Counter Service Dining Plan Question

[ckfox]

We are visiting Disney World in November and received the free quick service dining plan. My youngest is 9 and will be required to order from the kid's menu. He is a big eater and we want him to be able to order from the adult menu. Do you have any solutions for me? Will Disney let me pay the difference in the cost of the children's meal plan and the adult meal plan? Thanks for your help, Cheryl

 

[catne]

you can pay to upgrade your son to a Disney "adult"...this means you'll have to register him as age 10, and pay for an adult ticket instead of a child's ticket, but that's usually not all that expensive a difference. Then he can order from the adult menu. It's not a huge difference in cost -- Also, there's a few places that have no kids' menu so he can order the adult meal there -- however, those places are limited-menu places like Casey's Hot Dogs, Turkey leg place, fish & chips in Epcot, and so on. It's more of an adult-sized serving, but not much choice at those few places.

Or, you can just keep the free dining, and buy the occasional extra item when he's more hungry. That might be cheapest way to go.

They will not let you pay the difference between the kids and adults meal plan (which would be quite a bit, anyway...much more than paying for the difference between adult/child park tickets.)

 

[2Tiggies]

Catne has pretty much covered it. I just wondered, when you say your son is a big eater, would you consider him capable of eating full adult portions, or is he just a big eater for his age? I ask this because you may find that using a snack credit or paying a couple of $$ out of pocket for a side item for him may prove to be plenty of food. It's just another option.

If you do really feel that this would still not be enough then it may indeed be better value for you to upgrade him to an adult as suggested in the previous post, so he can order as he pleases.

And welcome to the DIS

 

[TDC Nala]

Will Disney let me pay the difference in the cost of the children's meal plan and the adult meal plan?

Technically, they will, but only if you register him as 10 years old on your reservation. If you're on a package reservation with tickets (which you are if you are on free dining), that means you would need to purchase an adult ticket for him rather than a child's ticket. If you're an annual passholder or on a DVC points reservation you don't have to buy tickets, so you can just register him as 10 and pay the difference in dining plans. On free dining, you just pay the difference in the park ticket.