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Minding your Manners with the Disney Dining Plan

Minding your Manners with the Disney Dining Plan

Once every three years or so, I take a deep breath, ready my debit card, and dial up Disney Dining to add the Deluxe Dining Plan to my upcoming vacation reservation. The plan, a little over a hundred dollars per person per day for those ten and up, features three table service meals daily that include appetizer, entree, and dessert.

A child’s plan is also available for those aged 3-9 with a more limited selection for around thirty dollars per day.

With the Deluxe plan you also get two snack credits per person per day. Most people who have purchased the Deluxe Plan have only one complaint: it’s way too much food. While it’s a sentiment I sometimes share, I continue to book with the Deluxe Plan at least every couple of years. Why? Because I’ve discovered that with the plan I’m able to take my son to the best restaurants on Disney property for a little bit of education about manners mixed in with the magic.

Raising kids these days can be pretty harrowing. Between homework and sports and lessons and friends, our children are scheduled out. At our house we’ve tried to develop a culture of respect no matter which activities we’re balancing and it’s my opinion that one of the biggest keys to respect is a well-developed set of manners. Please and thank you, yes ma’am and no sir, keep your elbows off the table and your volume on easy listening.

I think it’s extremely important for kids to try new and different foods and to understand how to make it through a sit-down meal with grace and maybe even a little panache. And while I consider myself a pretty good standard cook, it’s hard to do panache with ham sliders. I’d love to take my son to the best restaurants in town, but it’s just not financially possible. Enter the dining plan.

With Disney’s Deluxe Dining plan I can take my son to Narcoose’s for a lesson on eating lobster without lemon juicing your table mates, to Le Cellier for a tutorial on table settings that involve more than one fork, or to Brown Derby for some education in souping without slurping. Without the plan, I’d be able to swing maybe one of these restaurants on a vacation, but certainly not all three, and definitely not at the great price I get per day which ends up being an almost fifty percent savings over menu price. There’s much to be said for each dining experience too, as I have memories of fantastic meals with my son that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

For a no obligation, FREE Quote with new bookings contact our sponsor Magical Vacation Planner by calling: 1(407)442-0289 Or for a free no obligation quote with new bookings you can fill out the form by Clicking HERE!

So next time you’re aching to teach your kids about cloth napkins in the lap but don’t want to buy or launder your own, give the Deluxe Dining Plan a try and gear up for some amazing meals that can also be great learning opportunities. Because manners with a dose of Disney magic is a fantastic combination.

About Morgan Crutchfield

Morgan Crutchfield is the host of DVCCentral, a Facebook page dedicated to helping you maximize your Disney experience, one tip at a time. She is a guest columnist at OutrunningTheMonorail and a regular columnist at WDWFanzone.com. When she’s not at Disney she’s gearing up to runDisney or looking for ways to get back.