What do infants 1-2yr old eat?(Dining plan question too)

[Alpha0meqa]

Hello all,

I've got another question since this board has been so very helpful. For parents that have gone with children 1-2yr old. What do your children eat? Any example days/trip reports that you may know about that I can check out. I'm sort of curious from start-finish of a day in Disney.

Our DD will be off the bottle at that age, and I assume eating smallish meals. Do you just buy whole milk/whatever milk from the store and bring along cups/sippy cups? >>>>Additionally, I know that if you do the dining plan you can only share off of your plate for your kids. And at buffets they can eat for free anything/everything.

Do you just order them something off the menu in the kids section or? I figured the kids menu still might be a bit too much for our DD that will be 12-13months old.

Another question.... Would you all recommend the 2nd tier dining ? I've read the 3rd is a bit pricey for what you get unless you really plan it out to make the most of it. And the 1st doesn't include much.

 

[KayaWildfire]

Ours, especially at 1, ate off our plates. We aren't terribly adventurous people, so we are talking little bits of hamburger, fries, turkey, green beans, etc for quick service meals. They would have in no way eaten an entire kids meal. As far as table service, we ate at a lot of buffets so the kiddos could eat whatever. We we're happily brought milk upon request at no charge. Be advised that you would have to pay for a kids meal if you do the dining plan as littles don't get credits. We didn't bring around milk with us, they drank water around the parks and milk at meals.
As far as the dining plan, it works for our family, but is is hugely subjective. Best to do the math as it applies to your situation.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

they eat portions that are the size of their fists. try everything, expect nothing.

 

[westie55]

I have been with children in that age range a few times. I echo everything others have said, but I also wanted to add that you should be prepared for the possibility of eating habits being different in Disney. When I took my son at 17 months, he was eating lots of table food at home. I expected him to eat things like pizza, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, pancakes, etc. at Disney but he wanted none of it. I think the change in routine and all the stimulation threw him for a loop and he wanted to survive on milk and goldfish for the 4 days we were there. I would bring some snacks you know your LO will eat just in case the same happens to you!

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

When we went with my son who was just shy of 2, he ate frequent, small things. He can't have dairy milk, and we only did soy milk at dinner. Being out in the heat all day, it didn't really seem wise to let him have any more milk than that. We were on the regular dining plan, with 1 table service, 1 quick service, and 2 snacks per person, per day, but he was not included due to his age.

I brought a bunch of snacks with us and ordered a small snack cooler to be delivered to the resort. In the mornings, he ate some cereal in a baggie (that I brought with me in the plane) while sitting in his stroller waiting for the bus. Once we got to a park, he would usually have a fruit pouch. We had a small backpack with some other snacks (more fruit pouches, pretzels, goldfish, crackers & cheese, fruit snacks) that he ate throughout the day, usually while sitting in his stroller when we were walking between attractions. For lunch, we would get quick service somewhere, and he would share a couple bites out of all of our food. It was really probably only 3-4 bites from maybe 2-3 people in our group's food to fill him up, so there was always plenty. For dinner, we always ate table service. At buffets and AYCTE places, we made him his own plate at no charge. At the Bon Voyage character breakfast and CRT, he was allowed to order a full kids meal for free (Akershus also does this). At the other restaurants, there was always more than enough food for him to share a couple bites from everyone else's plate. Most restaurants gave him the cup of soy milk we ordered for free; I think one place charged us. Understand though that it is pixie dust if they don't charge for it.

With the dining plan, you also get 2 snack credits/night/ person. The 1 year old won't get his own credits, but the majority of the snacks at Disney are quite large and easily shareable with a toddler. We never bought my son his own meals or paid out of pocket for snacks and ended up with a ton of snack credits left over at the end. I really doubt you'll have to pay much if anything out of pocket on food for your DD if you get the dining plan and just pack a few basic snacks to carry in the parks.

Definitely bring a sippy cup and make sure all of you stay hydrated. You can get free cups of ice water at any quick service location, so take advantage of that. That's primarily what DS drank in his sippy cup throughout the day, though I'd usually get a Powerade with my QS meal and share some of that with him at lunch, and then he had the soy milk at dinner. Also, consider bringing a strap to attach your DD's sippy cup to the stroller. I swear DS must have thrown his sippy cup on the ground at least 20 times every day.

 

[daisy2013]

Usually off our plate. We made sure one of us ordered something she would eat. Sometimes we did order her the kids power pack at a quick serve. It included a yogurt goldfish a cereal bar and a couple other things. She would eat them as snacks throughout the day. If we didn’t get the power pack she sometimes got a kids meal but we would ask for two fruits - apple sauce grapes etc and would keep one as a snack later
We brought goldfish with us in a snack cup every day. For milk we jus gave her the 2% that was available every where and brought a couple reusable but ultimately disposable straw cups. That way if one got lost or broken we were only out a couple dollars.

 

[emilyrachael]

At that age, I brought a lot of snacks from home - cereal, pouches, snack bars. I wanted to keep his diet as normal as possible to avoid an upset stomach while we were there. There is plenty you can share with them, but I was concerned about it being too much salt if he always ate park food. I agree with the previous poster that said your kid could suddenly become picky in the Disney environment, so something familiar to eat is always good to have.

 

[sponica]

I went with a 20 month old but my kid's culinary choices are bizarre.

She's not a big milk drinker, so I didn't worry about it. She eats enough yogurt and cheese to make up for it.

