Table Service Vegetarian Options For CHILDREN?

[robinb]

My 9-year old DD is a vegetarian and after a few days she is done with the usual vegetarian options of cheese pizza, mac n cheese and spaghetti. Has anyone had any success at ordering "kid sized" servings of adult vegetarian meals at the kid meal price? We're going to be on the DDP on our next trip if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

Update on our trip post #18!

 

[Carmell226]

I am a vegetarian, having been to the World many times as a younger vegetarian I know for a fact that if you call the restaurant ahead of time they will make arrangements for a vegetarian kids meal for DD (other than the usual). However, I am grown up now and have no need to do this for years so I am not 100% positive they will still do it! I would give dining a call and ask about it. GL!

 

[eventamy]

I'm also curious about this as my girls and I don't eat meat.

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

Under the dining play I thought 9 and up was charged as an adult. That is why we have not ordered it for our family. We have two kids currently 10 & 13. Neither is a big eater so I can't justify spending 39.99 per day for them to eat....

If you are paying for her as an adult you will have more choices. That might be a good thing.

 

[robinb]

Under the dining play I thought 9 and up was charged as an adult. That is why we have not ordered it for our family. We have two kids currently 10 & 13. Neither is a big eater so I can't justify spending 39.99 per day for them to eat....

If you are paying for her as an adult you will have more choices. That might be a good thing.

Nine is the last year she's considered a "child". I am going to hate it when she turns 10 and we have to pay adult prices for her next year . She eats like a bird when she's not in a growth spurt.

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

Nine is the last year she's considered a "child". I am going to hate it when she turns 10 and we have to pay adult prices for her next year . She eats like a bird when she's not in a growth spurt.

You are correct.... sorry. My daughter was 10 this year at Disney and we were able to order off the kids menu at the counter places but avoided table service becasue she would not eat much of the serving. I think they need to readjust their age limits but that is a entirely different topic.

I bet if you ask like others have said they can accomodate you.

 

[happymommy]

I know they are great with my son's food allergies, so if you add that information to you reservation, they will try their best to fix your daughter something she likes! Definitely give them notice, so they have an idea that you have a special dietary request.

For us, usually a chef actually comes to our table to speak with my son, asking what he wants to eat. They are so great - they can prepare him plain grilled chicken or steak (not vegetarian but allergic to dairy and egg).

I think that you'll be fine.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I think they need to readjust their age limits but that is a entirely different topic.

Yes. If they were to adjust the age ranges for dining, they would also need to adjust the age ranges for ticketing.

But, to answer the OP's specific question: No, I do not think Disney would provide kid-sized portions of an adult vegetarian entree.

 

[robinb]

I know they are great with my son's food allergies, so if you add that information to you reservation, they will try their best to fix your daughter something she likes! Definitely give them notice, so they have an idea that you have a special dietary request.

For us, usually a chef actually comes to our table to speak with my son, asking what he wants to eat. They are so great - they can prepare him plain grilled chicken or steak (not vegetarian but allergic to dairy and egg).

I think that you'll be fine.

I think an allergy is a whole different ball-game than "my daughter is sick of eating the same three things all week." .

I was hoping that someone had made this kind of non-life-threatening request before as I know that a lot of people are not happy with Disney's kid's menu. Unfortunately, I think kaytieeldr is right. FWIW, I make my reservations with my DD in mind ... for instance we're skipping Chef's de France because they don't even have a single vegetarian item on the kids menu.

 

[TDC Nala]

If you're on DDP it makes a difference. Children on DDP are supposed to order off the children's menus, not the adult menus.

Only thing I would suggest doing is call the restaurant (and I would suggest calling the restaurant itself directly, not through WDW-DINE) and state your child is vegetarian and on the dining plan and you want a vegetarian children's entree. It's up to the restaurant whether or not they will make something special for your child. If there is already a vegetarian option on the child's menu, she may be restricted to that. It could be the tradeoff you accept for choosing to purchase DDP despite your family's dietary restrictions.

Or, just do a lot of buffets. That way, the child can pick any food item she wants.

 

[DISNEY1975]

I just came back from a trip with my 11 year old nephew who is a vegetarian. He didnt have any problems with menu choices. Although he is considered an adult at Disney, he mostly ate from the childrens menu.

From what I can remember, he ate mac and cheese, soups, salads, desserts, PB and J, lots of pasta dishes. Breakfast buffets were great for him. He filled up on waffles, pasteries, bagels, etc... he also had side dishes, mashed pots/stuffing/rice/veggies and lots of ice cream!!

 

[septbaby]

The best move is to book a number of buffets so she can eat anything she likes on the buffet. I don't suggest the All You Care to Eat places, but a true lunch or dinner buffet.

 

[bavaria]

I just came back from a trip with my 11 year old nephew who is a vegetarian. He didnt have any problems with menu choices. Although he is considered an adult at Disney, he mostly ate from the childrens menu.

From what I can remember, he ate mac and cheese, soups, salads, desserts, PB and J, lots of pasta dishes. Breakfast buffets were great for him. He filled up on waffles, pasteries, bagels, etc... he also had side dishes, mashed pots/stuffing/rice/veggies and lots of ice cream!!

See, but that is the problem - lots of carbs and sweets, and that is why being veggie does not always equate to being svelte Also do note that most soups are with a chicken stock base at WDW; twice I was assured at Food and Wine that they were veggie soups but when I pressed they were indeed not. With the exception of AKL, most soups are not vegetarian at WDW.

I sadly Robin have to confirm what I told you earlier this year - not good news based on my last visit a few weeks ago. Things are getting worse, not better, after a few years of improvement for veggies.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

Wow - a 9 year old vegetarian - I'm impressed!! I've been toying with becoming a vegetarian lately, but I'm not sure I could swing it. I'm sure it would help my weight loss though!

