inside the Yacht Club lobby. There are two nice restaurants in the Yacht Club – Ale and Compass and Yachtsman Steakhouse. I was going back and forth with which one to try because I’ve heard such amazing things about Yachtsman, and it’s a 2 credit signature dining restaurant. Based on the rest of my itinerary, you’ll notice I was pretty determined to hit as many signature dining spots as possible. But in the end, I decided that I wanted to try something other than a steakhouse, because a steakhouse is a steakhouse. And I’m so glad I did (even though I ordered steak, ha). Ale and Compass was delicious. Since the Deluxe Dining Plan comes with appetizer, entree, dessert, and drink, we shared two appetizers (garlic shrimp and oven roasted meatballs), each got our own entree (10 oz strip for me, short ribs for Eric), shared two desserts (apple cobbler and chocolate cake), and ordered two of the most expensive wines on the menu. It was a perfect start to our trip.

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Day 2 – 2 Table Service Credits used (3 total)

This was the only day that we didn’t have breakfast or lunch planned because we were heading to Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival. For dinner, we went to Jiko – The Cooking Place at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I had heard that Animal Kingdom Lodge had some of the best food at Disney, and this meal did not disappoint. For appetizers, Eric got the cauliflower bisque, and I got the Tour of Africa which was an African version of a meat/cheese/hummus platter. This is one of those things that you only order as a shared appetizer under normal circumstances. But under Deluxe Dining Plan circumstances, you order it for yourself and eat the whole thing.

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For entrees Eric got a delicious filet and I got an amazing fish that I’m pretty sure came straight from The Land in Epcot (more on that later). Finally, for dessert I got a brownie and if I remember correctly, Eric got some African pudding. I want to say this was one of my favorite meals, but I’m going to say that again multiple times so take from that what you will. 

Day 3 – 4 Table Service Credits used (7 total)

Initially when planning my trip, I only planned one breakfast to get into Magic Kingdom early (see below), and I only planned one character meal because I wanted to meet Winnie the Pooh (see below again). I had planned on just grabbing some quick service meals in the hotel on my way to the parks, which would be a waste of dining plan credits since all of my credits were for table service meals. However, I figured that by eating at the most expensive restaurants and ordering the most expensive dishes and wines, I’d make up for it in other places. 

After the first morning, I realized I did not actually do enough research on this. The “quick service” place in our hotel was really just a small marketplace with things like bananas, pastries, and small cereal boxes.

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I really wanted to start my park days with a full breakfast, and I wasn’t about the use a table service credit for a banana. I could’ve used snack credits for these items, but first of all that’s not a good use of snack credit either as these items are “cheap” (by Disney standards), and second of all I wanted to save all of my snack credits for the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. I also did not want to wait to eat until I got to the park, because I’m immediately hungry when I wake up (some might say “hangry”), and because I didn’t want to waste time eating when I could be getting on the popular rides before the crowds. I for sure could not ride the rides and then eat, because I’m not a masochist (read: hangry). 

This experience led me to reevaluate my breakfast choices, and I began looking into reservation options. For this second day, we wanted to get to Animal Kingdom at opening, so I wanted to eat in our hotel. There were two options: Ale and Compass or Minnie’s Beach Bash at the Cape May Cafe in the Beach Club. Ale and Compass didn’t have any reservations until about 9 am, which was too late, and Minnie’s Beach Bash is a buffet which I thought would probably be quicker. Plus, we got our first character experience! 

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The actual buffet was fine – typical hotel breakfast buffet with (I imagine) powdered scrambled eggs and frozen sausage links, plus the added bonus of Mickey waffles.

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They also had some weird additions like pizza and salads on the breakfast buffet. I’m not going to lie, I ate it all. We also got to meet Minnie, Daisy, Donald, and Goofy, all dressed for their beach party. I didn’t think character meals were necessary as two adults. I was wrong. We ended up doing three of them.

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This was our Animal Kingdom Day, and our Tiffin’s for lunch day. Tiffin’s is another two credit signature dining restaurant that I felt was one of those restaurants that I could not go home without trying. I initially had a dinner reservation here, but I also had a 9:20 am Flight of Passage fastpass (more on that later), so my options were either spend the whole day at Animal Kingdom, or go back and forth. I bought park hoppers for a reason (part of that reason being that my TA discount came with them, but also I wanted to use them – look out for a park hopping post and a fastpass post!), and spending all day in Animal Kingdom felt like too much to me. Then I checked the menu and had the brilliant idea of changing our Tiffin’s reservation to a lunch, because the menu was exactly the same, so totally worth the credits. Let me tell you, it was a lot of food, but if you’re spending all day in a theme park or two or three, a nice sit down lunch to break up the day can really make a difference. 

