Ordering from the Kids menu ??

[coastermom]

Ok so my DS is turning 13 this Sept the week before we go to WDW for a short trip !! We are going to suprise him with a BDay hat etc in our room . I booked our ADRs for BOG , The Plaza and Teppen Edo ... My son is not a huge eater when we go out to dinner ( Olive Garden , Outback type places ) he eats off the kids menu . We are NOT on the DDP will they allow him to order off the kids menu ?? He is very thin ( You could never tell all he eats is pasta , chicken fingers and burgers ) so an adult meal is too big for him . Any thoughts ??

 

[gifmar]

I order from children's menu at counter service restaurants with no questions asked and I am 59. Never tried at table service restaurants though.

 

[Mikka]

The majority of places will allow it, but no place is required to allow it. If a restaurant refuses (or, more likely, charges you an adult price for the kids meal (which is upgraded to adult size)), they're well within their rights and there's really not much you can do about it.

Unfortunately, there's no real list about what restaurants are most likely to not-allow it: it really depends on who's your waiter/waitress and what the policy of the day is.

CS restaurants will always allow it, though, because how could they know?

 

[WantToGoNow]

The Plaza is one of those restaurants that it has been reported that will not allow you to order a kids meals. My ds12 will be 13 in May and sounds like he eats the same foods as yours. He's also 5'2" and 75 lbs - very skinny. He always got the adult meals at TS and his sister helped him eat them. He can finish off the CS adult meals just fine.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

The majority of places will allow it, but no place is required to allow it. If a restaurant refuses (or, more likely, charges you an adult price for the kids meal (which is upgraded to adult size)), they're well within their rights and there's really not much you can do about it.

Unfortunately, there's no real list about what restaurants are most likely to not-allow it: it really depends on who's your waiter/waitress and what the policy of the day is.

CS restaurants will always allow it, though, because how could they know?

I disagree that they are "within their rights". If a store offers multiple products, you can buy any of them.

 

[Hopefully]

I disagree that they are "within their rights". If a store offers multiple products, you can buy any of them.

They clearly state that the children's menu is for children 3 - 9. Those 10 and over are defined as adults for the purpose of ordering from the menu.
They are clearly within their rights to refuse the childs menu to a defined adult.
Sorry you don't like that fact.

 

[davedmaine]

They clearly state that the children's menu is for children 3 - 9. Those 10 and over are defined as adults for the purpose of ordering from the menu.
They are clearly within their rights to refuse the childs menu to a defined adult.
Sorry you don't like that fact.

They may be within their 'rights', but Disney should be ashamed of themselves classifying 10-year-olds as adults..

 

[Hopefully]

They may be within their 'rights', but Disney should be ashamed of themselves classifying 10-year-olds as adults..

Totally different issue!! We aren't discussing whether it is a good rule or not here. I agree, 10 is young to be considered an adult. But it is their definition for their restaurants.
What age do restaurants in the "real world" define for children's meals? 12? Still pretty young, but very common.

 

[MarineVet]

In my Mother's final few years on this Earth, she liked to order from the kid's menu if no senior menu was available, due to the fact she just couldn't eat a lot of food anymore. She was raised in the Depression and wasting food was a huge no-no to her, even years later.

I sometimes find myself doing the same at McDonalds - a kid's Happy Meal is just the right size for me at lunch some days and healthier for me than a Big Mac Combo. I see nothing wrong with people "over" the stated age ordering a kid's meal, and I doubt Disney would have a problem with an 8 year old with a large appetite ordering off the adult menu either.

 

[helenb]

Kids' menus have smaller portions. If someone wants to order from those smaller portions and pay a lesser prices, IMHO that's their business. The only thing I feel shouldn't be allowed (and AFAIK, it isn't) is having a child older than 9 pay the kids' price at a buffet.

FWIW, I'm also all for adults being allowed to order 'double portions' from the kids' menu.

ETA Occasionally we go to restaurants that have unique items on the kids' menu not available anywhere else. For example, at DL, my kids (now 11 and 13) love the Mickey head make-your-own-pizza from Storyteller's Cafe. You can't get it anywhere else, and it's not on the adult menu. They've never been denied when ordering it, and if I was questions, I'd explain it as I just did.

 

[Mikka]

They may be within their 'rights', but Disney should be ashamed of themselves classifying 10-year-olds as adults..

Honestly, I know for all that I'm a foodie now that eats almost all fancy meals you put in front of me, up till 14 or so I would have been basically unwilling to eat anything off the adults menu but salmon. (And even at 16, my first trip to Disney World, all I basically ate was salmon and the occasional steak off the adults menus. We ate at a lot of seafood places.)

But Disney made their decision to qualify 10+ as an adult, and nothing we can do to change that: so it's not really a hill worth dying on, as they say. If Disney says a 12 year old can't order off the kid's menu, the kid's menus are listed as being from 3 to 9 and they can just point that out.


However, even if they won't let your kid have say, the mac and cheese from the kid's menu on it's own, they're almost always willing to upsize it to what they figure an adult portion of it'll be and then charge you a bit extra if it's pickiness that's the issue rather then portion size. If it's portion size... well, you can always choose to walk out of a restaurant if you don't like the answer you get. If enough people do that, maybe Disney will consider changing that policy.

 

[coastermom]

My issue is not price we choose to eat at resturants with sit down meals and stay at hotels we know are considered Deluxe . With two Disney Trips planned this year one to Disney Land and one to Disney World the cost of food is not the issue .
The issue here is weather or not the child will eat !! He is the youngest and there is a considerable age difference between him and the other childern in our family ( actually the others are all adults ) so I just want to know if there is a chance if not I have to find other things to feed him ...

Thanks I did not want to start an arguement over Disney's age and "real world" resturants which all allow him to still order from the kids menu .