Dining with ASD child that doesn't really eat

[DISoriented]

Hi! I'm new to these boards and planning my first resort trip to WDW. I will be traveling with my 10 month old dd and 5 year-old ds, who is on the spectrum.

Here is my concern: Ds doesn't eat any "real" foods. Pizza is as real as it gets. And even then, he's extremely picky about how it looks and will only eat the cheese off of it (not really a meal, is it)? Other stuff he eats: Cheerios, pretzels, Pepperidge Farm cheese-filled Goldfish crackers and bacon. That's all folks.

Will this be a problem with some of the sit-down restaurants? I think I'd feel weird ordering two adult meals (dd would eat off our plates) and bringing in one of ds's "preferred" foods. I guess my question is, would we be required to pay for a meal for ds? I'm thinking of dinner shows also, where we'd have to pay for food in addition to the show.

Anyone have experience with this? TIA.

 

[SueM in MN]

For the sit down and/or counter service restaurants, they won't care if you only order 2 meals. I often share with my DD and the server actually brings an extra plate most of the time.
For buffets, you do have to pay for each person who comes in and/or eats anything. It's possible that your server might not charge you for your DS, but that would be at the discretion of the individual server.
For the character or "show" meals, if someone does not eat, they are still generally charged an "entertainment" fee. It's less than the cost of the meal, but the idea is that even if not eating, they are getting entertainment out of it.
You can ask when you make your PS, ask again when you check in and then talk to your server too.

 

[terri01p]

I just booked the Hoop dee Doo Review for our trip and I explained to the CM that I would like to pay for my daugther who is considered an adult as a child because she only weights 52 pounds and will not eat a big meal, no way just can't do it, well she came back on the line after I held for a few minutes and said that they would have to charge her as an adult because technical she was, but that if she couldn't eat the manager would let her take out a plate of food, so I went ahead and booked because we really want to see this show, but sometimes I think it's who you get in dinning, when booking I spoke with Zoelynn .

 

[SueM in MN]

We've been to the character meal at Crystal Palace a number of times with DD, a teenager. We have always made our PS counting her as an adult, because technically she is. But, almost every time (it may actually be every time), the server has charged for her as a child after noticing how much she eats and that most of the food is from the children's buffet. From what I understand, the server has the ability to lower the charge.

 

[terri01p]

ok, that was also told to me today on the phone about the server being able to adjust the price , but I really thought she was just afraid I was going to go back and forth about the price with her and she just wanted to get me off the phone, so now I see , that's good, either way it's turns out good.

 

[SueM in MN]

ok, that was also told to me today on the phone about the server being able to adjust the price , but I really thought she was just afraid I was going to go back and forth about the price with her and she just wanted to get me off the phone, so now I see , that's good, either way it's turns out good.

I think they give the server the ability because they can actually get an idea what the child is eating. We've never made any comment/request to the server. They've just lowered the price based on what they can see DD eating.

 

[DISoriented]

Thanks for all of your replies.

I will make sure to carry snack foods in my bag. Hopefully, he'll get less picky about pizza on this trip and will eat it whereever we go. If not, we'll try to order sides of bacon. Crossing my fingers that it can be done and that we won't get charged $10.99 (or whatever the price is of a child's meal) for it.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I feel your pain! My DS with ASD will only eat hot dogs or chicken fingers for dinner. If I'm lucky, he might pick at a slice of pizza. I always make sure I know what's on the menu.

 

[leise]

My son is 5 and has ASD, and he also has a very restricted diet. On top of that he won't eat away from home, so when we go on holiday it takes 2 or 3 days before anything passes his lips. Usually it's only fries (chips to us!) he'll eat.

We've taken him to Crystal Palace 3 times now as he loves Winnie the Pooh. Though we always have to pay for him, he won't eat anything off the buffet. Instead we mention it when we make the PS, and to the waitress, and she always gets the kitchen to cook him a plate of fries at our request. No trouble. Last time we went we asked if they could steam him some broccoli (his favourite food, but only if steamed plain), and they did, with a smile . He got an enormous plateful, must have been at least 2 lbs! And he ate some, so I wasn't worrying for a couple of days.

 

[s&k'smom]

I chuckled when I read your thread as this is exactly my issues. What we did was stop at a grocery store on the way to the resort and picked up some juice, water and stuff. And because we were bringing three bags, I filled one with all his favorite foods. I packed less clothes and just did a load of laundry. We also had very positive experiences at restaurants. Some of the charactor ones we did pay for him but they were few and far between. At Cape May he only had fries and that's all we paid for as he did not eat off the buffett. We also packed some of those zip lock bags and just filled them in the morning and gave them to him throughout the day.

 

[DISoriented]

We also packed some of those zip lock bags and just filled them in the morning and gave them to him throughout the day.

This is my plan. What I always wind up doing. I don't have plans to do any character meals. My son doesn't like them up close and personal.

Larger concern for me is, will it always be this way? Will my son ever outgrow this and go on to develop typical eating habits? Eating is as much social as it is a necessity for living. It breaks my heart at Christmas time when we're all eating a wonderful dinner with family and friends and ds is sitting there with a plate of pretzels. It breaks my heart.

 

[leise]

I know what you mean Disoriented, I can't imagine that my DS will still be drinking out of a baby cup at 15!?

From what I have been told it is something that they do grow out of, and in all honesty, I was fussier than my DS when I was his age, and I'm certainly not on the spectrum!

Funnily enough in the last few weeks, DS has started trying foods he hasn't eaten for years, or even new ones. Only a tiny bit, mind, but its all about little steps isn't it....

 

[Nik's Mom]

I know what you mena. I feel bad if we are having a nice meal, and DS will only eat chicken nuggets or hot dogs. Hopefully it is something they out grow.

 

[minkydog]

My 9yo is very autistic and has many aversions to textures. He eats well, but only specific catagories of food--beans but not peas, potatoes but not rice,nothing crunchy or soupy.Just recently learned to drink from a straw. He loves peanut butter, so we usually make a PBJ sandwich and bring a small tin of peaches, so that I know he will eat something. Then, if there is nothing for him on the menu, I don't sweat it.

The last time we went to WDW, we ate at Whispering Canyon. They brought him a child's meal, hot dog and fresh fruit w/ fries--he couldn't eat any of it. Our server sized up the situation and had the cooks whip up some mashed potatoes & gravy and found some canned fruit cocktail for us. My boy was a happy camper after that!

 

[Ambassador]

Wait and Cooking staff have always been more than accommodating for our special requests. We always bring food and snacks, and must often resort to these. We have never been made to feel this is not correct. On the contrary, dining is one of our best experiences at WDW.