Does my 11 yr old DD have to pay adult prices at buffets?

[lor]

HI ,

Going in Feb and trying to plan our restaurants

Our 11 year old daughter is not a big eater, and abit picky. We are not doing the dining plan,( too much food) but my question is this,,on the bigger buffets, ie like Boma's,will she still be charged the adult buffet price because she is 11?? she wont eat that much I know with the table service we can get by ordering and sharing etc, but at the buffets are they strict with the 9 and underprice for kids, if so we may skip the buffets,and just do the table service restaurants.

thanks Lauren

 

[BillSears]

Yep she'll have to pay the adult prices. It's the same price for all "adults" no matter how much you eat. The 400 pound competitive eater would pay the same as the 110 pound teenager who is watching her weight.

 

[Amy&Dan]

At buffets yes, she must pay full price. If your daughter looks at all like an 11year old, the cm's may very well ask her how old she is if you try to get her in as a 9 year old. Which I am not at all saying you were thinking of doing, I just know that I have at times thought of doing that myself with my kids!

I think this whole thing stinks by the way! I have a 12 year old daughter and paying that much for her to eat a few chicken nuggets, some strawberries and a cookie is the reason we do very few buffets anymore.

Now at regular restaurants with a menu, you can have her order a kids meal no problem. I do that all the time. Or you can have her share with you. But at the buffets, its full priced for everyone over 9.

I wish Disney would come up with some junior pricing level for kids that are say 9-13. My son now 14 really gets our money's worth, but that just started recently.

 

[lor]

Well I wouldn't try and pass her off as a 9 year old,( she'd be insulted) but i agree paying the adult price at a buffet for a few chicken nuggets, yikes. Looks like the regular restaurants with a menu would be the way to go she can just order what she wants and perhaps share abit with us. Now I just have to figure out which restaurants!

 

[disnut8]

Yes, she will be charged the adults prices. It's very difficult to come up with any way to make everyone happy with charging child prices versus adult prices. One eleven year old might not eat as much as an average 11 year old but the next one will be more than normal. Same thing with adults.

Each person has to figure out if buffets are a good choice for a meal or not.

 

[The Hendies]

Somehow I felt the same way about our 115 pound vegetarian DD. Salad, a few raw veggies, rice and maybe a dessert. But what are you going to do?

 

[blanq]

Buffets are often not good choices for small eaters, whether you are at WDW or elsewhere, IMO. Unless of course, you don't mind paying $29.99 for some mac and cheese.

 

[ShellyLynn3630]

Yep she'll have to pay the adult prices. It's the same price for all "adults" no matter how much you eat. The 400 pound competitive eater would pay the same as the 110 pound teenager who is watching her weight.

Great example of how Disney makes thier money.

 

[cinderella97]

This is why my 11 year old is never going to go to another Disney Buffet. She doesn't eat but chicken nuggets and I refuse to pay that price for her.

 

[Tricia1972]

You may find in your case you'd be better off doing mostly regular TS restaurants.

Disney's buffets do charge by the age (as do most buffets everywhere), the main difference is that the prices are quite a bit higher at Disney - so paying the adult price just hurts a little more at Disney than anywhere else.

 

[CariAnn]

I am an overweight adult but a very light eater (just a junk food junkie). I would never pay OOP for a buffet or even for an adult meal at a table restaurant. My 15 y/o DD eats twice as much as I do. I constantly have waiters ask me why I didn't like my food. I did, there's just WAY TOO much!

 

[laceemouse]

We have the same problem, a tiny teen vegetarian and an 11 year old that eats like a bird. I also have two other teens that could eat a trucker under the table
That being said, you are also paying for the atmosphere and characters (if it is a character meal) at a Disney buffet, so we still enjoy them sometimes.

We often find breakfast is a better option. There is more food the kids like and it costs less. Plus, if we do it as a brunch we don't need much else for the day.

 

[Stitchfans]

Buffets are often not good choices for small eaters, whether you are at WDW or elsewhere, IMO. Unless of course, you don't mind paying $29.99 for some mac and cheese.

