What if your kid eats like an adult

[rxsuperwoman]

I've read alot of the threads about the dining plan not really working for families because their kids are picky eaters or light eaters. I have a 9 year old that can CHOW down. My issue would be them being limited to the kid menu, but the kids dining plan price appears to be good. Any suggestions.

 

[serene56]

my grand daughter hated the meals-- they do not taste like the adult stuff.
To upgrade your 9 year old to the adult dining plan will cost you more.

get him his kids meal-- then pay OOP for other stuff.
Like his dessert will be nothing like you can have.
We were able to get a nice cupcake for counter service-- she got a package cookie.

 

[sharonabe]

I've read alot of the threads about the dining plan not really working for families because their kids are picky eaters or light eaters. I have a 9 year old that can CHOW down. My issue would be them being limited to the kid menu, but the kids dining plan price appears to be good. Any suggestions.

It sounds like your 9 yr old will be very unhappy with the kids' offerings. I'd skip the dining plans and pay OOP or pay to upgrade them to an adult (ticket and dining plan at adult price).

The kids' dining plan price is VERY good, but it's because the kids' meals are so limiting.

 

[figment_jii]

I would also suggest to upgrade you child to a "Disney adult". It'll be more expensive, but then s/he could order from the adult menu.

Otherwise, you could eat primarily at buffets. Adults and children select from the same items at buffets (i.e., kids aren't restricted to only parts of the buffet).

 

[TDC Nala]

Pick buffets, or the all you can eat places or meals. Limit your use of a la carte restaurants, unless you want to pay to change your child's age to 10. Won't help you with counter service, but you could try to stick to the counter service places that don't have a children's menu, where they exist.

 

[ibela]

What we did was, breakfast or lunch was CS, dinner was usually TS. All dinners I booked were family style, whether character or not. Those tend to be more "fun" for the kids and they can eat the adult food. During the day I typically did CS but really, the kids were more interested in going to the next ride or the next photo op so nuggets or a burger was quick and they were good to go. If you don't want to overdo the character meals, Ohana and Whispering Canyon are good choices as well. Sometimes we'd share a QS meal as well, some of those are really big so if we shared 2 QS lunches (ex. chicken and ribs at Cosmic Rays) there were additional credits to use a different day for breakfast - who doesn't like a Mickey waffle?

 

[poohguys]

We had the same problem when DS was little. We tried to pay the difference to update him to the adult plan but could not. Disney suggested using his CS as a snack and paying out of pocket for his meal. Luckily most of our TS were usually buffets.

 

[momof3littles]

We upgraded our older two to Disney adults. TA wasn't sure it was possible but said it was fine when she checked. We are booked during stay/play/dine, so it worked out well (adults basically dine and have tickets at kid prices). My kids love sushi, ethnic foods, you name it, so I would hate to limit them to the kid menu. If we didn't upgrade them we would have probably paid OOP for dining and had them share some meals supplemented with appetizers, etc.

 

[ElizabethG]

my grand daughter hated the meals-- they do not taste like the adult stuff.
To upgrade your 9 year old to the adult dining plan will cost you more.

get him his kids meal-- then pay OOP for other stuff.
Like his dessert will be nothing like you can have.
We were able to get a nice cupcake for counter service-- she got a package cookie.

Usually the standard kids meal has 2 sides (a cookie being an option). We would get carrots or grapes instead of the cookie. Then I would just split my giant cupcake. I don't need so many huge desserts in one day.

There are also several places that have non-standard kids meals with awesome desserts. We love Kringla in Norway (for example).

Our TS meals are buffets or all-you-can-eat served at the table (we love Garden Grill and Ohana). The kids then have the same offerings as the adults (and vise versa).

There are some really good options. We didn't even have a problem when my older child turned 10, so there was one adult and one child. They ate pretty much the same.

 

[rxsuperwoman]

I decided just to do out of pocket. We are going to do legoland and universal for a day each. We may have been able to make up those missed meals, but in the end I think I'm going to enjoy the flexibility.