Can someone explain the "Kids Menu" on the DDP?

[ScottNBecky]

CAn anyone just briefly explain the "kids Menu" when using the DDP? We are undecided about doing it for our upcoming trip b/c of our 9 and 7 year old and the negative reviews of the kids menu choices. Isnt it just the regular items off the kids menus?

 

[HMHunters]

My DS 9 ate with no problem on the DDP. He was free to choose separately appetizer, entree and dessert from either the preset new meals or the a la carte choices at each restaurant we ate at. Don't worry about it.

 

[karibritt01]

Yes, but the complaint is that the choices are very limited at some CS restaurants. We went into a pizza place where the kids couldn't buy pizza! I would say go for the plan, as it does save money. Go to www.allearsnet.com and look through the menus when scheduling your meals, so there are no surprises as to what they can eat. Remember that if they really want an adult lunch, you can de-combo an adult meal. Adult portion of french fries and a medium drink are a kids CS meal, and you buy the burger OOP. You still come out way ahead if you do this a couple times during the week. Also, if you choose to eat any buffet restaurants, the kids can eat off the adult buffet.

 

[Lewisc]

The kids meal plan costs $11. The snack is worth $3-$4 and a character dinner is worth around $15 (with tax and tip). You'll get your monies worth even if you decide to pay cash for some extra adult meals for your kids.

 

[thunderbird1]

CAn anyone just briefly explain the "kids Menu" when using the DDP? We are undecided about doing it for our upcoming trip b/c of our 9 and 7 year old and the negative reviews of the kids menu choices. Isnt it just the regular items off the kids menus?

Yes.

Keep in mind that the negative reviews are coming from a small but vocal group of people. My dd was 9.5 on our last trip, and did just fine on the DDP. Some of the CS choices were not perfect for her, but some of them weren't perfect for me (the vegetarian) or my dh (low-carb, sort of) either. In the end, there was plenty of tasty food and we managed just fine.

Do yourself a favor. Instead of just buying into what others are saying, take a look at the menus and decide for yourself whether your kids (or you and your dh, for that matter), would be happy with the available choices.

 

[Crazy4Disney72]

My 6 and 9 year olds did fine on the DDP. We just got back tonight from 4 nights at POFQ. We ate at 5 table service places (paid OOP for one), 3 of which were buffets, so plenty of choices there, but at the Grand Floridian Cafe they each had the kids' steak (which is supposed to be $2 more than the regular kids meal price, so I expected to pay $2 extra for each meal, but we were not charged) and at the Sci Fi Dine In they had the kids burgers and were fine.

Counter service was mac & cheese with applesauce and a corn muffin at Sunshine Seasons in Epcot, breakfast pancakes and bacon at POFQ, hot dogs with grapes and applesauce at Flame Tree Barbeque at Animal Kingdom, and grilled cheese with applesauce and grapes at POFQ.

For the most part, I really liked the new kids menus, and my kids loved the Mickey head shaped plates with the fruit/veggies in the ears.

Incidentally, I know there has been much discussion about adult and child credits being separated, and while yes, they are definitely separated for table service meals, they are not separated for counter service meals, at least not that the guest can see. With the table service it's obvious, it comes out as separate receipts, but with counter service, it is all together, and when it shows how many credits are left at the bottom of the receipt, they are all still pooled. I wish they would separate them, as it was hard to keep track of what was left. I think we used an adult credit to pay for a kids meal today, but without going back and making notes on who ate what when (family of 5, 2 real adults, one Disney 13yr old 'adult', 2 kids) I don't know how many were adult and how many were kids, as sometimes we shared meals just because we weren't all that hungry at the time. We ended up leaving with a few snack credits and 2 counter service credits unused.

 

[gabbysmom04]

I did not notice much change if any with CS meals. There is a big change with TS. I found the choices to be limited and not as healthy as I thought they were going to be. I was told but quite a few CM that people were unhappy with the changes. That being said I agree with other people about looking at the menus. Keep in mine that the TS meals are $7.50 for kids CS are around $4-5 and whatever you choose for snacking.

 

[JimMIA]

CAn anyone just briefly explain the "kids Menu" when using the DDP? We are undecided about doing it for our upcoming trip b/c of our 9 and 7 year old and the negative reviews of the kids menu choices. Isnt it just the regular items off the kids menus?

