Dining plan for 10-year-olds

[lovedisneyworld]

I have a 10-year-old and have to pay for the adult dining plan price for him, but I know he would rather eat from the kids' menu. Even though I have to pay for the adult price, will they allow him to order from the kids' menu?

[TammiMcMan]

Yes they will.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

They will give him a child's menu item, however it's a waste of your money if you aren't going to use it for the adult meals. Ask to pay for a child's DDP, and make sure he doesn't change his mind and want to order from the adults.

[luvdiznee]

I'm in the same situation and I had asked the almost same question about my 50 pound 10 year old. I have decided to let her order off the kids menu and pay OOP for her and I will use her ADULT credits for us real adults toward either some extra TS's or Signature meals. :mickey:

[tadshome]

They will give him a child's menu item, however it's a waste of your money if you aren't going to use it for the adult meals. Ask to pay for a child's DDP, and make sure he doesn't change his mind and want to order from the adults.

Will they let you do that? That would solve all of my problems with my picky 10 year old :mickey:

[TammiMcMan]

Will they let you do that? That would solve all of my problems with my picky 10 year old :mickey:No, I'm sorry that information given is incorrect. You cannot "ask" for a child's dining plan. If they're 10, they pay the adult rate. That's why it's always good to price out the plan, sometimes it's just not the best way to go.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

I never said they do it, I said to ask. Asking means the answer can be yes or no.

I think if you explained to them the situation and how you don't want to purchase the adult plan for him, they might let you order a child's plan. They would just want to make sure that you understand he cannot order from the adults' menu for CS or TS, even if he changes his mind. Because trust me, Disney wants happy guests and if that means they are happier that way, I don't see why they wouldn't.

If they say no, and the leaders won't/can't be able to change it for you, then I suggest your plan of paying out of pocket for the food instead.

Because an adult meal plan is about $39, and the average child's menu item for CS is $4.25 and for TS, I believe around $10-15? I don't have any kids so I don't know the prices so maybe someone who does can better price the TS child's menu items.

[Jared]

Unfortunately, you will not be able to purchase the child plan for your 10-year-old. Take Tammi's advice and price out the plan. If your son will not eat from the adult menus, you may consider not adding the Disney Dining Plan to your package.

[wendy*darling]

I have decided to let her order off the kids menu and pay OOP for her and I will use her ADULT credits for us real adults toward either some extra TS's or Signature meals. :mickey:
I think this sounds like an excellent option. Your 10 yr old will still be able to use the CS and snack credits, and you can choose to add a few TS/Signature meals and pay out of pocket for his kids' meals.
But I do suggest running the numbers to see if it makes sense financially for your family.

[Jared]

I'm in the same situation and I had asked the almost same question about my 50 pound 10 year old. I have decided to let her order off the kids menu and pay OOP for her and I will use her ADULT credits for us real adults toward either some extra TS's or Signature meals. :mickey:
Good suggestion. My family couldn't handle so many table service meals, but I like the idea of applying the extra credits toward Signature Dining restaurants.

:tasty:

[TammiMcMan]

I never said they do it, I said to ask. Asking means the answer can be yes or no.I understand and I'm just saying that the answer will be no. There is no gray area here, no chance that maybe they'll let this one go. Unless someone lies about the age of their child, they will be charged at the appropriate age level.

[vamaggie]

If he is 10 he needs to purchase the adult dining plan and adult park tickets. Lying is just wrong(not that you were suggesting that). Another option might be to see if there is something on the adult menu that he may want but can be "kid-ified" for him (minus sauces, certain items etc) I have read that the Disney chefs can be very accomodating to making changes for guests. Our 10 yr old will eat many things but has an issue sometimes with sauces and certain veggies. We leave next week and we plan to see if they will make some adjustments for him. We are also going to try to see if he will try some new things to eat while at Disney. Our kids always seem more adventursome at WDW!!

