2020 dining plan changes- game changer! DxDP - any plan changes or credit sharing issues?

[AngelaWag]

We have done that before too since we take grandma - we put grandma and kids in a room, mom in dad on another. To be honest, and this may get deleted... grandma isn't coming and I'm looking at just buying my kids 3rd party tickets with mom and dad only in a room. I am thinking buffets would have to be kids out of pocket (probably makes $ since instead of burning adult credit), but quick service and just share credit/food. What about table service ordering off a menu - like TRex… how would that work? I guess I would have to run the numbers to see if it makes sense... but My 8 and 3yo could share an adult meal... or order adult size of kid meal and use adult credit - which people mentioned above I think...

I don’t blame you! Disney has gotten very greedy... parking fees at resorts, all these extremely pricey after hour events, essentially making people pay for things that have always been free! I would feel no guilt at all about doing whatever you can to make the trip affordable for your family. It kills me that 10 yr olds are considered adults They are definitely pricing larger families out at this point. We have to get two rooms because the rooms that sleep bigger families are so darn pricey!

 

[sharonabe]

At 50's Primetime, we were ultimately allowed, but made to feel horrible about it as they made a big deal about it and had to ask the manager and were told that this is policy across all of WDW. We informed her that we were under the impression that we could use the credits however we chose, including paying for friends and family meals. I was just using what I paid for.

Interesting that 50s is the place you had a problem. They were the ones last year who started the fear that using credits on others wouldn't be allowed anymore, but at some point, they quit harassing people. Wonder why they started again?

 

[kaytieeldr]

It kills me that 10 yr olds are considered adults

The year olds are considered adults for park admission because most ten year olds exceed any attraction height minimums.

Having ages align between tickets and restaurants makes ridiculously more sense than different ages.

No dining plan is mandatory.

 

[robinb]

I am sorry, but I really do not think Disney restaurants are full of adults all sharing children's credits. The vast majority of people who go to WDW, are NOT on the DlxDP (or any dining plan), do not go on Disboards daily, and are completely unaware of any "loopholes" with the plan (or that it even exists). I have literally never met anyone in my real life that has more than a cursory knowledge of anything having to do with planning a WDW vacation (and most of my family lives in Florida). People who post on Disboards are not the usual Disney customer. Most people have no idea what is going on!

Disney wouldn‘t close the loophole if they were not losing money. Remember, it wasn’t just the adults eating on kids’ credits, but the kids too. I’ve read multiple reports of servers who encourage children to eat off of the adult me instead of the children’s menu. The tips are significantly bigger on adult meals over kids meals.

 

[AngelaWag]

The year olds are considered adults for park admission because most ten year olds exceed any attraction height minimums.

Having ages align between tickets and restaurants makes ridiculously more sense than different ages.

No dining plan is mandatory.

Yeah well age and height obviously do not correlate the same for every person. I have one kid in the 7th percentile height for his age and another one in the 97th percentile! The fact remains that a 10yr old is a child... so paying for them to eat as an adult is frustrating. And no, the dining plan and sit down character meals may not be mandatory but like I just said, they are CHILDREN and they want to do that stuff!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Yeah well age and height obviously do not correlate the same for every person.

They do enough of the time for Disney to match the two age groups. When a dining plan doesn't work for a party, that party should not avail themselves of a dining plan. Pay cash. Nobody is going to refuse direct payment.

 

[Nancyg56]

Yeah well age and height obviously do not correlate the same for every person. I have one kid in the 7th percentile height for his age and another one in the 97th percentile! The fact remains that a 10yr old is a child... so paying for them to eat as an adult is frustrating. And no, the dining plan and sit down character meals may not be mandatory but like I just said, they are CHILDREN and they want to do that stuff!

But you get to choose what works for your family. My DGD was 4 and considered an adult at some of the restaurants we visited in NYC. No kids menu at all. We paid for her meal. It was our choice to go. As she got older the tiny peanut would sometimes order off of the adult menu, or off of the kids menu. Again, individual choice.

There has to be a threshold any company uses to distinguish between adult and child, and for Disney, the age is 10. You then can determine where you want to dine, and if you want to use a package. Other families will make a different choice depending on their kids and their dining preferences. For instance, if I had teens who ate nothing but nuggets, mac and cheese and hamburgers, I would skip a dining plan, but for my tween girls, a dining plan will cost DIsney money! LOL!

 

[mattpeto]

I have a question regarding consuming QS Child credits at Be Our Guest.

Is there any reason why you can't just order QS Child Credits for Adults? For our vacation situation, we'll have a surplus of QS Child Credits, I'd rather use them up and save the Adult QS Credits for future meals.

The smaller portions might also make sense especially if we are also using snack credits for desserts.

