2025 Disney Dining Plans prices are now known thanks to Walt Disney World’s release of vacation packages for next year. Like clockwork, there are price increases–especially unsurprising given food inflation. This covers how costs have changed for kids and adults on the various tiers of DDP, plus our commentary about potential explanations for new pricing.
Let’s start with the potentially bad news, which is that only the Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan (QSDDP) and standard or regular Disney Dining Plan (DDP) are currently available for 2025 Walt Disney World vacation packages. The Deluxe Disney Dining Plan (DxDDP) and Disney Dining Plan Plus (DDP+) are still unavailable (for now).
There’s nothing to say Walt Disney World couldn’t bring these back later this year or early next–the DDP+ originally launched in late February, so it’s not as if product launches have to coincide with the release of vacation packages…but it’s certainly not a promising sign for the return of those two top tiers. The good news is that the Quick Service and regular Disney Dining Plan have always been far and away the most popular tiers, and those are again being offered for 2025.
As was the case pre-closure, Walt Disney World has not released official pricing for the 2025 Quick Service Disney Dining Plan (QSDDP) or the regular 2025 Disney Dining Plan (DDP), so we’ve reverse-engineered the pricing by selecting a January 2025 travel date for one night at All Star Sports, and done the math ourselves to remove the costs of the required park tickets.
Not publishing prices of the Disney Dining Plan upfront is a way of obfuscating costs and avoiding sticker shock on individual package components. Walt Disney World must’ve determined that a package total increasing by a couple thousand extra dollars was preferable to displaying a daily dining cost for whatever reason.
This approach also allows Walt Disney World to, at least in theory, quietly raise the price of the Disney Dining Plan or institute seasonal surcharges during peak times of year, like Thanksgiving or Christmas. The good news here is that the bumps in 2025 Disney Dining Plan prices are fairly mild. (Assuming there aren’t higher prices for those peak dates–which is possible especially since November and December 2025 vacation packages are not yet available).
Based upon our theoretical 2025 Walt Disney World travel dates, per night pricing for the DDPs is as follows:
- Quick Service Disney Dining Plan: $59.14 per adult and $24.71 per child
- Disney Dining Plan (standard): $97.79 per adult and $30.56 per child
These prices all include tax, but guests must pay for tips or gratuity out of pocket. Children 3-9 must order from the kids menus; under age 3 eat free from an adult’s plate.
For reference, here are 2024 Disney Dining Plan prices:
- Quick Service Disney Dining Plan: $57.01 per adult and $23.83 per child
- Disney Dining Plan (standard): $94.28 per adult and $29.69 per child
For those who don’t want to do the math, here are the increases for 2025:
- Quick Service Disney Dining Plan: +$2.13 per adult and +$0.88 per child
- Disney Dining Plan (standard): +$3.51 per adult and +$0.87 per child
2020 Disney Dining Plan prices were as follows:
- Quick Service Disney Dining Plan: $55 per adult and $26 per child
- Disney Dining Plan (standard): $78.01 per adult and $30.51 per child
- Disney Dining Plan Plus: $94.61 per adult and $35 per child
- Deluxe Disney Dining Plan: $119 per adult and $47.50 per child.
…and 2019 Disney Dining Plan prices:
- Quick Service Disney Dining Plan: $52.50 per adult and $23.78 per child
- Disney Dining Plan (standard): $75.49 per adult and $27.98 per child
- Deluxe Disney Dining Plan: $116.25 per adult and $43.49 per child.
Here’s what each tier of the 2025 Disney Dining Plan offers:
Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan Details:
- 2 Quick-Service Meals Per Night of Stay
- 1 Snack or Nonalcoholic Beverage Per Night of Stay
- 1 Resort-Refillable Mug Per Trip
Regular Disney Dining Plan Details:
- 1 Quick-Service Meal Per Night of Stay
- 1 Table-Service Meal Per Night of Stay
- 1 Snack or Nonalcoholic Beverage Per Night of Stay
- 1 Resort-Refillable Mug Per Trip
This is an apples-to-apples comparison to the 2024 Disney Dining Plan, as nothing has changed between the two years. However, that’s not true as compared to prior years. Starting with 2024, Walt Disney World reduced the number of snacks available on the Disney Dining Plans from 2 to 1 per night.
When it comes to typical guest behavior, this was an easy thing to cut to achieve cost-savings, as many people either wasted snack credits previously or used them to stock up on stuff to take home from Goofy’s Candy Co. at the end of their trips. Not only did it achieve cost-savings for the company, but it also decreased the utility and value of both tiers of the DDP.
In past breakdowns, we’ve ascribed a $5 value for each snack credit. Given current menu prices, that’s probably $6 now. So if you added $6 back into the 2024/2025 Disney Dining Plan prices versus 2020 and earlier for an accurate apples to apples comparison, there would be even more significant increases across the board–especially for adults.
Honestly, these price increases aren’t as bad as they could be. Inflation has hit the cost of food especially hard, with the prices of essentials like bacon and butter up big time. You’re no doubt well aware of this, as at least 50% of you see it firsthand while grocery shopping, and the only half either hear about the high price of food or see it for yourselves on receipts. This is no big secret and no one has been immune.
According to the USDA, the CPI for all food increased 0.6 percent from December 2023 to January 2024, and food prices were 2.6 percent higher year-over-year. The food-away-from-home (restaurant purchases) CPI increased 0.5 percent in January 2024 and was 5.1 percent higher year-over-year.
In other words, the price increases for the 2025 Disney Dining Plan are actually below the 5.1% rate of inflation for restaurants. That’s the more relevant statistic since it accounts for labor and other input costs at restaurants, which are obviously different from grocery stores.