We did the Ohana breakfast and the Garden Grill breakfast. She ate her weight in fruit at both meals. Sometimes she ate off our plate, sometimes we'd order her a meal. She fell in love with the applesauce pouches that were in the kids counter service meal, so we had a ton delivered via amazon prime.

She slept through lunch at tiffins and when she woke up she ate the remainder of the bread service there.

She did not like the noodles at Teppan Edo, disappointed they weren't pasta.

I think she ate part of her burger at Raglan Road

We went down with take and toss sippy cups, that way if we had to throw one away it wasn't the end of the world.

Looking back I wouldn't have ordered so many meals for her, but I wanted to order what I WANTED not order food for me that she would eat. And since I had a crabcake at 50s Primetime, I wasn't going to be sharing that.

I think the heat impacted how much she was willing to eat and what she was willing to eat. She ate a lot of goldfish, teddy grahams, and drank a lot of apple juice during the day and would be more willing to eat at dinner than at lunch.

 

[pinkxray]

We took our 18m and 3y old last month. It seemed like they were constantly eating snacks. Goldfish, cereal, applesauce and apple slices were consumed throughout the day.
We only did 2 TS meals. Ohana and garden grill breakfast so the 18m old ate her weight in eggs and waffles those days.
Other meals we just gave her some of our meals and always had enough. But she probably wasn’t too hungry at dinner with all the snacking she was doing.
We had milk from the resort gift shop for our room but just gave her water when at the parks. (We spent a lot of time at our resort though)

 

[KrazeeK120]

We went when our son was 18 months and then again this past October, the week before his 3rd birthday.

He has always been a big kid and a big eater (we call him the trash compactor). He’s not a picky eater at all. At CS places, we always get him his own meal (even at 18 months), because if he shared off my plate, I wouldn’t get anything to eat! We’ve done several buffet/AYCTE type places, since he’s been free, so he could eat whatever he wanted. We were there during Food & Wine on our 2nd trip with him, and he had fun sampling the different foods from around the world.

When he was 18 months, we stayed Club Level, which we used for breakfast and dinner most days. This past trip, I took a box of Cheerios and put them in his snack cups to eat in the morning. He drinks a lot of water. I did give him whole milk at home from age 1-2, but I didn’t worry about it on vacation (or when we went to restaurants at home). I just gave him the low-fat milk Disney sells with the kid meals.

I did take those fruit/veggie pouches with me for snacks. He ate them well the first time, but on this last trip, he wouldn’t eat them. I think he just wants “real” food now.

We never get the dining plan...it doesn’t fit how we like to eat.

 

[wendlle]

We took our DD when she was 19 months old. Took heaps of snacks in ziplock bags. Took a small cooler bag with sandwiches and yoghurt. She had that for lunch with a few of our fries.
I don't think we ordered a single meal for her, she was happy eating the food we bought and off our plates.
This upcoming trip we will have a 10 month old and our 19 month old will now be 3.5 years old. She will eat meals now and we will still pack the sandwiches, yoghurt and snacks. The 10 month old will be eating some off our plates and I'll also be packing snacks in ziplocks and baby food.
As for drinks our DD is a big water drinker so she just had water with a straw, or in her sippy cup. Ice Water is free at Disney and that is all we drink - bonus. At night I'd give her milk that we just kept in our room fridge.

If you're paying for the Dining plan seriously look at what it is costing you. You'll be paying more likely than just paying for your meals as you go. Google Disney dining plan calculator and work out your costs.

 

[Alpha0meqa]

Thanks again everyone for the detailed responses. I do appreciate it. This will be one less thing to worry about. I'll definitely work on calculating if the dining plan is worth it or not. Good idea about the sippy cup strap, had not considered that at all.

I also figured more milk would be involved but glad to know water is good for just park time. Basically I need lots of goldfish and applesauce

<3 you all! Thanks thanks!

 

[Stltaxgirl]

I’m definitely in the same boat. I will have a 9 yo, 7 yo, 4 yo and a 20 mo. At some moments I think the dining plan will Be worth it and other times I think about how my kids eat out right now and they will sometimes get 1 adult meal and share.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

We went when our daughter was 14 months old. We basically just shared our food with her. For example, at breakfast we gave her some scrambled eggs, mickey waffles, and cut up fruit we got for ourselves. For lunch and dinner we did some buffets, where she was free and could eat whatever she wanted from the buffet. When we did a signature dining meal we ordered her a kid's meal. We went again when our daughter was 3, and our son was 20 months. We usually got one kid's meal that we would split between the two of them, and then we'd buy another carton of milk. We also brought snacks with us into the parks (cereal bars, fruit+veggie pouches).

 

[chrissy92972]

Try and have your child learn how to drink out of a straw before you go. That way free cups of ice water will be quick and easy instead of dealing with sippy cups.

 

[apdismom]

we went when my youngest was 1.5, she ate off of our plates for the most part. however you can bring food in just not a cooler, so we brought in some snacks she likes. We used garden grocer and had fruit and snack stuff delivered to our room for her as well as diapers so we didn't have to pack them on the flight! she never went hungry.

 

[bigbabyblues]

The first time we took our kids, they were 3 years old and 15 months old. At TS meals, they usually shared a kids' meal and we supplemented with food from our plates. Sometimes we got a kids meal for each of them, it just depended. We brought a few snacks in, but not many.

 

[coldice371]

We always had more than enough food from our meals to share with our little one. 2 adults sharing a tiny portion meant more than enough food for everyone.