Deluxe Disney Dining Plan Returning to Disney World!

Over 6 years after it vanished during the COVID closure of Walt Disney World, the top tier Deluxe Disney Dining Plan is making its triumphant return! In addition to that, all three tiers of the DDPs are being renamed. Here’s everything we know, along with commentary about the changes, why they haven’t happened before, but finally are for 2027.

As you might recall, Walt Disney World brought back the Disney Dining Plan with a few consequential changes over two years ago. The most notable of which was the removal of the Deluxe and Plus tiers of the DDP, the latter of which had just launched pre-closure. On the other hand, the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan had been around for a long time, and even went by another name before the launch of the DDP in the aughts.

In the here and now, Disney Dining Plans are currently available for booking with qualifying resort stays during 2026. Guests can choose from the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan or the standard Disney Dining Plan. See our 2026 Disney Dining Plan Info page for pricing, what each tier of the plans includes, along with our review, recommendations, and more. All of the differences discussed below concern the 2027 Disney Dining Plans; nothing is changing for the remainder of 2026 as of right now.

With the passage of so many years, it seemed like maybe the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan was gone for good. However, we’ve been unconvinced and held out hope for the top two tiers (which we prefer) to return. As we’ve pointed out repeatedly, Walt Disney World often moves slowly to respond to changing conditions, and the circumstances here have been right–for 2+ years now–for a return of the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan.

For one thing, Advance Dining Reservation demand has cratered and Walt Disney World has been pulling other “levers” to incentivize guests to dine at table service restaurants, so it seems like anything might be on the table. (I have a bold idea: they could try lowering menu prices instead of raising them?!)

For another, Walt Disney World surveyed guests last year about a return of the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan, potentially renamed as the “Ultimate” Disney Dining Plan. Along with that, there were new names for the lower tiers to clarify what they offered, and distinguish them from one another. That was a pretty strong signal that Disney wasn’t done tweaking its DDP lineup.

Less than one year later, with the 2027 Walt Disney World product launch, we’re seeing the fruits of that survey. Here’s the official news via Walt Disney World’s website…

For the remainder of 2026, guests can continue booking the Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan or Disney Dining Plan.

Starting with arrivals in 2027, guests can choose from 3 Disney Dining Plans: the Quick-Service Dining Plan, the Table-Service Dining Plan or the Deluxe Table-Service Dining Plan. Here’s how that looks:

2026 Dining Plans

• Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan
• Disney Dining Plan

2027 Dining Plans

• Quick-Service Dining Plan
• Table-Service Dining Plan
• Deluxe Table-Service Dining Plan

Basically, they’ve dropped “Disney” from the name of each (surprising for a company that loves branding, and slapping “Disney” on everything) and added “Table-Service” to both of the top two tiers.

In both 2026 and 2027, the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan includes:

• two counter-service meals (per night)
• one snack (per night)
• a refillable drink mug (per stay)

Likewise, in 2026 and 2027, the standard or Table-Service Disney Dining Plan includes:

• one counter-service meal (per night)
• one sit-down meal (per night)
• one snack (per night)
• a refillable drink mug (per stay)

Starting in 2027, the Deluxe Table-Service Dining Plan will include:

• one counter-service meal (per night)
• two sit-down meal (per night)
• one snack (per night)
• one refillable drink mug (per stay)

The key difference between the regular Table-Service DDP and Deluxe Table Service DDP is that the latter offers two sit-down meals at table service restaurants per night.

Although the jury is still out (and likely will be until 2027 rolls around), this appears to be a change from the old Deluxe Disney Dining Plan, which offered 3 floating credits that could be used at any combination of table service or counter service restaurants.

That was especially advantageous in the specific use case of doing a character meal for breakfast (1 credit) and a Signature Restaurant (2 credits) for dinner. This might still be possible if the Deluxe DDP tier disregards the credit requirements for each meal, but we’d bet against that.

