The Disney dining plan is rumored to be slightly enhanced by reducing restrictions around snacks & substitutions. This rumor seems to be making the rounds among the Disney news sites lately, but I haven’t seen anything official from Disney yet. The changes are rumored to already be in effect, so if you’re at the parks now and have the dining plan let us know your experiences! Read about the changes after the jump.

The dining plan can seem confusing to some. Some people have a plan of attack and ensure they get the most bang for their buck. Others simply show up at a restaurant and order what they please. One of the most overlooked areas of the dining plan can be the snacks. The first time I visited Walt Disney World we actually forgot that we had snack credits. We ended up splurging on the last two days and gorged on Mickey pretzels and other goodies. The biggest changes to the dining plan snacks will help people get more bang out their snack credits.

You can now get the following with your snack credits:

• All items marked as snack eligible
• All ice cream novelties
• Single-serve non-alcoholic beverages (Excludes souvenir cups)
• All hand scoped ice cream (Excludes souvenir bowls)
• All quick service side items
• Certain quick service breakfast items
• Dipping sauces will now be included in the snack instead of being a separate charge

Other changes to table service and quick service substitutions are also being done. Again, these are still rumors at this point. Your best plan of action would be to simply ask a cast member at a restaurant about these changes or any substitution you’d like to make. During our visit the cast members were a great help. Even though your credit balance is printed on your receipts they made sure to go over all our balances each time we used the dining plan. One thing to note is that some quick service kiosks are simply not accepting the dining plan, so if you’re looking to get a Dole Whip make sure to check Disney’s site or the My Disney Experience app before standing in line at a kiosk or restaurant.

I think these are great changes and I know my snack credits will certainly go quicker during my next trip. The dining plan can be very confusing and a lot of people don’t get enough value out of it. I like the dining plan because it allows me to choose almost anything on the menu without worrying about going into shock when the bill arrives. I would love to see Disney have a gratuity included dining plan that way everything is a fixed cost and you don’t have to worry about tipping individual cast members. If you’re on the deluxe, premium or platinum plans and you eat exclusively at table service restaurants those 20% tips can add up really quickly. I’d rather pay that 20% up front rather than paying it at the end of the trip.

Comments?

Have you used the dining plan this month? Did you have any trouble redeeming a snack credit? What are your thoughts on the dining plan? Leave your comments below or on Twitter!