Cinderella's Royal Table (CRT) w/ a 2 year old

[Runner225]

Hi All,

We were lucky to snag a CRT Dinner reservation when we go to Disney in July. My husband and I are taking our daughter who will be 2 at the time. When we made the reservation, it charged for just my husband and I since DD is under 3. My question is, will they charge us if all we want for her is a mac & cheese? I don't mind paying for the mac & cheese, but don't really want to be stuck paying for the full meal I know she won't have the appetite for. I saw in years past posts that the waiter/waitress generally will bring something out for a child under 3 free of charge...but not so sure about now.

Thank you!

 

[DisBuckMan]

*Technically*, children under 3 are expected to eat from a parent's plate, unless they pay for him/her a meal. There have been LOTS of reports of servers overlooking this and providing something for the child to eat separately, at no charge.

That said, this is something done at the server's discretion, and may or may not happen.

 

[cgh]

You will need to pay for a full meal for her. She will only NOT be charged if she eats from her plate. i went with a 2 year old with severe allergies, asked for the appetizer to be delayed until we figured out something safe for him, chef came out never got the appetizers and they charged him because he got an entree. NO dessert even. Also, I don't know if they'd do mac and cheese. Is that on the menu? I got the sense that it is whatever they serve.

 

[DisBuckMan]

You will need to pay for a full meal for her. She will only NOT be charged if she eats from her plate. i went with a 2 year old with severe allergies, asked for the appetizer to be delayed until we figured out something safe for him, chef came out never got the appetizers and they charged him because he got an entree. NO dessert even. Also, I don't know if they'd do mac and cheese. Is that on the menu? I got the sense that it is whatever they serve.

Mac and cheese is on the kids' menu at CRT.

 

[KenHutch]

They are supposed to charge if you order something but when my god daughter was 2 and we took her the waitress brought out grapes and mac and cheese for her and it wasn't reflected on the bill.

 

[Crystal824]

We have eaten there many times. They have always brought out food for our under 3 kids at no additional charge without us even asking. Every time we have been, they would bring our younger child the same thing that our older child ordered (who we were paying for). With that being said, it is probably in the servers' discretion.

 

[Runner225]

Thank you. It seems that it is at the servers discretion. She will definitely try what is on our plates, I just can't say if she will actually want to eat it. Hopefully Disney will feel magical and bring her something for free

 

[kboo]

We did this when ODD was 2. It was really nice.

 

[ESO]

We've only had breakfast there. They brought a waffle for my son at no charge. It wasn't a full kids meal (just the waffle), but it was plenty for him. Now that I think about it, he was served a meal free of charge at every table service restaurant we went to. We didn't expect it, but it was a nice surprise each time.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

When we went for dinner at the end of August, our server told us before we ordered that even though toddlers are generally expected to eat from their parents' plates, Cinderella believes that even the littlest mice should have their own plates and that he would bring something for him to eat. We didn't actually pick a meal for him, but he was brought out his own grapes and cheese appetizer, chicken nuggets and vegetables, and cupcake for dessert. We also did ask for some juice for him. We weren't charged for any of it. Obviously there are no guarantees on any of this, but I wanted to share my experience. My DS was also allowed to choose a kids meal free of charge at the Bon Voyage breakfast.

 

[tbre1982]

On our November trip both CRT and Akershus offered my 2yo son a kids meal for free. He got the same meal as my 4yo for free.

No other table service restaurants offered this-- we often ordered him a kids entree
And just paid out of pocket. He was always given milk for free though.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

