Taking 13 Year Old Niece for her 1st Trip.

[BaseballMoM2007]

We have just found out that we will be taking our 13 Year old Niece with us for our Trip in September. She will be staying with us for some months while her mother is away. I really want to make this trip special for her because she is dealing with a lot. Any suggestions on things I might not have thought of to do since I normally only plan for my DS7. I know i need to work in RnRC which DS wasn't quite tall enough for in October hopefully he will have grown 1 inch by September. If not one of us will take him to do something else. She is a typical moody teenager so princesses/characters are out of the question. DS loves all rides so I know we will be good on that front.

Current Meal plan is Coral Reef, Sci Fi, 50's Prime Time, Tusker House, Kona Cafe, T-Rex Cafe, Via Napoli, Maya Grill (at CSR) and Looking for one more Epcot or Epcot area meal.

She is a EXTREMELY Picky eater our DS7 will eat anything so I just pick places we can eat. Could she eat off the kids menu at places if she didn't see something she wanted?

Should I reconsider Tusker house, Kona Cafe, or Via Napoli? Are there things she could eat at those? (Im talking chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, ramen noodles, grilled chicken, steak and potatoes lol).
Even if she could eat food from Tusker House will she die of embarrassment from being in a character meal?
My Husband is not a big fan of Buffett's we did 5 our last trip and got sick of them so was trying to limit it to one Character meal for DS. Wondering Should I swap Tusker House for Chef Mickeys because the food will be more normal for her.

 

[kaetra]

I'm also interested to know how flexible they are with the kid's menu age limit of 9. Paying OOP I would hope it wouldn't be enforced as much as it is with the Dining Plan - but since all our ages are tied to our MagicBands the child's age will be apparent to the server, no?

We have a 12 year old picky eater who frequently eats only very small portions (she's very petite). I would share with her , but I don't want to be constantly restricted to eating her very limited food choices.

Buffets seem like a safe bet, but would be really expensive, especially since you would definitely have to pay adult price for her for those.

 

[BaseballMoM2007]

We are on the DDP. So that was why i wondered if they would let her order a kids meal. Shouldn't matter since really she is already prepaid for an an adults meal. But not sure if it would take away two of our sons dining credits and mess us all up.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

I would go to B&C! Such a great place with great food! They have great burgers and fries, and great ice cream choices! It is casual, but so much fun!You could go there on a HS or EPCOT day and walk right over.

And yes, I am pretty sure she can pick off the kids menu, especially if she is so picky.

You can check out all of the menus to any place in WDW on the Disney website or allears.com
This will give you a good idea of what each place serves and if it will work for your niece.

Kids of ALL ages go to character meals. She doesn't have to interact with the characters, maybe just acknowledge them. She may even have a good time seeing all of the other people interacting with them.

Best of luck with the planning!

 

[jekjones1558]

Would she enjoy a special adventure like parasailing at Contemporary or archery at Fort Wilderness? I know my 12 year old grand niece enjoys these types of things.

 

[BaseballMoM2007]

Probably wouldn't enjoy archery but would para-sailing would an adult have to do that with her. I'm not that brave lol. DH might would though.

 

[rwdavis2]

Having raised 1 moody (and 1 rarely moody) teenage girls let me ask does she actually want to go? Our oldest, at age 13 was insufferable at WDW at that age. Rude, obnoxious, impatient to the point where we just abandoned her at times in parks to let her get over whatever was bothering her.

Otherwise, I believe she can order off the kids menu without a problem. How patient will she be at restaurants? As for 50's Prime Time, will she be OK with the schtick they do? Oddly enough our 13yo at the time loved it. Have you checked out the menus over at allears.net?

Good luck and have fun.

 

[jekjones1558]

Probably wouldn't enjoy archery but would para-sailing would an adult have to do that with her. I'm not that brave lol. DH might would though.

Single rider must be 130 pounds (so probably won't work). Tandem with your DH would need to be under 330 pounds, so depending on how big your DH is that might or might not work. Wild Africa Trek would be pricey for all of you but she might enjoy that too. Even mini golf could be an affordable option. Or a water park.

 

[ThistleMae]

Take her to Downtown Disney to go to Disney Quest. My teens love it there! What about miniature golf? Have you considered the Cirque du sole'? And....there's the movie theater. These may not have been things you did with your 7 year old, but she may be interested in things like these.

 

[BaseballMoM2007]

She does want to go. Now I do expect her to sometimes be obnoxious as she just is sometimes (I'm raising a 7 year old boy it is like night and day) but when she gets in a mood my husband can handler her attitude pretty well (she is his niece). I didn't even think if it would bother her at 50's PT I think she will take it in stride though. I have looked at the menu's a thousand times but never with her in mind so I am going to have to look over them all again this weekend.

 

[ThistleMae]

I know you said you don't care for buffets...but...they do have the most diverse selections for picky eaters...just sayin'.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

Last year my very picky DD was 11 and we had no issues ordering off the kids menu. They never asked her age, just got her whatever she ordered.

