DDP and the under 3 crowd

[Emily'sMom]

I am a little confused about the dining plan when you have a under 3 child. At the time of our trip my son will be 2 yrs 4 months and he already has a big appetite. And of course he is one of those kids who needs to have his "own". I remember portions are fairly large, so I don't think I will have a problem making a dish for him from the adult entrees, but my issue is DESSERT! He will never go for my 5 year old having her own dessert or a make your own cookie, sundae etc. Should I just pay OOP for his own meal or are desserts available a la carte? Just looking to keep the peace in my happy little family. All suggestions are greatly appreciated. Here are our ADRs:

Chef Mickey - lunch
CRT - lunch
Tony's -dinner
Concourse- dinner
Garden grill - dinner
Le Cellier - dinner

Thank you!!

 

[Catrinabeach]

Any of the places that you are eating at that are buffets you can get him what he would like from the buffet.

As for other places I'm sure you could purchase him his own dessert without a problem.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

At the buffets like Chef Mickey's, you can get whatever you want for your 2-yo, including dessert from the sundae bar or whatever. At the menu places like Le Cellier, I'd just order a meal and pay OOP if you tink he won't want to share. I plan to share as much as possible with my toddler on our upcoming trip, but I will order him his own chicken fingers or pasta if I need to. I figure it's a small price to pay for his trip - since he has free admission!

Have a great trip!

 

[dismom9761]

My youngest was 2 when we last went.The buffets were great for her and several times she was given a dessert and wasn't charged at other places.A couple of times I was so full I just ordered what she wanted on my dining credit and gave it to her.

 

[earthfaries]

If you have the Dining Plan and a child under three, you are just getting the credits for the two adults, not the child. So if you go to a buffet and use your credits for yourself, your child under 3 gets to eat free. If you go to a rest. that is not all you can eat and order off the menu, your child is not free. You have to pay and order your childs food or you can just share yours with them. We always just ordered something from the childs menu for ours when they were under 3 at counter service and sit down, non buffet rests.
So basically, you gotta pay for your child to eat unless it is a buffet and you are eating also

 

[tinkandpan]

When it came to dessert, many of the places we went to brought out a small dessert for my dd2 when they gave it to my older one. I thought that was very nice. It was usually a cupcake or whatever the general dessert was.

 

[thunderbird1]

CM is buffet = <2 eats for free, including dessert.

GG is family style = <2 eats for free, including dessert.

Not sure about CRT, since I've never been, but I think it's like a family style hybrid, where <2's share in the communal dessert.

Tony's, Concourse and Le Cellier are all regular, order-off-the-menu restaurants, where <2's can either share off your plate (including dessert), or you can order (and plan on paying OOP for) something off the children's menu for them. It's only 3 meals, which are all under $10, so you're talking max $30 OOP for him to have is own meal. Of course, if he'd be happy sharing with you (and you'd be happy sharing with him, meaning you'd have to order something he'd like), you'll have plenty of food.

If you just order him his own dessert/beverage, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave it to you for free, but don't count on it. It's much nicer to plan on paying for something and ending up getting it for free than vice versa!

 

[brymolmom]

We were in the same situation last year with DP and a couple times we were able to use our adult credit to get a child's dessert for our dd (since ds was getting a child's dessert - they would get the same thing), but we only did this if the kids didn't reallly like the meal and were actually still hungry at the end. The other times when we knew they weren't really hungry we had ds 4 and dd2 split one child's dessert. You can ask the server to bring it out on two plates - they might separate it for you OR just ask for an extra plate and separate it yourself. If you want to do this - make sure not to refer to it as the older one's dessert - it is the 'kids dessert'. That way no one feels like they're giving up half of their own.

 

[Emily'sMom]

Thanks everyone. I have no problem paying OOP for my little man. Thanks again for the great insight!!