Question about 11 year old child dining..

[disneysnowflake]

We are planning a trip for early Oct.
DS2 is currently 11. He won't be 12 until Oct 14, which is after we are done with our early Oct vacation.

The MYW plan states that if he's 10 and up I must purchase an adult meal plan.
Has the age of a child menu changed? When we were there in Dec it was 11 and under for a child meal. Is this age change only for the MYW plan, or do you think WDW will soon change the age for a child meal from under 12 to under 10?

I'm trying to work out a budget. I'm debating on the cost of a package vs. booking separate, but this whole child menu price thing has me confused.

Can anyone help me?

 

[Connears]

Our DS is 14 and is very young looking. When they ask how old he is we tell them the truth and they usually still only charge him as a child (this happened at 1900 PF, Cape May Buffet, Ohana). It doesn't happen when we ask for adult menu for him, but usually at buffets. I think they are sensitive to how MUCH they eat rather than real age. Just a comment.
Connears

 

[MeredithJ]

disneysnowflake--you make an excellent point! I hadn't noticed this myself, and I checked the allears site for the menus, and you are correct...the child's menu prices are for kids 11 and under...I even saw a few that were for 12 and under. I was initially planning to do the dining plan, but I have an 11 year old, so I would probably save more money without it, and all the changes they are making to the dining plan are stressing me out

Connears--I am a very picky eater, and once at Crystal Palace they only charged me the child's buffet price because the server noticed I had only eaten off the kiddie buffet! On the other hand, my children are tall for their ages, so I am afraid that if I tell them my 11 year old is 11, they won't believe me. Oh well, I guess it's not like they will ask her for her ID, but I would hate to get "the look" because they think I am trying to pull something over. If they go by what she eats though, I am in good shape

Meredith

 

[Becky2005]

As far as I know the child's age hasn't changed on the menus, etc...

It's just on the plan, they make the 10 & up adults so it matches with their tickets (which also means at sit-downs other than buffets of course, they can order off the adult menu).

I have a child who will be 11 years old on this trip too and we are in the same situation....we will lose money at the buffets but maybe the sit-down will counter balance it (since we also have a 1 year old - my theory is maybe we could use some of her extra food to feed him at the sit-downs!).

I haven't decided what we are doing yet though with the plan!

 

[VickiVM]

Same situation here. I'm now considering maybe the AP DDE plan instead - I just can't seem to justify spending adult menu prices for my son (who is 11) who still orders from the kids menu everywhere else we eat at. It seems like a colossal waste of either money or food depending what you do with the benefit. I still have receipts from previous two trips and can probably piece together what we spent on meals to weigh the benefits, but I'm just too lazy to work that hard.