10 year old - reaction to adult menu

[auroraarielella]

My 10 year old DD likes everything plain, plain, plain. I have several ADRs at sit-down restaurants. I do not have the Dining Plan. Will DD be able to order from the children's menu? Of course, since the ADRs are tied to my room reservation, they "know" she is 10.
For instance, at the Coral Reef - does she order the adult Mahi-Mahi and request that they hold "topped with a spicy pineapple chutney over cashew-jasmine rice finished with a coconut rum beurre blanc". Or order the childrens plain grilled Mahi-Mahi?

 

[chocolateMinnie]

When we went in 2007 DS was an 'adult' at WDW for the first time. He is quite an adventurous eater but even so found some menu items not tohis taste. Luckily we had stalked these boards previously and were able to order most main courses plain. EG at the HBD he had the chicken on rice but without the sauce, had steak at Kouzzinas last year without the pesto sauce.

We have never found a restaurant phased by it but didn't obviously try at family style places.

WE tend to do half buffets and half true ts in a week then both he and his 8 year old sister can pretty much access anything.

 

[auroraarielella]

She is not looking for chicken nuggets and fries everywhere, just doesn't like all the additions that make an adult entree full of calories and fat.
I will review the menus and look towards "simplifying" the adult entrees.

 

[madalex]

Your 10 year old will have no problem ordering from the child's menu, if that is what you want to do.

 

[deerhart]

with our 10 year old (we just got back) the restaurants had no problems making any changes he wanted. Many also offered additional options that weren't on the menu (for example at the Wave he could do the shrimp and clam linguine or they could do just regular old spaghetti etc.)

 

[sissy_42]

What about ordering the sauce or toping on the side? That way she can see it, try a bite and maybe discover she likes something new? If they can make it plain they should be able to put it on the side.

 

[petals]

eh I'm 25 and ordered off the kids menu last time I was in disney.. Some of the adult portions were too big for me

 

[chabs]

My 13 year old doesn't like most anything from the adult menus. A lot of the places gave him an "adult sized" portion of whatever he ordered from the kids menu. Other places, we just paid cash for him to order from the child's menu and saved the TS credit for another day. The only 2 places that said no was the Sci Fi (waitress was really rude and crabby that day) and LeCellier just said that they couldn't do that (but was nice about it).

 

[mickey&minniealways]

I realize you might have already made most of your ADRs but have you considered some buffets. Most of them have lots of choices to pick from and many will make something special if there is someone in the party that doesn't see something they like or has special dietary restrictions. That being said most disney TS places will do this also.

 

[catne]

we went with a sort of picky adult eater before, and found that every table service restaurant had no problem serving entrees with no sauce (or toppings). Teriyaki steak came out as plain steak; the mushroom filet at Le Cellier was just a plain grilled filet; plain fish served with plain rice instead of glazed; they also were good about subbing plain veggies for fancy stuff...like allowing mash potatoes for fancy sauced noodles or rice.

 

[JoshMom5]

My son was 11 when we went last year and there were a couple places where he ordered off the kid's menu and it was no problem.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

If you do not have the Dining Plan you can order whatever your DD would like.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Also chiming in as an adult picky eater! The most I've ever gotten was a bit of an eye roll from a waitress when I asked for the sauce not to be put on or to be put on the side. If I'm paying 30 bucks for a steak, I figure I decide if I want something on it or not and she can kiss my butt I've also asked for different sides and they've never given me a problem (mashed potatoes rather than fries or roasted potatoes rather than polenta, things like that) You'll see say "Steak A listed with Side 8" and "Chicken B listed with Side 6" and they've had no issue giving me "Steak A with Side 6"

 

[laughinplace199]

My 10 year old DD likes everything plain, plain, plain. I have several ADRs at sit-down restaurants. I do not have the Dining Plan. Will DD be able to order from the children's menu? Of course, since the ADRs are tied to my room reservation, they "know" she is 10.
For instance, at the Coral Reef - does she order the adult Mahi-Mahi and request that they hold "topped with a spicy pineapple chutney over cashew-jasmine rice finished with a coconut rum beurre blanc". Or order the childrens plain grilled Mahi-Mahi?

Your DD will have no problem ordering from the kids menu if that's what she wants to do. We were there in April and our oldest is also 10. I told her that she could order from either the adult or kids menu (we don't do the dining plan). She ordered from the kids menu every time and had no issues. At Captains Grille, they even let me order a kids dessert because nothing on the adult menu appealed to me.

 

[Taja]

Another picky adult chiming in! *LOL* No sauce, dressing, gravy or foods mixed together. I have improved slightly--some foods are allowed to touch. The average five-year-old is more sophisticated than I am when it comes to food.

That said, if I'm paying for it I expect it to be served the way I like it. And for the most part, the TS restaurants at WDW do just that. Now, I do avoid ethnic restaurants (issues with spices, as well), or any place where there isn't something reasonably plain on the menu--or can be served plain.

As much as I like Le Cellier, I had to send a steak back three times because they insisted on putting the maple sauce on it after I had requested it on the side. Fourth time was a charm--it was fine. And the sauce was good--I just didn't want very much of it! I will try sauce or gravy if it is on the side--I just don't want to ruin perfectly good food if I don't happen to like the sauce/gravy! *LOL*

Depending on your restaurant choices, your DD probably will find something to eat or you can order off the menu (grilled chicken breast or something like that). I'm not sure if that applies to all of the restaurants--many of them are based on special cuisines and they may not accommodate "plain" food requirements as well as others do.

Have a wonderful holliday at WDW!

 

[Rylee]

Our waiter at the Cali Grill had no problem with allowing our DD24 to order off the children's menu.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

I agree with the 2nd to last post (can't remember the name sorry!) I read the menus over on allears.net and find stuff that I'll eat, or stuff I know can be easily altered. I wouldn't expect they to take a sidedish with 18 ingredients they make the day before and ask them to leave out the onions or something like that

 

[LovesHerTaurus]

Typically I think food off the kid's menu is LESS healthy. Usually fried or breaded.

She is not looking for chicken nuggets and fries everywhere, just doesn't like all the additions that make an adult entree full of calories and fat.
I will review the menus and look towards "simplifying" the adult entrees.

 

[squirrel]

If she chooses to eat from the child's menu, you can either use the adult TS credit or pay out of pocket (if she does this a few times, you can do another TS for rather cheap).

 

[flipflopmom]

If she chooses to eat from the child's menu, you can either use the adult TS credit or pay out of pocket (if she does this a few times, you can do another TS for rather cheap).

That's actually a really good idea, and one I wasn't sure about. I might have to consider having her do that at Tony's, Plaza, and maybe chefs. That would give the us 3 more TS credits, and pay for DD2's meal, and we would end up with another TS meal for about $40. If I can get those places to allow 3 on DDP and 1 OOP, that would be great!!!!!