Advice for Restaurants for 11 year old

[sadler]

My DS (11) and I will be doing a father/son trip in late July and will be staying at WLV. DS has pretty normal tastes for an 11 year old boy and will generally choose chicken fingers, pizza, pasta, hamburgers, etc. I understand that he will be nominally too old for most of the the childrens menus but probably would not enjoy most of the choices on the regular menu.

Does anyone have experience with WDW restaurants either offering larger portions of childrens menu selections for older children (e.g., a few more chicken fingers) or simplifying some of the choices on the regular menu? I would be willing to pay more than regular childrens menu prices for such an option. When our DD (now 17) was younger, we had a dinner at Artist Point and the server offerd her a smaller portion of the grilled tuna from the regular menu with french fries. Does anybody have more recent experiences at any WDW restaurants?

By the way, DS and I are not being selfish in going without rest of the family. We are DVC members and have had many family vacations at WDW. DD will be backpacking in Thailand and DW will be at the beach with her sister and is happy to let the boys have some time together.

 

[bicker]

Disney's table-service restaurant chefs are always very accommodating to special dietary requests. Simplifying a dish (leaving off a sauce, for example) wouldn't be any problem whatsoever.

 

[wdwlvr629]

I personally think Cosmic Ray's has good size portions and they have all of those basics you're looking for.

 

[patsal]

The trail's end Buffet at the campground is just a quick boatride away and for a buffet it is reasonably priced, comfort foods--fried chicken, ribs, salads, soup, chili, pizza, etc. Since there are no characters the price is fair for an 11yo. Most sit down restaurants will let him order off the children's menu--my children often ask for both menus just in case and have never had a problem--though they have been asked if they want the food because it is smaller or because they prefer that food. If it is a prefence the waitstaff has offered to make it a double portion for double the price. Boatwrights, Coral Reef, California Grill, Le Cellier, all come to mind as they were the most recent.

 

[formernyer]

I'm not sure if you're on the DDP, but if you are you can just ask for an adult portion of a child's meal entree. Servers will generally accommodate this request and your son will still be entitled to the adult appetizer and adult dessert.

If you're not on the DDP and have to pay OOP, I'd recommend just ordering two kid's meals (standard rule is that they double the price for a larger serving, but this is a bad value IMO since you'll generally get more food in two kid's meals than you will in one up-sized meal).

 

[Hobbes]

Sci-Fi is pretty good basic food too, plus the theming will appeal to an 11 yo

 

[Twigs]

We found that most restaurants let DS's order from the children's menu last year when they were 13! One DS is an adventurous eater and the other sometimes just likes to have chicken fingers and we found it wasn't a problem.

 

[sadler]

Thanks for the replies. I don't think we will do DDP as we have unused park passes from previous stays. We will probably just ask for double childrens menu portions and pay accordingly if DS doesn't want anything on regular menus. Thanks to all.