Dining Plan and my two year old...Help me understand.

[shmoogrrrl]

We will be doing a cruise on the Disney Dream next August (2011) and following it up with a stay at Disney World using the Free dining plan. My son will be two (just a month and a half shy of three) and I know that he won't need a ticket for the parks, and I would assume that also means that he won't be included in free dining. That makes sense, at least. That brings up a few questions.....

1. Obviously my son will be old enough for his own meal in restaurants, so 'eating off of our plates' probably isn't the best idea. Can I assume that there is no problem using the dining plan at a sit down restaurant for myself, my husband and daughter, then just paying out of pocket for his meal?

2. How does that work for buffets? I assume that we would just pay for his meal here too, or would they expect that we are feeding him off of our plates?

3. When it comes time to make dining reservations, I know they ask if we are on the dining plan. Do I need to let them know that three of us are, but that we will be paying out of pocket for my son, or will that really matter for making reservations?

I am sure this happens all the time so I figure that it is very easy to deal with, I just want to make sure that there isn't going to be some strange issue that I haven't thought about. We went last year with him, but as he was only seven months, he was still on mostly baby food and wasn't an issue at all.

 

[Sammie]

at anytime using the dining plan you can pay out of pocket.

You can feed your two year off the buffet without charge.

Make your reservations for the number of people eating, not how many are on the plan. They will ask you the ages.

 

[Vaughn]

We were in this situation and found that it was really "hit or miss." Our 2 year old was never charged at the buffets. At the non-buffet TS places, I would say a third of the time they let him order off the kids menu without charging him. Obviously at a CS place you are going to pay for what you order (over what's covered with the DDP).

 

[ibela]

We will be doing a cruise on the Disney Dream next August (2011) and following it up with a stay at Disney World using the Free dining plan. My son will be two (just a month and a half shy of three) and I know that he won't need a ticket for the parks, and I would assume that also means that he won't be included in free dining. That makes sense, at least. That brings up a few questions.....

1. Obviously my son will be old enough for his own meal in restaurants, so 'eating off of our plates' probably isn't the best idea. Can I assume that there is no problem using the dining plan at a sit down restaurant for myself, my husband and daughter, then just paying out of pocket for his meal?

2. How does that work for buffets? I assume that we would just pay for his meal here too, or would they expect that we are feeding him off of our plates?

3. When it comes time to make dining reservations, I know they ask if we are on the dining plan. Do I need to let them know that three of us are, but that we will be paying out of pocket for my son, or will that really matter for making reservations?

I am sure this happens all the time so I figure that it is very easy to deal with, I just want to make sure that there isn't going to be some strange issue that I haven't thought about. We went last year with him, but as he was only seven months, he was still on mostly baby food and wasn't an issue at all.

1. If you want to order something additional for your son, there's no problem paying out of pocket for his meal.

2. For buffets, kids under 3 eat free so there's no charge for him. They say "off your plate" but it's not literal. You can definitely get him his own plates of food. I've never been asked to pay for drinks either when I ordered some for my children when they were under 3. Some will even bring him something different, ex. at cinderella's castle they bring out some buttered noodles and ice cream, and at akershus I was able to pick an additional entree off the kids menu!

3. For your dining reservations, you tell them the reservation is for 4: 2 adults, a child aged x, and a 2 yr old. They need to count him as a seat at the table but there will be no charge (unless you're not at a buffet and order something extra).

They do this MANY times every day. Enjoy your trip and cruise!!

 

[CathieArms]

I think the PPs handled your question quite well. The only other thing I might add is that I think you would seriously have NO PROBLEM sharing one or both of your meals with your ds. They give you such ginormous servings at most places that you're likely not going to finish eating what you order, anyway. If it were me, I'd try NOT ordering for him at a restaurant or two just to see what you run up against. I bet you'll find that you can feed him to full and yourself as well off of the same plate...and still have some left over.

