Booking 9 yr old as adult for dining - disadvantages?

[**Clare**]

Hi

I am trying to finalise our holiday plans and wonder if there is any disadvantage to booking my ds as an adult for dining (qsdp)?

Any thoughts very welcome

 

[scoobydooby]

You will pay more for her!!!!!!! She will be able to eat adult CS meals anyway as the credits don't differentiate children or adults (some disagree with this, I could not care less personally if Disney let it happen, which they do), and at buffets she can eat exactly what she she wants. So the question really is how many TS none buffet meals would she be wanting an adult meal? They are BIG portions for a 9 year old girl, my nearly 13 year old DD can't manage them now. If you choose restaurants carefully there are some nice children's meals.

 

[scoobydooby]

Sorry I just saw you are only looking at QS. In which case there is non reason to book her as an adult unless on this plan they make kids have the kids meals. I've never had this plan but doubt it works differently than CS credits on the regular dining plan.

 

[scoobydooby]

Oh and now I see it's a son you've got. Sorry I am doing badly here!!!

 

[**Clare**]

Ha ha, thanks for your reply!

I thought there was a separate children's menu that they would only be able to chose from? DH and I thought if we paid a bit more to "upgrade" ds to an adult then he would have more choice of food (and we'd be able to finish off anything he couldn't manage, lol!). Perhaps we shouldn't be thinking with our stomachs!

 

[chmurf]

if you book a deluxe then it might be worth it as you'll only pay £20 extra for tickets if you get free ddp

but at a moderate with qsdp it's useless as cs credits do not differenciate adults and children credits
upgrading to ddp would not be worth it

i've considered booking our 6 years old as an adult, because he doesn't eat what's on the kids menus
he ends up eating our meals while we eat his'mac nd cheese lol

my only interrogation is wether to bok him as a child and stating 10 years old or boking him as an adult directly. either way should be the same (no extra fee for 3rd adult in room on my simulations)
thoughts ?

 

[**Clare**]

if you book a deluxe then it might be worth it as you'll only pay £20 extra for tickets if you get free ddp

but at a moderate with qsdp it's useless as cs credits do not differenciate adults and children credits
upgrading to ddp would not be worth it

i've considered booking our 6 years old as an adult, because he doesn't eat what's on the kids menus
he ends up eating our meals while we eat his'mac nd cheese lol

my only interrogation is wether to bok him as a child and stating 10 years old or boking him as an adult directly. either way should be the same (no extra fee for 3rd adult in room on my simulations)
thoughts ?

Hi there

We are thinking POR so would be the qsdp. I've not completely rules out OKW, we'll see what tomorrow brings!

If you have a moment, could you explain what happens when ordering on qsdp please? I had presumed you would have to state eg 2 x adult whatever and 2 x kids whatever. I'm thinking now this isn't the case?

Also, I had presumed I would just say he was 10 years old rather than 9 but you suggest I could say he is an adult...I wonder what the difference would be in practical terms?

I'm getting the feeling I should've checked all this earlier than a few hours before offers being released....aaagh!

Thanks.

 

[2Tiggies]

Also, I had presumed I would just say he was 10 years old rather than 9 but you suggest I could say he is an adult...I wonder what the difference would be in practical terms?

I've upgraded DD twice before she turned 10. I told them why I was doing it and they just put her down as 10 on the booking even though she was younger. It's not that uncommon a request. I did it for the choices.

As for checking, the CM's are supposed to check. It used to be printed on your KTTW card how many adults and how many children and they are supposed to not serve you more meals per category in one transaction than what you have listed on your card. So 3 adults and one child on the room key would mean you could not order more than 3 adult or one child's meal at a time. Some people state they have never been asked. Many report that they were checked on it.

Disney is very clear in the terms of the dining plan that children are to order from the children's menu when there is one available. It doesn't cost that much to upgrade with free dining. If you think your son would prefer the choices and larger portions, why not just pay the nominal extra for an adult park ticket for him and let him have the adult dining plan? At least that way if you get a diligent CM at the register, you don't end up having to pay OOP for one of your meals because they checked.

Just FYI, if you intend booking a flight inclusive package, you have to book them with their correct dates of birth for flight purposes.

