Childrens meals at Disney Restaurants

[Claireybear]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum but just wanted to ask all of you experts how strict Disney is on the 3-9 age range for kids meals. DD1 will be just turned 10 when we go to Disney but she has a small appetite and woulnt warrant spending the adult price at all table service retsaurants. My question is if we are staying a disney resort is there any way the restaurant will be able to check her exact age? She does look younger than 10 maybe 8 0r 9. I only ask because this vacation is running way over budget and I don't want to be forking out so much on dining!
Thanks,
Claire.

 

[Hobbes]

Welcome newbie


When this has come up in the past-and it does frequently -the answer always is "Anyone can eat from the kids menu except for at Buffets" Its no different to an adult having a Happy meal at McDonalds-you eat what you've paid for-obviously the buffets are an exception cos its all you can eat!

 

[Claireybear]

Hi,
Thanks. We are eating at some buffet places CP, Princess Storeybook etc - but DD1 will want to eat from the childrens buffet - would it hurt to say she's 9? Would they find out?
Claire

 

[twinspluscade]

Hi,
Thanks. We are eating at some buffet places CP, Princess Storeybook etc - but DD1 will want to eat from the childrens buffet - would it hurt to say she's 9? Would they find out?
Claire

Didn't they ask her age when you made your ADR's? I know the CM's I have always ask the ages of my kids whenever I book. If they did, they'll already have her written down as an "adult"--so obviously then they would know you were "cheating" when you say she's 9.
If they don't already have her age down--would they then find out? Probably not. Personally, though, I wouldn't want to lie in front of my child--that's just me. Kind of hard to teach the kids to always tell the truth when Mom and Dad then turn around and lie so they get things cheaper . I don't blame you for wanting to though, I know the buffets are very expensive, especially if your child doesn't eat much.

 

[tinkerbell60]

If you are staying at a resort your names and birthdates are in their system. If you go to a buffet, they will know the ages and charge you accordingly regardless of which buffet you eat off of.

I totally sympathize, my DD13 looks very young (she was a preemie) and eats like a bird. When we had free dining last year it was not a problem. But, in the future, no buffets for us. It is painful to pay $20-$30 for her to eat so little food.

If you do other table service restaurants, she can order off the kid's menu.

 

[madalex]

Hi,
Thanks. We are eating at some buffet places CP, Princess Storeybook etc - but DD1 will want to eat from the childrens buffet - would it hurt to say she's 9? Would they find out?

I don't think Princess Storybook is a buffet (at least it isn't for breakfast). And, as another poster said, they may take the ages of your children up front at many of these meals, so you can't show up and then lie about your child's age just to get a cheaper meal.

If your child isn't going to eat a lot and cost is an issue, perhaps you should skip buffets (where you will have to lie to pay less for your child) and only eat at a la carte restaurants, where your child is more than welcome to order off the child's menu even if she is 10.

 

[tinkerbell60]

Some places are not buffet, but pre-plated and therefore fixed price. We ate at the Garden Grill last year- my daughter was charged as an adult even though they brought her chicken nuggets and fries because she didn't like the adult meal. That was free dining so it didn't matter to us (and probably saved them money too). But, I would not do it if I were paying out of pocket.

 

[tnmomof4]

I have a son who will be 10 when we go in June. We are staying at a resort. They know he is 10 because his birthday is in the system since we have stayed before. When they pulled us up in the system when I was making my resort reservation they said "okay your oldest son who was 9 will be 10". So they already knew he was 10 when I made my resort reservation and my ADR. Plus... tickets change price once kids turn 10. A child's park ticket are for ages 3-9. Didn't you pay for her park tickets as an adult? Even if you never have been to Disney... you would have to pay for a 10 year old's park ticket as an adult so on the DDP a 10 year old would be an adult too. So when you go to eat they will already have your daughter down as an adult.

 

[Claireybear]

Hi,
Yes we paid adult tickets prices for her but bought our hotel package and tickets totally seperately! Looks like I'll have to pay for her as an adult! I'll just have to keep her hungry all day so she gets her moneys worth!! Might ring disney and make new adrs for expensive buffets and say shes 9 tho - and I suppose universal won't know she's not 9! Oh well, thanks anyway!
Claire.

 

[twinspluscade]

Hi,
Yes we paid adult tickets prices for her but bought our hotel package and tickets totally seperately! Looks like I'll have to pay for her as an adult! I'll just have to keep her hungry all day so she gets her moneys worth!! Might ring disney and make new adrs for expensive buffets and say shes 9 tho - and I suppose universal won't know she's not 9! Oh well, thanks anyway!
Claire.

I think Universal doesn't start charging the "adult" rate until kids are 12--so at least you'll be alright there!

Maybe if the Disney part of the trip is going so over-budget, just make it a Universal trip instead? I think tickets, etc. are a bit cheaper at Universal.

Or do the breakfast buffets at WDW instead--they are cheaper than buffets for lunch/dinner--and I'm sure most of the food would be kid-friendly so you'd get your money's worth. OR have your kids pick just one buffet they really want to go to--you'll see plenty of characters without having to do a bunch of different buffets.

Lots of people do Disney on a budget without having their kids lie about their ages. . There are other ways to cut the costs.