Yes, it's just the regular kids menu. This is not a DDP issue, it's a kids menu issue. I agree with those who find the kids menus limited, but it has always been thus, and it has nothing to do with DDP. (Our DD4, incidentally, does fine on the DDP -- never had any problem at all finding something she likes.)

With DDP, you pay $10.99 a day for a snack including tax, a counter service meal including tax, and a table service meal including tax and tip.

If that formula doesn't work for a particular family (and it really doesn't for some), they should forgo DDP and use another discount strategy or pay OOP. It ain't rocket science, folks. DDP is either good for you, or it's not.

 

[OurDogCisco]

I think it depends on your children and how long you'll be going. Some kids are fine with mac & cheese meals or the peanut butter & Jelly for counter service lunches. Others may not be. We tend to visit for long periods of time like 8 night or more. So for us it was an issue as we were eating the same food everyday. My 5 year old was okay with it but a couple times she had to have the adult version especially in MK. My 9 year old really struggled with it as she didn't like most of the choices. She was fine with TS places because they were very accomandating. We did have to work around things to get her a good meal at lunch time. But in the end I still thought it was a good value to get the children's price on DDP. You can't beat it. So it really depends on your kids and their eating style. I'd definitely look at the menus and decide for yourself.

 

[TheDizMom]

I think it depends on your children and how long you'll be going. Some kids are fine with mac & cheese meals or the peanut butter & Jelly for counter service lunches. Others may not be. We tend to visit for long periods of time like 8 night or more. So for us it was an issue as we were eating the same food everyday. My 5 year old was okay with it but a couple times she had to have the adult version especially in MK. My 9 year old really struggled with it as she didn't like most of the choices. She was fine with TS places because they were very accomandating. We did have to work around things to get her a good meal at lunch time. But in the end I still thought it was a good value to get the children's price on DDP. You can't beat it. So it really depends on your kids and their eating style. I'd definitely look at the menus and decide for yourself.

I agree with you 100% I had the exact same issue. It isn't that the food is bad, just the same old thing. If your older child isn't an adventurous eater you probably won't have a problem, but if they are you may need to work it a little or order something off the adult menu for yourself that they will like to and let them share with you. Sometimes I was able to find something I was ok with on the kids menu and let my DS order something off the adult menu. What you save money wise makes it worth it you just have to figure out how to make it work for your family. On way make it work is use the buffet restaurants so there is a bigger selection for them and then if they have to order from the kids menu at the CS places it's not as big of an issue

 

[Ellester]

We just got back from 8 days on the dining plan and the kids' menus were mostly a non-issue for us. I did share with my kids a few times so they didn't have to eat a children's meal they didn't like. Over the 8 days, they had chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, pizza, mac-n-cheese, chicken drumsticks, chilled chicken & cheese, and mini-hot dogs. The side dishes were the boring part, my kids don't eat carrots so they had grapes and applesauce every day (a few fries thrown in). After the first time with the SF Jello, they just shared our desserts. My kids are not the most adventurous or biggest eaters, so it worked out well for us. I did share a double cheeseburger with my girls at Pecos Bill's because there way no way they would eat a sloppy joe or chilled chicken and carrots. My 2yo son liked the chilled chicken just fine, but the older kids thought it was gross.

 

[livie1205]

THE KIDS MENU was not as bad as i thought it was going to be, we went at christmas and saw no cold grilled chicken fingers only fried oanes and most places we ate gave lots of choices...went to wolfgang puck at downtown disney...it was great not a disney owned place so better choices...pizza (big one) big enough to share, pasta, chicken ect... concourse steakhouse...very good and let them get smoothies and steak without any extra charge....we did eat some buffets like 1900 park and it was the best meal we had the whole stay! i hate buffet but i still think about this meal...it was great the kids had shrimp, prime rib, cheesecake.....

 

[lovemesomedisney]

I agree it is not a DDP issue but a kids meal issue. It doesn't matter for the most part because the kids menu is what it is. I liked the DDP and thought we definitely saved money on it. We just got back 2 days ago and at the cs we would get an adult meal if that is what the child wanted. I liked going to the register and not being disgusted by how much it cost every time since it was already paid for!!!!