Can I make my son older and pay more so he can get an adult meal plan.

[matdrew]

My kids do not eat chicken findgers because they are usually fried and they don't eat hotdogs etc. I would not mind paying adult admission for my 8 yr old son so he can order off of the adult men. Is this possible? Do older kids say 11 and 12 yr old get an adult table service credit or not on the dining plan. If so would it be possible pay for the 8 yr old as an adult rate to get the adult table service credit.
Thanks

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

11 and 12 yr olds are considered adults on the dining plan.

If you make your 8 yr old older for the dining plan, you are also going to have to buy an adult ticket for him.

 

[DisneyMom5]

I would look at the CS and TS menus before you decide (either here on the dis, or on allearsnet.) Most child choices at the moment are not fried food. If you see enough things he'd like on the kid's menu, you're fine. It might also be cheaper to buy him an out of pocket meal occasionally rather than upgrade his ticket and food. You'd be paying $27 more a day to upgrade him, not including the increase for his park ticket, and that can buy a lot of out of pocket food.

Happy planning!

 

[brymolmom]

Please don't make your decision based on thinking that the kids meal plan is all chicken nuggets and hot dogs (there actually aren't too many places that even offer hot dogs)...I've planned out almost all our meals for our August trip and my kids are eating:
pizza
burger
turkey sub
grilled chicken wrap
burrito
sandwich from Main St Bakery

In addition - TONS of great selections from our TS restaurants - pasta, chicken or shrimp with grilled fresh vegetables, Canyon skillet at WCC

There are SO MANY OPTIONS for kids meals - just take a look at all the menus before you really make your decision.

 

[SmallWorld71]

FWIW - We are doing several buffets on our trip in August which will allow our 8 year old to get whatever he wants. His favorite food is shrimp so this makes him very happy.

 

[illiniowl]

In addition to all the PPs' good advice, also note that if you "up-age" a child, say in your case an 8 y/o, and you return to WDW or DL before he actually turns 10 and try to buy him something at the child price, Disney's computers will flag that as they will think he already turned 10. You might be able to straighten this out eventually with a birth certificate and explaining why you up-aged him before, but it could be a hassle.

 

[MomtoEmIs&Ow]

If you upgrade him to an adult with dining plan and pack admission increase you will send just under $300 that is if you are going for week. Do you think that you will spend more than that to order him a few adult entrees? I think that the buffet idea is also great , that way he can eat what ever any adult could eat. think a few oop entrees would be your best. That way his dessert and drink would be part of his child DDP credit?

Lee

 

[blanq]

If you upgrade him to an adult with dining plan and pack admission increase you will send just under $300 that is if you are going for week. Do you think that you will spend more than that to order him a few adult entrees? I think that the buffet idea is also great , that way he can eat what ever any adult could eat. think a few oop entrees would be your best. That way his dessert and drink would be part of his child DDP credit?

Lee

I agree that this is the best way to calculate whether or not it is worth upgrading, and that adding some buffets might be a good option when dealing with kids that have larger or more adventurous appetites. To the OP, there are alot of non-fried options on the menus for kids. Also, the adults will get so much food on the DDP (most the time I didn't even eat half of what I ordered at TS restaurants), that you could just share some of your meal with your child to supplement their kids meal.

 

[DCDisney]

Definitely check out menus. Nearly every place that mentions chicken strips in terms of table service is actually grilled chicken cut into strips. The only place we found chicken nuggets was Cosmic Rays. Not that the kids menus were good for what my kids prefer to eat, but we were able to work around it. I think we only saw hot dogs 1 place. The main thing we saw on most menus that my kids don't really eat was mac and cheese. We did have to choose some meals based upon kids menus but we were able to mix and match buffets, places we liked but the kids menus weren't so good, and places the kids really wanted. We ended up not buying nearly as much as I expected OOP. My son was 9 and is very tall and broad shouldered for his age so he's bigger than many 12 year olds so I worried about the amount of food but by sharing left overs it all worked out mostly.

Yvonne