Hey, Eric! We do it to be funny, but when a child in our house turns 10, we exclaim proudly, "You're a Disney adult!" Although our family consists of 2 parents, 1 teen, 1 tween, a 10 year old and a 6 year old, we only have
one child in our family when we're at Disney.! That means that if we are on the Disney Dining Plan (DDP), we have to buy 5 adult DDPs and 1 child DDP...no matter how picky of an eater they are.
Here are some tips to help you make the most of your vacation budget whether or not you purchase the DDP:
- If your child is an extremely picky eater, consider not purchasing the dining plan. Sometimes we pay as we go...especially if we're staying in a villa where we can cook our own meals or store more snacks and drinks.
- Whether or not you're on the DDP, fully investigate restaurants before making an Advanced Dining Reservation. For our family, it is sometimes better for us to make an ADR at a restaurant without a buffet or family-style dining simply because our 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son can share an adult entree.
- For meals that require a cost/DDP credit per person (entertainment dining, character meals, etc.), we make sure we know exactly what they're serving to make sure our picky eaters have options. If they're not serving anything they like and we still want to spend the money or the DDP credits on the entertainment, then we make sure that we use our snack credits and get the picky eaters full before the dining event.
- We have been at restaurants where our 12-year-old daughter does not like any options on the adult menu, and the server brought her something from the kids' menu on a bigger plate. Of course, we were still charged an adult DDP credit since she is over nine years old.
I'm sure that it's not exactly the answer you were looking for, but I hope I've helped you think of ways to stretch your budget. Have a wonderful day and a magical vacation!