Toddlers & DDP...Rant

[MamaCoog]

Hopefully this doesnt get moved to the DDP board because its more of a rant for the parents of toddlers. It really irks me that there is no meal plan for a child under 3. I get that my two year old can "eat for free" off of my plate but come on... he eats as much as I do! The whole appeal of getting the dining plan is so you have your whole trip pre-paid. If I have to pay OOP for all of my ds's food, tips, etc... why bother with the DDP? Maybe I just dont get it but I dont understand why Disney cant offer some lower priced plan for the under 3 crowd. Sorry for the rant but its hard to convince my dh to get the DDP when we still have to spend a good bit of money for the OOP stuff. What do other toddler moms do about this??

 

[Halbleib1]

We always shared with our son or just bought him a kids meal at counter service places. As for table service places we did mostly buffets or family style meals. If it was al a carte we just bought him a meal or shared with him. My son can not have dairy so it made it more difficult for us to always share. We did not get the full kids meal that is offered though (the one that includes dessert and appetizer). His meals never came to more than 5.00 at table service places. At most al a carte restaurants they even gave him a free drink if we said we were sharing with him. At some counter service places we got him an adult meal with our dining plan as we found that we were not using them all up. The dining plan for us is just too much food that we could easily share with our son most the time. We also used some of our snack credits for him as well. For us it would have been more expensive to buy a dining plan if it was offered than it was to just buy what meals we needed to out of pocket. For some of the dinners he did not even eat because he was sleeping or just not very hungry due to the heat and or tiredness.

 

[msmayor]

There's nothing at all that says you cannot get the dining plan for a child under 3...but you must then purchase a child's park ticket as part of the package.

 

[momof296&02]

There's nothing at all that says you cannot get the dining plan for a child under 3...but you must then purchase a child's park ticket as part of the package.

This is what i've done in the past & it works out great.

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Book as many family style and buffet restaurants as possible. You can make your child his own plate at these places -- free of charge. They don't have to "eat off your plate." I never did the DDP when my kids were small (we only did it once on our last trip and it was no savings for us, but that's another whole post...) Anyhow, I always thought it was a great bargain that my little ones could go to all the character meals FREE!!! And we did them all - what a great savings.

Oh and enjoy the toddlers eat a buffet/family style/character meals FREE while you can...before you know it, he'll be 10 years old and you'll have to pay ADULT prices for him!! lol Now that hurts...

Good luck. Hope that helps.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I hear ya! My kids eat their own meal! We always pay OOP for the little ones because they eat their whole meal. I also don't think I should have to buy a child ticket that they do not need for a child under 3 so I can get the DDP for them. I know, I know, that is the rules and we do follow them but I think it is ridiculous. We just end up paying for each meal for the kids that are under 3. It can be quite expensive though. I will say though that it does pay for the rest of us to get the DDP because it costs way more than $10 a day to feed each child so I guess I can't complain there.

 

[Tiffany_MommyOf3]

My 2 yr old eats a little off of everyone elses plate. I also have a 5 yr old and a 3 yr old. My 3 yr old really doesn't eat enough in restaurants (at home she would but in public there is too much going on for her to be distracted by HAHA) that she and the 2 yr old usually can split a kids meal. Or, if the 2 yr old is really hungry, my husband and I both give a little off of our plate in addition to what he gets from sharing with his sister. Its extremely rare that we have to purchase him his own meal.

 

[leighe]

My 18 month old DD eats like crazy while we can barely get DD3 to eat anything at all. I'm planning on buying kids meals OOP for DD18months - or just giving her what her sister won't eat. Poor thing - even her lunch is hand-me-down.

 

[puffkin]

I agree with just booking a lot of family style/buffet meals. Great way to feed them for FREE!

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I agree about the buffets, but when you get counter service for breakfast or lunch it ends up costing quite a bit.

 

[TwoRoos]

Speaking of feeding toddlers at WDW, you all should take a look at this thread.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2063611
I absolutely couldn't believe the experiences that some people had. Makes me crazy and furious for them.

 

[mandynee22]

My 18 month old DD eats like crazy while we can barely get DD3 to eat anything at all. I'm planning on buying kids meals OOP for DD18months - or just giving her what her sister won't eat. Poor thing - even her lunch is hand-me-down.

