Disney Dining Ages ... am I the only one who thinks this is nuts?

[CathrynRose]

You know - I had read about the new "age bracket" for adults versus children in Disney restaurants ( 10 & over = adult ) and I was a bit miffed at first, but just kinda rolled my eyes about it.

But the more I think about it - it's really irritating. The thought of spending $30+ dollars on my 10 y/o at a character meal is CRAZY! Just crazy! Especially for my 10 y/o who does eat anything but mac & cheese... no chicken nuggets, no pizza... mac & cheese.

And the feedback Im reading, is apparently many of the full-service restaurants are also not allowing a "10 year old adult" to order off the child's menu (or charging double, for the same portion, if they choose to do so)

I dont think this is too cool - at all! I re-thinking many of our table service, and buffet meals - thinking I can not justify paying THAT much for mac & cheese.

Im looking for your guy's opinion.

 

[Nancy]

I don't even eat $30.00 worth of food at a meal! But I realize for me I am paying for the characters time and the atmosphere.

Disney has pretty much priced themselves out of a vacation spot for my family to go to on a regular basis. With 5 we have to stay in the more expensive resorts...or go off site. (we go off site) I wanted to do Hoop De Doo with my family last time we were there but couldn't justify spending over 250.00 for one meal. My youngest was 11 at that time and we still had child price for her.

10 IMO is quite young to have to pay for an adult meal...youngest is now 13, she still orders kids meals at most places and can't eat it all. She still can't finish a regular Happy Meal from McDonalds!

 

[FreshTressa]

And that is why we live on bananas and nutri-grain bars when at Disney.

 

[TEENEE]

I agree, I don't know many 10 year olds that eat as much as an adult. At that age some kids meals are too small. I think the best solution would be for some sort of a junior menu. Larger portions than kids meal but not quite as much as an adult meal. The menu could be a combination of kids choices and some adult choices. Are ya listening Disney?

 

[DVCLiz]

I think there are two issue here. First, the charge for a character meal is not only for the food, but also for the entertainment value. You just have to look at it from that perspective to decide if the cost is something you can comfortably spend.

Second, and I don't mean to hurt your feelings or disparage your dear son, but a 10 year old who will only eat mac and cheese is probably not a good candidate for ANY expensive restaurant at WDW, and it's not really fair to make them fit your standards. What you're looking for is a meal, with entertainemnt, that allows you to cater to your child's particular whims. That's a lot to ask of a WDW experience other than a counter service restaurant. The cost reflects customers that will choose a variety of foods, and a mac and cheese only customer will never get good value.

It's Disney's right to charge what the market will bear, and there are plenty of other opportunities to interact with the characters. If the food situation dictates your decision, then I think the best thing for you to do is plan to meet the characters elsewhere and stir up your own mac and cheese!!

 

[Magickndm]

I have to agree with DVCLiz, you pay more when you're doing a character meal.

 

[CathrynRose]

Second, and I don't mean to hurt your feelings or disparage your dear son, but a 10 year old who will only eat mac and cheese is probably not a good candidate for ANY expensive restaurant at WDW, and it's not really fair to make them fit your standards. What you're looking for is a meal, with entertainemnt, that allows you to cater to your child's particular whims. That's a lot to ask of a WDW experience other than a counter service restaurant. The cost reflects customers that will choose a variety of foods, and a mac and cheese only customer will never get good value.

I understand - but the thing is this - I didnt / dont mind spending a child's price (even if it is higher then a 99 cent box of mac and cheese at home) to enjoy the atmosphere and sit-down entertainment, and relaxation of a meal.

I have a problem spending $30 on it.

And most all table service restaurants offer many children's selections, such as mac & cheese, hamburgers, etc - but those arent on the adult menu. Charging double for the same portion? Why? Again, I'd be totally okay with spending *too much* on an adult size portion of mac & cheese - or a hamburger (he eats those too)... .but not a kids portion. KWIM?

Although I realize youre paying for the atmosphere and entertainment, you cannot justify to me that even a "normal" 10 y/o eats as much as me, you, your husband, etc.... or any average adult. Thirty bucks... I mean, seriously -think about it.

I also feel the "junior" pricing should come into play.

 

[Marseeya]

I totally agree with you. I don't know too many 10 year olds who eat like an adult. My DD will probably eat off the child's menu, and we'll either lose money by having to use her adult-priced credit for paying for it, or we can hope that they'll let us pay for a child's meal out of pocket.

For the most part I'm just not going to sweat it. I'll let her get whatever she wants, whether it's from the adult menu or kids' menu.

 

[cardaway]

It's also a capacity issue. At some poitn they have to start charging people the adult rate. 10yo sounds about right to me.

