Meals w/ Toddler under 3

[mookie]

Hi All,

I've been surfing this site for years on and off, whenever we have planned a Disney trip. It's been a great resource, and you all seem very knowledgeable and helpful. While my husband and I have been to Disney several times on our own, we are finally taking our 2 year old daughter to experience the mouse with us for the first time, and we are so excited! We are planning on going the beginning of Oct. and she will be 2 1/2 when she finally meets Mickey face to face.

Since we are big fans of Disney, we (hopefully!) know most of the "ins and outs," however, our new adventure with our DD will be a new Disney experience for us, so bear with me if I have several questions. I'm hoping you can all help!

We have purchased the dining plan for myself and my husband, but since our daughter is under 3, there are no requirements for her to buy any meal or park tickets. I have heard that children under 3 eat free, but then I have also heard that you must buy them a kid's meal. Which is correct? Should we buy her a kids dining plan, even though she isn't 3 yet? My concern here is spending more money than she will eat. She isn't a picky eater, but kids meals are still quite big for her. When I called Disney, they also said that she could just eat off of our plates for no charge, but I don't want to limit my meals to a kid's appetite, either. Any advice, or can anyone clear up if kids under 3 get free meals?

Thanks in advance for your help - I'm sure there will be more questions to come!

 

[CamColt]

First off, welcome to the Dis!!!! We are glad you found us.

As for kids under 3, they do eat free at any buffet, family style, or in general, any of the "all you can eat" meals. However, any place where you order a childs meal off a menu, you do have to pay.

 

[BostonRob]

We're in the same situation. Our daughter will be 2 years 4 months when we go in April. We have scheduled a couple of character breakfast buffets and as I understand it, she can get a plate for free at those things. As far as our other meals go, if we're not ordering things she'll like, I guess we'll have to either get her an appetizer or order her something from the childerens menu.

If you think you'll be order her a lot of childrens meals, you should probably go ahead and get the meal plan for her. Its only $10 per day for a kid, and you'd probably spend that much on one meal, right?

 

[webray]

We had our two year old grandaughter with us last weekend. Children under the age of 3 eat free only if they eat off of your plates.

Our grandaughter is a very good eater so sometimes she ate off our plates, and sometimes we ordered her a meal and paid of course. Worked out great and she had plenty to eat. Even when we ordered her a meal..lol, she still tried the food from our plates. She is already hooked on the smokey portobello soup from Artist Point..lol, she couldn't get enough of it.

I wouldn't get the dining plan for your child, I wouldn't think any two year old could eat enough to make it worth the cost.

 

[Ahrizel]

Your daughter does eat free at the buffets. At other restuarants she can either eat from your plate-sharing food is fine-or you can order something for her. I wouldn't get the meal plan for her, you simply don't need it unless she is a very big eater. As for food choices, all the buffets have items aimed at kids, but kids can eat anything from the adult selections also. At non buffets if she will not eat from your plates then you may end up ordering a kids meal for her-depends on her tastes.

 

[sleepless doc]

The dining plan might not be a bad idea. All the "leftover" TS's could be used for signature dining, hoop-de doo, etc. because the credits are all pooled. Check mousavers.com for the details. The down side is that Disney could change the rules, in which case you'd be out ten bucs per day.
We plan to pay for all of my dd4's meals and use her dinner credits (except at buffet/character meals) to do more signature meals.

 

[Nora94]

I describe our situation with our 2 1/2 yr old dd and the dining plan in this post... http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=805780

basically you can feed her part of your food for free. And you will have plenty of that! At buffets kids under 3 eat free.

Nora

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Our dd was 2.5 during our late May visit. Neither she nor her 5 yo brother ate much during our trip. Between the heat and the excitement, food was just a low priority for them. I do encourage you to make ADR's for character meals. I really didn't think our children would be interested in them, but the kids surprised me. Dd just glowed when she met Cinderella at 1900 for dinner. We had an ADR for 8:30 on the Friday of Memorial Weekend. While a little late for the kids, we had the restaurant and characters nearly to ourselves. CM's continued to refresh the buffet throughout our stay. We never felt rushed. She also enjoyed seeing Pooh and gang at CP for breakfast despite having seen them repeatedly thorughout the parks earlier in the week.