 

[rex008]

When we went in 2012 we had DS9 and DS10. Booked OKW with free standard dining plan (not QSDP). Booked the DS9 as 10 years old, made about £40 diff to park ticket but meant they could both order what they liked from TS places (child or adult meals). Which was occasionally handy. Only downside I could see was that the buffets & family style dining get priced as full adult for tipping calculation. But then this year (OKW, free dining again) we're not rebooking any buffets... didn't fancy a return visit to either Biergarten or Crystal Palace, make of that what you will.
Fine even at "family style" meals where they just pile your table with food - the servers were pretty good and asked if we wanted kids options.
For QSDP I can't see the point. There is a current thread in the dining forum about ordering adults' QS meals even with kids - apparently you're not "supposed" to do it but the credits all come up the same to the cashier apparently.

 

[**Clare**]

I've upgraded DD twice before she turned 10. I told them why I was doing it and they just put her down as 10 on the booking even though she was younger. It's not that uncommon a request. I did it for the choices.

As for checking, the CM's are supposed to check. It used to be printed on your KTTW card how many adults and how many children and they are supposed to not serve you more meals per category in one transaction than what you have listed on your card. So 3 adults and one child on the room key would mean you could not order more than 3 adult or one child's meal at a time. Some people state they have never been asked. Many report that they were checked on it.

Disney is very clear in the terms of the dining plan that children are to order from the children's menu when there is one available. It doesn't cost that much to upgrade with free dining. If you think your son would prefer the choices and larger portions, why not just pay the nominal extra for an adult park ticket for him and let him have the adult dining plan? At least that way if you get a diligent CM at the register, you don't end up having to pay OOP for one of your meals because they checked.

Just FYI, if you intend booking a flight inclusive package, you have to book them with their correct dates of birth for flight purposes.

Hi there

Thanks for that. I was struggling to get my head around the ordering situation.

I did wonder about the flight package, I am probably going to do that so guess it is a non starter. Presumably I have to chose flight inclusive package when booking and can't add it on once I've booked hotel/tickets package?

Sorry for all the questions, I am feeling like a bit of a fool tonight asking such basic questions! I'm not sure if its because its late or if I have a severe case of nerves in anticipation of booking but I feel completely clueless about it all!

 

[2Tiggies]

Hi there

Thanks for that. I was struggling to get my head around the ordering situation.

I did wonder about the flight package, I am probably going to do that so guess it is a non starter. Presumably I have to chose flight inclusive package when booking and can't add it on once I've booked hotel/tickets package?

Sorry for all the questions, I am feeling like a bit of a fool tonight asking such basic questions! I'm not sure if its because its late or if I have a severe case of nerves in anticipation of booking but I feel completely clueless about it all!

You don't have to book flight inclusive at the outset. You can add flights later. In fact, if you want to add them and are booking more than 11 months out, it's the only way you can do it. For flight inclusive you won't be able to change your DS age on the booking.

Your other option, rather than upgrading is to just let him order the kids meals, perhaps share some of yours or trade some with him and buy a side order of something here and there as needed to supplement his meals if he is still hungry. If you go with OKW and get the regular DDP, taking previous posters' suggestions on board, try booking several buffets where the children can eat anything.

 

[meldud]

We upgraded our daughter when she was 9, not because she ate a lot, just because of increasing the menu choice.
She has Coeliac Disease and we were worried she would be stuck for choice for gluten free burger buns, pasta, pizza, fish fingers, nuggets etc, which is all that seems to be on the kids menus.
As it was Disney were amazing with gluten free options for her, but as she eats a lot of healthy food anyway the kids menu for 2 weeks would have been very limiting.

We had to pay for an adult park ticket for her, which wasn't much difference and we were staying Deluxe which meant we got the free DDP. So in total the upgrade cost was minimal and worth it on the DDP.

 

[dixonsontour]

I've thought about this but always keep DD as a child.

For TS we do a lot of buffets and family style meals. She eats the same and tips are lower. We also tend to pick TS places anyway with the better kids options - the non disney owned places.

DD is more of a snacker a kids portion is fine for her and she likes mac and cheese and the kids desserts.

Sometimes we share TS - at mama melrose DD shared our steak and DH had her minestrone soup and chicken parmigana too.

For QS we share 2 adult meals between 3 or order separately i.e DH 1 meal and me 2 adult QS meals. Think DD only had one kids meal last trip.

