13 year old eating from childr menu

Andy Stocker

New Member
Original Poster
I'm sure its been answered before, but I couldn't find it real quick so I posted here. I know, I know, we should make our kids try new things but when looking at a lot of the menus for our May trip I've noticed that my 13 year old boy will find more of the childrens menu desirable. I'm really trying to weigh pros and cons of dining plan and might even lean towards the Deluxe. What have been your experiences with teenagers wanting to use adult credit for child menu? I figure it SHOULD be a no brainer, but you never know. Will most places do this? And if so, will they even give a slightly larger childs portion? I look at the menu of "Be Our Guest" and think "no way he will try this!!"....hell i love a lot of different things but for as popular as that restauarant is, it sure seems like they could add a few "meat and taters" items!! haha

Thanks in advance!
 

CAPTAIN HOOK

Well-Known Member
1) If you want to order from the children menu for your son then do so
2) If you're now thinking of buying the Deluxe Plan, with an "adult" child who will only eat off the children's menu then you're wasting your money
3) A "childs" portion is just that - child size. There's no "slightly larger" portions unless you're eating at buffet restaurants
 
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Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
It will depend on the restaurant.

I have yet to run into a Disney owned table service restaurants that even batted an eye at an adult ordering from the kids menu. They will often increase it to an adult portion for a sur-charge if paying cash or if they are using an adult dining plan.

I have a 23 year old daughter and a 50+ year old friend that do this quite regularly.

The same is not true for some of the non-Disney owned places. Some will not even entertain the idea of someone older than 9 ordering from the kids menu.

That being said, making the deluxe dining plan work from a numbers standpoint is a little tricky unless you doing something like eating 3 TS meals per day or 1 TS and 1 signature. If you have what is in essence an adult ordering from the kids menu at these places, any savings you have will erode quickly.

The only exception would be if you have a lot of character meals and buffets planned as cost is determined by age and not what they order.
 

EvilQueen-T

Well-Known Member
My step mother is a picky eater and has ordered off the kids menu even at California Grill. They just brought her an adult sized portion and charged her accordingly but she wasn't on a dining plan. My 12 y/o still bounces between adult and the kids menus depending on what type of menu is available. Being on the dining plan he'd be an adult and they'll still charge him as one so if he does order off a kids menu if he eats more than a kids menu portion don't be shy about asking for an adult size portion since you're paying for it.
 

MickeyMomV

Well-Known Member
Another thought, and somebody correct me if I am off base here, but you could pay OOP for the kids meal for the 13 year old. You don't have to put it on the meal plan. If you do this a couple of times you can use the TS credits for yourself at another time/restaurant. If you have a TS scheduled for every day of your trip and then throw in a extra character breakfast one day the extra adult credits will come in handy.

The TS and QS credits are added to your account as an over all amount. On the normal meal plan for a family of 4 for 7 nights you get 28 TS credits for the group. Not 7 credits only to be used by each person. From there you can use them however/whenever you want as long as you use them by the end of your check out day.
 

chrisbarry

Active Member
This past summer we had 9 teens with our traveling party. Age range from 14-17. All of them at one time or another ordered off the kids menu at table service and at counters. Not a word, a raised eye or an up charge to be found. Never went to Disney Springs do can't comment on those restaurants but in the parks and resorts there was never a question. My 14- year-old twin boys just about always ate off the kids menu. Never an issue. They're not big eaters. It doesn't pay to buy them an adult portion.
 

Ted Daggett

Active Member
The same is true for every reservation with the DDP.
Interesting, I didn't realize this, but then never had any reason to question it, because my entire family has always had the dining plan. However, what if my family of 5 is on the dining plan, and a friend of mine is in Orlando for business, and wants to meet us for dinner at the Wilderness Cafe. Would he have to use one of our dining credits? Or could he pay separately?
 

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Interesting, I didn't realize this, but then never had any reason to question it, because my entire family has always had the dining plan. However, what if my family of 5 is on the dining plan, and a friend of mine is in Orlando for business, and wants to meet us for dinner at the Wilderness Cafe. Would he have to use one of our dining credits? Or could he pay separately?
You would pay for their meal separately.

