13 year old dining?

[ReelRedHead]

Can two 13 year olds--Disney vets-- (on the table service dining plan) be allowed to dine alone at a table service? Parents want to eat at a different restaurant.

Thanks!

 

[Disney_Alli]

Can two 13 year olds--Disney vets-- (on the table service dining plan) be allowed to dine alone at a table service? Parents want to eat at a different restaurant.

Thanks!

Make sure they know how to tip and it shouldn't be a problem. My sister and I ate solo with a friend at a couple of Disney restaurants when were were that age.

 

[mdelano4]

Disney will not allow unaccompanied (without adult) guests under the age of 14 into the parks, but I don't know of any such rule on dining. Even if there is some unwritten policy, it seems to me if they just go and act like it's no big deal, no one will notice.

 

[lillyshula]

When I was younger, my parents let my sister and I explore the parks by ourselves starting at age 12. It would be for a few hours at first and then we would meet up again. By the time I was 16 (sister 15) we were park hopping and spending most of the day without our parents. We ate at plenty of table service restaurants through all of it. We were never asked our ages or anything.

 

[ReelRedHead]

So the girls cannot even get into the parks by themselves at age 13??

 

[Hopefully]

So the girls cannot even get into the parks by themselves at age 13??

Right

 

[chs27]

Actually, you just stand in line and enter with everyone else. No one is grouping families together. As long as the parents can be reached easily, no big deal.

 

[chs27]

 

[china mom]

Yes, the rule is 14 to enter the park alone but no rule on being alone in the park under 14. (must be 7 to ride alone). I would not think that they would have a problem with a TS restaurant.

My teeny tiny 13 year old daughter has never been challenged when walking through the tapstiles alone. She has never actually been alone, we are usually at a nearby one but I can't see how CM's assume she is with us. She just walks through like she belongs and I assume that they figure that she belongs to someone.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Actually, you just stand in line and enter with everyone else. No one is grouping families together. As long as the parents can be reached easily, no big deal.

Um, no.

If your child is not 14, they cannot go into the parks alone. Or with another child under 14.

Please do not tell people how to circumvent the rules.

 

[maltdizzy]

So the girls cannot even get into the parks by themselves at age 13??

Correct. That rule came about a few years ago.

Yes, the rule is 14 to enter the park alone but no rule on being alone in the park under 14. (must be 7 to ride alone). I would not think that they would have a problem with a TS restaurant.

That's my impression as well. We starting turning our kid loose at age 9 a lot once we were in the parks. No phone, no pager, just a watch and an assigned place to swing by and wait if he needed us. But, to my knowledge, he's never gotten table service on this own.

 

[crabbygal902]

I don't see why not, as long as you and DH are in the same park (assuming the restaurants are in the parks.) I also assume you've got 2 responsible, well-behaved 13 year olds. This could be a great way to give them some independence. I taught my son how to figure an appropriate tip at TS and had a refresher course on table manners before sending him off with friends to eat at Disney Springs. He felt like he was king of the world, acting very adult and eating sushi at Wolfgang Puck's TS with his buddies and NO PARENTS.

My only concern: you had all of DS to choose from and you picked Wolfgang Puck??

**I'm sure you've already thought of this, but make sure the kids have the ability to charge a tip (or carry cash) and have access to their dining plans credits via their magic bands before they go.