Question about child eating who is considered a Disney adult

[PinkerTish]

A bit off topic to the OP's question, but responding to these thoughts - my 9yo is considered quite below average, her bone age (and size) is about 3 years behind her birth age, and she's currently tall enough to ride all the rides in the 4 parks. At age 8 she measured *just* under 48".
Just wanted to share this actual experience...by age 10, almost all kids (even those as undersized as my daughter) will likely be tall enough for all rides, so I do understand in that regard why Disney sets 10 as the adult age if it's based on what rides they can ride.

To circle it back to the kids meal conversation, we'll be visiting the parks shortly after she turns 10, and definitely are just going to be of the mindset to avoid the buffets/etc for this visit. It just won't make sense for us with her little appetite. We have one or two TS meals in mind where we might order a handful of apps/entrees to share as a family.

This sounds remarkably like my daughter.

The difference in ticket price between a child and adult is $10. That’s so negligible based on what you get from the parks.

A child’s salmon meal at Chefs, for example is $14ish whereas the adult salmon is almost $37. Not only will she dislike the presentation and extras that come with an adult portion but I take issue with paying an extra $23 for the privilege of hearing her complain about it. Now do that for every meal. On the other hand, my 7 year old boy could probably tuck away both meals and still want to go get crepes afterward. I get why the age limits are there, but disallowing a child’s meal for what is so obviously a child seems kind of asinine.

 

[kdka421]

This sounds remarkably like my daughter.

The difference in ticket price between a child and adult is $10. That’s so negligible based on what you get from the parks.

A child’s salmon meal at Chefs, for example is $14ish whereas the adult salmon is almost $37. Not only will she dislike the presentation and extras that come with an adult portion but I take issue with paying an extra $23 for the privilege of hearing her complain about it. Now do that for every meal. On the other hand, my 7 year old boy could probably tuck away both meals and still want to go get crepes afterward. I get why the age limits are there, but disallowing a child’s meal for what is so obviously a child seems kind of asinine.

I totally agree with everything you said. And it's frustrating that the general approach has to be "wait and see how the CM at the restaurant handles it", it's very frustrating to not be able to plan for what to expect. I'd love to book at certain restaurants if I could know that she'd be allowed to order off the kids menu, but that little bit of a question as to if we'll get a CM who's an extra stickler for the rules, makes me want to just avoid the scenario altogether.

 

[palavra]

If you aren't on the DDP, you can order kid's meals at most WDW table service restaurants and all quick service restaurants. Disney aims to please.

 

[drenalin'junkie]

We had a kid come with us who only ate fried processed chicken byproduct nuggets. Not a problem at most places and at Monsieur Paul's they sent a runner out to get them some when the parents couldn't convince them to eat anything on the menu.

 

[mistysue]

We had a kid come with us who only ate fried processed chicken byproduct nuggets. Not a problem at most places and at Monsieur Paul's they sent a runner out to get them some when the parents couldn't convince them to eat anything on the menu.

That's awesome, my selective eater has had DOZENS of meals on Disney property where they wouldn't send out for anything, including buffets and fixed price meals, so he watched us all eat and had a few snacks. We've easily spent into the thousands over the years on meals he couldn't eat or vomited out because they didn't believe he would be that picky. I hope you appreciated that waiter.

 

[drenalin'junkie]

That's awesome, my selective eater has had DOZENS of meals on Disney property where they wouldn't send out for anything, including buffets and fixed price meals, so he watched us all eat and had a few snacks. We've easily spent into the thousands over the years on meals he couldn't eat or vomited out because they didn't believe he would be that picky. I hope you appreciated that waiter.

I try to get a handle on food allergies, preferences and meal timing from everyone going before we set ADRs but occasionally the group wants to go somewhere that is difficult for one of us. We try to get allery info out to the restaurants ASAP so there's a real option available. Kids who only eat nuggets etc are often outta luck at TS unless there is kids menu with them. I don't expect them to be catered to, so we do appreciate it.

We definitely tipped our server extra+ and made a point to thank the staff and management.

 

[mistysue]

I try to get a handle on food allergies, preferences and meal timing from everyone going before we set ADRs but occasionally the group wants to go somewhere that is difficult for one of us. We try to get allery info out to the restaurants ASAP so there's a real option available. Kids who only eat nuggets etc are often outta luck at TS unless there is kids menu with them. I don't expect them to be catered to, so we do appreciate it.

We definitely tipped our server extra+ and made a point to thank the staff and management.

Yup- our meal planning is crazy. Fortunately my other son is down from 12 allergens to 4- it's like the whole world opened up and we can actually throw in some QS places now! Our compulsive food packing (ahem... hoarding) hasn't ended so the selective one still eats, it's just weird how the same chefs who bend over backwards for half of our table are all "no, sorry, even though the kitchen is connected I can't get something from that other place" with the one who eats like 10 things. The allergies cost money to feed, the other one has left us changing resorts and placing emergency grocery orders.