Make 9yr old an adult for dining purposes?

[gettingsmaller]

Hey,
I have 3 kids--5,7, and 9. We will be there for 9 nights in December with free dining. For about $33, I can "upgrade" the 9-year-old to an "adult", which would allow us to get an additional "adult" meal at CS and TS places (I think it's basically the cost of buying an adult park ticket instead of a child, since everything else stays the same). The main reason I would consider this is not AMOUNT of food--it's the total lack (that's the way it seems to me, anyway) of variety in kid's menus. It seems like your only choices--whether TS or CS--are chicken nuggets, hamburgers, or pizza. That gets old after a few days... oh, yeah, the desserts are also a little depressing... almost always a "decorate your own ice cream" kind of thing--nice a couple of times, but for 9 days?:shrug:
So, do you guys have any suggestions for this situation? Am I missing some "little-known" option when it comes to kids getting something else? If you were in a similar situation, what would you do?

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

Meh, 33 bucks, go for it.

 

[One Lil Spark]

Go for it! At minimum, you can order an adult sized meal for all the kids to munch on to give their meals a little more variety.

 

[UberPlannerMom]

33 for the whole trip? I would think that you should definitely go for it.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Our first trip on the dining plan DD was 9 and was miserable with the choices that she was offered on a kid's menu. If I had it to do over I would have paid the difference and said she was 10. She was so happy this year to be able to eat as she calls it "real food" I say yes, pay the difference, it just isn't fair and I ended up giving her extra speniding money anyway because she wasn't happy with the food.

 

[betteratmk]

I've always wished that Disney had a junior plan for ages 9 -12. The current one is great for young children but not enough variety for the older child. Sometimes the adult menu is a little too adult in their choices as well. It would be nice to be able to order a 1/2 portion size of pasta or something along those lines.

 

[stmize]

I've always wished that Disney had a junior plan for ages 9 -12. The current one is great for young children but not enough variety for the older child. Sometimes the adult menu is a little too adult in their choices as well. It would be nice to be able to order a 1/2 portion size of pasta or something along those lines.

I agree. My DS is 12 and is a picky eater who doesn't like a lot of adult like meals (also is too big of a portion) but also doesn't want pb&j every day nor is the portion big enough

 

[piggy1116]

For the last 2 visits we have paid the extra for our DD(9yr.old) to have adult meals, she doesn't like chicken fingers and pizza everyday, she would rather eat fish, steak, prime rib and other items like that. So for us well worth it.

 

[gettingsmaller]

Thanks. It's nice to have the perspective of some other people--especially people who have dealt with this already... I'm really leaning toward paying the extra... I'm pretty tight with my money, but I think it might be worth it to have the expanded options--and, really, any of the kids could share that third adult meal if they wanted...

 

[Dwarful]

Spend the money. Even if it is $33 a day..spend the money. This summer we did 14 days at WDW and by day 3 our youngest (8) was picking off of the adult meal options. She and I shared, or I ate the kids meal at the counter service. The only sit down we did where steak was even an option on the kids plan was Le Cellier. But still we all had awesome desserts and she had a bit of fruit. Who in their right mind thinks a kid will say "sure mom, dad, and all siblings over 9 get their choice of creme brulee, cakes, pie, etc., but I'll be happy with some canned fruit, grapes or a somewhat dry cupcake"

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

I kicked that around, too. My nephew is 9, and even though he doesn't eat much, I could see him getting tired of eating the same thing every day. I don't have as many (5 nights) to worry about as you, so I was able to schedule buffets (Chef Mickey's and the Princess dinner in Norway, along with Donald's breakfast) and we're doing the Hoop-De-Doo Review, so he will have some variety instead of a steady diet of PBJ and chicken nuggets.

On the other hand, my niece is 6 and eats everything in sight, so the buffets made more sense for her, too.

 

[MichWolv]

Hey,
I have 3 kids--5,7, and 9. We will be there for 9 nights in December with free dining. For about $33, I can "upgrade" the 9-year-old to an "adult", which would allow us to get an additional "adult" meal at CS and TS places (I think it's basically the cost of buying an adult park ticket instead of a child, since everything else stays the same). The main reason I would consider this is not AMOUNT of food--it's the total lack (that's the way it seems to me, anyway) of variety in kid's menus. It seems like your only choices--whether TS or CS--are chicken nuggets, hamburgers, or pizza. That gets old after a few days... oh, yeah, the desserts are also a little depressing... almost always a "decorate your own ice cream" kind of thing--nice a couple of times, but for 9 days?:shrug:
So, do you guys have any suggestions for this situation? Am I missing some "little-known" option when it comes to kids getting something else? If you were in a similar situation, what would you do?