On all of these DDPs, a “counter service meal” consists of an entree and beverage, including alcoholic beverages for adults (where available). You can also redeem two counter service credits for pizza pickup at select locations, which consists of 1 large pizza and 2 single-serving beverages.

A “table service meal” consists of an entree, dessert, and beverage, including alcoholic beverages for adults. It can also consist of a buffet, where applicable. And as before, two table service credits can be redeemed for certain higher-end character dining experiences or Signature Restaurants. Again, all of this is covered in greater detail in our Guide to the Disney Dining Plan.

Back in 2019, the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan also included an appetizer with table service meals. Based on my reading of the official Disney Dining Plan website, that’s gone for the 2027 Deluxe Disney Dining Plan. Also gone are the 2 snack credits per night, which is no surprise since that was reduced to a single snack for the other tiers when those returned a couple years ago.

It’s not surprising that the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan is returning, even nearly 7 years later (by the time 2027 rolls around). Walt Disney World has had a habit of pulling liberally from the 2019 playbook, bringing back many things several years after they first went missing. That underscores the reality that Walt Disney World is still recovering from the COVID closure even all this time later.

Otherwise, I just want to say that I fully endorse a new name for the standard Disney Dining Plan. Giving the ‘standard’ Disney Dining Plan a proper name to distinguish it from the DDPs, and the product line as a whole, makes complete sense and is a long overdue change. My only real quibble here is also including “Table-Service” in the name of the Deluxe Dining Plan.

I would’ve gone with Quick Service Disney Dining Plan, Table Service Disney Dining Plan, and Deluxe Disney Dining Plan. That’s cleaner and clearly distinguishes among the three with fewer overlapping words. And in fact, that’s probably what I will call them; we’re not behold to Disney’s officially sanctioned verbiage here. DTB is the wild west! (See also: Star Wars Hotel, Little Mermaid Dark Ride, Baby Yoda, etc.)

Below is additional commentary discussing why the Deluxe Dining Plan is finally returning in 2027 after being gone so long. A lot of ground covered here is basically reiterating points we’ve been making for the last 2-3 years about issues with WDW’s dining scene…

Why Was the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan Unavailable So Long?

To understand why Walt Disney World would bring back the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan, we should probably understand why they got rid of it in the first place. There are several reasons.

First, simplifying and streamlining the Disney Dining Plan. Consumer confusion has been a big problem for Walt Disney World, which has become an overly complicated vacation. Simplifying and reducing that has been a priority post-reopening. Disney might’ve had data showing that average guests were booking the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan because they wanted the Cadillac of vacations, but didn’t understand what it offered and were wasting many or most credits.

I’m skeptical of this explanation given that the Disney Dining Plan Plus was added a few weeks before the parks closed. Simplicity is important, but so too is capturing as much revenue as possible and (critically) filling tables at restaurants.

Second, one of the reasons Walt Disney World was so slow to restore the Disney Dining Plans was because they lacked the dining capacity to accommodate during the revenge travel period. For a couple of years, restaurants were difficult to book due to a combination of decreased capacity and increased demand.

This had started to ease up by the time Walt Disney World made the announcement about the return of the Disney Dining Plans, but there were probably internal concerns its comeback would trigger ADR shortages again. It didn’t.

Advance Dining Reservations have gotten less and less competitive in the last two years, to the point that we seldom struggle with anything. There are exceptions to this, like GEO-82, Beak & Barrel, and some character meals, but by and large, ADR availability is the best and easiest it has ever been in our years of covering Walt Disney World. This is something we’ve discussed at length elsewhere; no need to belabor the point.

Third, getting rid of the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan and Disney Dining Plan Plus was arguably closing a loophole for WDW dining power users. Another priority for WDW in the last few years is closing these loopholes and leveling the playing field for experienced guests and first-timers. (Although that’s less relevant here, since exploiting the Deluxe Dining Plan doesn’t come at the expense of other guests in the same way as it does with line-skipping.)

