So, you're off to Disney World in Orlando and, well, you plan on eating while you're there. Fair enough. :)  Disney has greatly expanded the restaurant and menu offerings - no, you won't be stuck eating hot dogs and soda at every meal.

Disney has several Dining Plans available and it can get confusing, especially if you don't have large amounts of time to devote to planning every aspect of your vacation. I'll try to boil down your options so that you can make a decision that works for both you and your wallet. 

Chances are that yes, you do qualify for at least one Dining Plan option, but it's important to understand the difference between the two main programs Disney currently offers.

Tables In Wonderland - This is a membership program. You pay for a discount card that is good at most Table Service and some Counter Service restaurants. The card gets you a discount on your entire bill and is good for a table of up to 10 people. (Cardholder must be present.)

Disney's Dining Plan -  These are pre-paid plans covering some or all of your meals, subject to certain restrictions. With a couple of exceptions I'll mention later, these plans are available only with a vacation package of room plus tickets plus dining plan.

Formerly called the Disney Dining Experience, this is a discount card that can be used at most of the Table Service restaurants and some of the Counter Service restaurants. It costs $85 for Florida residents or $60 for Annual or Seasonal Passholders. A card for your spouse/partner will cost another $25, but you can skip this expense unless the two of you plan on spending a lot of vacation mealtimes apart from each other. The card covers the cardmember's table, up to 10 guests, so having more than one card per family is generally a waste.

Tables In Wonderland cardmembership gets you a 20% discount on food and beverages, including alcoholic beverages. You order what you want, give the server your card, and save. Couldn't be easier. This card is good for people who don't want to order what the Dining Plans say they have to order and who will be spending enough on food to make the card's cost worthwhile. For the $60 membership, you need to spend $300 on food, pre-discount, to break even. Anything you spend/save beyond that is money in your pocket. If you're eating at Table Service places, it is likely that you will hit that $300 mark pretty quickly and obviously, the more people in your party, the faster you get there.

While you should check into which restaurants are participating in the TiW plan during your vacation (and watch for blackout days like some holidays!), a good rule of thumb is that if a park or resort has a Table Service option, the card will be accepted and if there is no Table Service option, the card will be accepted at the Counter Service location. For example, the Value resorts do not offer a sit-down restaurant, so the card is good at their food courts.

At the beginning of 2008, Disney began automatically adding an 18% tip to bills at Table Service places when the TiW card is used. This seems to be the average tip  servers expect, but it helps to be aware that this is already on your bill so that you don't tip twice. Many people think of the card as paying for the tip they would have left anyway plus a little extra. If you want to leave extra for your server, you are more than welcome - some of Disney's servers are really wonderful and can go above and beyond expectations to help you out. If you had a poor experience with your server, you should be able to speak with a manager and have the tip amount reduced.

Additional benefits include free parking at a theme park after 5pm when you are dining there, free parking or valet parking at the resorts when you're dining there, free admission to Atlantic Dance Hall for you and a guest, and invitations to members-only events. Admission to the Atlantic Dance Hall is usually free, so I'm not sure how much of a benefit this is, but it's there.

Disney now offers several different dining plans. Each one will appeal to a different group of travelers and it's worth doing a little math to see which one works for you, if any.

Dining Plans are most often part of a Magic Your Way package, which also include your room and tickets. Because packages may require that you pay rack rate for your room, it's worth remembering that when you're deciding whether or not a Plan will save you enough to be worth paying for. DVC members staying on points can add the Dining Plan to their trip without purchasing tickets and recently, Disney has extended the same courtesy to Annual Passholders.

Quick Service Dining Plan - This one is new for 2009. You get two Counter Service meals plus two Snacks per person per night of your vacation, plus a refillable mug for each of you. $29.99 per night for adults, $8.99 per night for kids 9 and under.