KIDS UNDER-3 EAT FREE "411":
1) TECHNICALLY, there is no such thing as a "kids-under-3-eat-free" policy.
. . . no where in ANY Disney brochure is this mentioned
. . . there is no such policy
2) But, when done per policy, they eat almost free.
3) And, based upon CM discretion, they can eat free.
4) The official rules:
. . . kids under three can eat off the adult's plate
. . . they can still get an empty plate for themslves, adn take food from an adult's plate
. . . if they order anything, like milk, they are supposed to pay for it
. . . if they order any food, they are supposed to pay for it
. . . this is anywhere, including buffets
5) What really happens:
. . at buffets & AYCTE kids actually can "eat buffet food free"
. . . . . . adults could get the food, instead and give it to the kid
. . . . . . the adult could claim it is their plate kid eats from
. . . . . . they might as well have a drink, for same reason
. . . . . . it's tough to determine it was theirs or their parents
. . . . . . thus, kids can have their own plate and beverage without charge
. . at non-buffet, servers can determine if they ordered food
. . . . . . it is easy to tell if they got a drink
. . . . . . the server usually charges for food ordered for the kid
. . . . . . the server usually let's the drink go, but not food
. . . . . . the server, at their own discretion, can charge for beverage
6) So, to wrap-up, in practical terms
. . . at non-buffets, kids under-3 eat without charge ONLY from parent's plate
. . . at buffets & AYCTE, they can actually take food from the buffet table or separate plate
. . . at all meals, items are ordered for the child "might" be charged for them
7) Please remember to add your child to the table count.
. . . if there are four adults and a child, that needs an ADR for five people
. . . this is regardless whether the child is lap, stroller, highchair, or regular chair
. . . also, if the baby makes six people, the AUTOMATIC 18% GRATUITY is in effect
. . . no automatic gratuity at CRT-HDDR-LUAU-BBQ, as tips are already included in the meal price

 

[MickeyWaffles]

With our 1yo, the server brought us what she called an “infant meal” free of charge. I have heard many who have had this happen and many who have not. As others have stated, it’s the server’s discretion.

 

[lovethesun12]

We ate there last year and my daughter was brought something separate but she was just over 1 at the time.

I was wondering the same thing. We are going for lunch and while there is a ton of food, i'd like her to get to decorate her own cupcake for dessert like her brother. I don't really think decorating a cupcake is worth $38 so I'm hoping we can buy separate.

 

[Runner225]

KIDS UNDER-3 EAT FREE "411":
1) TECHNICALLY, there is no such thing as a "kids-under-3-eat-free" policy.
. . . no where in ANY Disney brochure is this mentioned
. . . there is no such policy
2) But, when done per policy, they eat almost free.
3) And, based upon CM discretion, they can eat free.
4) The official rules:
. . . kids under three can eat off the adult's plate
. . . they can still get an empty plate for themslves, adn take food from an adult's plate
. . . if they order anything, like milk, they are supposed to pay for it
. . . if they order any food, they are supposed to pay for it
. . . this is anywhere, including buffets
5) What really happens:
. . at buffets & AYCTE kids actually can "eat buffet food free"
. . . . . . adults could get the food, instead and give it to the kid
. . . . . . the adult could claim it is their plate kid eats from
. . . . . . they might as well have a drink, for same reason
. . . . . . it's tough to determine it was theirs or their parents
. . . . . . thus, kids can have their own plate and beverage without charge
. . at non-buffet, servers can determine if they ordered food
. . . . . . it is easy to tell if they got a drink
. . . . . . the server usually charges for food ordered for the kid
. . . . . . the server usually let's the drink go, but not food
. . . . . . the server, at their own discretion, can charge for beverage
6) So, to wrap-up, in practical terms
. . . at non-buffets, kids under-3 eat without charge ONLY from parent's plate
. . . at buffets & AYCTE, they can actually take food from the buffet table or separate plate
. . . at all meals, items are ordered for the child "might" be charged for them
7) Please remember to add your child to the table count.
. . . if there are four adults and a child, that needs an ADR for five people
. . . this is regardless whether the child is lap, stroller, highchair, or regular chair
. . . also, if the baby makes six people, the AUTOMATIC 18% GRATUITY is in effect
. . . no automatic gratuity at CRT-HDDR-LUAU-BBQ, as tips are already included in the meal price

Thank you for this. These are the rules I had read, but wasn't sure about CRT specifically due to how many stories/threads I was reading. Any other restaurant we figured she would eat something of ours or buy her her own plate...but the CRT meals are a bit out of the norm for her and much higher in price. We've been booking all dining as a party of 3, no difference as to when we go out for non-Disney dinners as she still takes up space