The DxDDP and DDP+ offered the most money-saving potential if you leveraged savvy strategy and hacked them. We know that it was possible to save money with the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan because we did. All the time.

Almost every character dining experience or Signature Restaurant review on this blog from March 2020 or earlier was “powered by” the DDP+ or DxDDP. We have two different illustrative posts (here and here) about how we saved a ton with the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan.

These hacks only worked if you dined in a very specific way, and it was an unnatural one unless you specifically set out to beat the system. First-time guests without this knowledge would probably come out behind on the top tiers of the DDP, as they were not conducive to the natural way most casual guests would dine.

Power users absolutely loved the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan because it saved a ton of money–more than was possible on the two lowest tiers. Everyone else likely wasted credits and money–more than on the two lower tiers.

It’s possible that guest satisfaction scores also reflected this. Although maybe not, because the perception of an all-inclusive or Deluxe Disney Dining Plan is strong, especially for the kind of guest who would not balk at the DxDDP price point.

Despite all of this, it caught me by surprise that the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan did not return in 2025 or 2026.

Walt Disney World knew that hardcore planners were hacking the DxDDP. They knew that casual guests were wasting credits. They knew whatever guest satisfaction scores were, too, and how those broke down among demographics. Even in light of those realities, Disney viewed the Deluxe DDP as an asset for over a decade.

That the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan only worked well in a narrow set of circumstances and resulted in overspending in all others was a feature, not a bug. It reminds me of credit card hacking. Those companies are fully aware of churners gaming the system to earn rewards without paying a penny in interest. They close loopholes to the extent feasible, but otherwise don’t care. Hackers are a vocal minority, the reward payout is the cost of doing business, and it’s a very lucrative business!

Why Bring Back the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan in 2027?

There has been far less interest in the Disney Dining Plan since its return. This has been the sentiment we’ve heard from multiple travel agents, and it’s also what we’re seeing on our own posts.

It used to be the case that Free Dining was the big deal of the year. It was exciting (who doesn’t love free* food?!), and guests anxiously awaited news and rumors about its return.

Although Free Dining is still the focus of commercials and advertising campaigns for mainstream audiences, there’s far less reader interest in the promo. Among fans, Free Dining has been surpassed by all other novel special offers and even some room-only discounts. That never happened back in 2019 or earlier.

One reason for this is probably sticker shock, whether it be on the cost of the paid Disney Dining Plans or the all-in package price of Free Dining. Even though price increases on the DDP are commensurate with higher menu prices and inflation (which has run hot!), it’s a lot all at once on the front end of booking a trip. What once offered “peace of mind” when booking is now an overwhelming budgetary burden that’s easier to stomach later.

Another reason is the monetization of FastPass via the various Lightning Lane tiers. What was once free is now paid, and is a “non-negotiable” add-on for many Walt Disney World guests. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Most people don’t have bottomless vacation budgets, and expenses incurred on a new product offering result in cutting something else. The easiest discretionary spending to drop is table service dining.

If this were a thesis about the downstream effects of Lightning Lanes, it’d be a lot longer. But I would also hazard a guess that the average guest ticket duration has decreased slightly, as has the propensity to purchase the Park Hopper add-on and other bells and whistles. (We’ve also heard all of this from travel agents and third party ticket sellers.) Less time in the parks also means less time for table service restaurants, as there’s a greater sense of urgency to ride rides.

This is fairly evident in the aforementioned Advance Dining Reservation availability. When revenge travel burned off and staffing shortages were (mostly) resolved, ADR availability went from limited to wide open; it was almost like flipping a switch. This is precisely why Coral Reef has reduced its meal services, and it probably won’t be the last restaurant. It’s only a matter of time before something goes seasonal.

Nothing seems to reverse that trend, either. Not Free Dining season and not the recent 40% off discounts for Annual Passholders or Disney Vacation Club members. This is precisely why I’ve been so surprised that the Deluxe Dining Plan as well as Tables in Wonderland didn’t return this year or last year. This has been a known problem since 2024!

