do you HAVE to buy a kids plan with DDP?

[kacaju]

my dd will be 7 1/2 years when we go to Disney this year. We are going Labor day weekend through the first week in Sept.
Of course free dining would be great, and I realize if they have it I would probably HAVE to put her on the kids meal (or ask if I can pay the difference). But if we have to pay for it, can I *upgrade* her to the adult plan?
I don't mind spending the extra money for it. After reading many threads here about the limited choices on the kids meal I know there is no way she will want to eat that food if the 4 of us are dining on much better stuff.
She never orders from the kids menu at home, I don't expect her to want to do it on vacation.
Thanks, Tina

 

[patsal]

First, remember that when you pay to upgrade to adult on the DDP you also pay to upgrade the ticket for admission. That is a considerable difference and I doubt that it would be worth the expense. Here's why I think that:
Many CS offer the same menu to adults an d children--you just have to seek them out a bit. Planning will help you to avoid any issues here. Paying for just an extra entree should be around $5.00 at CS the price difference between the adult DDP and child's DDP is much greater than that.

At buffets your child will eb able to eat anything that is offered there.

The nicer restaurants have children's portions of hte adult foods still--coral reef, le cellier, etc. Your child will be able to share your appetizer, a bit of your entree, etc. you'll find there is more than enough food. If not, opting to pay OOP for a few items will still be greatly less than the upgrade.

Look at hte menus and plan accordingly I think you wil be surprised. For all the complaining, with a littel effort there are many good choices available. I do agree that the sugar free jello is an issue and one you should be able to deal with at each CS--"I don't allow my child to eat aspertame, what ohter alternative do you have? I'm doubtful that most places would have an issue with this.

 

[kacaju]

wow, I didn't realize I had to upgrade her ticket too! Thanks.
I will go take a good look at the different menu's, it sounds like we should be OK if I do a lot of planning first!

 

[Katiebell]

The difference in cost between adults and kids is $28 per day! You can buy quite a few extras to make her happy for a lot less than that $28 a day

 

[MarylandMommy]

You can also consider having her use her snack credit (or even yours, if you wish) to get some extras. I was pleasantly suprised to find ALL of the things that qualify for snack credits. Take a look at the "sticky" at the top of the DDP board.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I am facing the same issue as you, me , dh ,and dss 11 will be eating all of that yummy food, and my 3dds will have other less tempting choices. all of the TSs offer good choices for kids, it's just the cs's that are hard.

1 day we are going to eat our cs at the intermission food court at asmo, were we are staying.
In mgm we are eating at pizza planet, we'll all get pizza
In magic kingdom we are eating at casey's corner, hot dogs and fries for everyone. I really wanted to eat at cosmic rays in MK, the adult menu makes me drool, but the kids menu is horrible, i think they offer chilled chicken salad? with a choice of grapes or carrots. Or mini corn dogs
Now DTD has alot of good choices , we are going to eat at wolfang puck express, there menu looks great!
So just look over the menu choices you'll find some decent ones.
And hopefully the menu will change for the kids soon!!!!!!

 

[Katiebell]

Check out the kids' CS menus in Epcot. Many of the CS places have more interesting ethnic choices like a beef burrito, sweet and sour chicken, teriyaki chicken, egg roll and beef fried rice... Sunshine Seasons and Tangierine have several different kids' menu items -- Tangierine even has pizza and the almost-impossible-to-find kids' burger!

In DTD, as the PP mentioned I have also heard that WPE has good kids' choices, as well as EOS, and Food Quest if you happen to be in Disney Quest (DQ admission is required).

In MK you might also try Main Street Bakery if you are looking for CS that doesn't have a separate children's menu.

 

[dismomma]

This may or may not help but this board has been so informative to me I want to try and help.
We went back in Sept. of 2006. I planned, and planned, and planned, and planned, and planned some more--- I paid the child price for my son because he was 10. I was prepared at every place we ate to pay any difference we needed to be able to order off the grown up menu for him- and you know what? They never asked me once to pay any differnce and not once questioned his ordering. The card they give you when you check into your hotel just has how many credits you have- Not Adult or children - Just credits altogether. I guess if you have a 3 year old trying to order filet mignon- they might question- but my 10 year old just wanted the basic kid foods you find anywhere else- like chicken tenders- burger- small steak- things on normal kids menus. So I know when I go back in Nov. of this year- I will not agonize at all and just be prepared to pay a little extra if needed when we bring my 8 year old neice with us. My son will have graduated naturally to the adult menu by then. Have a GREAT TIME!! The folks at Disney made our trip sooooooooooo easy.

 

[Allison]

This may or may not help but this board has been so informative to me I want to try and help.
We went back in Sept. of 2006. I planned, and planned, and planned, and planned, and planned some more--- I paid the child price for my son because he was 10. I was prepared at every place we ate to pay any difference we needed to be able to order off the grown up menu for him- and you know what? They never asked me once to pay any differnce and not once questioned his ordering. The card they give you when you check into your hotel just has how many credits you have- Not Adult or children - Just credits altogether. I guess if you have a 3 year old trying to order filet mignon- they might question- but my 10 year old just wanted the basic kid foods you find anywhere else- like chicken tenders- burger- small steak- things on normal kids menus. So I know when I go back in Nov. of this year- I will not agonize at all and just be prepared to pay a little extra if needed when we bring my 8 year old neice with us. My son will have graduated naturally to the adult menu by then. Have a GREAT TIME!! The folks at Disney made our trip sooooooooooo easy.

A 10 year old pays the adult price.

Child pricing is 3-9.

The credits are definitely separated in 2007.

 

[gigi1313]

we had a similar dilemma as the OP... what we typically did was order ds a kids' meal of his liking and then allow him to select either mine or dh or dd's appetizer... it gave him some variety, kept us from having way too much food on the table (4 appies, 4 entrees, 4 sides, and 4 desserts were just too much!), and saved us money... also, sometimes dd and ds would switch menus, her (over 10yo) ordering/eating his kids' meal and him (9yo at the time) ordering/eating her adult meal... win/win/win