Not doing meal plan...

[momto28weeker+1]

We are not doing the meal plan. My dd who just turned 10 would be considered an adult and it would not save us any money. I am not a big eater either. Can I buy kid's meals at counter service places for me and dd or do they need my room card(and will know she is too old)? I don't plan on eating all kids meals, but I know my appetite will be small when the weather is scorching hot.

 

[gracielou]

It won't be any problem for your DD or you to order kid's meals at the CS restaurants, and you will not be asked to "prove" it's for a child. It's just DH and me and I almost always order the kid's meals at the resort for breakfast (the regular ones are just way too much food!) using my KTTW card. No one has ever asked about having a child in the party. Never had any problems at the parks either.

 

[sissy_ib]

At the CS places they wont care. Some non-buffet/family style TS places will let you do it as well.

 

[momto28weeker+1]

Thanks for the responses. We have reservations for Boma, Ohana and 50's PT. I will get adult portions there for myself and my dd if she wants them. All other places I hope to save $ and not waste food.

 

[Darcy03231]

Another thing you can do is to split an adult meal with your daughter. My mom and I do that a lot as neither one of us are big eaters and we find that the kids meals can be pretty limiting (chicken nuggets, pizza, burgers, etc.).

 

[disneychic2]

DH and I also split cs meals all the time. Way too much food otherwise!

 

[shoney]

Thanks for the responses. We have reservations for Boma, Ohana and 50's PT. I will get adult portions there for myself and my dd if she wants them. All other places I hope to save $ and not waste food.

You would have to pay adult prices for 10yo's at Boma and Ohana. It killed me to see ds10 eat 3 chicken wings at Ohana, but we had the free dining plan so it wasn't so bad.

At other regular TS places, ds10 ordered off the kids menu (we paid OOP for them) and we never had a problem. We just took regular menus from the host. When the server came over, we asked to see a kids menu for him. The request was always met with a smile.

just adding.... we went to 50's at lunch and ordered 2 entrees and split between the 4 of us (all disney adults) and that wasn't a problem either!

 

[hsmamato2]

yeah, the dining plan is so not worth 50+ per day per person... especially if you plan to eat a lot of cs...or table service where you pick the size of your entree.... a buffet, you're out of luck, you have to pay the 'adult' price for her to eat nothing... IMHO, if we eat at a buffet,then choose our other places based on what we actually will eat, we will be saving money. Even if we paid for the dining plan for 4 of us, we'd have to eat a LOT of buffet food for it to be even close to worth it...and we wouldn't.

 

[hsmamato2]

yes,splitting something is a great idea at TS places.... that way you don't waste food or money!

 

[Ginny Favers]

Good move not to buy it. I wouldn't do it either with kids your age. We used it this time and found a lot of the food went to waste and that it just wasn't flexible enough for what we wanted to order from the menu.

 

[Darcy03231]

Good move not to buy it. I wouldn't do it either with kids your age. We used it this time and found a lot of the food went to waste and that it just wasn't flexible enough for what we wanted to order from the menu.

I have a trip planned for August and am not buying it. Last trip my mom and I had free dining and there was way too much food. While we did use all the TS credits, we had a lot of CS credits and snack credits left over. We bought mickey rice krispy treats to take home.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

DD13 and I are going in July and I just can't imagine that we are going to eat $104/day in that heat.

We have decided not to use the dining plan. Back in the old day when it was $38 for an adult and she was still charged the $10/child, and it included the tip, it was worth it for our family. DH and DS17 can be big eaters, but now it's just not worth it, especially if it is just the two of us going.

 

[Dismom55]

I do not think the DDP is for everyone for every circumstance. So it is good you examine your options and did not just blindly follow the crowd. It is wonderful that Disney offers the plan for those who it is a great way to offset the cost of food and give us a chance to eat in restaurants we would otherwise not afford. That is what the DDP does for us. It also gives me peace of mind that before I have left the house I know the meals have been taken care of, which for my first two trips was a major concern, even tho I came home with a good deal of cash, I worried the whole time did I bring enough to feed the kids.

Bravo.

 

[tb1972]

DD10 & I split pizzas all the time at Wolfgang Puck Express - they're huge!

 

[englishteacha]

We stay offsite, so the dining plan isn't an option for us anyway. I've never had a problem ordering a kid's meal or sharing a meal when we're in WDW.

 

[danceintherain]

I doubt you'll run into any problems. For CS, they hardly ever have everyone standing there to "check" if there's anyone over 10 ordering a kids meal. At TS, the acceptance varies from restaurant to restaurant and from server to server. The only place you may run into this is at 50s Prime Time, but even there your DD could likely pass as a child anyways and/or you could split a meal.

I don't know how they would figure out how old she is from your room key. It doesn't say anything to that effect. At least not that I recall...just your name, dates of stay, and resort. Even so it would be ridiculous for them to ask, since not everyone is a resort guest.

 

[momto28weeker+1]

My 10 yr old is 4 inches taller than her 7 year old brother. I will ask for a kids menu for her and hope for the best. I know we will probably have to pay adult prices for her at Boma and O'hana, we might get lucky though