Disneyworld with a very picky eater

[norwell]

We are hopefully going in May but this time our son’s girlfriend will be with us. She is such a fussy eater and to be honest eats very little at a time and I just think some restaurants will be a complete waste of money for her,
How strict are they at table service restaurants about ordering a child’s meal for an adult?

[YorkshireT]

People will say no problem. But I’ve had them refuse us even with young teens. For example the Wave in 2019 I remember (my kids now only want adult meals so didn’t try this Xmas).

[loldis]

It's mixed in that they'll probably do the substitution no problem, but you might still be charged a full adult price. I've seen some restaurants refuse both though, most recently saw several reports of this at Space 220 even when paying the adult prix fixe.

[moosha]

I posted this in a thread a few weeks ago about Disney dining with small appetites. We were at Disney over Christmas and DD13 doesn’t eat very much; she has a small appetite and is very fussy plus has anxiety around food and eating.

Table service I used to think they were quite strict on adults ordering from adult menu, that was certainly the message a few years ago. But then we usually had DDP anyway so it was in our interest to get best value anyway. We found some flexibility when our youngest was 10 or 11, they would still offer her and allow her to order from the 9 and under kids’ menu without batting an eyelid.

The trip we just got back from, most times at table service restaurants our 13 year old just ordered an appetiser or fries and no server ever questioned it or seemed annoyed (as tip would be lessened) which is what I feel bad about if we order less but usually just make sure we tip a bit more. Because of DD’s anxiety issues around food I was worried in case servers got a bit rude about her not ordering much but we never had that problem thankfully, it was absolutely fine. We usually were ordering at least two entrees out of four and a few appetisers plus alcohol so the bill wasn’t exactly small anyway.

I would not recommend going to prix fixe meals with someone with a very small appetite or very fussy as they would probably not get any value. Places like ‘Ohana, Liberty Tree Tavern are around $40 - $60 per head. We went to Liberty Tree Tavern and had the plant based version of the thanksgiving feast (family style, although everyone actually got an individual portion, possibly because other DD has an allergy). DD13 ate a handful of green beans out of the three courses (she had said she would probably like the food here) and we jokingly mentioned to our server as he was clearing plates that she’d only eaten a few green beans so we hadn’t got the best value. He actually took her portion off the bill without saying anything which we were so surprised about as we hadn’t expected that at all. But as it was something like $39 per head we were very grateful and gave him an extra tip.

I think because food is so expensive at Disney it’s worth doing lots of research beforehand to make sure where you’re eating is going to be worth it for you. With small appetites I would definitely limit the number of table service meals where you might end up with more than you can eat so as to get the best value. At quick service restaurants it would be easy to order kids portions of food which might be more suitable and better value.

[Vanillapod]

It was a good few years ago but When DS was little he used to have appetisers rather than kids meals. That was always no problem but I appreciate she’s not a child obviously.
There’s much more choice that way. I wonder if restaurants would be more open to that for those with smaller appetites? That might be an option