"Reservation" refers to room reservation. For instance, if you have 5 people in a room, all 5 would either need to have or not have the DDP. You could not do something like 3 with it and 2 without.
 
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Ted Daggett

Active Member
You could pay for their meal secretly.

"Reservation" refers to room reservation. For instance, if you have 5 people in a room, all 5 would either need to have or not have the DDP. You could not do something like 3 with it and 2 without.
Oh, I understand... I was thinking you meant ADR, not room reservation.
 

Andy Stocker

New Member
Original Poster
Thanks for all your comments! Looks like there was some confusion, but what I'm gathering is that "WE CAN" order separately at table, even when our whole room has dining plan? Definitely decided against Deluxe plan...now wandering if I can shave off enough table service credits (if kids eat from kids menu) to basically get another table service meal. I would say it would have to be more than 2 to justify another family table service meal.
 

DisAl

Well-Known Member
As MickeyMomV said how you pay for each meal is up to you. They may not be able split an individual ticket though, so I would suggest that you ask for a separate ticket for any meal you wanted to pay for OOP to make sure that it doesn't get charged to your dining plan. Just ask your server when you order how to split between DDP and OOP.
If you accidentally end up with leftover meal credits check to see what the current policy is for converting meal credits to snacks. Because we had to bail out a day early last year due to a tropical storm in our travel path, we converted leftover QS credits to snacks. Brought home a bunch of those great cinnamon rolls from Gaston's Tavern and several of those big Mickey Mouse cookies from Main Street!
 

slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all your comments! Looks like there was some confusion, but what I'm gathering is that "WE CAN" order separately at table, even when our whole room has dining plan? Definitely decided against Deluxe plan...now wandering if I can shave off enough table service credits (if kids eat from kids menu) to basically get another table service meal. I would say it would have to be more than 2 to justify another family table service meal.

- It would almost assuredly be a waste of money to get the Deluxe Plan. Even the regular dining plan might be a bit break-even.*

- Be explicit with the table service server or the person taking your counter service order when you start the order. If you're just a family of 3, tell the server "the adults will use the dining plan, we'll pay out of pocket for our son." If you're 2 adults, one child over 9 and one child under 9, "we're using 2 adult credits and one child credit, paying for one child out of pocket," and so on.

- When it comes to table service meal credits, the credits you save paying for your child's meals out of pocket could go towards Signature Dining meals for the grown-ups.

- It would probably be best to look for counter service restaurants that serve adult meals that would appeal to your child so you don't have many of those left over. However, I believe the policy that's still in place is that any left over counter service meals can be swapped out for 3 snack credits (if this has changed, I'm sure someone will correct me but we did this as recently as last December). In this case look for snack items that are more easily kept or already pre-packaged...unless you have a way to keep and refrigerate items that are best kept cold. We usually drive there and back from NJ and have a decent sized cooler with us, so buying things like cupcakes and fudge, throwing them in ziploc bags and using those treats as a sort of Disney detox on the way back home is nice. There are also decent sized bags of pre-packaged snacks like The Chip and Dale Mountain Mix or Nature's Trail Mix that don't exactly scream "Disney" but the OOP prices for those items aren't so out of line compared to supermarket prices for comparable items.


(*Off-topic, the Deluxe Dining Plan CAN "save" a lot of money and arguably a lot of time for parents of smaller children, if they prefer a lot of character meals and buffets. The cost for a kid's breakfast and a kid's dinner at buffet/character meals is usually as much as OR MORE THAN the cost of a night for a child on the Deluxe Plan anyway. Example - a breakfast at Tusker House and a dinner at Liberty Tree (all you care to eat but not a buffet or character meal) would cover the $38.75 cost of the kids' deluxe plan with one more meal and 2 snacks left to go. Plus you met 4 or 5 characters at breakfast, got your photos and autographs for the kids, no need to wait in a queue to meet those guys later on.)
 

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