Dining Plan with a 10 year old??? Advice Please

[dkmjgal]

Hi Everyone -

We are DVC members who are going to Disney over Memorial Day for the whole week. We are trying to decide whether or not to do the dining plan. My DD turned 10 in Oct. and still eats off the children's menu...she has a small appetite. I am trying to justify the meal plan as it makes perfect sense for the rest of us...Me, DH and DS (7)...we enjoy character meals and good table restaurants.
What would you do? DVC has told me that I must purchase the plan for everyone in my party...I was hoping to just pay for DD's meals separately.

Any advice would be appreciated-
Thanks!
Kelly

 

[vanreg]

I have the same problem...DD10. I wish they would at least come up with a junior menu option for this age. I'm not sure I can justify spending that much for her food....even though it is wonderful for the rest of us...2 adults and 2 DD under 9.

 

[pezpam]

Take a look at it from a wider perspective - will the DP for you as a group save you money over meals OOP (adding in tax and tip) as a group? It's entirely possible, depending on your group's dining habits, that the others will save more than enough money to 'cover' the extra cost of DDs plan and still save money overall.

As with anything DP, you just gotta crunch the numbers. Estimate what your total would be either way and then decide which works fo ryou.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[markriet]

Another thing to keep in mind... if you do Character Breakfasts, those use your TS meals... and some of the restarants take 2 TS per person as well as something like Hoop Dee Doo Review. In doing this I'm sure you might save yourself because you could probably let your 10 YO have appetizers a few times and it might give you enough TS to still go around.

 

[disneychrista]

That is the downside to a lot of things at Disney. My DD is turning 13 in a few weeks. She does not eat a lot and I can not justify doing buffets or one price meals because of this. She also would skip all "big" attractions at the parks (with the exception of Thunder Mnt) but I still have to pay the adult price for her. Same idea.

 

[ch1103]

My DD is 10 and we're doing the dining plan. For the buffets and character meals, she will be charged the adult price regardless of how little she eats, which I considered when I estimated what we would spend without the dining plan. My 8 yr old DS is a much heartier eater and will likely nibble a bit from her plate if she gets an adult meal too. Even if she eats from the children's menu for our CS meals, the dining plan is still a good deal for our family.