Kids meals at TS Meals

[Barbara C]

Hi -

We have "free" dining for our trip in September and I've been looking at the menus for some of the TS ADRs I've made and for the kid's meals it seems to be overwhelmingly mac & cheese, cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets. While my kids will eat these occasionally, they usually eat a wider variety of things and I don't think they'll want these limited options for 9 days in a row. Do most TS restaurants offer other selections for kids? I've read that at CS restaurants you can actually order an adult meal for kids (or I will share with them) and at the buffets I will let them choose what they want but I'm not sure what to do about TS meals.

Thanks!

 

[sharonabe]

My only advice is to go to the "dining" tab above and start looking at the menus. Write down the places that have different things for the kiddos. They are there, but you'll have to do some research. Make sure there are also things you want to eat on the adult menu!

As for CS meals, yes, you can share, but if you try to order 4 adult meals at one time, they will either tell you "no" or ask for some money. Your card will "tell" the cashier that you have X number of adults and X number of children.

 

[smiths02]

That is why we eat a lot of buffets or AYCE/family style places...

Our ADRs look like this
Crystal Palace breakfast (buffet)
Kona breakfast (we will split Tonga Toast)
1900 Park Fare breakfast (buffet)
Ohana dinner (family style)
Chefs de France lunch (we will split and I will probably order DS a flatbread or something on his own)
Sci Fi lunch (again-we will split)
Tusker House (buffet)
Cape May (buffet)


CS Plans:
Fish n chips (epcot-they only have adult meals here)
Wolfgang Puck's Express
Breakfast ???
kids meal at resort


Anyhow, for the 5 days...I only see my son having to eat standard kid's meal food once (and that is a CS)


Just look at the menus...it is pretty easy to eat family style, buffets, or someplace with at least one interesting option for kiddos

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Hi -

We have "free" dining for our trip in September and I've been looking at the menus for some of the TS ADRs I've made and for the kid's meals it seems to be overwhelmingly mac & cheese, cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets. While my kids will eat these occasionally, they usually eat a wider variety of things and I don't think they'll want these limited options for 9 days in a row. Do most TS restaurants offer other selections for kids? I've read that at CS restaurants you can actually order an adult meal for kids (or I will share with them) and at the buffets I will let them choose what they want but I'm not sure what to do about TS meals.

Thanks!

Just so you are aware, you CAN upgrade a child to an adult during free dining. The price difference would be the differnce in ticket price which is about $25. Many do this for the reasons you are having with limited kids meal options.

 

[allyphoe]

I've been looking at the menus for some of the TS ADRs I've made and for the kid's meals it seems to be overwhelmingly mac & cheese, cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets.

You must have been overwhelmingly unlucky with your ADRs, then. As the mom of a kid who has been known to eat mac-n-cheese 4 meals a day at Disney, my experience has been that it's relatively hard to find. I can't think of any TS restaurant where those 3 choices were offered simultaneously.

 

[baler31]

Back to the OP's question. This is why we never do the dining plan. My children do not like the children's menu options at most TS other than the signature restaurants. At non signature we typically order an appetizer( or maybe 2) and 2 adult meals for the 4 of us (2 adults 2 kids) to share. We will order dessert if we desire but don't typically. We have found our costs for dining to be less than the dining plan but we would do it anyway for freedom of choice.

Really the only option is to look at the menus, but in our experience the only real variations are at the signature dining experiences. I will mention favorites for our children: Citricos, Flying Fish, California Grill, Bluezoo and Fulton's. Not sure if they are all on the dining plan as it is not something we consider.

 

[tinkerpea]

Hi for the last 3 yrs that i have been with my 3 boys they have never asked me to show themmoney when ordering an adult QS for my child? I have always ordered an ADULT QS for my children, I have been told buy the server on many occasions that there is no diffrence between the Adult QS credit and the Child QS credit! And our last 3wk holiday was in October, so unless they have changed that i dont see why you can get them the adult selection at least at these meals,as your allowed to use your credits how ever you like you could if you was a big eater want to have 2 QS as an adult to yourself! for your lunch or dinner i dont see how they are going to prove otherwise?, Also my boys had not ever eaten ,mac and cheese till last yr as we are from the UK and found plenty of diffrent meals for them at TS meal places they are also very good about swapping items the child may not like,(my kids now do love Mac and cheese though) lol.

 

[mkleinbe]

That is why we eat a lot of buffets or AYCE/family style places...

Just look at the menus...it is pretty easy to eat family style, buffets, or someplace with at least one interesting option for kiddos

Same here!!! While my girls would live on chicken nuggets and peanut butter sandwiches for the 10 days we're in WDW, I won't let them do that. So, lots of buffets for us.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Hi -

We have "free" dining for our trip in September and I've been looking at the menus for some of the TS ADRs I've made and for the kid's meals it seems to be overwhelmingly mac & cheese, cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets. While my kids will eat these occasionally, they usually eat a wider variety of things and I don't think they'll want these limited options for 9 days in a row. Do most TS restaurants offer other selections for kids? I've read that at CS restaurants you can actually order an adult meal for kids (or I will share with them) and at the buffets I will let them choose what they want but I'm not sure what to do about TS meals.

Thanks!

Most places have other options. Some of the things we've had from kids menus in the past have included:
Salmon - Cinderella's Royal Table and Grand Floridian Cafe
Mahi Mahi - Coral Reef
Skillet - Whispering Canyon Cafe
Chicken and pasta - Whispering Canyon Cafe
Shrimp or chicken - Teppan Edo
Le Cellier has steak

My kids would never choose burgers or nuggets unless as a last resort (although DD loves her mac & cheese) and we've never had a problem.

 

[mousegear]

obviously all the buffet/family style TS restaurants and
Teppan Edo (shrimp/chicken/vegetables)
La Hacienda (taco/nachos)
Mama Melrose (pasta)
Le Cellier (pasta or steak)
Via Napoli (spaghetti and meatball/margherita pizza)
Cali Grill(steak)

There are lots of options. We have very adult palate child and these have been great choices for our DS 7. He is more than happy with his meal and sometimes we nibble each other's food for variety.

 

[squirrel]

Just so you are aware, you CAN upgrade a child to an adult during free dining. The price difference would be the differnce in ticket price which is about $25. Many do this for the reasons you are having with limited kids meal options.

Unless you are at a value and upgraded to the DDP. Then you would have to also add another $11 per night.


I'm not sure what menus the op is looking at. I don't recall seeing any burgers or chicken nuggets at the TS places we went to. Maybe Sci-Fi, since it's a burger place.

My niece's have had

Pizza
Steak
Grilled Chicken
Macarroni and Beef

There is also Fish of the Day at several TS places.