Free dining with Children age 2

[chskover]

I have done the Disney Dining plan, but never with 2 yr olds. Will they be able to eat off our plates or do we get to order them meals? Will I have to pay for their meal? I did get a PIN for the Free Dining.

 

[jcarwash]

Under 3 will need to eat off your plate as they will not have their own dining plan credits. If you want to get them their own food you will need to buy it OOP.

But in my experience having to share with a child this young worked out fine. In particular visiting a buffet with your dining plan (if you have the regular plan with table service credits) works out well in this mode. You're allowed to get whatever you want for your child.

 

[smiths02]

In our experience, at CS locations and a la carte TS, the child has to eat off your plate or you can order a meal for them and pay out of pocket.

For buffets, you can make the child his/her own plate of anything and not be charged. At buffets, we were universally offered a drink free of charge for our son when he was under 3 (they also brought out several cupcakes for him during our trip since he was turning 3 on the trip)

At Ohana, at least, which is AYCE served family style, our son was welcome to eat any of the standard offerings BUT they also offered to bring him some kid fare (chicken nuggets) and didn't charge. [Other DISers have reported that places like CRT will offer something for the little ones.]

 

[smiths02]

Since it is free dining, you can also list their age as 3, and they would be entitled to child dining credits.

However, problems could arise with this in terms of (1) you almost always have to buy them park tickets depending on the terms of your pin (2) you may come upon room occupancy limits (3) you may have to pay larger tips especially at places like character buffets where instead of being free, they would now be charged-and the charge wouldn't matter b/c they would have dining credits, but it would increase your total "bill" which would increase suggested tip (4) If you were upgrading your free dining (say you were entitled to QSDP at a value but upgraded to DDP), you would then have to pay the upgrade cost (which isn't that much per night for a child, but still something to consider)

We didn't get free dining when we went with my son. He turned 3 on the trip. We had regular DDP with 4 adults (grandma and grandpa, me and DH) and DS. We had PLENTY of food. Of course, we did Ohana dinner, Boma dinner (all you can eat) and some character buffets (Tusker House, Chef Mickey, Crystal Palace)

 

[Stasieki]

A few places offered our 2 year old extra. Usually past with butter.