And of course, since we got the deluxe dining plan, we really had no choice but to order three courses and a drink each. For appetizers, we shared the bread service (necessary at an Indian restaurant, obviously), and the Duo of Appetizers which came with the charred octopus and the spiced chickpea falafel. And by “shared” I mean Eric wasn’t feeling a three course lunch, so I chose those two appetizers for myself and he had the bread with me. For entrees, I got the surf and turf and Eric got the fried whole fish.

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My $65 surf and turf that was allowed on the deluxe dining plan was amazing. If I was not on the dining plan, I would not have ordered this for a couple of reasons. 1 – $65 is a crazy amount to spend on a lunch entree, in a theme park. 2 – beef tenderloin + scallops + sides is a crazy amount of food to eat at lunch, especially when there was also appetizers, desserts, and drinks involved. This was one of those “WOW I do not regret getting the dining plan” moments, and I highly recommend this entree. If I weren’t on the dining plan, I probably would’ve gotten the North African Spiced Tofu, which I’d really like to go back and try very soon.

For dessert, I got the chocolate ganache and Eric got the “cheesecake”. First of all, I do not usually do dessert at an Indian restaurant so the chocolate ganache was a pleasant, and delicious surprise. Second of all, the “cheesecake” was sort of like a deconstructed cheesecake with a cheesecake cream piped onto the plate, and some crumbles of crust on the side. It was super interesting and super delicious, and Eric still talks about it. It was probably his favorite part of the entire trip. And Tiffin’s was probably my favorite restaurant of the entire trip. But so was Jiko, and also so was California Grill (see below). Oh, also, I once again got the most expensive (and delicious) wine on the menu, and Eric got a mojito.

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I did not plan a dinner for this night because I didn’t know what park we’d want to hop to after Animal Kingdom, and I didn’t know how hungry we’d be after Tiffin’s. However, after many hours of theme parking, we decided we would eat some dinner, and a casual pizza/italian restaurant was just what we *thought* we needed. I made a last minute reservation at Via Napoli in Epcot, partly because I’d heard good things about their pizza, partly because it was in Epcot and walking distance from our hotel, and partly because it was available last minute.

This was our worst meal of the week. Not only was it the cheapest meal of the week (I do not always think cheap means bad, by the way, I’m just making a point here), it was also the ONLY meal we had all week that had restrictions on the dining plan. First of all, Eric tried to order the Caesar Salad as an appetizer, but apparently this counts as an entree on the dining plan. Second of all, this was the only restaurant that we were told we could only order wines below $16. Now that I’m writing this, and looking back at my trip as a whole, I’m starting to think our waitress actually had no clue what she was talking about. The wines under $16 is (I think) a rule on the regular Disney Dining Plan, but not the Deluxe. And the Caesar thing seems really strange to me because of the sushi appetizers we were able to get at Cali Grill (see below). This combined with the fact that the regular plan does not come with an appetizer at all which is why the Caesar would count as an entree, and I’m thinking not many people on the deluxe dining plan waste their credits on Via Napoli, and the waitress just was not experienced with what was allowed on our plan. I think I’ll dig deeper into this, but probably not by going there again.

And finally, the last super annoying thing was that I wanted to order the Linguine Al Ragu Di Mare, which I thought was linguine with seafood in marinara sauce, my all time favorite Italian dish (even better if it’s spicy). However, the waitress pointed out that the seafood was a ragu, not whole shellfish, so it was all mixed in the sauce. This was annoying because, gross, but I assume the restaurant was making a higher priced dish cheaper for themselves. Not the waitresses fault, though, and I appreciated her letting me know. But then I tried to order another linguine dish that was similar but had shrimp and mushrooms, and change the sauce that was on it to a marinara and she said no! I hate when restaurants say no to things that are SO simple. I’m not a business person, but this must be bad business practice right?

Anyway, I ended up getting a caprese salad with not so fresh mozzarella and not so red tomatoes to start, and Eric got Prosciutto e Melone, which was fine. We both got pizzas for our entrees. Although this is not such a great value on the dining plan, I heard they made some great pizza. I think it was good, but not something to write home about (although that’s apparently exactly what I’m currently doing). I’m a New Yorker though, so I believe other people from around the world might really appreciate this pizza. For dessert, I got the Zeppole which were good, and Eric got a gelato sundae which I would imagine was also good if you like gelato. All in all, I would not go back here unless I wanted to quickly grab some mediocre pizza and explore the rest of the park. 

Day 4 – 4 Table Service Credits used (11 total)

This was a good day for meals, and the only day that I had preplanned and changed nothing. We started our day with an 8 AM breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest in the Beast’s castle in Magic Kingdom, on a day that Magic Kingdom opened at 9 and did not have any extra magic hours. If you know anything about Disney, Magic Kingdom, or Be Our Guest, you know that this is pretty much as good as it gets. Here’s why: 1. If you have an early morning breakfast reservation, you can get into the park before opening. In our case, it was an hour before opening, which is the earliest reservation available. You can actually do this at any park. BUT 2. Be Our Guest is the ONLY quick service restaurant in all of Disney that requires reservations. This means it’s the only quick service meal that gets you into the park early. This is great because you can eat quickly and get on line for some headliner rides (think: 7 Dwarfs Mine Train) before they even open the park. With a table service breakfast, it takes a little longer to eat so this is a bit trickier. We did end up using a table service credit for a quick service meal here, but this is one of the most expensive quick service meals on site, so it was fine. If you have a different dining plan, this is a GREAT use of a quick service credit.

