Dining Plan - child menu issues

[disneydarling07]

Hello there!
We are considering getting on the dining plan for our upcoming trip.
However, our 8yo of course, only qualifies for the child's menu. The downside, is that it's not enough food for him and he gets tired of chicken nuiggets and whatever...he wants a burger or "big people" food. I asked when we booked and was told we could ask the restaurant and it's up to them if they would let us switch him to an adults menu.
Anyone else have this issue? How did you work around it?
I guess buffets wouldnt be much of a problem, but how do you handle table service?
If I have to order extra food for him, I'm not the plan is economical for us..

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[carley]

you can buy him an adult ticket and have him upgraded from child menu to adult. ive never done it myself but have read that numerous people have done this with no issues

 

[TDC Nala]

If your kid is on a child's dining plan you can't just switch to the adult menu, but you can register him as 10 years old and buy him the adult dining plan (and an adult ticket if you are on a package).

Or just forego the dining plan and then he can order whatever he wants.

 

[Raenstoirm]

If you are paying for the dining plan it rarely saves money (we did the math for 4 separate trips and always come out better OOP). You are actually paying for the convenience of the "all inclusive" feel. Granted if you always have dessert and never an appetizer and only eat at non-signature places, it might be better for you. Do the math. I have never heard of a child being allowed to eat off the adult menu with a child dining plan, so I really wouldn't bank on that.

What you often hear is parents of an 8 year old telling disney he is 10 and buying adult park passes so that the child can have the adult free dining.

 

[SnowBelleAlice]

For our first WDW visit my DS was 9, we had free dining, he was 10 on our reservation
I'd never pay for a dining plan.

 

[jm106]

I did a lot of reading and found options of meals that werent burgers and nuggets.(San Angel for example, Ohana, Mama Melrose.)
You can supplement the meal by purchasing appetizers or extras or just skip dining plan if it doesnt meet the needs and pay as you go. No real reason to have the DP if it isnt what and how your family would eat.

 

[Drusilla]

Sometimes dd and I would just switch meals and I would eat the kids meal and she would eat the adult meal.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Skip the dining plan.

I did it when it was "free," my kids were under 9 and actually liked most kids meals and we did lots of buffets.

We won't do it anymore. DS is a Disney adult and DD 8 likes adult food. It's not worth the stress.

 

[ttintagel]

Sometimes the DDP doesn't make sense for some families - every family/group has to do the math for themselves based on how and what they want to eat.

If you really want to to the DDP for the whole family, you might consider just paying OOP for the specific meals you think won;t work for him.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

I don't think any restaurant will allow someone listed as a child to get an adult meal. Some do have more adult type selections in small servings on the kid's menus, but if you are looking for adult menu ordering, you would need to upgrade him to an adult on your reservation. That basically means list him as 10 and pay the extra for the dining plan (unless it is free dining) and for the ticket (regardless of free dining). So it may not be worth the extra expense, and you may be better off paying out of pocket.

 

[Laketravis]

...What you often hear is parents of an 8 year old telling disney he is 10 and buying adult park passes so that the child can have the adult free dining.

That's exactly what I did on our last free dining booking; I put our 9 year old down as 10, paid the price for adult tickets but he should now be able to order off the "big boy" menu.

 

[freckles04]

On our first trip my DS was 8 and I paid for the dining plan (I now know better and only get the DDP if it's free). He was miserable with the children's menu and I ended up switching meals with him for most of the trip. The exception was buffets where he could eat whatever he wanted, but we only did a few of those.

Next trip he was 9 and we didn't do the dining plan. He loved being able to order what he wanted and I still came out ahead money-wise.

I would suggest either skipping the dining plan or making your son 10 on the reservation. You will have to buy him an adult ticket then so you'd lose even more money on the dining plan.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

As far as TS options go, you can book mostly buffets and he can eat whatever he wants. The cost difference between the kids' DDP price and the adult DDP price per day would allow you to pay OOP for several entrees or appetizers for him.

