Parents of 10 year olds - dining questions

[SafariTigger]

For our next trip to WDW my son will be 10 and although we have always used the dining plan, it just doesn't seem to make sense to pay for my son as an adult on the plan. He is very picky and only eats burgers and chicken nuggets anyway. Would Tables in Wonderland be a better option for us? Even though there is a $100 cost for it, it is still better than the $400 extra I would have to pay for 10 nights on the dining plan. If you are using Tables in Wonderland, can my son still order off of the kids menu or does he have to order off of the adult menu? Thanks so much for your help!

 

[DebbieB]

For our next trip to WDW my son will be 10 and although we have always used the dining plan, it just doesn't seem to make sense to pay for my son as an adult on the plan. He is very picky and only eats burgers and chicken nuggets anyway. Would Tables in Wonderland be a better option for us? Even though there is a $100 cost for it, it is still better than the $400 extra I would have to pay for 10 nights on the dining plan. If you are using Tables in Wonderland, can my son still order off of the kids menu or does he have to order off of the adult menu? Thanks so much for your help!

For regular table service, he could order off the kids menu. For buffets or all you can eat, he would have to pay adult price. Keep in mind that TIW includes only a few counter service.

 

[Sandisw]

If you are eating TS meals, having the TIW sounds like a better option since your son will be free to eat off whichever menu fits his tastebuds that night. So, if you are somewhere and he wants the kids meal, he can get it...if he wants an adult meal, he can get that...and, if he just wants some of the appetizers as his meal, that will work too!

As already mentioned, all you can eat places will charge him for the adult price, but with 20% off, it pays for itself pretty quickly, especially with 10 days of dining. And, since its good for about 13 months, one additional trip in that time and you will certainly make out!

We love it since we get to enjoy our adult beverages at the discount!!!

 

[Kidanifan08]

Definitely go with TIW. We have an almost 8 yo son, and we have been doing the TIW for 2 years. Of course, we have been able to get about 15-20 days per TIW card. We love the flexibility of being able to order salads, appetizers and perhaps only one dessert, versus what the meal plan forces upon you. We tend to have adult beverages at all of our TS meals, which is discounted with the TIW.

Keep in mind that the TIW card is good for 1 year + 1 month beyond when you first buy it. For example, if you purchase a card on February 15, 2014, it won't expire until March 31, 2015. So you may be able to work in a second trip on the same card; that is what we generally try to do. If we were only going to spend 4-7 days at WDW on one TIW, it may not be worth it.

 

[Dean]

For our next trip to WDW my son will be 10 and although we have always used the dining plan, it just doesn't seem to make sense to pay for my son as an adult on the plan. He is very picky and only eats burgers and chicken nuggets anyway. Would Tables in Wonderland be a better option for us? Even though there is a $100 cost for it, it is still better than the $400 extra I would have to pay for 10 nights on the dining plan. If you are using Tables in Wonderland, can my son still order off of the kids menu or does he have to order off of the adult menu? Thanks so much for your help!

We really don't have enough info to truly make a recommendation. As a rule for a 10 night stay with at least 1 TS per day, you'll likely come out ahead with the TIW, esp if you can use it for your next trip as well, same for an AP. But I could easily see situations where it'd be advantageous to get the DP for him and use the credits for yourself for signatures or more than one TS in a day and still ordering off the kids menu for non buffet options for the 10 yr old. Some of the buffet's are expensive enough that you'll get a good value with the DP. Also, don't forget that the AP & DVC also have some discounts that don't require you to shell out for the TIW card. In reality you've got to spend about $600 at places where you get the discount to break even with the TIW card. The tip is also included with TIW but it's actually less than I'd leave for most table service locations so this doesn't affect my personal choices but it does some.

 

[krazy4crusing]

great question. We are in the same boat! I think a TIW card is our best bet when you factor in the added adult cost.

 

[hmillerbarilla]

I'm a mom of a 10 year old DD and TIW has been great for us this past year. She barely eats and I happily paid for her buffet at Trail's End, but at Turf Club, she was happy with the kid's pizza.

 

[tb1972]

My DD was 10 last year and we bought the dining plan. She's a picky eater - vegetarian mostly eating pasta dishes, grilled cheese and flatbread pizza. We regretted buying the plan, it was a huge waste of money for TS when she'd order off the kids menu but we paid adult pricing.

This May we're splitting 4 days at WDW and 4 days at Vero. If we were staying on site WDW longer I'd buy TIW, but it probably doesn't make sense for a short split stay.

 

[nabi]

That's the magical age where they are expected to eat as adults, right? Not ours!

 

[SafariTigger]

Thank you all so much! I think TIW might be the way to go - I'm going to try to work it so I can two trips on one card to get the best value. I read on another thread to get Disney gift cards for the amount that I would have spent on the Disney dining plan and use that to pay for my meals. It's like having a prepaid plan plus I get to see if it's actually a better deal!

 

[stormer]

We gave up the dining plan when my oldest turned 10 for that reason. We do TIW and it works well for us. Our favorite restaurants are family style - O'Hana and Garden Grill. It kills me to pay the adult price and he just eats nuggets so at least we get some money off with TIW.