Anyway, good for her!!!

 

[septbaby]

See, but that is the problem - lots of carbs and sweets, and that is why being veggie does not always equate to being svelte Also do note that most soups are with a chicken stock base at WDW; twice I was assured at Food and Wine that they were veggie soups but when I pressed they were indeed not. With the exception of AKL, most soups are not vegetarian at WDW.

I sadly Robin have to confirm what I told you earlier this year - not good news based on my last visit a few weeks ago. Things are getting worse, not better, after a few years of improvement for veggies.

This child ate like a child....carbs, sweets, etc and was on vacation with his aunt...so I'm not sure his parents were there. Let's not cast too rough a shadow due to this. We are a vegetarian family and our 6yo ate breakfast items, pizza, PB&J and those are things he likes to eat at home too. Now that he is 7yo he does better with veggies, but as recently at this summer made a comment "they put salad on my sandwich", he was not happy with a little lettuce on his sandwich.

Boma is easily the best dinner option for vegetarians wanting both quality and quantity. Veggies burgers are readily available in the parks and at the CS resorts. We had to get those as adults meals and share them with our 6yo, but two adult CS meals were plenty for the three of us.

The Basil Mozz sandwich at Main St Bakery was really, really good and I hear the one at the Plaza is also excellent. We were not able to eat at Columbia Harbor House, but that veggie sandwich gets good reviews and their chili is supposedly vegetarian, but I can't confirm that.

I am happy to take the path of buffets while at WDW. I prefer the range of choices offered there and it also give us a chance to really fill up at least once per day. We also ate at Coral Reef and Narcoosee's at WDW.

 

[bavaria]

The problem is that so many of the veggie meals are high carb and not balanced at WDW. It used to be that one could subsitute a veggie for instance 'chicken sandwich with no chicken but add some veggies' but that is often no longer an option.

And as to veggie burgers, many veggies do not like Boca burgers, which is the type served (except for a few locations like Grand Floridian Cafe)

The veg options at WDW are definitely going downhill again. I don't want to eat at buffets all the time, nor do I want to eat unhealthy and feel ill while on vacation. Too many carbs and too much dairy are appearing again in the 'veg' meals. I find the best options to be the non-Disney run restaurants. They are more flexible and have better balanced options.

 

[Salome]

My kids ( 4 and 6yo) are vegetarians and eat a lot of mac n cheese and cheese pizza at WDW

I agree that you have more choice at buffets; we love crystal palace, chef mickey, boma...at least they eat some veggies and legumes! Or we sometime share with them our entree. We did not try to call ahead but it sound like a good idea; we will try that next time we go!

Good luck and don't forget to look at the menus on allearsnet.com!

 

[robinb]

I just wanted to add an update to this thread. We tried to "adjust" two kids meals for my DD while at WDW and my results were 50-50. Both meals were on the DDP.

The first was at Tokyo Dining. The last time we were there they had a "vegetable croquette" on the kid's menu that my DD liked so I didn't think twice about going there. When we got there, it was off the menu and replaced with only meat dishes. One of the dishes was a shrimp tempura dish and we requested that the shrimp be replaced with tempura veggies that are offered on the adult meals. Our server talked to the manager and our request was denied. We bought my DD some tamago (egg custard sushi) which we would have done anyway but I ended up having to buy her more because there was NO vegetarian kids meal AT ALL. She ate her tamago, the rice and cookie from her kid's meal and we ate her shrimp. I complained to the manager on the way out and she said it was "too hard" to make a vegetarian meal when requested at the time of dining because of the "assembly line" method of cooking the food (her words, not mine). The restaurant was half empty . They said that they would have been happy to accommodate me if I had contacted them in advance. I told her that there was a vegetarian child's option the last time I was there in August and I didn't think I needed to call in advance. They shrugged their shoulders and I wasn't cranky enough to push for a refund for the vegetarian food I needed to buy instead of the kids meal which was included in the DDP. PSA for Tokyo Dining ... if you have a vegetarian child CALL IN ADVANCE because they won't feed your child off their children's menu once you get there.

Our second "off-menu" attempt was at Yak and Yeti table service. They offer a Vegetable Lo Mein [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]but I wanted a bit of protein with it since I knew that she would probably just pick at her lunch. We asked if they could add some tofu to the meal and they did so gladly. They did charge us a little bit more for the tofu ... maybe $2, but it was worth it.

The rest of her meals were of the usual WDW vegetarian variety: cheese pizza, pasta, mac n cheese and pb&j. We were also able to select a vegetarian sushi roll for her a Sunshine Seasons (I don't think it was an "offical" kids meal) and she enjoyed pretzels throughout the parks as well as the veggie egg rolls at the MK.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

My daughter was 10 this year at Disney and we were able to order off the kids menu at the counter places but avoided table service becasue she would not eat much of the serving. I think they need to readjust their age limits but that is a entirely different topic. .

If you were on the dining plan, if might be a different story, but it is my understanding that a 10 year old would be ok to order a kid's meal at a table or counter service (even though it is suggested for 9 and under) BUT that a 10 year old would be charged the adult price at a buffet or family style type meal. I don't think you had to avoid table service -- just the buffets and family service if you didn't want to pay the adult price.

HTH

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

My daughter was 10 this year at Disney and we were able to order off the kids menu at the counter places but avoided table service becasue she would not eat much of the serving. I think they need to readjust their age limits but that is a entirely different topic. .

If you were on the dining plan, if might be a different story, but it is my understanding that a 10 year old would be ok to order a kid's meal at a table or counter service (even though it is suggested for 9 and under) BUT that a 10 year old would be charged the adult price at a buffet or family style type meal. I don't think you had to avoid table service -- just the buffets and family service if you didn't want to pay the adult price.

HTH