Disney Dining Plan with Children

[bduncmi]

We have 2 children ages 6 & 8. We have the Disney Dining Plan & will be eating at California Grill. Can we use our dining points for just the adults (4 total) & pay out of pocket for the children's meals?? Will this work at all table service restaurants?? Thanks!!

 

[SteveMouse]

Yup! Just tell your waiter.

Have a nice vacation!

 

[bduncmi]

Yup! Just tell your waiter.

Have a nice vacation!

Thank you!!

 

[supersnoop]

We have 2 children ages 6 & 8. We have the Disney Dining Plan & will be eating at California Grill. Can we use our dining points for just the adults (4 total) & pay out of pocket for the children's meals?? Will this work at all table service restaurants?? Thanks!!

Yes, but...

What do you plan to do with the left over child table service credits?

 

[bduncmi]

Yes, but...

What do you plan to do with the left over child table service credits?

We will use them at other TS locations give us more value per point. Spending 2 table service credits/child when out of pocket will cost us around $20/child just doesn't make sense to me. The adults can actually eat/spend enough to make it worthwhile to use the table service credits. Does this make sense?? It's my first trip with the kids, so trying to figure it all out before we go...

 

[DisBuckMan]

We will use them at other TS locations give us more value per point. Spending 2 table service credits/child when out of pocket will cost us around $20/child just doesn't make sense to me. The adults can actually eat/spend enough to make it worthwhile to use the table service credits. Does this make sense?? It's my first trip with the kids, so trying to figure it all out before we go...

It makes sense if you have two other out of pocket TS meals for the adults so the kids will be able to use them there.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

It's important to remember that for the regular DDP, you can't use child TS credits on an adult meal elsewhere. They can only be used for the kids.

 

[elaine amj]

We will use them at other TS locations give us more value per point. Spending 2 table service credits/child when out of pocket will cost us around $20/child just doesn't make sense to me. The adults can actually eat/spend enough to make it worthwhile to use the table service credits. Does this make sense?? It's my first trip with the kids, so trying to figure it all out before we go...

I totally understand - but you must also have a plan for what to do with the 4 extra child TS credits. You can either:
- go somewhere and have just the kids eat. We did that one trip. We adults grabbed QS sushi and the kids ate at Chefs de France.
- pay OOP for adults to eat somewhere you can use the kids TS credits. This could end up being more expensive for u in the long run. Plus if it is your first trip, consider how much park time you are giving up to squeeze more value out of your credits.

For us, we often shared credits to get extra meals. Eg 2 kids meals and 1 adults meal at a restaurant. Over the course of our 12 night trip, we had enough credits for 2-3 extra meals. And we were constantly stuffed.

Have fun - I get a lot of amusement out of figuring out dining credits.

 

[bduncmi]

Beginning to think Deluxe Dining might be better option...we have 11 TS meals...staying 7 nights/ 8 days. Out of those TS reservations, four are 2 TS credit restaurants...CRT, Cali Grill, Brown Derby Fantasmic, & Hoop Dee Doo. Does Disney categorize child & adult TS meals with the Deluxe Dining Package like they do the the Standard Dining Package?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Faldred]

DxDP meal credits are pooled, not split adult/child. That said, if you try to order 3 meals with 2A/2C in the party, they may require one of those meals to be a kid's meal.

 

[bduncmi]

DxDP meal credits are pooled, not split adult/child. That said, if you try to order 3 meals with 2A/2C in the party, they may require one of those meals to be a kid's meal.

We would probably order 4 meals with 1 being a kid's meal...would this most likely be OK??

 

[Faldred]

If you're using Deluxe credits to order for children, they can require that the children order from the kid's menu.

