How to fill up a 9yo boy-eats like a man!!

[jmworm]

First post!!
We are very excited to be taking our FOUR GRANDSONS to disney in Oct., but I'm worried about the 9 year old- he can eat as much as a man!
Any suggestions for how to fill him up on the DDP plan?
Secondly, how do you plan your ADRs - do you aim for the usual home dining time?
I'm having a terrible time trying to figure out when to go where, and where to eat- it was a heck of alot easier when it was just the 2 of us!!
Thanks in advance for any help - I LOVE thiese boards!!!
Jane

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

If filling him up is what you want, take advantage of the buffets and endless supply restaurants. Buffets include Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, 1900 Park Faire, Trail's End, Akershus, and others. Unlimited supply includes restaurants such as Whispering Canyon, Liberty Tree Tavern, Garden Grill, and others.

In other words, plan as few single serving TS meals as possible.

As far as time, it's entirely up to you and your park schedule. If you need to see Fantasmic, for instance, don't plan a meal at 1900 Park Faire. Rather, plan a meal at DHS, Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Club, or even Epcot. Other factors for us are how big of a lunch and what time we ate it. If we eat lunch at 1pm, it's not too smart to book a 5pm ADR for dinner. If you stay til close, or EMH, you'll be hungry again at midnight.

Good luck.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Take him to buffets and family-style all you can eat TS restaurants for your TS credits! Also, the kids' meal at the TS includes a small appetizer, so that may help.

Another thing you could do...for me personally, the kids' CS meal would be enough to fill me up. Granted, the choices are limited but you could usually find a burger, chicken nuggets or pizza someplace in the park. Perhaps one of the adults (if they have a smaller appetite) could eat the kids' meal for lunch and give the 9 y.o. their adult CS meal. I consider this for when my boys are older (they are only 2 and 4 right now so it is not an issue).

Utilize the snack credits as well. You could get lots of good things for snack credits.

We enjoy a TS dinner every night of our vacation, whether at Disney or any other place. So we schedule a TS dinner each night, we have a CS lunch each day and we fit in a couple of character breakfasts in addition and pay for those OOP. (We love breakfast buffets and they are so good at Disney!)

Another option of course is to go without the dining plan and then the 9 y.o. could order whatever he wants off the adult menu.

As far as time to eat, we stick to our regular breakfast time (in the room when they wake up or go right to a character breakfast), lunch time (between 11 and 12) and dinner time (between 5 and 6:30). Again, my kids are small. They were only 1 and 3 when we went last summer so we stuck as closely to their schedule as possible and we did not have a single meltdown on a 5-day trip. And we went to a park everyday. And for bedtime, I let my older son stay up to watch the fireworks we were able to see out our window that had started at Epcot at 9PM. After that we all went to bed.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[CathieArms]

1. The grandson: BUFFETS.

2. Dining times: I tend to make a late lunch reservation (1:30ish) and consider it dinner. Then we'll eat dinner later and it'll be more of a lunch.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I think timing depends in part on the age of the kids you have with you. Young kids can get pretty cranky if they're hungry, so I find it works better to plan to eat close to their usual meal times - if anything, a bit earlier rather than later because they'll be using up extra energy in their excitement!

Teresa

 

[webstah]

We had that problem with our 9 yo nephew.
We had the free dining offer, and his mother just paid the difference to put him on the adult plan.
He got to eat what the big boys eat.

 

[TDC Nala]

Yes, buffets. Lots of buffets, or all you can eat family style, or the all you can eat skillet at Whispering Canyon.

That, or pay to upgrade him to an "adult" but if you are on a package reservation, you will then have to buy him an adult park ticket.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Buffets is the best way to go for him b/c he can eat all he wants and there is a selection of food too inside of just ordering one thing.
We tend to eat early lunch compare at home b/c my son gets hungry early at Disney from walking around (plus I like to be one of the first one at a buffet b/c I feel the food is fresh...thats just me)
Then he gets snacks after lunch and we nap so we keep our dinner schedule the same as if we would eat at home.

 

[Pirate Me]

I would definitely take advantage of the buffets because he can eat all he wants there. As for reservation times, I keep it close to the times we eat at home unless that reservation is unavailable.

 

[MariDisney]

My DD 9 is not so much a quantity eater, but a quality eater. For this upcoming trip we put her as an adult even though she'll be 3 weeks shy of her birthday. For us, the difference in price is well worth it to have her eating adult food. For time, we tend to eat an earlier breakfast, often no lunch, and a much later dinner when at WDW. (e.g., 7:30 breakfast or 8:05 when in a park and 8:00 dinner) We will have a snack in between or sometimes the 3 of us will share 1-2 CS meals.