Is your Kona ADR for lunch or dinner? They have a hot dog at lunch that my daughter enjoyed - and the Kilauea Torte she REALLY enjoyed! I won't even attempt taking her (or my husband) to dinner there - too different.
My daughter loves the pizza at Via Napoli - so much that this year we have 2 ADR's! (Mmmm, can't wait!)
We haven't been to Tusker House yet, but looking at the menus they appear to have something to please everyone (just not enough IMO to spend that much $$ for my daughter to just eat Mickey Waffles or mashed potatoes). I am not a fan of Chef Mickey's at all. We do 1900PF almost every year, and my daughter loves the character interaction at dinner, and the strawberry soup. We're giving breakfast a try this year - different characters but they still have the soup!

Another suggestion of something memorable for her to do - at Epcot in the Japan Pavilion she could pick a pearl. My DD did that for the first time last year and absolutely loved it! She even got twins! I keep trying to talk her into getting them made into earrings, but she is afraid she'll lose one.

I know when I was a moody teenager, while at Disney I was a completely different person... I still am. It is my happy place. I hope you all enjoy the trip

 

[canadiandisneynut]

I think any girl loves the beauty of the Floridian and the humour of the characters at the 1900 Park Fare Cinderella dinner. Its buffet so it would give her the option of eating whatever she wanted.

 

[BaseballMoM2007]

The Pick a Pearl is on the TOP of my priority list for DN and I. I went as a moody teenager and loved it. It is a break from reality for us and I think that she deserves that. We were doing Kona for Dinner. May swap it of Ohana I know it is a set menu but she will eat steak and chicken so I think she would be okay there. I don't love Chef Mickey's either but we promised DS we would do one character meal and he says NO to princesses so it is really between Tusker House, Crystal Palace, and Chef Mickey's. I think Mickey and Friends would go over better with DN than Pooh and Friends. I would love 1900 PF I hear the step sisters are a hoot. I may just sneak it in anyways

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Have you asked for her input on restaurants? I helped plan the last Disney trip for the kids I nanny for and they had a blast choosing fast passes and restaurants. We set aside time to look over menus, watch ride videos etc. Not only did it help get them really excited for the trip, but they all came to an agreement on things. If she doesn't want to do that maybe print out menus for the restaurants and ask her to take a glance and let you know if she will eat something at each restaurant (I can't help with the kids menu question, sorry). 13 is such a tricky age, especially for a girl who is going through a lot. Disney can be overwhelming to someone who has never been so it could be helpful to have her involved in the planning so that she has an idea of what to expect, including what time you will start your days, etc.

 

[disnut8]

For restaurants, remember that you can order anything off the menu with any meal. You can also get things "naked". So, if she's fine with a simple chicken breast, she should be good. If that meal comes with some sort of weird side, look to see if fries or something else is offered with any other meal and she can substitute. Also look at the appetizers and the desserts. She can do just that. Same with a soup and a side. Or a salad and a side. Or just dessert. Don't focus on meals as they appear on the menu. Focus on the food as it appears on the menu. If it's there, you can order it in whatever combination you want.

As far as a moody teenager, most of them are. Nothing different there. I would suggest you ask her to go to a good Disney site that lists all the attractions and have her tell you what she wants to do and what she doesn't want to do. When my son was a teenager, I did a spreadsheet of all the attractions and then had him, myself and my husband rank them. But my ranking was not 1-10. The lowest was "no way Jose" and the highest was "yes, yes, yes!" That was for every attraction. If one of three of us had a "yes, yes, yes!" we all did it no matter if someone had it as "no way Jose". Very eye opening. And we all ranked these separately from each other.

 

[erij11]

Regarding the character meal, my DD14 and I went to the Hollywood & Vine Play & Dine Breakfast last year in July. She loves Sofia the First and wishes Sofia was around when she was little, LOL. She was thrilled to get her picture with Sofia and actually texted it to her best friend back at home. It was hilarious. We had a blast and it ended up being our favorite breakfast. We also went to Tusker House and The Crystal Place. The food at Tusker House was much better but Hollywood & Vine was just plain fun. DD14 was actually the youngest in our group of 6 and we all loved the character meals!!! My DS23 was bummed that we didn't get to see Tigger at The Crystal Palace. For some reason, Tigger kept skipping our table!!! I really hope she has a good time whatever you decide!

 

[Feisty Fairy]

As a adult picky eater I was on the Dining Plan and was able to pick off the kids menu at Akershsus they just brought me and adult portion of it.

 

[sharona]

I've noticed that my DD12 is much less moody and enjoys herself more when she's involved with the planning for our vacations. I let her choose a few things to do or places to eat and she understands that it is not always all about her - well, as much as any only child can ever truly understand that concept!

Have her sit with you at the computer and look at the menus of the places you have planned. As to the character meal, if she is really feeling the whole "I'm too big/cool for this" vibe, maybe you can involve her a bit by asking her to take some pics of you and your DS while he's interacting with the characters.

 

[MainMom]

I have a 13 year old DD. She loves WDW and is excited for our trip (her 4th).

She is looking forward to:
Princess breakfast at Akershus
Blizzard Beach
Pool Time
Rollercoasters

She also told me she would meet any characters including Anna & Elsa if I could get Fast Passes.

I recommend involving your niece in the planning. DD loves watching ride videos and resort tour videos. Does she like to shop? Maybe a GC with some spending money for DTD or WS with just the two of your shopping for an afternoon? My DD also LOVES pin trading. She collects a couple of specific characters.