 

[adventure_woman]

I'm jealous that your kid eats! My DD2 only wants to eat FRUIT! I'm hoping she might eat a little hot dog or chicken nuggets while we are down there, but probably not. I would buy her food, but 99% of the time she won't eat it!! (And I don't want to be eating hot dogs and nuggets all the time, with the HOPE that she will eat!). So, I am bringing down lots of granola/fruit bars, will buy fruit there and once in a while buy a little something for her. Thank goodness for buffets, I can give her a little something and HOPE she'll eat it!

 

[erinbee]

I'm jealous that your kid eats! My DD2 only wants to eat FRUIT!

Amen. My DD is so picky about eating the DDP would be the biggest waste. She is perfectly content to eat a very small portion of whatever we are eating. I plan on budgeting for a few CS meals for her (she does like drumsticks all of a sudden) but she will be satisfied sharing.

Also, some of the CS portions are VERY large. IT shouldn't be an issue to share. You could also do some of the budget tricks like getting a double cheeseburger for yourself on the DDP and buying an extra bun.

 

[puffkin]

Also, some of the CS portions are VERY large. IT shouldn't be an issue to share. You could also do some of the budget tricks like getting a double cheeseburger for yourself on the DDP and buying an extra bun.

We did this all the time with my DS except we didn't buy the extra bun. He didn't eat them anyway....he was happy eating the cut up patty and dipping it in ketchup.

 

[summermac]

I'm intending on bringing in snack cups of fruit/applesauce and having my kids split everything and I'm not on the DDP. Heck I was actually even considering NOT buying either of them their own meal...with 6 adults going there ought to be plenty of food to share.

I'm a cheapskate, I admit it.

 

[Kit'smommy]

My almost 5 year old rarely eats off of any child's menu anyway, so he usually eats some of both mine and DH's food. Most places we go including Disney give us plenty of food, so we rarely have any issue with sharing.

No chicken fingers and mac'n'cheese for this little guy. He wants shrimp, steak, vegetables and fruit.

 

[hopefor4]

I was worried about the same thing! We just spent Christmas/New years there. SO what we did is we had the Deluxe Dining, and we have 1 child and 4 adults. Ok, we didn't eat that much food, and actually the day we left, we were buying breakfast for families in line at the resort!!! We just got her a plate of her own at the buffets, and put her other meals on our dining plan. We never ate lunch, just used a snack for that. After a big breakfast, and a ADR for all but 2 nights, we just couldn't eat all of that food!

So I wouldn't worry about it too much, it balanced out very nicely! Remember the number of meals you have is per room, not per person.

Enjoy!

Michelle

 

[brymolmom]

I guess all families eat differently. I worry about seeing posts like this that WDW will start CHARGING for 2 year olds. Back when my kids were under 3 we always considered we got a GREAT deal. The kids got a lot out of the parks when they were near-3 AND got to eat for free at all the buffets. That was a ton of savings for us!

Maybe people just eat bigger meals than we do, but we've never had trouble with our 2 year olds when we split CS meals - on rare occassion buying an extra kids meal - but usually not needed. We always carry drinks and snacks in a cooler - so with some apples or grapes and drinks added to the 'main' course of whatever the CS meal is - we've never had trouble getting it to be enough to feed us. Of course, we usually will use our snack credits for a mickey bar soon after the meal - so no biggie if our bellies aren't 100% full (although they usually are). And, especially my son always ate full meals at age 2 - we still never had a problem.

Of course, we always bring cereal for the room for most breakfasts - so we usually do that in the room, a CS meal (split with the 2 year old) for lunch, and an early buffet dinner (so really, don't want a huge lunch since we're having a BIG dinner early).

I really think that most families with some good planning can work around the 2 year old thing and sit back and realize how much you get for that child for FREE and be happy for that!

 

[DRS_Are_Best]

I think it really depends on your family and on the individual child (toddler I mean). DS(3) will be getting the dining plan, but I'm willing to bet that his 26mo brother and sister (twins) will be eating at least as much of his meal as he is. Then we'll also give them stuff off OUR plates as well.

In many ways (for purposes of this discussion), I'm lucky -- the 26mo old boy eats breakfast, the 26mo old girl eats lunch and the 3yr old eats dinner (usually -- well not exactly, but it always seems to be like that). Breakfasts are the one meal we're concerned about and they are all buffets or all you can eat ts.

I hope you can make it work!!!!