Kid Confusion

[GrimGrinningGhost in NJ]

Help, I'm confused. Trying to decide whether DDP is worth it for my boys who will be 3 and 5 at the time of our trip in Dec. I know we would have to order from a kids menu - does that include stuff at food courts? For example, we'll be staying at Pop - would they have to order a kids meal there or could they get a slice of pizza if they wanted (instead of the kids pizza which I think has chicken on it which they would gag up b/c they hate meat unless it's been processed, removed of all flavor and preformed into a nugget..., sigh)

At first glance, aprx 10/day seems like a good deal for them but i'm afraid they'll be limited in their choices. I've started looking at some of the menus but I can't find a lot of grilled cheese and that's a staple in their diet!

 

[septbaby]

You are expected to get a child's meals for them. You can always get cheese pizza you don't have to get the chicken on it.

Here are the items available for lunch or dinner at Pop:
Kid's Pick - Chicken Nuggets $4.99
Kid's Pick - Penne Pasta with Meatball - $4.49
Kid's Pick - Mac and Cheese -$4.49
Kid's Pick - Pizza Pita - $4.49
Kid's Pick - Sloppy Joe - $4.49
Kid's Pick - Chicken Noodle Soup - $4.49
Kid's Pick - Vegetable Lo Mein - $4.49

Kids can always share your meal. We did this several times at CS and had enough for the 3 of us (2 Adult meals).

You can't feed a child a snack, CS and TS meal for $10 a day at Disney. The DP is a great deal for kids, especially those as young as yours. We are a vegetarian family and found it pretty easy to feed our 5yo on the DP.

 

[asmit4]

It's 20 bucks for your 2 kids. Let's say that each day you get them 1 ice cream each and 1 juice/milk, right there that's almost 12 bucks of the meal plan used.

Even if you have to pay OOP for some items, you will most likely use the $20. Heck, even you and DH can use their credits. Sometimes my mom and I would order a kids item just b/c we wanted a snack and not an entire meal.

 

[TDC Nala]

If there is a children's menu available, kids age 3-9 on the dining plan are expected to order from that menu.

As mentioned, you can ask for cheese pizza without the chicken. I don't know what they do at the All-Stars but at Pop Century's food court, kids' pizzas are not premade. (The adult ones are.)

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I found the best use of CS credits for my (very picky) DD was to use hers to buy a breakfast at the food court. We were staying at POFQ. I got her pancakes (which she loves) and it came with bacon (which I ate) and applesauce. She got a drink with the CS credit, and I used snack credits or paid out of pocket for my breakfast. I'm not a huge breakfast eater so I was fine with oj and a bagel.

We'd then share an adult CS meal for lunch. My favorite was the chicken and fish basket at Columbia Harbour House. She ate the chicken. I ate the fish. And we shared the fries. I just had to purchase a drink for her.

Also, ask if substitutions are allowed when placing the order. There are limits to what the CM can do, especially at the CS restaurants, but sometimes they offered alternatives to the kids menu that better suited my DD.

 

[GrimGrinningGhost in NJ]

Thanks for all the feedback! It's always good to talk to folks in the know. I am going to start studying menus and figure this all out. Now the next part will be deciding if we'll actually get to use table service credits b/c the kids are good for only about 15 minutes of staying still!!

 

[septbaby]

b/c the kids are good for only about 15 minutes of staying still!!

That's the beauty of the character meals. They are systematically "distracted" then hopefully you can get them to eat. At the ages of 3/5 you may want to take a look at the Playhouse Disney meal at DHS. There is group dancing, etc. then they are sent back to the table with instructions to eat, just might work for your crowd. You can eat while they dance then wrestle with them to eat.

I'm taking my 6yo nephew at the end of August. He was really distacted at Chef Mickey's and didn't eat much. He later ate his entire fish filet meal at McDonald's in DTD though!