 

[brockash]

I have a question regarding consuming QS Child credits at Be Our Guest.

Is there any reason why you can't just order QS Child Credits for Adults? For our vacation situation, we'll have a surplus of QS Child Credits, I'd rather use them up and save the Adult QS Credits for future meals.

The smaller portions might also make sense especially if we are also using snack credits for desserts.

No, you def. can and is what we plan to do. I should add this will only be ok during the counter service meals of breakfast and lunch.

 

[mattpeto]

No, you def. can and is what we plan to do. I should add this will only be ok during the counter service meals of breakfast and lunch.

Thanks!

 

[scrappinginontario]

We travel during FD so I need to be honest about that. I will say that since this enforcement has started, I'm thankful that my 10yo will be a Disney adult for dining. I cannot imagine asking her to eat the children's options for days. Often too limited in variety. It's probably the first time I've been glad she's a 'Disney adult'.

 

[AngelaWag]

But you get to choose what works for your family. My DGD was 4 and considered an adult at some of the restaurants we visited in NYC. No kids menu at all. We paid for her meal. It was our choice to go. As she got older the tiny peanut would sometimes order off of the adult menu, or off of the kids menu. Again, individual choice.

There has to be a threshold any company uses to distinguish between adult and child, and for Disney, the age is 10. You then can determine where you want to dine, and if you want to use a package. Other families will make a different choice depending on their kids and their dining preferences. For instance, if I had teens who ate nothing but nuggets, mac and cheese and hamburgers, I would skip a dining plan, but for my tween girls, a dining plan will cost DIsney money! LOL!

NYC is not a place that caters to children so I understand why they may not have as many options as say a place like Disney! I have four kids and they all have different eating habits and preferences but one thing that is consistent across the board is that at age 10 they do not eat as much as my husband and I! And I’m sure there are 10 year olds that may be able to match an adult appetite but the vast majority do not. We can agree to disagree.

 

[AngelaWag]

They do enough of the time for Disney to match the two age groups. When a dining plan doesn't work for a party, that party should not avail themselves of a dining plan. Pay cash. Nobody is going to refuse direct payment.

Dining plan or not, if you want to dine in any of the character restaurants then you’re gonna have to pay adult prices for your 10 year old child. There are no other options... unless depriving your child of character meals is an option. Which as I stated earlier, they are 10yr old children... like 3rd-4th grade... they want characters still! That’s the whole point

 

[siren0119]

Dining plan or not, if you want to dine in any of the character restaurants then you’re gonna have to pay adult prices for your 10 year old child. There are no other options... unless depriving your child of character meals is an option. Which as I stated earlier, they are 10yr old children... like 3rd-4th grade... they want characters still! That’s the whole point

The point is that nobody is OBLIGATED to use the dining plan. For some, it works. For others, it doesn't. Everyone is still able to access the dining options whether on the DDP or paying out of pocket.

For us, the dining plan just didn't work for us when our son was 10 - he was still eating like a child and wouldn't touch most things on an adult menu with a ten foot pole. We just budgeted money onto Disney gift cards so that we didn't have to worry about what we were ordering when we were there. The gift cards acted like our own little "dining plan" but without restrictions.

 

[sharonabe]

I have a question regarding consuming QS Child credits at Be Our Guest.

Is there any reason why you can't just order QS Child Credits for Adults? For our vacation situation, we'll have a surplus of QS Child Credits, I'd rather use them up and save the Adult QS Credits for future meals.

The smaller portions might also make sense especially if we are also using snack credits for desserts.

As far as we know, this should still be okay. You are using child credits for child meals. This would be no different than purchasing meals for those not on your plan.

However, just know that BoG is usually one of the first to start enforcing even unwritten rules. My prediction is, if this becomes common practice, they will finally make breakfast a true prix fix and make everyone order a meal according to their true ages.

 

[scrappinginontario]

As far as we know, this should still be okay. You are using child credits for child meals. This would be no different than purchasing meals for those not on your plan.

However, just know that BoG is usually one of the first to start enforcing even unwritten rules. My prediction is, if this becomes common practice, they will finally make breakfast a true prix fix and make everyone order a meal according to their true ages.

This may happen but so far BoG has not enforced any type of dining rulesat breakfast or lunch that I'm aware of. We are a family of 2 and we always share breakfasts while there. Even when my parents come, they also share. We order 1 meal and that is more than enough for the 2 of us when we take into account the pastries that come with it.

The price frixe is for dinner which is TS dining and a very different 'beast'!

 

[AngelaWag]

The point is that nobody is OBLIGATED to use the dining plan. For some, it works. For others, it doesn't. Everyone is still able to access the dining options whether on the DDP or paying out of pocket.

