Question re. free dining and kids

[Eblink]

Hi everyone,

I'd appreciate your help. I have just booked our first ever trip to WDW - staying at the Beach Club for 11 nights in September 2011. We picked up the free dining package. There's three of us, me, my wife and our son who will be 9 by the time we go. We're very excited - but also quite the Australian newbies when assessing the massive expanse of Disney complexities. We want to be making the right decisions to make sure we have a great time.

One problem is that our son is fairly ravenous and adventurous when it comes to food, and I'm afraid that the children's menu would not satisfy, especially considering we're there for 11 nights. The thought of mac and cheese, nuggets and cheeseburgers for that long is kinda sickening.

I had a look into it and by making the reservation (with free dining) as if he is 10 years old will entitle him to select from the adult menu as I understand it. Doing this only adds about $25.00 to the total cost. So I'm prety sure that's what I want to do. But how should I do it? Would it be okay to simply call up and modify the reservation from a 9 year old to a 10 year old, or should I cancel the current reservation and place another reservation with the amended age? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[maxiesmom]

You can add another year to your child's age, but be aware that it will apply to both the dining and the park passes. You will have to buy an adult park pass if you change your son to age 10. However if you are going to end up buying extra food if you keep your son at age 9 anyway, it will probably be worth the added cost.

 

[TDC Nala]

The OP is on free dining, so the higher charge for registering the child as 10 would apply only to the park passes.

I realize you're in Australia and you can't spend a lot of time calling the states to do this. The only way to do it is to have your son registered as age 10. I will tell you there are CMs on the phone lines who will do this for you on an existing reservation, and those who will not. The usual advice is that if you get a CM who will not do it, keep calling back until you get one that will. I'm not sure how you'd want to handle making the international calls if the initial person you get won't make the change you want.

If you don't want to do this, book a lot of buffets and family style restaurants, where everyone eats the same food and as much of it as they want regardless of age, or review the menus to find the restaurants that offer dishes for children outside the standard burgers, nuggets and mac & cheese (there are quite a few of them). Not much way to get around child's meal portion sizes though.

 

[lovndisney12]

If the cost ends up being not a lot more and you are able to switch the age - then go for it.

If not here are my suggestions: We will be going with our 9 year old in less than a month. He too can be a fairly big eater and other than mac n cheese is not a huge fan of burgers or chicken nuggets. For our TS meals I chose buffets, family style, and then restaurants like Grand Floridian Cafe or Yak & Yeti where there is something other than the traditional kids fare. Even if it isn't enough - between the other 3 in our party (1 adults and his 12 year old brother), there should be plenty of food to fill him up.

My bigger concerns are the CS meals. I noticed our resort hotel (POFQ) had some nice kid options (at least for dinner) but I also looked at the meals to see which had good options for him - OR places that we could share 3 adult CS meals between the 4 of us. If you figure a bacon double cheeseburger, side, and a dessert - for our family that is something I could easily share with him. Plus you will have a snack credit to use for the day as well which could be used on something more filling like a soft pretzel, soup, or egg roll. Another good CS meal to share would be the chicken/rib combo which several places have.

Here would be some of our suggestions (but it all depends on your taste / check menus at allears.net):
Table Service:
Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness - family style option
Liberty Tree Tavern at MK- family style
Teppan Edo (kid's favorite place) at Epcot - Kids menu has chicken and shrimp
Yak & Yeti (haven't tried yet but will next month) - Kids menu has burger but also vegetable lo mein, chicken bites, and egg roll
Grand Floridian - kids menu has chicken, salmon, and steak
+ any buffet that fits your food taste (for characters Chef Mickey's breakfast was good for boys that age)

Counter Service:
Best is to check menus from allears site to see what you like and might share. As I mentioned above, our resort hotel seemed to have good options on the kids menu at dinner. Also, Wolfgang Puck's downtown, is probably one of the best deals on the dining plan and has awesome food. Cosmic Ray's at Magic Kingdom has a wide variety and a 1/2 chicken and rib combo that can be shared easily.

 

[elainesj]

for $25 I would do upgrade him in a heartbeat.

we were going to upgrade my dd - but we're staying at pop with free dining and upgrading to DDP. for our 10 day stay, we would have to spend an extra $120 + ticket upgrade to have her as an adult. finallly decided it's fine with us to leave her as is. we're focusing more on buffets and family style meals.

 

[Eblink]

Thanks everybody for your advice. I just got off the phone from Disney reservations and the cost to change was $20 in total!!! So for 11 nights, I think it was a small price to pay for the expansion in selection. Woo hoo!!!

Thanks again.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Thanks everybody for your advice. I just got off the phone from Disney reservations and the cost to change was $20 in total!!! So for 11 nights, I think it was a small price to pay for the expansion in selection. Woo hoo!!!

Thanks again.

I did them same last year....my DD likes her chicken nuggets but also likes a lot of other things. The year before she became very bored, very fast with the kids menus. We also stay for between 9-12 days so food variety is important. Last year when we listed her as an adult she ordered from the adult menu about half the time.

 

[Eblink]

Well, that's a ratio I'd be happy with, all things considered. Now all we have to do is get there....!

 

[dancin Disney style]

It worked out really well...the times she ordered from the kids menu that's what she truely wanted. Other times she wanted a steak or some shrimp. I have a feeling that on our next trip she will mainly eat from the adult menu...she has been reading the menus already to decide what and where she wants to have dinner.

You could spend that $20 in 2 days max with having to order extras.

 

[JerseyDisneyGirl]

We had the same issue, we have free dining my 8 year old will not be ok with a week of chicken nuggets. When I made the reservation I mentioned this to the CM. His response was "oh, so you made an error and your son will be 10 at the time. This will cost you $25 for the trip, and he will be able to eat off the of the adult menu" My response was "yes, I made a mistake about his age". Totally worth the $25! Just call and tell them that he will be 10 when you travel. Not a big deal.