Anyway, Eric got the Feast a la Gaston which came with eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and fruit, and I got the scrambled egg whites with chicken sausage, roasted tomatoes, and fruit. They were okay, not great, and oversalted (don’t take my word for it, I am very sensitive to salt), but the meals there all come with an amazing pastry basket.

At night, this restaurant becomes a signature dining meal where you can meet the beast. It’s one of the finest dining experiences at Disney, with a price fixed prepaid meal or the use of two table service credits. It makes me wonder if the meal is more about the experience and ambiance than the food though, because if the dinner chef is the same as the breakfast chef it is definitely not worth it.

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I was looking forward to lunch that day for weeks. Not for the food, but for the characters. We had lunch at Crystal Palace with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore. Need I say more?

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Seriously though, I was pleasantly surprised by the food here. It was a buffet which is not a foodie’s friend. And don’t get me wrong, I was definitely not blown away by it and ready to convert to a buffet lover. But as far as buffets go this was not gross. It wasn’t a huge selection, which I think is always better when cooking in bulk. It’s easier to perfect the few things you serve than to try to serve it all and have anything be good.

And finally, that night we had dinner at California Grill. This restaurant is right at the top of the list of “hardest reservations to get at Disney World,” because it’s also right at the top (or on the 15th floor) of the Contemporary Resort, which is the closest resort on property to Magic Kingdom. Therefore, there is a perfect view of the fireworks over the castle from this restaurant. So, not only is the food amazing, but the location also cannot be beat. The only way to get access to the fireworks viewing deck at Cali Grill is by having a reservation there. The cool thing, though, is that any reservation gets you access. In other words, if you can only get a 4:30 dinner reservation, or even just a brunch reservation, you can still come back at night for the fireworks show.

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We were “lucky enough” to get a 9 PM reservation, so we got there just in time for fireworks and did not have to go back and forth. However, I think the best time to eat there (if you can manage to get in), is around 7 or 7:30 PM. Eat and enjoy dinner at a normal time, finish your night with fireworks, maybe sit back down for dessert or maybe you’re done and you can go home and sleep at a reasonable hour. Unfortunately, we could not get in at this time because dining reservations open 180 days in advance, and we booked our trip just a few weeks in advance. I’m just glad we got to eat there though.

The menu has an appetizer section, a sushi section, and then an entree section. I was SURE sushi would not be included in dining plan. I’m happy to say I was wrong (only for the deluxe plan). So for appetizers, Eric got an angry dragon roll, and I got a Crudo, which was like an omakase of four sashimis. Absolutely delicious. 

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For entrees, I got the bison and Eric got the filet, and for dessert I got a cheese plate and I think Eric got the chocolate cake but he might’ve gotten the apple tart. I honestly don’t remember. It was very late at night after three full days of Disney. Oh, and of course we got the most expensive wines on the menu. This was probably my favorite meal of the week…maybe?

Day 5 – 1 Table Service Credit used – 12 total

For our last day, I added in a last minute reservation at Garden Grill at Epcot. Eric is a big Chip and Dale fan, and this is where they like to hang. Plus, I was able to get an early reservation to get into the park before opening, and we still had one credit left, so why not use it for a character meal and get a great value out of it. This was our only “family style” meal. They basically bring you heaping portions of everything they have on the menu, and if you want more (you probably don’t), they bring you more. We were there for breakfast, so we got eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, fruit, and some chip ‘n’ dale sticky bun which was a delicious giant cinnamon bun. It was your typical family style egg breakfast. Lunch and dinner are a “harvest feast”, which is basically a Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve heard that lunch and dinner are good there, and as far as character dining goes this one is one of the most popular in terms of food quality and taste. Which makes since, since it’s right over Epcot’s greenhouse.

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ALSO the restaurant is round and it rotates around Epcot’s “The Land” (the ride around the greenhouse). It’s pretty cool to watch the view, and you don’t necessarily end the meal where you start which is fun. 

In the end, we wound up “saving” over $400 on dining. I put “saving” in quotes because we would not have ordered the way we ordered if we weren’t on the dining plan. We would not have gotten three courses each and the most expensive wine at every single meal. We probably also would’ve stuck with one character meal instead of three.

In the end, I’m so glad we did this the way that we did and we got to experience all of the tastes and characters that we got to experience. Every trip is different though, and I’m not sure what I’ll do for the next one, but you can be sure that I’ll let you know.