Kids and Quick Service.... thoughts

[Jillianv29]

We are fast approaching our Disney Vacation in 59 days!! WooHOO!!!

We are on the DDP and I am trying to plan out our meals and figure out the best meals to pay OOP for. MY kids are 5 and 3 and don't eat a ton. I am sure they will also be snacking all day.

My question is what are the sizes of the kids meals at the quick service locations? Do you think I could get away with having them share 1 or 2 times? This wouldn't force us to pay OOP for 1 meal a day for them. I tried googling pics of quick service kids meals but came up short.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks a million!

 

[mcever4]

Yes, the could probably share, but why would you need to pay OOP for a meal? Aren't they both on the DP? If I had to pay OOP for anything, I would make it a snack. Also, you can bring snacks and drinks into the park with you. That would save having to buy anything extra. I always take snack bars, fruit snacks, etc with me to hold me over till meal time. Just a thought!

 

[Jillianv29]

I would need to pay oop because you only get one quick service and one sit down a day. That still leaves a meal we will need to pay for.

 

[navywifetill2002]

My question is what are the sizes of the kids meals at the quick service locations? Do you think I could get away with having them share 1 or 2 times? This wouldn't force us to pay OOP for 1 meal a day for them. I tried googling pics of quick service kids meals but came up short.

Check out the menu on allears and see what the kids menus are like and where your kids will be able to share. Also places without a kids menu like Casey's kids order off the adult menu so that should be plenty to share. There are also some places with large meals that the adults may be able to share to help stretch credits. We're taking some breakfast bars and quick foods for breakfast to make our DDP last the whole trip.

 

[amym2]

QS kids meals are pretty small, so I wouldn't plan on your kids sharing. A typical kids meal would be 4 (nasty) chicken nuggets, a small package of grapes, and a small prepacked chocolate chip cookie. If you really research, you can find places with better options, but none of the servings are large.

Usually DS (who was 9) didn't like the kids meal options, so he shared a meal with DH or with me and DD (7 at the time) got a kids meal. Then we'd use DS's credit for a breakfast platter and we'd all eat a bit off of it and supplement with things we'd brought like cereal or granola bars.

 

[kerriemiller]

We are going in Nov. on the DDP with kids that are 3 & 5 also.

My kids all ways share off the kids menu at restaurants at home. And last year they shared at Disney. My kids are light eaters and im guessing it had to do with all the fun but they ate even less at Disney. Sharing at Disney was no problem for them. I'm planning on having them share for our oop meal ( which will be breakfast in the room 3 times during our trip). The other DDP meals I'm going to bring some zip lock baggies and will be saving most of the food they don't eat for later. I know from experience they will want the food the didn't eat at dinner with in the hour after we've eaten.

 

[kerriemiller]

Ps the kids meals at QS are not that small and last year I found the grapes and carrots to be plenty for them.

 

[Jillianv29]

Thanks. That's what i thought. Now if we go out to eat they share a kids meal. Plus I bringing lots of snacks for through out the day

 

[poohbear13]

Unless your kids are big into eating, I don't think you will need them to share.

My family and I get the regular dining plan 1 table, 1 QS and 1 snack per person per day. Last year my son was two so we got fruit or yogurt in the morning for breakfast and I shared my QS lunch and TS dinner with him. This year he will be on his own. I also have a 16 year old... As a 15 year old last trip he did fine with the 1 table, 1Qs and 1 snack. and that is a teenage boy

Unless your kids are hungry all the time, they will probably be fine with each of their credits for each day.

We also bring gold fish, fuit snacks, and fruit with us just in case someone gets hungry in between meals, but we are always so busy that we never make it to the snacks we brought.

 

[MickeyGs]

i think they could share a breakfast and a lunch pretty often. or pay oop for a breakfast to share then they can get their own lunch. we brought granola bars and apples/bananas for breakfast on days we didn't have a reservation and it was totally fine, we never paid oop for them to eat more meals.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My kids could never have shared the CS kids meals. The servings are small and even the sides - about a dozen fries, 8-10 grapes or a small package of carrots are small. Would your kids be satisfied eating half of an uncrustable, 2 nuggets, half of a hot dog, half of a McDonald's hamburger or half of pizza the size of a DVD. If you want them to share, you might want to look into CS places that have no kids menus - then you can order them something off of the regular menu. The TS kids meals could probably be shared with young children.

 

[nervous1sttimer]

If you want them to share, you might want to look into CS places that have no kids menus - then you can order them something off of the regular menu.

Is there a list somewhere of CS restaurants that don't have a kids' menu?

 

[melmathis]

the only thing i do not like about disney is the fact that they are so child friendly and so wonderful at everything except the childrens meals. we always get the dining plan, but we always buy extra adult meal because the kids menus are terrible at quick service. very small portions. the choices are the same, hamburger-nuggets-pizza. although this sounds ok for a lunch, these are not good quality and not enough to fill them up. you can only eat so many of these items before you dont wont them any more. once my daughter wanted fish on kids menu, when they put 1 fish stick on plate i asked if this was all, they said yes on the kids meal. well i bought the adult portion. there are places you can go such as wolfgang puck and the coronado springs food court are good there are other places to go if you do your research. we love disney so much and everything disney but they could do better on kids meals.

 

[brymolmom]

If you don't want to pay OOP for any meals - it is definitely not necessary. I have done regular DP with young kids several times and it is a LOT of food...even though only two 'official' meal credits - they are bigger meals than most people have - complete with desserts at both.

We put a couple boxes of cereal in our luggage and between that plus snack credits (the chocolate muffins and cinnamon loaf that are HUGE) that we split - that is breakfast most days. Besides which, in order to get to the bus stop earlier to make it to rope drop - you want to steer clear of those insanely crazy food courts. A quick in-room breakfast is the way to go.

Plus, as others have said - sharing meals is entirely possible. We have 2 adults 2 kids in our party and we rarely order 4 cs meals in one sitting - its way too much food. Plus we get the large pizza meal (includes 2 drinks and 2 desserts) for dinner at least one night by the pool at the resort - this is all for 2 CS credits. Between sharing and this - we have extra CS credits that we use for some CS breakfasts during our couple 'sleep in' days.

But we never pay OOP for anything! It is doable!

 

[Geordietyke]

Hi, we don't pay OOP for anything either. We are on the DDP too but have upgraded our DD's to adults but even before we did this, our plan was to eat a light breakfast in our room (toast/cereal), have a snack each throughout the day, QS lunch and TS dinner. We find our appetites aren't huge anyway in the heat (us Brits just aren't used to it ) so it'll be plenty enough food for us without paying OOP for anything.

 

[melmathis]

i didnt know i could upgrade my child to a 10 year old ticket until i read it on another post the other day. doing this actually cost less than paying out of pocket. thanks to those who posted that idea.

 

[cktrotter]

When DD was 4 and DS was 2 they shared CS lunch everyday and it was plenty of food for both of them. We even had a few extra packs of grapes by the end of the week.