When your child is an "adult" on the meal plan but still eats like a child

[palmtreelover08]

I am guessing you have to buy the meal plan designed to your childs age,but what happens when your child just wants the grilled chicken and string bean option as opposed to steak and potato option (i.e. they want the kids menu choices but are on the "adult" plan). Do people just not purchase the dining plan if you have a finicky eater who does not want to try the more "elaborate" regular entrees? I have a hard time swallowing the price difference for the table service plan if DD (8) will still be eating kiddie meals next year.

Any experience with this?

 

[Magic2000]

My DD is 16 now, and still prefers to order off the kids menu. We usually do not get the dining plan because of this.

Two years ago, we tried the dining plan. MOST of the time, she did order off the adult menu, but there were a few restaurants where she really didn't like anything on the adult menu and she just ordered off the kids.

I actually prefer to just pay for our meals, rather than use the dining plan.

 

[madalex]

Do people just not purchase the dining plan if you have a finicky eater who does not want to try the more "elaborate" regular entrees?

Yes. If paying for the adult meal plan for a 10 year old child who only eats off the kid's menu is going to be a problem, then the dining plan is probably not for you.

 

[ancestry]

Many people choose to forego the dining plan during those in between years. If the adult plan isn't worth the money for your child then you are probably are best foregoing the dining plan and paying out of pocket instead.

 

[palmtreelover08]

OK.. guess this is the last year for the dining plan for me (at least until's DD's taste buds grow up) Thanks

 

[JimmyV]

OK.. guess this is the last year for the dining plan for me (at least until's DD's taste buds grow up) Thanks

And maybe not even then. The DP works best when factoring in character meals, and when desserts are more appealing to your family than salads or appetizers. If your DD's teen years see her pushing away desserts and favoring salads or other appetizers instead, again, the DP will fail you.

 

[no capes darling]

No point in paying for the plan if it's not something they're going to want to eat & everyone from the reservation must be on it. I for one was happy when child became "adult" aged for the dining plan. They hated the seemingly same-old everywhere options for the kids menus. Needless to say we would do a lot of buffets to satisfy their desire for "normal" (to us) food.

 

[habg1]

Ah, yes...I remember those days. I want chicken tenders!!!! Waaaahhhh!!

We did alot of buffets. We did alot of looking at menus before I booked any ADRs.

Buffets are the way to go if you r getting the dining plan.

 

[kamik86]

No point in paying for the plan if it's not something they're going to want to eat & everyone from the reservation must be on it. I for one was happy when child became "adult" aged for the dining plan. They hated the seemingly same-old everywhere options for the kids menus. Needless to say we would do a lot of buffets to satisfy their desire for "normal" (to us) food.

This was the issue we had with my 8 year old niece. This is a kid that doesn't like French fries but will eat a steak cooked medium without a problem.

 

[clanmcculloch]

It still may work for you. You'll need to do the math and consider your dining preferences. If you like a lot of fixed price restaurants then you'll be paying adult prices regardless of what your new Disney Adult chooses to eat so having those credits can be beneficial. If you want to eat more meals than the number of credits you get dicates then paying OOP for your new Disney Adult's kids meals can stretch your credits; you just use those extra credits for the adults in your party and pay OOP for the kids' meals (this works at restaurants that are not fixed price; again, fixed price restaurants charge by age). Disney allows people of all ages to order kids' meals at restaurants that are not fixed priced. More people than not find that they're better off paying OOP, but for some, it can still save money. It's always important to run the numbers for your individual sitation.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

If there are more meals that you want to do, you could pay out of pocket for kids meals and use those adult credits for additional meals. On our last trip, we told DD to order from whichever menu she wanted to, and the extra credits from the times she ordered kids meals paid for some of the meals we had planned to purchase in addition to the dining plan.

 

[palmtreelover08]

oooohhhh..I had forgotten about the expense of characters meals. I am thinking that even at 9 she may want to go to one or two (heck, I'm 39 and still like to go to them!). Buffets may be an option, and maybe I will make her check out the menus and let her pick the places we eat..thanks for the great ideas!

 

[SnipsNSnails]

She isn't a Disney adult until 10. At 9 she will still be a child. If she still wants to order child menu items at age 10, the extra credits can be used to stretch more meals or be used to do some Signature dining.

My 4 yo is far from being an adult yet, but he is a very light eater. If this continues I'm not sure what we will do once he's 10. I think it might still be OK since my 2 yo eats twice as much as my 4 yo and loves things like steak etc. He hasn't met a food he doesn't like. So I'm figuring that by the time they are 10 and 7 or 8, the younger one will eat the adult meal allowing the older one to order child's meals for another 2-3 years if he wants to.

 

[ElizabethB]

Never spend an adult TS credit for a child's meal. Unless it's a buffet or all you can eat place, pay out of pocket for the kid's meal and keep the adult TS to use at a signature restaurant!

 

[kldmom2000]

We are in that boat as well. My girls are 10 and 8.... this is the first year we're not doing the DDP because we'll be there in July and the cost of $47.99 per day for my 10 year old is a waste unless we were to do a buffet every day She's not an adventurous eater by any means and prefers chicken nuggets/mac & cheese, etc.... as opposed to the adult options.

 

[n2mm]

We stopped eating at buffets when our grandson started getting charged as an adult and was just a nibbler. Now he's 17 and eats like an adult. Probably the worse experience we had was the year they changed the age from 11 yo to 9 yo. Our GS was traveling with us and was 10 yo. We had booked all of our meals prior. A month before arriving (that July) it was announced that the age was changing from 11 down to 9. I called and posted as any of us would do. I was assured my Disney dining folks that my reservations would be honored, afterall I made them before the change. Even my friends here posted that they thought I would be OK. I showed up at Cape May and asked at the podium how it would be handled, knowing he was just going for the chicken strips. I was told, he would be charged as an adult no matter when I made the reservation, so we left. We stopped at the front desk and cancelled all of our buffets for the remainder of the trip (except Trails End where it was still a good deal). We seldom buy the DDP anymore as we are TiW cardholders and we do much better with that discount instead of the DDP. We like our own schedule too.

 

[mello]

Yes, this is a problem. For our kids, the crossover age was around 11-12ish, but it has varied from kid to kid. I really think you should be able to choose which plan suits your tweener child, regardless of age, because some people have adventurous 9 yo's and other have chicken nugget 12 yo's. I agree with others that either not doing the dining plan or doing lots of buffets works well during this time.