No, MY point is that it doesn’t matter whether you’re on a dining plan or not. Disney is forcing adult prices on children of 10yrs old at table service restaurants. For example, I have an “average” 10 yr old that may eat a couple nuggets and some fries or corn dog bites along with fruit and ice cream bar at Hollywood n Vine. It’s more about the portion size than it is about the specific foods. So one plate of food. While my husband and I will be making multiple trips up to the buffet to try a variety of foods. Now, is it really fair that we must pay the same price for our 10yr old? I don’t think so. And you might say that it’s our choice to eat there... and of course that is true. But my point is that we have no other options if we want to do table service character meals which is really, I would think, created for the enjoyment of kids in the first place! It’s not just the dining plan that I’m frustrated with... although that too deserves its own debate with the whole alcohol addition... since we do not drink yet still pay the price for those that do But at least there we have the option not to purchase the dining plan and not to pay for alcohol. We have no options at Hollywood N Vine or any of our other favorites... other than to just not go altogether... which really isn’t an option when we’ve been going every year since our kids were born and they expect it!

 

[kaytieeldr]

No, MY point is that it doesn’t matter whether you’re on a dining plan or not. Disney is forcing adult prices on children of 10yrs old at table service restaurants

@siren0119's and my points are that just like every child of a given age may fall in a different, sometimes extreme,height percentile, so do many 10 year olds have adventurous tastes/appetites.

Because the vast, vast majority of ten year olds are y'all enough for most/all the attractions with height restrictions, setting the same cut-offs for adult tickets and adult menu items simply makes sense.

It eliminates the multiple, "why is my ten year old an adult for tickets but a child for menus" complaint.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Now, is it really fair that we must pay the same price for our 10yr old?

Yes. Your choice to go combined with your child's choice what to eat.

But my point is that we have no other options if we want to do table service character meals which is really, I would think, created for the enjoyment of kids in the first place!

Everything at Walt Disney World and the other parks worldwide was created for the enjoyment of everyone!

It’s not just the dining plan that I’m frustrated with... although that too deserves its own debate with the whole alcohol addition... since we do not drink yet still pay the price for those that do

I genuinely do not believe any dining plan price has increased nearly enough this year of last to cover the alcohol cost. And there is frequently an option for a fancier, nonalcoholic drink.

other than to just not go altogether... which really isn’t an option when we’ve been going every year since our kids were born and they expect it!

People age, including kids. There are other options to meet characters.

 

[Nancyg56]

NYC is not a place that caters to children so I understand why they may not have as many options as say a place like Disney! I have four kids and they all have different eating habits and preferences but one thing that is consistent across the board is that at age 10 they do not eat as much as my husband and I! And I’m sure there are 10 year olds that may be able to match an adult appetite but the vast majority do not. We can agree to disagree.

Actually there were plenty of restaurants that did, however there were some that did not. We CHOSE to visit both, bit when we were required to order an adult entree for Kady because of our choice, we did. You can do the same in reverse. Visit restaurants that do not force your 10 YO to order from an adult menu. That means you avoid fixed cost restaurants that are age based.

No, MY point is that it doesn’t matter whether you’re on a dining plan or not. Disney is forcing adult prices on children of 10yrs old at table service restaurants. For example, I have an “average” 10 yr old that may eat a couple nuggets and some fries or corn dog bites along with fruit and ice cream bar at Hollywood n Vine. It’s more about the portion size than it is about the specific foods. So one plate of food. While my husband and I will be making multiple trips up to the buffet to try a variety of foods. Now, is it really fair that we must pay the same price for our 10yr old? I don’t think so. And you might say that it’s our choice to eat there... and of course that is true. But my point is that we have no other options if we want to do table service character meals which is really, I would think, created for the enjoyment of kids in the first place! It’s not just the dining plan that I’m frustrated with... although that too deserves its own debate with the whole alcohol addition... since we do not drink yet still pay the price for those that do But at least there we have the option not to purchase the dining plan and not to pay for alcohol. We have no options at Hollywood N Vine or any of our other favorites... other than to just not go altogether... which really isn’t an option when we’ve been going every year since our kids were born and they expect it!

Again, you are personalizing this. DDP or not, you have choices. You go to restaurants that your 10 YO can order off of the kids menu, stay away from those that do not. You keep fixating on age, however there are a number of people whose dietary concerns are not age based but medically necessary. They pay adult price even if they use a feeding tube if they are 10 and older. The alcohol was a bonus. the price increased $1, and you can order all kinds of specialty beverages. Fair is fair. Everyone 10 and older pays the same price. People 9 and under pay a reduced price.

You really need to determine what works for your family. The plans are not for everyone. The buffet and character restaurants really are not for everyone either.