 

[tinkerbell60]

I would also suggest reading the buffet menus on Deb's all ears site - that will give you an idea if there are things that your daughter will eat and if it is worth the cost. Breakfast buffets are more generic, and less expensive.

Lots of luck!!

 

[Claireybear]

Thanks everyone.
I think we'll just have to build the cost into the holiday! Its probably going to around $110-$130 to our dining budget so I suppose in the grand scheme of things that isn't too much! We're over from England for 14 nights and because we're only at Disney every 3 or so years we want to go everywhere -DD2 is coming up 4 so at a perfect age for the character buffets - we've booked Crystal Palace, Biertgarten, Akershus, Boma, Libery Tree Tavern, San Angel, Marakesh, Rainforest Cafe, and Planet Hollywood! We plan to spend 2 days at Universal and include a cat in the hat breakfast at IOA; 1 day at seaworld and 1 day at Discovery Cove! All in all an expensive vacation! We don't want to do the buffet breakfasts at Disney because they use up too much 'park time'
Thanks,
Claire.

 

[kandb]

That's kind of ridiculous that you would have to pay an adult price buffet for a 10 year old. I didn't realize that that is Disney's policy. I guess that means for a child who is 10 years old you would have to pay over $30 with tax and tip for a buffet? I have to say I think that's ridiculous. Some children at this age will eat a few chicken nugget or a slice or two of pizza. Doesn't sound worth over $30 to me. I guess once my kids are over 9 years old I won't be doing character buffets, they'll have to get them out of their system before 10 years old. Linda

 

[twinspluscade]

That's kind of ridiculous that you would have to pay an adult price buffet for a 10 year old. I didn't realize that that is Disney's policy. I guess that means for a child who is 10 years old you would have to pay over $30 with tax and tip for a buffet? I have to say I think that's ridiculous. Some children at this age will eat a few chicken nugget or a slice or two of pizza. Doesn't sound worth over $30 to me. I guess once my kids are over 9 years old I won't be doing character buffets, they'll have to get them out of their system before 10 years old. Linda

Yep, at Disney once kids hit the age of 10 they are considered "adults"--for the park tickets, buffets, dining plan, and everything else. I agree it is ridiculous; I think it should be age 12. JMO though.

 

[Claireybear]

Thanks.
I think its ridiculous too but with DD2 who is 3 I feel its unfair for her to miss out on the character meals just because disney are trying to rip people off! What I might do is just tell them DD1 isn't going to eat - she would rather get something counter service afterwards! I've just read somewhere you only have to pay a $5 'entertainment fee' to do this!!
Claire.

 

[kaytieeldr]

First, fewer than half the restaurants listed by the OP are buffets.
Only two are character meals.
Another option might be to feed the older daughter in advance, and just pay an entertainment fee where applicable/available at the Character Buffets (just make sure she doesn't eat or drink anything inside the restaurant).


Regarding the opinion above that "kids" should be up to age twelve (meaning through the day before they turn twelve), well, there are currently a lot of "nine-year-old ten-year-olds" and "two-year-old three-year-olds" at Walt Disney World. Return the Kid age to twelve and you'll have a bunch of thirteen-year-old eleven-year-olds.

 

[tnmomof4]

I think that on the DDP even if we are paying for 10 year olds as adults, we still come out ahead. If we were to pay out of pocket for buffets/character meals we would end up paying more. Thats why the DDP is good. The DDP makes it more affordable to do buffets/character meals.

 

[tnmomof4]

I was just wondering about this "entertainment fee". I have never heard of it. I have three year old twins. We are going to eat at Liberty Tree Tavern. They will not eat any of the food there. So I called Disney Dining and asked if they do not eat anything including a drink can I keep their TS credits and I was told NO. They said that they take a credit off for everyone at the table because it is a character meal. I guess I need to call back and ask about this entertainment fee.

 

[tinkerbell60]

Regarding the opinion above that "kids" should be up to age twelve (meaning through the day before they turn twelve), well, there are currently a lot of "nine-year-old ten-year-olds" and "two-year-old three-year-olds" at Walt Disney World. Return the Kid age to twelve and you'll have a bunch of thirteen-year-old eleven-year-olds.

I totally agree, my 13yo eats like a bird. It wouldn't matter what the cut off age is, she would have passed it and it is still an issue for us. Our choice is no more buffets till she starts eating more, but that is an individual decision. Personally, she would find it very difficult to sit there and not eat or drink anything while the rest of us ate.

There are many other opportunities to see characters- and my experience with character dining is that the interaction is limited. You can get the same amount of character time in the parks at the character greeting stops.

 

[Claireybear]

Thanks everyone.
I do agree about the cut off age whether it be 10 or 12. We would have done the DDP but booking from England the tour company would only let us book it paying the adult price for EVERYONE in our party including our very picky 3 year old. Now I wouldn't mind paying an adult price for DDP for our 10 year old - no way for the 3 year old!! Not sure the 'entertainment fee' applies to DDP. Also we plan to eat at Universal a couple of nights and offsite at Bahama Breeze at least 1 night - DDP makes you feel you have to stay on site to get your moneys worth!! I'm going to just chance it - if they ask I'll say shes 9 and see if anyone says anything!! She'll only eat from the kids buffet and she'll not eat much!!
Claire.