Picky 10 yr old, is the dining plan worth it?

[dinanicj]

I have a 10 year old who's a picky eater; he may order from the adult menu a couple of times, but, he'd more than likely order off of the kid's menu most of the time. But, my family of four (including a 4 year old, also very picky) is making dinner reservations for each night of our week-long stay next April (including a few nights at restaurants requiring 2 credits).

Is the dining plan worth it (economically speaking)?

Also, if we did do it, can we pay cash for his kids meals and then allocate his extra credits to the meals the adults eat at the restaurants requiring 2 credits?

Thanks!

 

[Sandisw]

I think that since you are going to do some signature meals, then it may be worth it since you can pay for his kids meals OOP and save the credits for those other meals.

This way, it does give him flexibility at the restaurants. IF he likes what is on the adult menu, he can get it. If he doesn't, then you know to pay OOP and it will leave you credits for the others.

Good luck!

 

[Colleen27]

One thing to keep in mind when deciding whether or not it is worth it is that you'll pay for him as an adult at any buffets/family style meals you might have, so at those places at least he'll use his own credits.

At meals where he wants to order from the kids' menu you can pay cash for his meal and save the credits to use for your two credit meals. However, most two credit meals aren't a great use of the basic DDP from an economic standpoint, so you'll probably want to run the numbers in more detail to decide whether the plan works for you or your better off paying OOP.

 

[IncredibleboysMom]

We did buy it for my picky 10 yr old son in November. He is picky, but starting to eat more than a kid's meal provides. We bought OOP kid's meals at places he couldn't find something he liked on the adult menu, but I did tailor our ADR's to places that I thought he would like an adult selection. For example, he devoured (adult) chicken parm at Tony's, but ate kid's pizza at Sanaa. We used his credits for other meals that we had planned to pay OOP for.

 

[amyr1]

I have the world's pickiest 11 year old. He won't even eat most of the kids menu items.

We will be having him eat from the adult menu where we can, and then just paying oop for kids meals when needed. We will use the adult credits for another meal later in our trip. We did plan some buffets so I'm hoping that helps.

Amy

 

[dinanicj]

Thank you everbody. All very good feedback! We are going to do a couple of buffets too. I think the plan may make sense, especially if he does want to order off of the adults menu for some of the meals. I will take that suggestion and do the math though because my list includes several dinners that require 2 credits. Thank you again!