Dining Plan for child under 3

[kaytieedid]

We are taking a 10 day trip to Disney in October. At the time of travel, our children will be 4 yrs old and 2 yrs old. I know that you can't add the dining plan for children under 3. I could see why they don't want you saying a 3 year old is 2 so you don't have to buy a hopper, but don't get why you can't purchase something extra. Does anyone know a particular reason Disney has this rule? (We have AP's so purchasing a hopper wouldn't be an issue in our case, we just add the meal plan)
thanks

 

[drusba]

I assume it just has to do with the fact that at all the buffet restaurants, children under 3 eat free and many who have dining plans have a lot of their meals at buffets. Note if you may want to consider skipping dining plans altogether and probably ultimately spend less than if you purchased dining plans, you could buy the Tables in Wonderland card that AP cardholders can buy, which gives you a 20% discount at almost all restaurants for both food and beverages (including alcohol)

 

[raenyny]

Just curious...Does your 4 year old finish his meal...Mine doesn't...In fact I always feel foolish that we have so much dining plan with the kids..we do a lot of buffets so when my little one was under 3 which is recent he was free...everywhere else he shared a meal..there was always plenty and when you eat at a sit down restaurant they will split it for you before they bring it to the table so the kids don't even realize it

 

[dianeschlicht]

I assume it just has to do with the fact that at all the buffet restaurants, children under 3 eat free and many who have dining plans have a lot of their meals at buffets. Note if you may want to consider skipping dining plans altogether and probably ultimately spend less than if you purchased dining plans, you could buy the Tables in Wonderland card that AP cardholders can buy, which gives you a 20% discount at almost all restaurants for both food and beverages (including alcohol)

I agree with this post. We find we spend far less using the TIW card and paying out of pocket than we do with the dining plan.

 

[kaytieedid]

Thank you everyone for your replies...

My 4 year old is a pretty good eater usually finishing his meal but my 2 year old eats the most. He would finish his plate and his older brothers too!!

We do have the TIW card and after going through our restaurants, meals etc I think it would be cheaper for us to skip the dining plan this time. I like the idea of having everything "pre paid" but someone mentioned on here getting a gift card. I will put our meal money on in and use it just like we would our room keys for the dining plan. I hate the idea of using our bank card or carrying cash all of the time - I lose track and tend to spend more than I should.

 

[5forDiz]

We are taking a 10 day trip to Disney in October. At the time of travel, our children will be 4 yrs old and 2 yrs old. I know that you can't add the dining plan for children under 3. I could see why they don't want you saying a 3 year old is 2 so you don't have to buy a hopper, but don't get why you can't purchase something extra. Does anyone know a particular reason Disney has this rule? (We have AP's so purchasing a hopper wouldn't be an issue in our case, we just add the meal plan)
thanks

From what I was told by friends who were hoping to purchase dining plan for their 2 year old, the child needs to be listed as 3yrs or older in order to purchase dining plan and in doing so that then requires a park pass to be purchased for the child -- there needs to be a 'link' of dining plan to park pass or AP per person. If your child is 2yrs it probably makes sense $ to just pay OOP if this child wants their own kids meal OR list the child as 3yrs and purchase them dining plan + park pass.

Good luck with your planning

 

[quandrea]

I agree with this post. We find we spend far less using the TIW card and paying out of pocket than we do with the dining plan.

We just got back. we are a family of 5 (dd 6 and dd, ds 18m). Our toddlers eat an enormous amount of food. We always have to buy them a meal, which they finish and then they eat dd plate! Even with that, we only spent $646 on food over a week using the TIW card. That is roughly a 300 dollar savings over the dining plan, not taking into account the food we bought for the babies. We also ate at two signature restaurants and more than one table service some days. Do keep in mind that we ate breakfast in the room every day. I'd go for the TIW card; I'm not a fan of the dining plan. We got to have apps when we wanted and had dessert when we wanted. The ddp has way to much dessert and little flexibility.

 

[TDC Nala]

You can register your 2 year old as 3. There's no rule against that to my knowledge. On packages you'd have to buy the kid a park pass though, because as far as Disney is concerned, that child is 3. On a DVC reservation you aren't required to have tickets as part of the reservation, but if upping that child's age to 3 means you exceed room capacity, you won't be able to do it. Then you've also got the kid in the system as being older than they really are, and I don't really know the possible future ramifications of that.

Besides, children under 3 are free at all buffets and fixed price meals. If you do lots of those you don't need a dining plan. If you do even some of those it might cost you less to buy a couple of kids meals for the baby than it would to pay a nightly DDP for them.