DISNEY! If you are reading this board...

[Lollipop's Mom]

Please implement a JR. Dining plan for ages 10-13 or 10-14. Maybe make it 5 bucks more than a kids, and the Jr. kids are restricted to the kids menu as well.
I keep reading posts about kids who are 10 or 11 and still eat off the kids menu, so 39.99 a day is so unfair for that.
Anyway just had to vent that out, and if anyone has an email where I can send this advice, please post it - maybe if enough of us get on the bandwagon....

 

[shellybaxter]

Why would Disney want to do this. I mean, look at it from a business stand point. Disney restaurants are so full now that people can't walk up or even get reservations close to their trip. Why would Disney voluntarily give up the revenue from the 10 year old "adult"? To attract more families? To stop wasting so much food?

The cost of the food is only a small variable in the price of a meal. The price charged has to pay for the people (servers, cooks, dishwashers, hostesses, etc) the building costs (rent, utilities, maintenance), advertising, printing, and sometimes at Disney Characters or special touches. Is they convert 20% of their guests to juniors (thats just a guess on my part) they will lose the revenue they are using to pay the costs other than food.

 

[Tricia1972]

With a Jr pricing option, would Disney also add a third "Jr Dining Menu" option to all of their menus? You could order an Adult Meal, a Jr Meal and/or a Child's Meal?

Could those of us paying OOP then order off of the Jr Menu at CS restaurants? I think I'd like that more than even splitting an adult meal!

 

[TLSnell1981]

Disney will NEVER, EVER do this. Children are adults by the time they are 10 years old...there may be rides they aren't tall enough to ride or tours they aren't old enough to take....but they will pay as an adult for everything.... except accommodations.

 

[Brian Noble]

It sure would be nice, but I won't be holding my breath.

 

[Pumbaa_]

The DDP price is tied to the park passes prices. For that reason alone, I don't think Disney will ever go to a junior price for DDP> The best thing to do if you are in this situation and it is not a value is to not purchase the DDP until the kids are older.

Sorry

 

[kd2226]

I agree with you 100 percent Lollipop's Mom! Our oldest child is now 10 and is not a big eater - we opted to not do the dining plan the next trip and to only do 1 set price buffet because it is simply really bad value to be paying an adult price for her.
I doubt it will happen though, and if it does, it will probably be too late to matter to us.

 

[Colleen27]

Please implement a JR. Dining plan for ages 10-13 or 10-14. Maybe make it 5 bucks more than a kids, and the Jr. kids are restricted to the kids menu as well.
I keep reading posts about kids who are 10 or 11 and still eat off the kids menu, so 39.99 a day is so unfair for that.
Anyway just had to vent that out, and if anyone has an email where I can send this advice, please post it - maybe if enough of us get on the bandwagon....

But along with those posts, there are plenty of threads about up-aging kids for the dining plan and how much it stinks that those of us with kids under 10 have to either pay for an adult ticket or skip the plan if we want our kids to have better choices than just kids meal food. Disney did a good job of hitting the middle ground as far as age goes, IMO, because the complaints we see aren't one-sided. For families with more adventurous eaters under 10 and families with small or picky eaters over 10, the plan isn't always going to be the best fit.

 

[Lzylitnin]

I for one am happy that my son is able to choose from the adult menu. He would need 2 childrens meals to be full. He's currently 12 years old, and has been ordering off the adult menu for 2-3 years in ANY restaurant, not just at WDW. I understand that some people's children are not big eaters at the age of 10, but in our case a child's meal just doesn't cut it. We were ordering 2 kids meals at the age of 5 for the kid. The DP actually saves me money for the way we eat.

8 days until we get to eat like gluttons!!!

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I would like this as well. We are going in Dec, and I kicked the idea around for a long time, crunching numbers, because my son is 10, and now he is considered an adult. In the end, we decided it would still be worth it, but the savings is not going to be nearly as great with the DDP as they were last time.

I think if I were a less-than-honest person, I would have had the foresight to say my son was 9.

 

[Tricia1972]

For those who would like a Jr Pricing, I am still curious.

Would Disney then have a Jr Menu with dining options for your Jr? If not, what menu would they order off of?

 

[NMW]

Yes, but not every 10 or 11 year old eats childrens meals. Mine don't. Disney's kids meals are pretty small. My 8 year old son was still hungry after every kids meal he ate. He was pretty miserable with the portion size and choices. I think by the end of the trip he wanted to kill his 10 year old brother that ordered from the adult menu! We did the DDP that trip and it just wasn't enough food. I ordered him appetizers/desserts OOP at many places. In May he will only be 9, but we are buying him the adult Deluxe dining plan. We just aged him one year in disney's computer. It's worth the money for us.