Dining Plan (the "regular" plan) - With this plan, each of you gets one Table Service meal, one Quick Service meal, and one Snack per night of your vacation. Table Service meals include dessert, but not appetizers. $39.99 per night for adults, $10.99 per night for kids 9 and under.

Deluxe Dining Plan - The Deluxe Plan might be good for people who want to spend a lot of time in restaurants during their trip. Now, at the height of Florida heat, this might be an advantage to you! With this plan, each person gets 3 meals and 2 Snacks per night of your vacation, plus a refillable mug for each of you. The meals can be Table Service or Counter Service, whichever you prefer. In order to get your money's worth on this one, though, you will probably need to plan at least 2 Table Service meals each day. This plan does include both appetizers and dessert. $71.99 per night for adults, $20.99 per night for kids 9 and under.

Wine and Dine add-on option - This can be added to any of the Dining Plans for an extra fee. With this option, you will get a bottle of wine for each night of your stay, from a selected list.

I have not been able to make the Quick Service Dining Plan work for my family. It is difficult to break even on this one. Unless you order the most expensive thing at each meal, you might well do better just paying cash.

The regular Dining Plan can be a deal, especially if you have kids under 10. It is so easy to save money using their plans that it might be worthwhile to get this even if the adults won't save much. This plan used to include the tip at Table Service places, but no longer does. This means that there are more people the Plan doesn't work for now, but it is possible to save a lot of money if it is right for you. Unless you're vegetarians (whose meals tend to be cheaper items like pasta rather than steak), it is very easy to save money using this plan.

The Deluxe Dining Plan is tempting, but you really need to think about how you want to eat on your vacation. Three full sit-down meals at Disney is an awful lot of food - they do not skimp on portions and many places are all-you-can-eat buffets. If you're visiting Disney more for the food than the rides, this might work well for you, but it's just too much for many people. Here's my rule of thumb on this one: The basic plan costs $40/night and this one is $70/night, so I'd need to want an extra Table Service meal each day that cost more than $30/person to make this worthwhile. If that's not what you want, think about the basic plan.

Combining! There is no rule against getting a Dining Plan *and* a Tables in Wonderland card and this can be a great combination. If you are using a Dining Plan meal credit, but want an appetizer or alcoholic beverage, the TiW card will get you a discount on those extra items. If you'd like more Table Service meals than the Basic plan provides, but not enough to make the Deluxe plan worthwhile, you can use your TiW card at those "extra" Table Service meals and get that nice 20% discount.

The number of meal/snack credits you get is based on the number of NIGHTS of your stay, not the number of DAYS. This tends to automatically work out for most people, who are traveling on the first and last day and do not need a full day's worth of credits for both.

You can use your meal credits in any combination during your vacation. You do not need to have 1 table service, 1 counter service meal, and one snack each day. You have a pool of credits to use during your stay, so you could have 3 table service meals one day, a table service and counter service the next, and nothing but snacks the next. Each type of credit (table, counter, snack) has its own pool and you generally cannot exchange them for each other.

All of your pooled credits are stored in Disney's computer system, not directly on your card. Everyone in your room has access to these credits using their room key, so remember that before you send the teens off on their own when they're hungry. :)

While most character meals are available for one meal credit per person, a very few, like Cinderella's Royal Table in the castle, will take two credits per person. Special shows like the Hoop-De-Doo Revue and the Polynesian's Aloha also take two credits per person.

Refillable mugs (not included in the basic plan) are good for free refills on drinks at your resort for your entire vacation. You simply go to the food court (or other specified location) and help yourself to coffee, hot chocolate, soda, etc. Offerings vary from resort to resort.

To get a good idea of food offerings and prices at Disney World, go to http://allears.net and check out the menu listings.

Kids on the Dining Plan must order from a special, usually very short, kids menu. Unfortunately, Disney really needs to expand these menus - they are much too repetitive from place to place right now. If your kid prefers 'adult' food to mac-and-cheese, that's something to consider.