DDP ? - How to handle meals for a 2-year old?

[Mac's Mom]

My family will be spending a week at WDW in January - staying at AKL and hopefully visiting all the parks. We are doing DDP. At the time of the trip, my son will be 3 and our daughter will have just turned 2.

I've read with interest all the recent threads regarding DDP and kids' choices, or lack thereof...

So here's my question: For those of you who have travelled on the DDP with a toddler (under 3, and therefore not qualifying for the DDP), how did you handle meals for your little one? I know it depends to some extent on the individual child and their appetite, etc., but I'm wondering if people usually pay OOP for another kids meal or just share their meals with the little ones or what... I'm just trying to gauge whether we should budget for another set of kids meals every day.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

Also - thanks to whomever re-posted the list of places that either had unusual kids' offering or did not have kids menus. I know my 3-year old will not dig a lot of the usual Disney kids meal fare, so its good to know where we can find things more to his liking.

 

[sandym718]

Hi! We went in late April/early May with our 4 (almost 5) and 2 (almost 3) year olds and did the dining plan. It worked out wonderfully and we never paid for any food OOP for DD (the younger). Neither of ours are big eaters - they shared a kids meal (DS's on the plan) each and every time. If your 3 year old is a bigger eater, I'm sure there will still be enough food between all 3 of you to share with the little one. If she wants something specific, you could always order OOP, but we never found the need to.

Here's how we did it, more specifically. We ate our breakfasts in our room and/or used snack credits at Captain Cook's in the Poly. Lunch was CS. Most places the kids got the main item - chicken nuggets for example, applesauce, grapes and a dessert. My DS likes applesauce, DD likes grapes, so that's how we split it. They shared the nuggets, or whatever it was, and shared the dessert (they NEVER had that sugar-free Jello, it was chocolate cake or a brownie or whatever). As for the drink, they almost always got chocolate milk, and either one drank that and one drank bottled water we brought in, or we poured 1/2 of the choc. milk into a kids cup we had with us. Worked just fine!

For the TS, same - shared all the food. I was prepared to pay OOP (charge to the room) for a separate drink for DD each night. Again, they both wanted choc. milk. However, at all 6 TS it was NEVER a problem to order an add'l choc. milk and they NEVER charged us for it!

It will definitely depend on your kids' appetites/tastes, but we did just fine and actually they usually still had food leftover. (Mine really eat like birds, LOL!)

Have fun!

 

[Pumbaa_]

Welcome to the DIS Mac's Mom, so glad you found us!

As you mentioned, alot of it comes down to what you order and what your child will eat.

Is your 3 yo a big eater>? Can the 2 little ones share a child's meal? Do you have any buffets scheduled? The 2 yo will eat free at those.

Have a great trip!

 

[klinlin]

I also had a 2 year old on my last trip. Buffets/family style meals work well, because there is no charge for your little one. I have boys and they eat well, but there is really enough food to share. Mostly we paid OOP for extra drinks and desserts. (it's hard to split up one scoop of ice cream at a TS.) We usually made up our younger son a plate from a little of everyone else's meal. I do not cook or anything even close to it on vacation, but I packed a lot of snacks in their backpacks for the plane ride and for throughout the week. Juice boxes, cereal bars, crackers etc... Our OOP costs were minimal, with the exception of adult beverages,

 

[Mac's Mom]

Thank you guys so much for the great info! That is exactly what I was looking for.

Great to know about little ones eating free at buffets/ family style - that had not even occurred to me!

Thanks again!

 

[bzzymom]

We traveled with DD with the dining plan when she was 19 months and when she was 2.5. The buffet's and family style meals were perfect. I bought her a few things when she was 2.5 off the menu...for example, at Jiko, Canada, and France I asked for some mashed potatoes and she ate them and it didn't cost me much at all. She ate some of my veggies and meat. It worked out well. I got lemonade and poured it into her own sippy cup and then got my free refill so I didn't have to buy her a drink. I got grapes and other fruit for my snack and gave it to her. For breakfast, I brought packets of oatmeal and warmed it up in the microwave in the foodcourt. It was easy.

 

[mommyof2princesses]

Any buffet meal would work out because 2 and under are free. We split many meals. I have 2 dds and 1 is 12 so we had 3 adult meals wherever we went and we just took a little from everyones plate and gave it to her. This year she gets her own food so we are all going to be stuffed!

 

[gower525]

We went with dd2 and ds5. We also never bought her a thing. She ate from all our meals. At TS ( we didn't eat at any buffets) I asked for her an extra plate. We just all put some of our food on hers. Some places gave her a drink and other's did not. We just shared ours when they didn't. One place even brought her a desert. I almost forgot, on the last day she really wanted a hot dog. DS hates hot dogs. She got her own meal OOP that time.

 

[n2mm]

We just returned last week and most of our group was on the DDP. We purchased the kid's meals at all TS locations for our grand daughter 2 1/2 years old. The kids' meals are so small, she had no problem eating the entire meal at almost every seating. There is no way anyone could split one of these tiny meals. I can't imagine an older child eating one of these meals. We only ate at one buffet (WCC-breakfast) and she was given her own plate to eat from the skillet. WE have no problem paying OOP for her meals. She would not have been happy with any of our selections because none of us order any kid friendly meals. Cutting corners on meals is not something we will ever consider. If she needs her own meals, we'll buy them.

 

[idreamdisney]

I definitely do not think you need to budget extra for the little one's food. We are taking our son right before he turns 3. I've planned out all our meals and plan to share off my plate w/ him most of the time (we have lots of buffets planned, where he'll get to have his own plate). I'm not a huge eater (tho my DH is) and the DDP should be plenty of food. I also plan to always have Kashi bars, goldfish, fruit snacks, etc. for him to munch on.

Since your 3 yo will be getting a full kids' meal at every meal, there will surely be enough food between the 3 of you to feed your littlest one.

Have fun!!!!

 

[LisaNJ25]

I just got back with 2 toddler who turned 2 and 3 on the trip.. We had the dinning plan for my 3yo... They shared all meals.. we also shared with them. If it was a non buffet table service they also gave my 2yo a drink with no charge.