 

[catherines_mama]

When our kids turned 10 we stopped doing dining plan and started doing TIW. Sit back and crunch the #s to make sure it's right for you, how you dine and what you order. If it is, go for it.

For us, it is wonderful. We do eat at counter more, they eat so much more. When we do eat I try to split with 8yo, something we can't do on dining plan. Those changes help us a lot.

 

[bumbershoot]

This May we're splitting 4 days at WDW and 4 days at Vero. If we were staying on site WDW longer I'd buy TIW, but it probably doesn't make sense for a short split stay.

Depends on how you eat, really. If the rest of the family eats a lot it could be. Also, is this your only trip inside 365 days from when you would buy the card? (it has been good for a month longer than a year, but the TIW people have indicated that this is going to be changing, so I personally only assume it will be good for one year)

Thank you all so much! I think TIW might be the way to go - I'm going to try to work it so I can two trips on one card to get the best value. I read on another thread to get Disney gift cards for the amount that I would have spent on the Disney dining plan and use that to pay for my meals. It's like having a prepaid plan plus I get to see if it's actually a better deal!

It's a nice thing to do, to have your food budget set up like that. We haven't done it in a few years, but it's nice when we do.


Be sure to check out tablesinwonderland.com. Along with the TS and assorted lounges, it's also 10 CS locations. The 3 inside AK park, all 5 Value resort foodcourts (love the AOA veggie burger!!! worth a special trip for us), Artist's Palette at SSR, and Sassagoula at POFQ (for those beignet cravings).

 

[loveswdw]

This May we're splitting 4 days at WDW and 4 days at Vero. If we were staying on site WDW longer I'd buy TIW, but it probably doesn't make sense for a short split stay.

Not sure if you are eating in the restaurants at the Vero resort but they are also on the TiW. It includes Shutters, Green Cabin Room and Sonya's (excluding Sunday brunch). It is listed right on the TiW participating locations on the website.

 

[tb1972]

Depends on how you eat, really. If the rest of the family eats a lot it could be. Also, is this your only trip inside 365 days from when you would buy the card? (it has been good for a month longer than a year, but the TIW people have indicated that this is going to be changing, so I personally only assume it will be good for one year)

We just began seriously considering a FW trip for Oct. So maybe TIW makes sense if we have two trips for use of the card.

Not sure if you are eating in the restaurants at the Vero resort but they are also on the TiW. It includes Shutters, Green Cabin Room and Sonya's (excluding Sunday brunch). It is listed right on the TiW participating locations on the website.

I do love the pina colada pancakes at Shutters!

 

[bumbershoot]

Not sure if you are eating in the restaurants at the Vero resort but they are also on the TiW. It includes Shutters, Green Cabin Room and Sonya's (excluding Sunday brunch). It is listed right on the TiW participating locations on the website.

I totally forgot about that.

OP, 8 days of possibly using the card? I'm sure you'll be fine. We're a family of 3 and DS isn't even 10 year, and we generally make up the cost of the card inside maybe 6 days. We're vegetarian so we're not ordering the expensive things, we're now much lighter eaters so DH and I tend to share, and I'm the only one that drinks alcohol, and we're talking maybe 2 drinks during a trip. If we can make it work even before we hit our second trip of the year, you stand a good chance, too.

 

[robinb]

We also gave up on the DDP (except when "free") when my DD turned 10 and recently gave up on the TIW card when it went from $75 to $100. You will need to spend $500 on the TIW card to just break even. Since we travel over 4 (!) of the TIW blackout dates ...

Blockout dates for Tables in Wonderland are Mother’s Day, Easter Sunday, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Tables in Wonderland is valid for one year from date of purchase.

... it just wasn't worth it to us anymore.

OP, you will want to wait until you are at WDW to get the TIW card so you can get latest expiration date you can. You will have already made your ADRs so you can do a "back of the envelope" calculation to see how much you'll really save.

 

[Dean]

You will need to spend $500 on the TIW card to just break even.

It's actually even worse than that in that if you eat anywhere that you'd have other discounts (DVC, AP, Landry's) then you need to spend even more to break even. Up to $1000 or slightly more but realistically likely an average around $600-700. I've seen House of Blues on restaurant.com as well.

 

[robinb]

It's actually even worse than that in that if you eat anywhere that you'd have other discounts (DVC, AP, Landry's) then you need to spend even more to break even. Up to $1000 or slightly more but realistically likely an average around $600-700. I've seen House of Blues on restaurant.com as well.

Good point! I forgot about those discounts. Here is a PDF http://allears.net/pl/disc_dining.pdf of all discounts and there are a lot of restaurants that offer a 10% DVC or AP discount so you're really only getting an additional 10% off those restaurants with TIW.

 

[Minniesgal]

My TIW card has just expired and we got three trips out of it. However even if we hadn't I have just been for 7 nights with a girlfriend. We did 4 signatures, Tusker house, BOG and Beaches and cream and we would have saved more than the $100 in the trip with just he two of us. For a family staying at least a week and eating 1 TS a day it is well worth it.