Dining Plan

[DW mouser]

Can older children order off the children's menu on the dining plan? I'm thinking that I need to figure what our trip would be without it. It sounded so good but I looked at some of the menu's at places we want to eat, and even the 2 older kids would rather eat off the children's menu. I'm also thinking there might be lots of wasted food since none of us are big eater's. What are some of you people's thought's that have used the dining plan? We're staying at Port Orleans and there are 7 of us, 3 kids ages 17, 14, 7. I kind of got talked into the package deal by the disney travel agent, but I'm thinking I might save money the other way. My grandkids will love the food court and would rather eat that kind of food!