 

[sharonabe]

Beginning to think Deluxe Dining might be better option...we have 11 TS meals...staying 7 nights/ 8 days. Out of those TS reservations, four are 2 TS credit restaurants...CRT, Cali Grill, Brown Derby Fantasmic, & Hoop Dee Doo. Does Disney categorize child & adult TS meals with the Deluxe Dining Package like they do the the Standard Dining Package?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

You need to sit down and do some math. Assume that the kids will have to order kid's meals at all locations. That may not be the way it plays out, but for the math, you need to do it that way to avoid charges you're not expecting. Even with your 2 credit TS meals, you're still short 6 meals for the DxDDP, and you will probably lose money if you don't find a way to make those TS meals. Adding in 6 more meals is going to cut into your park time, so at least consider that.

Personally, I would begin by putting down the set price cost meals for everyone. You can find those prices on a sticky at the top of this board. Then head to the a la carte menus and choose what you think you might WANT to eat: don't look at the prices and don't "order" according to what the plans give you. If the kids will want an adult entree, use that for your calculations. Add in the snacks you WANT and then do a total. You may find you can do OOP cheaper than any of the plans. With two kids, you are in the sweet spot for the DDP to work, but you have too many meals for it to work well.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

We would probably order 4 meals with 1 being a kid's meal...would this most likely be OK??

No, if they are under 10, they have to order a kids meal.

 

[GillianP1301]

On the deluxe dining plan, my 8 yo was able to order from the adult meal at every restaurant we wanted to do so. There was an exception at Tony's because I had ordered it as a parade/meal combo and that went through as a child, so regardless of the deluxe plan, he had to order from the kids menu. But everywhere else, no issues including his $55 steak at Yachtsman.

I have heard that non Disney owned restaurants don't allow this to happen, but I have not experienced that yet myself.

 

[Nancyg56]

No, if they are under 10, they have to order a kids meal.

On the dxddp the credits are all pooled and in most restaurants you can use them however you choose. My girls ordered adult meals just about everywhere.

Op/ do the math. The price for kids is relatively inexpensive so if you plan on appetizers and signature dining, the cost may work in your favor.

 

[sharonabe]

On the dxddp the credits are all pooled and in most restaurants you can use them however you choose. My girls ordered adult meals just about everywhere.

Op/ do the math. The price for kids is relatively inexpensive so if you plan on appetizers and signature dining, the cost may work in your favor.

There have been a few very recent posts where the kids had to order off the kid's menu even when using the DxDDP. In each case, it was the family all eating together and ordering, so the restaurant "knew" they had paid for 2A/2C (for example). So they may finally be cracking down on this some. However, if you're in two rooms and sharing credits, and only ordering for the adults, they don't seem to be able to say "kid's must order from the kid's menu." Since you can now share credits, and DxDDP is pooled, they are still "allowing" this way of using kid's credits for adult meals.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

On the dxddp the credits are all pooled and in most restaurants you can use them however you choose. My girls ordered adult meals just about everywhere.

Op/ do the math. The price for kids is relatively inexpensive so if you plan on appetizers and signature dining, the cost may work in your favor.

As a PP said, not so much anymore. If a child's age is listed as under 10 and they are using ANY kind of dining credit, they are supposed to order a kids meal, and they are definitely enforcing that more consistently, even with DxDDP.The way around that would be to age the child up, pay for an adult ticket, and adult DDP then their listed age is over 10.

 

[Nancyg56]

As a PP said, not so much anymore. If a child's age is listed as under 10 and they are using ANY kind of dining credit, they are supposed to order a kids meal, and they are definitely enforcing that more consistently, even with DxDDP.The way around that would be to age the child up, pay for an adult ticket, and adult DDP then their listed age is over 10.

We never planned on it, but if the girls wanted something and it was allowed, we let them order. I always figured the needed to order from the kids meals, and anything else was just a gift.

 

[bduncmi]

Thanks everyone for your responses! I decided to go with the DxDDP. Even with a few TS credits unused, it seemed to have a slight advantage over the standard DDP due to the flexibility of the TS/CS points being pooled together rather than separated out. As for having a child order an adult meal...I will report back with my experience. We leave for Disney in less than 2 weeks!!