As always, you’ll want to do the math to determine whether the 2025 Disney Dining Plan is right for your party. However, you’ll need to wait until October 2024 to do that math if you’re visiting in early 2025–or possibly February 2025 if you’re visiting later in the year. Although Walt Disney World adjusts restaurant prices throughout the year, the start of the new fiscal year and/or calendar year are the times when across-the-board increases typically occur.
Given the aforementioned food inflation, it’s a foregone conclusion that Walt Disney World will raise restaurant menu prices at least once between now and next March. So doing the math on the 2025 Disney Dining Plan vs. paying out of pocket right now is pointless, because you don’t know what menu prices will be next year. By contrast, the DDP price is already locked in–at least through October 2025.
For us personally–as a party of 2 adults with no kids over age 3 next year–menu prices would need to increase rather significantly to make the regular 2025 Disney Dining Plan worth it. I was actually just doing the math two days ago on whether or not to add the DDP to an upcoming Walt Disney World stay that’ll be character dining-heavy, and it wasn’t even a close call for us–whereas it would’ve made perfect sense back in 2019/2020. The dealbreaker for us is booze–we never order alcohol anymore, and that’s pretty much necessary to bridge the gap.
Of course, those are our unique circumstances and yours could differ. For example, if you’re a solo parent with triplets who are 9 years old and would buy the Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan, there’s a still good chance the 2025 Disney Dining Plan will work out in your favor. At the other end of the spectrum, an older couple doing primarily Signature Restaurants shouldn’t even consider the DDP. We can tell you without breaking down the numbers that it won’t work out for you.
If you want to read more about most common circumstances when the DDP does or does not make sense, see When You Should Buy & Skip the Disney Dining Plan! That’s a long read, but it provides a breakdown of different demographics that likely will–and will not–benefit from buying the DDP.
When all is said and done, my guess is that average menu price increases will outpace the Disney Dining Plan for the remainder of this year and 2025.
The theory here is that Walt Disney World has reached its price ceiling with the Disney Dining Plan or come very close to it, but individual component prices could go higher when sold a la carte. That they probably don’t want to break the $100 per day barrier for adults with the regular Disney Dining Plan, and that even now, prices are pushing it. (Probably a big part of why Walt Disney World hides the sticker price of the DDP.)
Now, food costs are even higher. Consumers might be more willing to pay this impulsively and in smaller increments, but balk if the regular Disney Dining Plan is priced at $100 per person per day. The takeaway from all of this should not be “wow, Walt Disney World is really generous” with such insignificant price increases. I mean, I guess you’re welcome to that charitable conclusion. My suspicion, supported by plenty of past precedent, is that there’s a catch.
I’d really love to be wrong, but I feel like another shoe is going to drop, and we’ll find out the clever new ways Walt Disney World is leveraging “shrinkflation” and “skimpflation” with the 2025 Disney Dining Plan. Perhaps I’m being overly cynical, but it just seems too good to be true.
One way that Walt Disney World could quietly cut costs with the Dining Plans is by reducing their maximum value. There are a few of ways to accomplish this, one of which has already happened with the removal of the snack. Others are more sneaky.
The one that we’ve already seen play out in the past is reducing the number of high-dollar menu items. This happened during the phased reopening, and particularly apparent at counter service restaurants with many of the pricier combo meals no longer being offered.
Along these lines, another possibility would be excluding certain menu items from the Disney Dining Plan. Maybe the Sampler at Flame Tree BBQ or the Cedar Plank Salmon at Polite Pig won’t be offered to those on the Disney Dining Plan.
It’s possible that what qualifies as a snack will change, and fewer prepared items will make the cut. That’s already true with the 2024 Disney Dining Plan at some locations, but thankfully, it hasn’t impacted EPCOT festival booths yet!
Another possibility is an expansion of what’s 2-credits on the Disney Dining Plan. Signature Restaurant status might be bestowed upon more restaurants. That already happened this year with Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (at lunch and dinner only) in EPCOT and Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White in Wilderness Lodge. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Topolino’s Terrace, 1900 Park Fare, or Chef Mickey’s receive similar status “upgrades.”
Optimistically, perhaps none of this will happen. Even then, smaller portion sizes, cheaper ingredients, and reduced quality are all already happening by Walt Disney World’s own admission. So this will impact the Disney Dining Plan by extension, as equivalent menu items ordered today or in 2025 (to the extent that they exist) won’t be on par with their ~2019 counterparts.
If Walt Disney World is going to cut anything from the Disney Dining Plan, I would (selfishly) love for booze to be removed. For one thing, a large portion of people cannot order alcohol–Disney Adults who are under 21 years of age. For another, there’s an ever-increasing percentage of the population that does not drink at all, especially those under age 35.
Finally, Walt Disney World is a family-friendly place. While I take absolutely zero issue with responsible adults having the option to purchase alcohol in all of the theme parks, I don’t think Disney should be actively incentivizing the practice. (Same story with the dessert parties. Having it available for purchase is one thing; implicitly encouraging consumption by making it part of the value-proposition is another entirely.) Removing the booze and reducing prices a bit would be a net positive for a lot of guests–and certainly better than cutting corners elsewhere or eclipsing the $100 mark.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What’s your take on the 2025 Disney Dining Plan pricing increases? Do you use the DDP for eating at Walt Disney World? What advantage or disadvantages do you think it offers? Would you be happy with price decreases and the removal of alcohol, or does booze add a lot of value to the DDP for you? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of the Disney Dining Plan? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
