Looking for information on Kosher Meals at Disney World? Disney expert Elana Maister is back today to share her best tips for kosher dining at Disney.
When budgeting for a vacation, the part that always slips me up is trying to figure out exactly how much to budget for food! Disney has made that a lot easier by offering the Disney Dining Plans.
Guests who book a package at a Walt Disney World Resort (which includes the hotel and park tickets) also have the option of adding a dining plan to the package. The dining plan is basically a set price for a certain amount of meal credits per person, per night of your stay. And yes, kosher meals can be purchased using the dining plan as well.
Dining plan pricing varies, but the best deal of all is when Disney offers free dining with the purchase of hotel stay and park tickets. Disney has already announced free dining for select dates in Fall 2014, but availability is limited.
The three most popular dining plans are:
The Quick Service Dining Plan
This plan gives you one snack and two quick service meals, per person, per night. The quick service locations are counter service restaurants – you stand in line to order and pick up your food before finding a table. There are multiple quick service locations in each park and they can be found at some of the resorts.
Kosher meals can be found in one quick service restaurant at each park, plus many of the resorts with no advance notice required. At the parks, just let the cashier know that you’ll need kosher meals when you go place your order. At the resorts, it’s best to ask to speak to a chef or manager as they are much more familiar with the kosher options.
The Plus Dining Plan
This plan gives you one snack, one quick service meal, and one table service meal per person, per night. Kosher meals can be ordered at the majority of table service restaurants on Disney property with at least 48 hours notice by calling (407) WDW-DINE.
The Deluxe Dining Plan
This plan gives you the most flexibility. You get two snacks, and three meals per person, per night and those meals can be from whichever type of restaurant you’d like.
All three dining plans also come with a refillable mug that can be used at the drink station at your resort for the length of your stay. The mug can be filled with soda, coffee or hot chocolate at the hotel. There is no limit to the total number of refills, but if you refill your mug repeatedly in a short time, you’ll have to wait before using it again.
Important things to note about the dining plans:
- Children under three do not require tickets to the park and therefore can not be included on a dining plan. Children aged 3 to 9 must order from the children’s menu wherever applicable.
- Tips are not included in the price of the dining plan.
- Some of the signature table service restaurants require the use of 2 dining credits, so be sure to check on that before making your reservation.
- The table service credits include an entree, dessert and nonalcoholic beverage. No dessert is included if you use the table service credit for breakfast.
Things for Kosher travelers to note:
- There are plenty of kosher options available throughout the Walt Disney World resort that are counted as “snacks” on the dining plan. From beverages to ice cream bars, bags of chips, and fruit there is plenty to choose from.
- Many of the character breakfasts are all you can eat buffets. If you order a kosher meal for a buffet breakfast, it will not be all you can eat, you’ll be given one meal that you’ve pre-ordered in advance.
There are pareve Kosher desserts available (my husband is a fan of the chocolate “lava cake”.) The desserts are generally available at any table service location, so make sure to ask when ordering in advance. Quick service locations vary, so make sure to ask when ordering.
Want more information on the Disney Cruises or Disney Resort hotels, kosher food, Disney’s good neighbor hotels, or anything else Disney related? Elana Maister is available to book and help you plan out in detail any Disney Vacation, whether it be Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, or an Adventures by Disney Vacation – all at absolutely no cost to you. You can reach her at Emaister@mmvagent.com or find her on Facebook.
We know that the sodas are all kosher, but is the hot chocolate at the hotel also kosher? Thanks.