10 yr old at buffet

[Malcon10t]

I'm not saying the OP is doing this, but I have a family member who even though his son is 4 will still claim he is 2 to get him in free. He cheats anywhere he can. I won't go with him places because of it. I don't go to a store and say "Well, your price is $xx for this, but I think it is only worth $y so that is what I am paying." Why is this different?

 

[maltdizzy]

I'm not saying the OP is doing this, but I have a family member who even though his son is 4 will still claim he is 2 to get him in free. He cheats anywhere he can. I won't go with him places because of it.

Not right.

I don't go to a store and say "Well, your price is $xx for this, but I think it is only worth $y so that is what I am paying." Why is this different?

Poor example. You can alway haggle. Indeed in much of the world and many industries in the U.S. prices are set with the expectation of bargaining. Even stores you would think hold a firm price, like Target or Best Buy will often knock 5%, 10% or 20% off for a shrewd bargainer. I just bought a dishwasher at Best Buy...MSRP $1400...sticker price $1050...my price $720 (before $250 rebate). My wife haggled for an additional 10% of of WDW tickets at the ticket booth...we were already parked an at the park...they had us, but she talked them down. Neither of us lied about anything to get the bargain.

There is no one who says someone can't try and bargain for a lower buffet price for a small child without lying. I mean, to be insensitive, their not giving it to you if you bring brought Pugsly Addams, but they might if you bring Wednesday Addams.

 

[NannyBeBe]

Honesty is always the best policy. Last year our twin granddaughters were 4 yrs old. They are very very tiny. When we told the lady at Goofy's that they were 4, she looked at them and said they would not charge us because they would not eat enough to warrant paying. I have always felt that I cannot expect my kids to always tell the truth if they see me being dishonest.

 

[maxiesmom]

There is no one who says someone can't try and bargain for a lower buffet price for a small child without lying. I mean, to be insensitive, their not giving it to you if you bring brought Pugsly Addams, but they might if you bring Wednesday Addams.

Disney doesn't bargain. They won't even give a reduced price to people who have had lap bands or other weight reduction surgeries. Can you imagine the nightmare their bargaining with guests would cause???

 

[maltdizzy]

Disney managers (and less so employees) have some discretion available to them in all sorts of things. They can chrage childs prices for those overage, they can remove remove untouched child's meals from bills, they can offer unpublished discounts, etc. as NannyBeBe's post about the 4 year olds illustrates.

Much depends on whether you are deal with a hospitally professional or just some hire. Many won't turn away mulitple paying adults or a large family for the price difference for one 10yo.

But note...I was only discussing his metaphor.

 

[Aladora]

If someone has a small child who is just a few months past 10, I don't care if they claim a 9yo.

We're heading down in August and DS will have turned 10 just one month before our trip. He is a little guy, in fact he JUST started fitting into size 8 clothes a few weeks ago! He's in the 25th percentile for weight and the 16th for height.

It sucks that we will have to buy him an adult ticket and it sucks that we will have to pay $60 for him to eat less than 1/4 of his World of Color meal but that's the way it is. We make the choice to go to Disneyland and we make the choice to take him for a prix fixe meal.

If we get a bit of Disney magic and a CM decides to charge our son the child price, great! But he's 10 and I'm not going to lie or ask our son to lie.

 

[DCDisney]

We have found they often don't even ask the adult, they often ask the child they aren't sure about. My son was quite tall for his age and from 6 on he got asked constantly in various ways--how old are you? When is your birthday--oh how old will you be? What grade are you in--so that means you are X years old? We just did not do buffets for the few years my kids were right past the age cutoff and found a bunch of new favorites. My kids also found they often preferred sharing 1 adult meal rather than each getting their own kids meal when they got towards the older age for the kids menu.

 

[Geemo]

I never really understood how Disney chose the breaking age between Child and Adult to be 10yr

But that's a whole different subject......

Geemo

 

[smitch425]

I never really understood how Disney chose the breaking age between Child and Adult to be 10yr

But that's a whole different subject......

Geemo

That's easy. The average age that children meet all of the height requirements is 10. This gives them full access to the park, and dining is tied to ticket age. 10 is also around the age many non Disney restaurants stop their kids menus.

People always say "why does my 10 year old have to be charged as an adult?" In reality, they are charged as a "10+". Disney does not refer to them as an adult, which is why they are considered a minor until they turn 18 for room purposes.

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

There will always be a problem with the age cut off. At the movie theater where I worked, the cutoff was 12 years. A lot of people were mad about that, as well. I agree with the PP. At age 10, a majority are tall enough for the rides.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

We went last month but didn't eat at any buffets. DD had just turned 11. She's fairly tall but thin. Eats like a bird. When we went to sit-down restaurants, if she wasn't interested in the adult choices (Blue Bayou for example), she ordered off the kids menu. The waiter never said a thing. Most of the time she ate adult meals because she liked the selection better. With a buffet, she wouldn't eat much but we wouldn't have tried to pass her off as 10 or under. She was proud to be 11

 

[my2boyz]

Thanks all, didn't want to cause a debate or anything and again wouldn't lie about age. We have 3 kids ages 4 , 8 (will be 9 by the time our trip comes and I've already put him down as 9) and 10. It's actually going to be interesting when they do ask ages as my 8 yr old (he's a tall solid boy!) is now actually bigger than our 10 yr old! We are staying onsite so yes they'll have all our details. If anything as mentioned by another person sometimes CMs have the ability to make the call as to charge a price or not.
We have done buffets at WDW and we might just pick one at DL just so our 4 yr old DD can have the character experience that her brothers have had in the past.
We also are the type of parents who make sure we go up with our kids to buffets so that they are not taking tones of food that they will not eat , but that's a whole other thread.

 

[Djscarlette]

Last year at Chef Mickey's my then 3 year old son ate only 1 grape and 1 Oreo cookie dessert. He just wouldn't eat. I paid a tremendous amount for his dinner (I think Chef Mickey's is the most expensive character meal out there) but the experience was great. He loved Mickey. Well worth it. I was honest about his age, too.

I also paid for his admission ticket to get into the parks. I could've easily lied and said he was 2 and saved myself hundreds of dollars, but honesty is best and I'm not trying to teach my kids that telling a lie is ok when mommy wants to do it.

 

[maxiesmom]

If anything as mentioned by another person sometimes CMs have the ability to make the call as to charge a price or not.
We have done buffets at WDW and we might just pick one at DL just so our 4 yr old DD can have the character experience that her brothers have had in the past.

Please don't go in expecting it to happen. Besides that one poster, I have never heard of that happening, after many years on the Disboards. The only thing I have heard that is even close is if a child sleeps through the whole meal the CMs can decide to not charge for them.

 

[ADLFAN]

Last year at Chef Mickey's my then 3 year old son ate only 1 grape and 1 Oreo cookie dessert. He just wouldn't eat. I paid a tremendous amount for his dinner (I think Chef Mickey's is the most expensive character meal out there) but the experience was great. He loved Mickey. Well worth it. I was honest about his age, too.

I also paid for his admission ticket to get into the parks. I could've easily lied and said he was 2 and saved myself hundreds of dollars, but honesty is best and I'm not trying to teach my kids that telling a lie is ok when mommy wants to do it.

Haha, ouch! That's a costly grape! But you have to set a good example for the kids... And sometimes other parents too.

We went to Goofy's Kitchen with a few 10 and 12 year Olds whose parent's insisted they eat their money's worth and by the time we were halfway through Downtown Disney, they were both in agony and had to sit down to wait for tummyaches to pass...

We probably won't hit the buffet character meals again with kids, especially when most of the characters you see can be found all over the parks.