At a couple of TS restaurants last year, the choices for my son were all things he didn't like or was allergic to. We asked for help and every time they came up with something else that worked fine. Part of the willingness to help may have been the allergies, though -- I'm not sure. We also would hit buffets where he could eat whatever he wanted.

But for $33 bucks, do it.

 

[gettingsmaller]

I kicked that around, too. My nephew is 9, and even though he doesn't eat much, I could see him getting tired of eating the same thing every day. I don't have as many (5 nights) to worry about as you, so I was able to schedule buffets (Chef Mickey's and the Princess dinner in Norway, along with Donald's breakfast) and we're doing the Hoop-De-Doo Review, so he will have some variety instead of a steady diet of PBJ and chicken nuggets.

On the other hand, my niece is 6 and eats everything in sight, so the buffets made more sense for her, too.

The buffet thing WAS a consideration here. Out of 9 meals, I think 5 are buffets/family style. So, I do know that the kids will have other options for those meals. My problem was--if you're looking at 18 meals (9X2, or #days X lunch and dinner), you still have 13 meals over 9 days that are chicken/hamburger. On the one hand, my kids are picky, and they aren't going to eat a HUGE variety, anyway. On the other hand, I would like them to have a choice of something else when they WILL eat it... Besides, there's the whole "you only get 2 meals a day on the plan" thing. So, that third adult meal possibly helps stretch meals...

 

[November Girl]

I've always wished that Disney had a junior plan for ages 9 -12. The current one is great for young children but not enough variety for the older child. Sometimes the adult menu is a little too adult in their choices as well. It would be nice to be able to order a 1/2 portion size of pasta or something along those lines.

I 100% agree with you! My 11 year old needs more food than the kids meals provide, but isn't really in the adult category, and the offerings are just way too large for her, and sometimes too "gourmet". Maybe a plan that would allow tasting...a kid sized portion of the adult menu food, or an appetizer instead of the kids meal, for this in between age group? :lol:

 

[shoppingnut]

too "gourmet".

This is something I had to deal with when I take my nephew who is now 14 and we've been going since he's 8. His mom and dad are very plain meat and potato eaters, no real spices to speak of that they use other than garlic, salt and pepper. I kept telling him that if he sees something on the menu that he was interested in, but had stuff in it he didn't like, we would just ask to have the dish made without it. You can dumb down any meal, I do it all the time since I hate peppers.

 

[BRER DAD]

A cm told me that the computer dosnt reconize the diff. between a child counter service and an adult counter service. We have a 4 year old and a 6 year old and we ordered them adult meals at every counter service. We did it last year and this year and no problems. The only time they had to order children meals was at the table service.

 

[gettingsmaller]

A cm told me that the computer dosnt reconize the diff. between a child counter service and an adult counter service. We have a 4 year old and a 6 year old and we ordered them adult meals at every counter service. We did it last year and this year and no problems. The only time they had to order children meals was at the table service.

Well, we did that last year, too, actually... There WAS once or twice where the CM checking us out pointed out that the KTTW card has a code on it that shows how many adults and how many kids. So, you might have trouble going through the line with more adult meals than adults if you get them all at once. One time, the person at Wolfgang Puck Express (the one that is right by the Wolfgang Puck table service) would not let us get more than two adult meals. Maybe it was a bad day for her or something. I don't understand how they can limit it if the computer doesn't track it. What if the two adults are really hungry and they want to use an extra adult credit to get a third meal to share? Unless the credits are broken out (Adult CS vs. Child CS), they really don't have any business telling me that I can or cannot get an adult meal when I want it (unless I'm out of credits, which would require them being broken out).

By the way, I can't speak highly enough of the OTHER Wolfgang Puck Express and the person who helped us there. The food was great, and the person was so helpful and nice that I tracked down the manager to compliment the employee.

So, I thought it might just be easier and less conscience-disturbing to upgrade one kid to an adult (and to it would also allow for 'better' meals at TS places...). I don't know... I'm still trying to figure out what to do...