To their credit, the company did start attempting to combat the unfilled tables problem with Kids Eat FREE All Year in 2026 at Walt Disney World! For this year only, guests staying at one of Walt Disney World’s more than 25 on-site Disney-owned resort hotels will get a Free Disney Dining Plan for their kids when purchasing a Disney Dining Plan as part of their package for the other members of their party.

Thus far, I haven’t noticed any difference in ADR availability or tables being filled or unfilled at Walt Disney World. Maybe that’ll change once Free Dining season rolls around, but I’m skeptical. That promo seems even less popular in 2026 than it was last year, probably because ‘Kids Eat Free’ is stackable (and there have been aggressive room-only deals), whereas traditional Free Dining is not.

Bringing back the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan is not going to reverse the surplus ADR availability in 2027, but it’s still a smart move and one that we applaud. In the grand scheme of levers that Walt Disney World can pull to stimulate dining demand, this is a relatively small one. But it should nevertheless help with those coveted per caps, especially since guest spending is one of the most important metrics to Walt Disney World.

Having a more expensive tier of the Disney Dining Plan also has indirect benefits; it could help push the standard Disney Dining Plan. One of the first rules of upselling is to create an expensive product tier that most consumers will not purchase. Not because companies actually expect consumers to buy it, but because it makes the other options more attractive by comparison. The above graphic Walt Disney World released distinguishing the three tiers of 2027 Disney Dining Plans is basically a thinly-veiled effort to accomplish that!

After all, you don’t want to cheap out too much on the budget option–especially during a rite-of-passage vacation! Silly as it might sound, that logic likely helped nudge guests to buy the standard Disney Dining Plan instead of the QSDDP. That thereby helped achieve higher per guest spending, which might as well be the Sixth Key.

Ultimately, those are possible explanations as to why Walt Disney World is finally bringing back the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan in 2027. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see even more changes for 2028, as I’m skeptical this is going to move the needle all that much, or reverse the ADR availability problem.

While we’re talking about “fixing” the Disney Dining Plan, my other hope is that it drops alcohol at some point soon. Admittedly, this is mostly a matter of selfishness. We no longer drink and the Disney Dining Plan has made zero sense for us as a result since it returned. But we’re hardly alone in this, as fewer Americans consume alcohol with each passing year.

That’s especially true of younger generations. It’s especially true of the youngest generation, which isn’t even 21 years old yet somehow gets charged adult prices for DDPs that include alcohol despite being too young to legally drink. This is the most common complaint we hear from readers, so perhaps having a ‘family’ tier of the Disney Dining Plan that doesn’t include alcohol at all would be a savvy move to reduce costs and increase sales.

Hopefully, Walt Disney World has a lot more up its sleeve for enticing more dining demand to fill tables and stimulate higher spending. Here are just a handful of totally free, completely unoriginal ideas for things that WDW could bring back in 2027 (or sooner):

• Tables in Wonderland
• California Grill’s Brunch at the Top
• Breakfast and counter service lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant
• Breakfast at Plaza Restaurant
• Character dining at Trattoria al Forno
• Dining with an Imagineer
• Pizzafari Family Style Dining
• Restaurant Marrakesh
• Missing dessert parties
• EPCOT festival enhancements

The bottom line is that there are so many ways for Walt Disney World to get creative and “fix” its dining demand and guest spending “issues” (air quotes because they’re still doing quite well, setting quarterly revenue records!). This is a start, but it’d be nice to see Walt Disney World do more to enhance the dining slate (and with a greater sense of urgency), which still pales in comparison to 2019.

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 do you think of Walt Disney World bringing back the Deluxe Dining Plan in 2027? Does this move the needle for you or not? Disappointed that it has taken so long, or isn’t happening in time for your trip this year? Excited about the return of the top tier DDP? Would this make you more likely to do Signature Restaurants or character dining experiences? Other thoughts or comments in response to this? 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!