[ElenitaB]

My DS always seems to be more open to trying new things at WDW. That pixie dust has more uses than we realized! ;)

That aside, when we first used the DDP in May 06 when he was 10, I did run the numbers and even with him ordering off the kid's menu, we still made out quite well. Going back to our trip reports, I can report our savings:

Day One (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=73719):
DDP cost for 2: $75.98 (actual food cost: 71.94)

Day Two (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=73872):
Cost of Dining Plan: $75.89
Cost of Food Purchased w/DP: $109.99
Food purchased out of pocket: $45.69 (@ three table service locations)

Day Three (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=73995):
Actual cost of Dining Plan: $75.98
Cost of food purchased on DP: $147.77!

Day Four (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=74174):
Cost of the Dining Plan for 2: $75.98
Actual Cost of Food Purchased with DP: $97.90

Day Five (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=74235):
Cost of the Disney Dining Plan for 2: $75.98
Actual cost of food purchased with DP: $26.65
Note: While it looked like we didn't do well this day, over the course of the trip we saved over $85 dollars and ended up with 3 snacks left. I think we'll be using the DP again when we return in November.

Granted, the Dining Plan is changing for 2008 and some of the things which made it "worth it" even with my 10 yr old ordering from the kid's menu (appetizer and gratuities included) will be disappearing. As for them "kiddifying" some of the adult entries, I can report that when we went to Coral Reef, they were more than happy to prepare DS's entree in a simpler way.

Happy planning!

[Momto2Princesses&1Pirate]

I'm in the same situation and I had asked the almost same question about my 50 pound 10 year old. I have decided to let her order off the kids menu and pay OOP for her and I will use her ADULT credits for us real adults toward either some extra TS's or Signature meals.

Ditto for us. We will be paying OOP for DD11 to order a kids meal and using her adult credits for Signature meals. We see it as a winning solution. She gets what she wants and we get to make use of her credits to add some special meals to our trip. (Of course this doesn't apply to buffets and character meals).;) 42 days left to go!!!!!:D

[lovedisneyworld]

Thanks everyone for this useful info. I never thought to use his adult credits for us and to pay OOP for him, so I am definitely going to do this. Thanks again!! 278 days and counting:mickey:.

[Jeri]

We just got back 2 days ago, and my son is 10 also.
What we did was order him adult food and asked for fries with things and like at Le Cellier they made the free range chicken just plain(no sauce) and let him have fries instead of what was on the menu.
We were also able to do this at Coral Reef too. I had no problem ordering off the adult menu for him. At Olivia's they asked if he wanted an adult portion of the chicken strips and fries, and for dessert he wanted a Ice cream instead of what was on the menu and the brought him a big bowl with chocolate syurp and whip cream.

He ate prime rib alot too. I found it to be no problem to have a 10 yr old picky eater on the dinning plan. I think if we had paid oop for his meals and ordered off the child menu he would have been very hungery.
I was suprised how hungery they get from all the walking around. My 4 yr old ate probably twice as much as he does at home.

[TheDuckRocks]

I was also on the fence as to if we should get the dining plan or not because we are taking my 10 year old granddaughter who eats next to nothing.
The final reason we did go with the dining plan is we will be going to Ohana, Boma, Liberty Tree Tavern, Mama Melrose on the Fantasmic! package and 1900 Park Fare. At all of these places she would be charged as an adult if we're on the plan or not.
On the other TS restaurants we will be going to she will either order off the childs menu or order and appetizer and dessert off the adult menu and we will pay out of pocket for her or she and I will share a meal. With the extra TS credits we will go to an extra character breakfast that we were not planning on doing.
Like Ellen I will be keeping track of what we would be spending on the new dining plan for 2008 and will report back as to if this is now a bargin or not for us.

[LibertyTreeGal]

I think it's a wonderful idea to use his credits for Sig meals, since after all, they are adult credits. Tee hee!

Better yet, just come to WDW with us -- my 6 year old twins abhor the kid's meals -- they will be happy to swap ;)