Yeh, I agree but at least you get some one on one time with some characters. I suppose that is worth the extra money, at least to us it is. Cause even though DD is 14 she eats like a bird.

 

[bkfree]

Well, here is what we did a few times at WDW on our last trip.
My son,8, was a very picky eater and he is also ASD. But me, DH and DD did not want to just eat at places that catered to him. So to a few TS and TS Buffets, we brown bagged it for him. We stopped by a CS and grabbed a burger or nuggetts for him and took with us to our Dinner restaurant.
The CM were always great about this and seamlessly brought him a plate and drink. This made us all happy.
We have done this with and without the DDP.

 

[goofy4tink]

There is no one more picky than my now 15 y/o dd!!! We had one trip where she was considered a child for dining purposes. Then, when we returned two months later (got a fantastic airfare!!!) the ages had changed and she was now an adult!!! Now, she did not have a birthday, Disney changed the age for child vs adult dining.
We do one or two buffets each trip...usually Chef Mickeys and Crystal Palace. Those are our favorites and we get to spend time with the characters we favor, without having to wait in character greeting lines. Is it worth it, food wise?? No, it isn't. But, we look on it as the price of entertainment and convenience.

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, here is what we did a few times at WDW on our last trip.
My son,8, was a very picky eater and he is also ASD. But me, DH and DD did not want to just eat at places that catered to him. So to a few TS and TS Buffets, we brown bagged it for him. We stopped by a CS and grabbed a burger or nuggetts for him and took with us to our Dinner restaurant.
The CM were always great about this and seamlessly brought him a plate and drink. This made us all happy.
We have done this with and without the DDP.

Were you charged anything for your ds at the buffets? I ask because many have reported that everyone has to pay something...it's entertainment as well as food. Some had people in their party that weren't interested in eating but wanted to be there to see the kids and the character interaction.

 

[decker96]

I wish Disney would come up with some junior pricing level for kids that are say 9-13. My son now 14 really gets our money's worth, but that just started recently.

I agree, it would make so much more sense, especially since there is such a large difference between the adult pricing and the child pricing.

 

[DebbieB]

When I took my then 12 year old niece a couple of years ago, we did the dining plan and did the character meals but it killed me because she ate like a bird. At The Land, I had to ask for a kids meal for her because she did not like what was on the adult plate (but of course I had to pay for an adult). If I had to do it again, we would not have done the dining plan, I would have booked a couple character meals for the experience and the rest counter service.

 

[storybookmum]

Well, here is what we did a few times at WDW on our last trip.
My son,8, was a very picky eater and he is also ASD. But me, DH and DD did not want to just eat at places that catered to him. So to a few TS and TS Buffets, we brown bagged it for him. We stopped by a CS and grabbed a burger or nuggetts for him and took with us to our Dinner restaurant.
The CM were always great about this and seamlessly brought him a plate and drink. This made us all happy.
We have done this with and without the DDP.

That really surprises me - in a good way. I'm amazed that worked out for you.

 

[bkfree]

Were you charged anything for your ds at the buffets? I ask because many have reported that everyone has to pay something...it's entertainment as well as food. Some had people in their party that weren't interested in eating but wanted to be there to see the kids and the character interaction.

No, we were not charged anything for him and everyone was most accomodating to us. Could be that is because he is autistic, but he is high functioning and it is inititially invisable, until you try and talk to him or watch him for awhile. But I do not believe we had to volunteer this info to anyone.
I also do believe that it is different for a child within a family to bring his own food than an adult or two that want to come along for the show and not eat.
I think that would be looked upon differently. Since my husband and I and our daughter were paying. Frankly, other than our server, no one else even noticed. We did this on two trips when he was 6 and 8. The also did not charge us for his drink at the buffet. I do think his young age had a lot to do with it too.
The restaurants that we did this at were La Cellier, TS in China, Spoodles, Park Fare and Coral Reef. One other buffet , but I cannot remember which one.
Happily, he is now 9 1/2 and this trip will eat at all the restaurants.