Dining Plan and my 2 kids

[tarkin]

My daughter is 13 and my son will be 10 when we go in October. Do they both pay the adult rate for the dining plan?

I can see my wife and I getting alot of benefit from using the dining plan but my kids are very picky eaters and don't stray far from chicken fingers or spaghetti or pizza for dinner at restaurants. Because of this, if I have to pay adult rates for their dining plan it doesn't seem to be a very good deal.......any thought?

[wendy*darling]

Yes, both the 10 & 13 year olds will have to pay adult prices for the Dining Plan and park passes.

There are options on the adult menus that they will most likely eat. Only you can decide if it's worth it for your family.

If you really want to use the DDP, consider a number of buffet or all-you-can-eat meals (character or not) where they will have lots of options to try. That way they can eat as much as they like of their favorites. And they can even try some new foods, and not be afraid of not liking it- just get a new plate and go back to the old standbys!

Take a look through the menus (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/dining/menus/default.asp)in InfoCentral to see what types of foods are available at the different restaurants to help you decide.

[tarkin]

Thanks for responding so quick, we're on Disney.com looking at options now. I really think that unless your kids are big eaters, it's not the way to go.

[QueenDisneyBound]

Hi all, this brings up another question that I have...my DS's will be 10 and 13, and we did get the free dining plan. Can they have a choice of getting a kid's meal vs. choosing from the regular menu? I think there will be times that something on the kids menu may be more appealing to them...

[Mickey91]

Yep! They are now on the adult plan. You can ask if they can have adult sized portions of some of the kids menu items if they won't eat anything on the adult menu. My DS did this one year at the castle. The waitress brought him a large plate of chicken fingers and fries with out any problem.:mickey:

[hooberry]

:mickey:I prefer to purchase the dining plan simply because I'm a big planner and I like having meals paid for in advance. I don't have to worry about budgeting or overspending on meals during our vacation. You will have all adult table service credits, you may want to consider paying out of pocket for some of the kids table service meals if they will be ordering from the kids menu anyway. Most kids meals run less than $8 and save the adult credits for character meals, or extra table service for the real adults. that way you can stretch out your number of table credits. More value for your money:thumbsup:

[hnybear22]

Hey
We were on the dining plan for the first time last year when DD was 9.
I don't know how much your kids eat at mealtime, but keep in mind that the kids meals are small at some places, especially the counter service options!!
Le Cellier had a kids meal with a chicken pizza, veggies and dip and desert of apples with brown sugar that was great and enough for her!!
The kids meal at Columbia Harbor House was VERY tiny- maybe 4 small strips of chicken, a handfull of fries and a cookie!! It might have been enough for a 4 or 5 year old but would leave most older kids hungry.
I would say if they can't find something on the adult menu they like, just ask the server or counter person if there is any other option!!
Hope it works out for you:thumbsup:

[lilunsure]

You know your kids best. I’d take a look at the menus for the restaurants that you plan on eating at with your kids and have them look and see what they would order. Then I would add up the prices and make my decision. It is nice to know that your meals are paid in advance, but at what cost. By the same token you could save the money you would pay for the dinning plan and get a Disney or Visa gift card and put the money that you would spend on the dinning plan on that and use that to pay for your meals while you are at Disney.

My daughter will be 11 for our up coming trip and I plan on using the dinning plan. But she is a more adventurous eater than either DH or me.

Have a wonderful trip.

[TheDuckRocks]

We took our DGD10 (who eats like a bird) and our DGS12 in Jan. and used the dining plan and it worked out very well for us. The reason we went with the dining plan was because of the restaurants we picked; Ohana, Boma, Crystal Palace, the Fantasmic! dining package at Mama Melrose, 1900 Park Fare, Liberty Tree Tavern. They all had set adult pricing for children 10 and over, and we would have had to have paid that no matter how much they ate. At restaurants that you ordered off a menu my DGD shared with me and we paid for her beverage and a dessert. With the unused DDP TS credits we were able to include a character breakfast with only one of us having to pay OOP. Over all we saved well over $500 using the DDP.

[Jared]

Thanks for responding so quick, we're on Disney.com looking at options now. I really think that unless your kids are big eaters, it's not the way to go.
The information on Disney's official site probably will not help you much. You need to check menus of particular restaurants to decide if the Disney Dining Plan works for your family. Since your children are paying adult prices, you should really make sure there is something on the menu they would eat. Perhaps consider some buffets or family-style meals, which usually have a wide enough selection even for picky eaters.


Hi all, this brings up another question that I have...my DS's will be 10 and 13, and we did get the free dining plan. Can they have a choice of getting a kid's meal vs. choosing from the regular menu? I think there will be times that something on the kids menu may be more appealing to them...
They probably could order from the kids' menu, but if they do, it really makes no sense to purchase the Disney Dining Plan. Go crunch some numbers. Your children are paying the adult price. If they order a $6.00 entree at the table service restaurants, you will probably lose money on the plan. That's what Disney wants and what you want to avoid.

:tasty:

[nicjohn3]

Hello--I would say to definitely crunch the numbers and PLAN ahead. Our first trip we did not purchase ddp because I did not want to be on a set schedule. This past March we purchased the ddp for 2 adults and 2 kids. I planned weeks ahead exactly where we would eat and when. I used the menus on this site and used the prices posted. I made adr's at the most expensive restaurants that I could-5 out of 6 where the character meals for lunch or dinner. I kept all the receipts and crunched the numbers after the trip. We saved about $280, however, if I were to pay oop for these meals--I would probably not have gone to all the character meals as we did. It was nothing to get a receipt totally $90 for lunch or breakfast.

I think it helped because we only pd $10 for the kids a day. We definitely got our moneys worth from that.

I would say to PLAN ahead, crunch numbers/prices, and make adr's before adding the plan on to your package to see if it is worth it.

To us it was alot of food and we had 24 snacks --used 5 of them before checking out and spent the rest of our snack credits at the Goofy's Candy Co. We were able to bring 19 snacks home for later use.

[tarkin]

nicjohn3,
When you say you only paid $10/day per child, what do you mean? Was that the cost of the plan for them? How old are your kids?

[TheDuckRocks]

tarkin,
the age of your kiddos would have them paying the full adult price.

[KylesMom]

Can they have a choice of getting a kid's meal vs. choosing from the regular menu? I think there will be times that something on the kids menu may be more appealing to them... Although we were not on the dining plan, we had several CMs question what DS age was before they would give him a children's menu. I thought it was kind of strange, but many would say, "he IS under 10, right?" So I don't know what kind of pushback you may receive on that.

[nicjohn3]

My kids were 4 and 6 so they were paying kids prices. Your kids are considered adults in Disney's eyes. :(

[tarkin]

Hmmmm...I really have to think this through. I think I'll start looking at some menus.

[KylesMom]

Once you have an idea of the places you'd like to make ADRs at, you may want to plug the numbers into the Dining Plan Estimator to further assist you . . .

http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/dining/diningplan/estimator.asp

[tarkin]

Yup, that seems like the next step. I'm starting to think that it may work for us. Stay Tuned!!