Dinning Plan with a 2 year old

[Imagineer22]

We are traveling with a 2yo and 4yo, both of which are very good eaters. It is my understanding the 2yo won't be on the plan but will be able to share from others orders. We have a lot of buffets scheduled assuming the 2yo can basically eat for free since she can share our endless food. Any other suggestions on how to do the dinning plan with a 2yo? What restaurants are kid friendly with big portions? Our girls are definitely in the sibling rivalry stage so the 4yo sharing her food with sister may not work that great, especially if she is tired from a long day.

Is it best to just order the 2yo food or try and share? Is there a way to add the 2yo onto the plan at all?

Thoughts, advice, and tricks are all welcome!

 

[Pumbaa_]

You can age the 2yo to 3, however you would also have to purchase a park ticket

Much cheaper to just pay oop a cs here or there. She will eat free at all buffets or off your plate

 

[MinnieLovesMickey]

I'll second what Pumbaa_ said. Kids meals are pretty inexpensive so I would just purchase your 2 y/o meals or stick to all you care to eat meals.

 

[sukhakuli]

Why don't you share your food with the 2 year old instead of asking the 4 year old to share? That's what we typically do. And book a lot of buffets. The CS kids meals aren't too expensive, also.

But I know what you mean. My 2 year old, who is gigantic, is a huge eater. I've been thinking about upgrading him to 3 so he can get meals at the TS meals, but in the end, we've booked so many buffets, and the CS meals are pretty cheap, that I think we will just pay OOP for meals for him as needed.

 

[aaarcher86]

Why don't you share your food with the 2 year old instead of asking the 4 year old to share? That's what we typically do. And book a lot of buffets. The CS kids meals aren't too expensive, also.

But I know what you mean. My 2 year old, who is gigantic, is a huge eater. I've been thinking about upgrading him to 3 so he can get meals at the TS meals, but in the end, we've booked so many buffets, and the CS meals are pretty cheap, that I think we will just pay OOP for meals for him as needed.

It'd still probably be cheaper to buy childrens TS meals than a full price child's ticket.

 

[sukhakuli]

A 10 day child's ticket is 345. We're going for 14 days, that's about $25 per day. That's pretty close to what it costs to feed and snack a 2 year old who eats as much as a 10 year old, lol.

 

[Magic Band Defender]

We just went to WDW in Feb with our 2.5 year old boy. We had a couple of buffets, at which he ate free. The TS meal portions are fairly large, IMO, so we usually gave him something from mine or my husband's plate, or both. We also shared snacks. At quick service meals we typically ordered him his own kids meal. There is never a shortage of food on the DDP!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

if you definitely believe you are going to spend that much money on feeding the 2 year old, then you can age the child up and purchase a ticket.

 

[Random Ninja]

Are you paying for the dining plan or do you have free dining? There wouldn't be any cost savings if you have to purchase a ticket AND dining plan.

 

[Figmentmommy]

Are you paying for the dining plan or do you have free dining? There wouldn't be any cost savings if you have to purchase a ticket AND dining plan.

Agreed. This is only a value if you have free dining and are changing the age from child adult. In that case you are only paying the difference between the child and adult park passes and the child is now getting the free adult meals. In OP's case adding the child's admission and cost of the dining plan would not be a good deal.

 

[Figmentmommy]

We are traveling with a 2yo and 4yo, both of which are very good eaters. It is my understanding the 2yo won't be on the plan but will be able to share from others orders. We have a lot of buffets scheduled assuming the 2yo can basically eat for free since she can share our endless food. Any other suggestions on how to do the dinning plan with a 2yo? What restaurants are kid friendly with big portions? Our girls are definitely in the sibling rivalry stage so the 4yo sharing her food with sister may not work that great, especially if she is tired from a long day.

Is it best to just order the 2yo food or try and share? Is there a way to add the 2yo onto the plan at all?

Thoughts, advice, and tricks are all welcome!

This was our family many years ago! Our 2 year old was a big eater - often eating as much as his 4 year old brother. We mostly ate at buffets/ all you care to eat & did one character meal. We just made a plate for him. We only ordered once off the child's menu at Whispering Canyon when we knew he would want just a PB&J sandwich - and he still ate from my plate too!

OP- some suggestions on other dining choices that might benefit your family are:
Liberty Tree Tavern
'Ohana (dinner & breakfast)
Garden Grill
Whispering Canyon Cafe

 

[crewsn]

Buffets of course work best. I have a one year who is a big eater so this worked best. We ate at a lot of buffets, but of course had a couple of table service meals where they were not buffet and then of course counter service, but only maybe bought him 2 meals the whole trip. There was usually so much food that we had that he just shared with us. I also had food on hand too, applesauce squeeze pooches, Cheerios, etc to supplement.

Also sometimes we just ordered a side of something like veggies if we thought we neede something extra. I wouldn't think you would need to pay for a ticket at all. This is when the tons of food given with the meals comes in handy. My son is also not picky. He eats whatever we eat at home. I don't fix separate meals so it's not like I had to order chicken nuggets the whole week. If I had steak he had some or if my husband had fish he got that too, etc.

 

[LuitaChris]

This is great to know. My wife and I were just talking about this and wondered what we would do with a 2 year old when on the dining plan.