For CS, I haven't used the DDP since MagicBands were implemented, but we had a similar issue when our oldest was almost 9 and definitely wanted more than the kids' meal offerings many times. We would either have him get the kids' meal and supplement with an extra snack or side (side salad, corndog from a cart, baked potato from the market by Hall of Presidents, etc) OR, since the CS credits were not tracked by adult/child, my husband and I would go through the line separately, one of us getting 2 adult CS meals and the other getting 1 adult meal and 1 child meal (for our younger son). Yes, I know that was breaking the rules, but we only did it a couple of times, mostly when our son wanted a burger and it wasn't offered on the kids' menu. I don't know if they still lump the CS credits together and do not differentiate, but it worked for us several years ago.

Now that our oldest is definitely a "Disney adult" we have quit getting the DDP - it doesn't make sense for us.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

On a multi-day ticket, the difference between the child and adult tickets isn't much. It's about $20 or so. That's why it's worthwhile to do so on free dining. There's a big difference between the cost of the adult DP and the child DP, though, so if you are paying for the plan make sure it's really what your kid wants. If you're going to do lots of buffets or fixed price meals, there's no sense upgrading your kid because everybody gets the same food at those. Considering the cost of the adult DDP compared to the child DDP I will hazard a guess that it might even cost less to supplement the child's quick service meals by paying cash for extra food than it would be to switch to the adult plan if you're doing a lot of fixed price TS.

 

[ibela]

Look through the menus at places you're considering booking. There are plenty of options that don't include chicken nuggets. Ex. BOG there's a steak on the menu (granted, small). Coral Reef my kids had grilled chicken and grilled salmon. Etc. If it's 1 or 2 meals, you should be able to find the right places. If it's the majority of your meals, dining plan probably isn't right for your family.

ETA: My dd8 is a hearty eater and was always satisfied. Between snacks, etc. and the dessert with the meal it was enough. But each kid is different. I only added because I had the same concern going in. And many of the adult portions are quite large so sometimes I'd just let her try some food from me so would give her a piece, etc.

 

[NC Disney Fan]

I didn't read everyone's comment but we realized after a couple of years on the free dining plan that for your counter service, it does not specify children's. You could order any counter service. Maybe it is a glitch but they don't record it as differentiated between the two. So, you could place the order for him and just order what you all want. A counter service appears to be just a counter service! Sometime, he may want children's but you can really order any counter service.

Obviously this is not true of the tables service. And we had the same problem for years with the kids getting sick of the same old, same old. Before we realized the aforementioned, i would gladly give over some of my food as it is always so much.

 

[Random Ninja]

I didn't read everyone's comment but we realized after a couple of years on the free dining plan that for your counter service, it does not specify children's. You could order any counter service. Maybe it is a glitch but they don't record it as differentiated between the two. So, you could place the order for him and just order what you all want. A counter service appears to be just a counter service! Sometime, he may want children's but you can really order any counter service. Obviously this is not true of the tables service. And we had the same problem for years with the kids getting sick of the same old, same old. Before we realized the aforementioned, i would gladly give over some of my food as it is always so much.

The QS credits are set up that way because not every location has a kids' menu, however, the plan specifically states that children MUST order from the kids' menu where available. The cms are not supposed to let you use more credits then what you have listed on your reservation.

 

[maxiesmom]

I didn't read everyone's comment but we realized after a couple of years on the free dining plan that for your counter service, it does not specify children's. You could order any counter service. Maybe it is a glitch but they don't record it as differentiated between the two. So, you could place the order for him and just order what you all want. A counter service appears to be just a counter service! Sometime, he may want children's but you can really order any counter service.

No, you really can't. When using a child's credit, if there is a child's menu available you need to order off of the child's menu. That is spelled out by Disney in the terms of the dining plan.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

No, you really can't. When using a child's credit, if there is a child's menu available you need to order off of the child's menu. That is spelled out by Disney in the terms of the dining plan.

Say if you have 2 adults and 2 children on the plan. I can go up and buy two adult CS meals. DH can go up in a different line and also buy 2 adult CS meals.

There are ways around it but IMO too much work. I'd rather just pay OOP.

 

[maxiesmom]

Say if you have 2 adults and 2 children on the plan. I can go up and buy two adult CS meals. DH can go up in a different line and also buy 2 adult CS meals.

There are ways around it but IMO too much work. I'd rather just pay OOP.

Working around something is not the same as it being allowed. Many people work around the fact that only 4 guests are allowed in the value resorts. Many people work around the age that you can get a child in for free. Doesn't make it right.