 

[squirrel]

I agree the portions are quite large.

You can use snack credits or pay out of pocket at the CS places for some side items to help make a meal for your son. They have items like yogurt, fruit, fries, etc. If you add one of these items to some of what the adults order, you can make a nice balanced meal.

TS meals are around $7 for a child. Depending on what you order, you may not need to order one for him.

 

[n2mm]

1. If you want to order something additional for your son, there's no problem paying out of pocket for his meal.

2. For buffets, kids under 3 eat free so there's no charge for him. They say "off your plate" but it's not literal. You can definitely get him his own plates of food. I've never been asked to pay for drinks either when I ordered some for my children when they were under 3. Some will even bring him something different, ex. at cinderella's castle they bring out some buttered noodles and ice cream, and at akershus I was able to pick an additional entree off the kids menu!

3. For your dining reservations, you tell them the reservation is for 4: 2 adults, a child aged x, and a 2 yr old. They need to count him as a seat at the table but there will be no charge (unless you're not at a buffet and order something extra).

They do this MANY times every day. Enjoy your trip and cruise!!

I agree with this assessment. We travel with the GD often and the youngest was just a month shy of 3 in May. If you buy a meal, as we always do, it will be OOP. Our GD does not like our food and needs her own meal or a meltdown will endure. Buffets are free as mentioned, but we warned, keep an eye out on that bill, as our under 3 GDs have been charged on the bill and the bill had to be corrected (twice -- Norway and Trails End). We have found that on buffets, the child still gets a drink of choice and we've never been charged extra for it. Yes you have to list your under 3 child when making an ADR -- even infants.

 

[stichy]

I'd pay out of pocket instead of bumping his age to 3 so you can get the dining plan for him since you would have to but a ticket for him. Also we have found that 2 adult counter service meals are definately big enough to feed 2 adults and 1 child. My son is 8 and we still share counter services.

 

[ljcrochet]

When my girls were under 3, places like Ohana and Liberty tree taven for dinner worked great. Another great place is whispering canyon if you get the all you care to eat skillet.

 

[ReneeA]

What everyone else says is true about paying OOP for your DS's meals, and also the fact that he can have his own plates at buffets.

Also, if you think that he will have no problems eating what others have ordered, you can ask for an empty plate to be brought to the table for him, along with his own drink. It's hit or miss whether they charge you for the drink. We find that portion sizes at most CS and TS meals are large enough for an adult and child to share...in fact, my DD and I still share almost every CS meal - and she's 7.

 

[jlk806]

We are going with our 2 year old next week - we booked a lot of buffet and all-you can eat meals because he will be free at them - last year when he was 13 months I got him his own plate at the buffets and that was fine. At the few TS restaurants we will probably order off the kids menu for him and just pay OOP (but a PP said they do not always charge for toddlers). At CS places we will either share or order his own meal and just pay for it.

 

[WantToGoNow]

We went when my dd was a month short of her 3rd birthday. We had 4 adults in our group and never had to buy her a meal - there was always plenty for sharing - I would just ask for a empty plate and we would all give her a little of ours. I would think even with 2 adults, you still should have enough for this - of course, my dd was not picky so we didn't have to order things we didn't want just so she would have something to eat. We were usually given her drinks free as well - the only place that charged for it was Coral Reef but they did bring her a free sundae we they saw her drooling over her brothers.

This past November we went with my cousin's family and they had a dd2 - they ordered her kids meals at every TS restaurant we ate at (SciFi, 50's Prime Time, Coral Reef, LeCellier, Kona, Cinderella RT) and they were never given a bill for them - don't know if they were were lucky or if the servers were just overwhelmed with a party of 11 with 6 kids (ages 9,8,5,5,4,2).

As for counter service, I've always thought the portions were huge on the adult meals - I shared 4 separate times with dd5 last trip - we both had enough to eat and we had enough credits left over for a CS meal on our last day that we thought we would be paying for.