 

[KimR]

Although Disney's policy is that children over (10?) years old cannot order off the children's menu, I have never seen that enforced. Last year my then 12-year-old ordered off the children's menu on occasion and the waiters never had a problem with it. Even my 17-year-old nephew ordered from the child's menu once or twice. The waiters were always happy to accomodate us.

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

ITA that there should be a junior pricing, or something more graduated. When we were there with the whole family last, my DD was 8 and didn't eat $30 of food ALL WEEK!

You are paying for the entertainment with the character meals, and we decided to pick one, and just bite the bullet and do it, knowing what it cost our family of 6 at the time would buy groceries at home for several days!
We don't have the budget to afford a Disney vacation very often, but we try to do a few really special things. One character meal and one sit down meal in a nicer place were what we chose, then the rest of the time we mostly did counter service, lots of snacks brought from home etc.

When DH and I went on our anniversary trip, wow was that nice to eat in real restaurants and leisurely enjoy it!

 

[Christine]

We went last summer when the dining plan and just started and my son was 10. DD and her friend were 14. We didn't *do* the dining plan and they may have influenced what we could order, but the restaurants had no problem letting my kids order off the children's menu--even though two of them were 14. Maybe if we had been on the dining plan they would not have allowed it.

What we did curb was our usual buffet type meals. It just was too expensive with 3 kids who preferred all the kids buffet items. I had a hard time paying $26.00 per person for them to enjoy their chicken tenders.

We stuck to table service places and they ordered kids meals.

 

[HayGan]

I would just tell the server that you are paying out of pocket for your son and then use the credits saved for an additional meal for the rest of your family. You could likely enjoy a few more TS meals (or even a signature meal or two) by using the credits this way.

I agree that the pricing should be changed but it unlikely to happen.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

My 12yo son eats a lot of food, so for me it's not that I have a problem paying for him, but the problem is that he is very picky, so I would never get the dining plan on a trip that he was going on, or I would be prepared to pay out of pocket for the table serve (non buffet) meals that we would eat because he would be ordering off the kids menu. Or he would order the appetizer and would be sharing a credit. As long as they still allowed the sharing of the credits then it would be ok I think. But he's such a picky eater that I think I would prefer to just skip the dining plan and keep some food in the room so he can eat when he gets back to the room if he's having a picky day. His eating drives me crazy and I refuse to cater to it, so he can pick at his food and make a PB&J back at the room...

 

[CathrynRose]

I dont know if I made myself clear - Im not doing any dining plan.

This is just straight up - paying for the meals.

Either way - he's charged as an adult.

 

[Poohgirl]

Yes, I think the ages are a bit low and it is unfair to many that have children who are picky/small eaters. I have 2 growing boys (8),(9) fortunately for me when they turn ten it is not something that I will need to worry about. They are small, but they eat HUGE! Right now the plan is a steal for them at age 10, Disney will still be losing money!

 

[Hannathy]

I think the real problem and why they went to 10 is how often people cheat the system. Ie my 10 yr old looks 9 so I'm paying kids admission, I'll keep my 3 yr old in the stroler so he looks 2 , I paid for kids food credit but I'll use it for an adult and buy my kid something. I think they set it so low to try and stem some of this. It is low and it annoys me and other honest people but I understand it.

 

[Mishetta]

We have the same issues as you. We went to WDW for Christmas & we LOVE O'Hana's. We eat there once or twice each time we go (we make two trips per year to WDW.) Well, due to their pricing policy of charging my 10 y/o the same as us ($27) for a meal, we won't be returning for a very long time. We always play by the rules & altho he looks younger, we probably could have gotten away with saying he was younger but we didn't. So we sucked it up & paid $27 for my DS to eat 3 bites of a piece of steak.

Nope, we won't be doing that again. We have started to eat offsite a little more & more each trip & for the parks, we bring lots of easy carry snack stuff to get us through.

I will admit, I will miss our dinners at O'hanas very much but I just can't see spending that much for a kid who doesn't eat. My 4 y/o ate a little more than 3 bites & we paid about $12 for him. It was quite an expensive dinner. I don't think it's fair but with supply/demand, there is no amount of complaining that a few people can do to change their pricing policy. I saw tons of kids having dinner there. I guess there are lots of people who can afford & don't mind paying that much for a kid's dinner but we're not one of them.

 

[Quasi123]

CathrynRose I agree with you. Seems like just another way to get more money out of us. This has caused a big change in where we eat now.

 

[luv2nascar]

I agree a junior priced menu would be great if Disney is listening. As a mom to a not quite 11 year old. Most restaurants allow at least up to 12 yrs old to order off the kids menu. I agree my almost 11 yr old is not the same as my almost 3 yr old but Disney does not offer anything in between.

First suites at the all stars maybe meal changes on the way too??? Can hope. Competitors some times make you do strange things.