buffets and young children

[momxx5]

Does anyone do buffets with young children?

My 4yo eats like a bird and to spend $10 on a meal is kinda wasteful. My 8yo is pretty picky too! Is there anyway to split a children's buffet or should we just skip them altogether?

Thanks for your input!

 

[Chia Pet]

I have not heard of splitting a buffet

If this is an issue, you may wish to skip them altogether

 

[peachgirl]

It's a problem not limited to just children.

I find buffet prices are higher than other comparable restaurants because they are all you can eat. Several in our family don't eat much and they're as picky as any child ever thought about being!

Unfortunately, I don't know of any buffets that allow sharing, so with a very few exceptions, we don't go to buffets.

The only good thing about children,is that the price is usually much less for them, so it's not as much of a waste.

 

[Magic2000]

As far as I know, sharing is not allowed at any of the buffets. Any child over the age of 3 must pay. I also have a very picky eater, and if she eats two bites of anything, that's plenty - especially when we're at Disney!! But I always thought of it as paying for entertainment as well as the food. And my DDs love to meet the characters!!!

We don't do many of the buffets, but we do go to a few every trip - its a great way to meet the characters in a (somewhat) relaxing atmosphere. We also love to go to BOMAs - its a "must do" for every trip!

 

[Lewisc]

You really can't expect a restaurant to allow splitting (or charge less for light eaters) unless they also charge extra for big eaters. A lot of the office building buffets weigh your plate and charge by the pound.

I agree with previous posters, I either don't get my moneys worth or overeat with most buffets.

 

[phyllis1966]

My DD is 4 and while she is not really a picky eater, I find that she doesn't eat much at any meal at WDW - she's just too excited! So, although we pay for a few buffets and the money is kind of wasted as far as food goes for her, it's well worth it for the character interaction for her (and us ). That's why we do only a few character buffets, and the rest are sit-down (she's still too revved-up to eat much) or counter-service (again, she's too excited to care much about eating much more than 2 or 3 fries and a few bites of a hot dog or chicken tender). Then, of course, we get back to the hotel at 9 or 10 pm and she's starving, so we have to get her some food from Gasparilla's at the GF!