So, no I would NOT want a jr price if it also came with a jr menu.

 

[bicker]

Indeed, having junior meals be just pumped-up kids meals will dissatisfy guests more than satisfy them. And just like, as the OP opined, doing so would be reflected by a $5 increase over the cost of the child meal plan, doing what I believe most guests would want, having junior meals be dumbed-down adult males, would be reflected by no more than a $5 decrease over the cost of the adult meal plan, and therefore I believe many would prefer to just pay the extra $5 and not have to deal with the extra restrictions.

 

[lenshanem]

I wish they had a JR. level, because they don't will be using the DDP for our last trip this next time. My DD isn't gonna eat off the adult menu, too picky and eats like a bird. She for sure isn't gonna want to watch her younger sister eating mac while she has to choose something off the adult menu???

Also, we're planning less meals for our future trips because I can't justify paying adult prices for her to eat like two bites. So, in reality WDW will be getting less money from us... We used to book a TS meal for each day of our trip, now we're doing just a few scattered throughout the trips.

 

[Dragonfly0521]

I for one understand both sides. My oldest was 10 last year and we were all thrilled that he was an "adult". He likes larger portions, "adult" food, and of course the adult deserts. But my middle one, who will be 8 on our upcoming trip is a bird. I can imagine that when he is 10, he'll still want to eat off the kids menu. But my baby girl who is now 5, is just like her oldest brother and I will bet that by the time she is 10, will not want chicken nuggets but steak and shrimp.

So... what to do? I will play it by ear. We personally don't do the DDP for just money reasons. I like the fact that it is no hassle, pre-paid and I don't worry about how much something costs. Especially after a long day of munching or in the heat when the kids are too tired to eat much. I think it would ruin a good meal if I thought that I had to pay $$$$ for my kid to take 2 bites of whatever it was that we were eating! But being pre-paid takes that off my shoulders, I smile and shrug and hope that those bites got a little nutrition into them.

We are doing the DDP again this Jan. The no tips/ no app kind of stink, but we are going to love Disney Dining all the same.

 

[Chrisypoo]

Yes, but not every 10 or 11 year old eats childrens meals. Mine don't. Disney's kids meals are pretty small. My 8 year old son was still hungry after every kids meal he ate. He was pretty miserable with the portion size and choices. I think by the end of the trip he wanted to kill his 10 year old brother that ordered from the adult menu! We did the DDP that trip and it just wasn't enough food. I ordered him appetizers/desserts OOP at many places. In May he will only be 9, but we are buying him the adult Deluxe dining plan. We just aged him one year in disney's computer. It's worth the money for us.

So, no I would NOT want a jr price if it also came with a jr menu.

I agree. There's no way my 11-year old would eat from the current kid's menus for an entire vacation...maybe 1 or 2 meals, but that's it. Maybe if they went back to having more variety, but almost all places have the same options. Plus, the portion sizes are two small. He's much happier with grilled salmon, filet, or shrimp than with mac&cheese and chilled chicken.

Christine

 

[BCV23]

We used to do the old Gold Key plan whose name changed to the Gold plan, Deluxe plan, etc. over the years. There was a separate designation for juniors in those days. That plan include unlimited recreation as well as 3 meals per day (later changed to per night). Anyway, the charge for juniors was quite a bit more expensive than for children which made sense to me. By that age some children are either quite adventurous or eating larger portions. Or both. If someone's child does neither then the DDP might not make sense.

 

[shellybaxter]

We used to do the old Gold Key plan whose name changed to the Gold plan, Deluxe plan, etc. over the years. There was a separate designation for juniors in those days. That plan include unlimited recreation as well as 3 meals per day (later changed to per night). Anyway, the charge for juniors was quite a bit more expensive than for children which made sense to me. By that age some children are either quite adventurous or eating larger portions. Or both. If someone's child does neither then the DDP might not make sense.

That's very interesting. Which menu did the junors order off of?

 

[BCV23]

Whichever one they wanted.

But it really was quite a bit more. Let's say an adult paid $100/day and a child $20. I'm guessing the junior was maybe $55 or 60. Now I'm just making those numbers up but then as now the price for children was a steal. Not so for juniors.