[B]2.5 yr old allowed on DDP w/out park ticket[/B]

[ctnurse]

When I booked thde CM told me that ds who will be 2&1/2 will have to eat off of our plates or buy him a meal. With all the food we will get I can find something for him. We also got free dining so I cant complain.

 

[zurgswife]

Along the lines of the original post, can anyone answer me this. My 5 year old and 1 year old daughters always split meals at restaurant now. Neither of them can usually finish a whole plate, even kid's portions. Our AAA TA said that it was no problem and that they could share at Disney. Is this going to be a problem? Will I need to buy a DDP for the 1 yr old (she'll just be turning 2)?

No problem sharing. Even my older kids share and it's OK as long as it isn't a buffet. Since your 1 yr old is under three the buffets should be legal for them to share at als.

 

[dawnball]

Why would you pay to have your 2 year old on the plan anyway? All buffets are free for them and they don't eat that much that you can't share your own food. There is WAY too much food to not share your meals. Last year we didn't share and were full and miserable all the time. We never even really got to enjoy our food.

My 2yr old needs to eat every couple of hours. She's very very thin (just up to the 3rd percentile from somewhere below 3, woohoo! and around 90th percentile for height - her ribs stick out all the time, to give you a mental image) and she has food allergies. Buying the dining plan for her let us have a fixed budget for feeding her. We could use her CS credit for her midmorning snack. Then we'd use our CS credits to buy a lunch we could share. We'd use her snack credit midafternoon for a frozen banana and then she could have mac and cheese at dinner and we could eat adult food. Did she eat every bite of every meal? No. But once you eliminated the items she couldn't have - there wasn't a lot left on a kid's meal. Generally chocolate milk or apple juice, a chicken leg and some french fries. She'd eat about half the french fries, a third of the chicken and a third to half of the drink.

We weren't comfortable feeding her leftovers that had been sitting in the florida heat for an hour or two, and this meant we didn't have to argue about buying her something she might or might not eat. If she didn't eat it, one of us did and we burned another CS or snack credit later on something else she might eat.

Yes, under 3 are free on bufffets, but since she can't eat wheat (among other things), there isn't much on a buffet that appeals to a 2yrold. We mostly ate non-buffet restaurants and had special food made for her. Plain white rice or rice noodles with butter was a popular favorite, with a side of sliced cucumbers and some salad dressing. Chocolate milk or sometimes a milkshake.

As for way too much food - we didn't have that problem. In general we ate a salad for our appetizer or skipped it, picked entrees that interested us and stopped eating when we got full. Sometimes that means we didn't clean our plates and sometimes we didn't order dessert. We were on the free dining plan, but even not on it - the value to me is in not worrying about what you eat, not in maximzing the theoretical dollar cost of the food you can have served to you.

 

[p2oh]

Dawnball,
Did you say she was three and purchase a park ticket in order to purchase the dining plan for her?

 

[amarberry]

Dawnball,
Did you say she was three and purchase a park ticket in order to purchase the dining plan for her?

Do you know if you only have to purchase a one day ticket or if you have to purchase the same ticket as everyone else on the reservation? I called about adding my DD on to the dining plan (she'll be 26 mo. and is a BIG eater with dietary restrictions that makes sharing meals with DH and I difficult) and was told I'd have to by her the same ticket as DH and I (9 day park hopper...$220 for her...she doesn't eat that much!).

 

[dawnball]

Dawnball,
Did you say she was three and purchase a park ticket in order to purchase the dining plan for her?

No, we said she was 2 and asked if there was a way to buy her a dining plan. After talking to Guest Relations, they booked her as 3 and we bought her a ticket. I think that's what you were trying to get at, but wanted to be accurate in my response so I don't get attacked for misleading Disney about my 2yrold.

We booked everyone 1-day passes and upgraded everyone but hers at check-in. It took no additional time or hassle. "We're checking in and need to upgrade some of our passes" and they just charged it to the room.