Kids' size portions of adult meals at TS restaurants?

[bangzoom6877]

DS8 (will be 9 when we go back to WDW) enjoys a wide variety of food, particularly different meats. While he sometimes enjoys what is considered typical kids' foods like burgers, many times he prefers a more "grown up" choice for dinner. We will be a WDW for 10 nights in July and other than Garden Grill and Biergarten, all of our dinners will be a la carte, both regular restaurants and signatures. At signatures we are going to, they have steak on the kids' menu which he loves. But would other restaurants give him a child size portion of adult entrees? He loves lamb, pork, and different types of chicken dishes (as opposed to the typical nuggets on kids' menus). He doesn't order fish because he's allergic to shellfish and there is risk of cross contamination with regular fish even though he's not allergic to it. The allergist told us that, and to only allow him to eat kosher fish since shellfish isn't kosher so that eliminates the risk.

 

[rlovew]

DS8 (will be 9 when we go back to WDW) enjoys a wide variety of food, particularly different meats. While he sometimes enjoys what is considered typical kids' foods like burgers, many times he prefers a more "grown up" choice for dinner. We will be a WDW for 10 nights in July and other than Garden Grill and Biergarten, all of our dinners will be a la carte, both regular restaurants and signatures. At signatures we are going to, they have steak on the kids' menu which he loves. But would other restaurants give him a child size portion of adult entrees? He loves lamb, pork, and different types of chicken dishes (as opposed to the typical nuggets on kids' menus). He doesn't order fish because he's allergic to shellfish and there is risk of cross contamination with regular fish even though he's not allergic to it. The allergist told us that, and to only allow him to eat kosher fish since shellfish isn't kosher so that eliminates the risk.

No you can simply order an adult meal for him however.

 

[aaarcher86]

If you're on the DDP he will need to order from the kids menu. They won't give you a child size adult entree. If you're paying OOP you can order him whatever he wants, I doubt they'd make a smaller portion though.

 

[Haygar2]

My son is not a chicken nugget/hot dog kind if kid. He likes real food. When we went, he was, also, 9 and very disappointed with his food selection. Case in point...we went to Hollywood Brown Derby for our signature dinner. My husband, daughter, and I all ordered filet. My son's choices were hot dog, grilled cheese, or tempura fish sticks. Needless to say I shared my steak with him. We have said if we could change one thing about that vacation we would have paid the difference to upgrade him to an "adult". The upgrade would be for park admission tickets also, but I know, for my son, it would have been worth it. He really got the short end when it came to food. Dessert, too. We all got wonderful gooey desserts. He got yogurt.

 

[troll buster]

When my son was 9 were on the dining plan and I paid adult price for him so he could eat the "adult" meals. I would have felt terrible eating a steak in front of him and making him eat chix nuggets. The serving size never seemed to be too much.

 

[sharadoc]

No, they will only do the reverse - adult portions of kids meals. If you want adult choices, then you'll either have to pay for him as an adult on the DDP, or pay OOP.

Did you look at the menus. Some of the restaurants have different kids selections, not just burgers and hot dogs. That's why buffets are always a good choice with kids. Boma, Cape May, Tusker House, Trail's End, Wave breakfast. And you don't have to do character meals to get a buffet.

 

[TDC Nala]

On DDP, the answer is for sure, no. He would have to order from the kids menu. They will make accommodations for allergies where necessary.

If you are paying OOP it's going to be up to the restaurant. You can always ask if they will prepare what he wants. But I don't think the odds are good that every restaurant will allow a smaller portion of a regular menu meal at a reduced price. You might end up ordering the full meal for him.

 

[DCDisney]

If he is a decent sized eater I would upgrade him to adult especially since you aren't doing many buffets. Even the menus that offer kids steak it is NOT at all the same cut of meat the adults get cut in half. It's nasty cheap tough meat. I have allergies and have had issues at places that have premarinated the adult meat so they have given me 2 pieces of the kids steak and no way never again. Even for QS meals he will be SIGNIFICANTLY happier with an adult burger than a kids burger in terms of taste. When my son was that age the kids meals often didn't have enough protein for him to get full either it would be 1 chicken leg, 4 nuggets, etc and he doesn't like fries so 4 nuggets and a pack of grapes and carrots was not nearly enough calories for a day of walking.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My dd9 is a much better eater than my ds12 in terms of trying more adult foods. We are going to decide restaurant-to-restaurant which eats the kids meal and which gets the adult meal. Luckily most of our choice, she can get grilled chicken with broccoli which is one of her favorites and he can order a plain adult steak (no sauces) which is his favorite. In the past, they've always gotten ice cream sundaes and were not limited to yogurt as the pp said.

I have ordered both of them adult counter service meals for years because the choices/serving size of child meals are less than unappealing.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

If he is a decent sized eater I would upgrade him to adult especially since you aren't doing many buffets . . .

1) Please remember, if you upgrade him for DDP, you MUST upgrade his admission tickets to adult.
2) Thus, more money for DDP and more money for tickets.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Thank you everyone! We won't be on any of the dining plans so that is not an issue. I will ask at each individual restaurant and if the answer is no, we will just get him something from the adult menu if nothing on the kids' menu appeals to him. His younger brother, who will be 7 on our trip, is sometime adventurous too, but also still likes the kids' options. On our cruise this summer, he tried different foods, even frog's legs and alligator! One night he had lobster with a side of chicken nuggets...guess he wanted to remind us he's still a kid!

 

[NuJoy]

Just back over a week; and it worked really well that my DD11 and I shared an adult meal on occasion. Since we have no dining plan, we would ask for a kid's menu when she felt like it. At her age and appetite, she is in that in between stage where the palate is changing and desire for food fluctuates. I also liked that if I wanted to share an appetizer or dessert with my husband, I was not too full to order them. It greatly increased my dining enjoyment this trip. This will be the way I dine going forward.

 

[mousegear]

We've always upgraded DS 9's DDP to adult (buying adult park tickets) since DS is very adventurous eater. He does not like typical kids food including pizza and nuggets.
I also sometimes share adult plate (if we could agree on entree) so we could have appetizers and desserts. We find that Disney portions are usually pretty big so sharing was no problem.
I totally agree with many PPs that Disney's kids meal options are very limited to what I call "picky child's meal."

 

[bangzoom6877]

Just back over a week; and it worked really well that my DD11 and I shared an adult meal on occasion. Since we have no dining plan, we would ask for a kid's menu when she felt like it. At her age and appetite, she is in that in between stage where the palate is changing and desire for food fluctuates. I also liked that if I wanted to share an appetizer or dessert with my husband, I was not too full to order them. It greatly increased my dining enjoyment this trip. This will be the way I dine going forward.

This is a great idea! DS8 and I could share an entree and I will have enough room for an appetizer! Perfect solution since we both love steak!