 

[Elise79]

I thought about it for next year but decided against it as with MDE for us it would be more hassle than it was worth probably. However we are kind of unique as in we hold APs so changing DDs age isn't really a starter now everything is linked

However, I also don't think it will be worth it for her yet. For TS we will probably still do a fair number of AYCE fixed price meals (thereby the only benefit being to the server in extra tips) and then a mix of signatures (which have good kids menus) and other TS.

CS - we will get 2 meals between 3 of us usually anyway and if we want more I will just go get an extra meal or whatever we want.

 

[Hipster Meg]

I've thought about doing this but after reading that QS don't distinguish between the different types of meal I'm not sure whether or not to bother. What I'll probably do instead is just have a look at the menu's before hand and see which QS places have the more interesting choices.

With our table service credits we'll probably be deliberately picking buffet and family style places so that we can all eat what we like. Again it's a matter of looking at the menu's and finding some place that suits everyone. My big worry is getting fruit into DS; he's really not a veggie person but would happily sit down with a big bowl of fruit and eat that. Luckily we're planing on a 1 bed at OKW so we might do a massive fruit order from Garden Grocer before we travel!

 

[Elise79]

I've thought about doing this but after reading that QS don't distinguish between the different types of meal I'm not sure whether or not to bother. What I'll probably do instead is just have a look at the menu's before hand and see which QS places have the more interesting choices.

With our table service credits we'll probably be deliberately picking buffet and family style places so that we can all eat what we like. Again it's a matter of looking at the menu's and finding some place that suits everyone. My big worry is getting fruit into DS; he's really not a veggie person but would happily sit down with a big bowl of fruit and eat that. Luckily we're planing on a 1 bed at OKW so we might do a massive fruit order from Garden Grocer before we travel!

Kids CS meals are great for fruit - almost all of them offer either apples or grapes as one of the sides. DD happily eats these.

As for veggies - they are pretty scarce in the US unless you like green beans or broccoli

I do have the attitude with it now that its only 2 weeks - she is not going to become obese in that short space of time. Besides I eat things over there I wouldn't have on a day to day basis here.

 

[chmurf]

I've booked DS as 10yrs old yesterday.
He'll be 2 months short of 8.

we'll be doing a few buffets, so I know that we'll pay more in tips. But this is offset by the larger choice of offerings on the adult meal.
DS will not eat Mac&Cheese for example.
He's rather picky and becomes pickier by the day. On our last trip he would only eat cheese pizza, chicken nuggets, or marinara pasta. Well, actually he ate from our plates more than once, while we had the kid's meal for ourselves

Booking OKW with DDP was £500 cheaper than booking POR with DDP upgrade. so we took advantage of that.
Even if we factor in a $30 meal for DS, which represents an increase of $20 on our bill. That's a $4 overhead for a 20% tip. Let's say $5 to make it a realistic figure

so we're looking at 17 nights, or $85 more in tips, and a grand total of $100 if I factor in the ticket increase from kid to adult.

this is fairly acceptable to allow our son to order anything on menu, not just kids meals.

we probably would not have done that if OKW had not been discounted at 35%. We would have gone to POR and have had to pay for the adult upgrade to DDP for DS.
So that would have been a huge expense. £187 to upgrade DS from child to adult on the dining plan, and £20 for tickets, so a total of £207 more, on top of the $85 in tips.

Booking a deluxe has been the decisive factor in deciding wether to upgrade DS to an adult. As previously said, $5 a night to allow our child to order from the adult menu (he's a good eater at that) was a no brainer, even if we know that we would not have paid these $5 at buffets. But in the end I think we made the right decision, as far as our family is concerned.

 

[dixonsontour]

Yes it does depend on the child.

My friends son is 9 and eats an adult meal eating out here so it would be 100% the correct thing to upgrade him.

Agree the kids meals at signatures are very nice - DD usually has steak, veg and fries plus dessert. Portion size is good for her.

For fruit - some adult QS meals come with the option of a fruit pot for dessert - they would be ideal for a snacks for a child. Thinking places like earl of sandwich, Wolfgang puck express and resort foodcourts.

 

[DLPDreams]

I decided against upgrading my second DD as she is a picky eater (nuggets etc will suit her!), and as my first DD will get the adult meal, and I know it will be way too much for her. We will be asking for an extra side plate and sharing our food!! That way, they have a bit of each others!

Can I ask - how does the tip thing work on DDP? As we will be a group of 6 I know we get the auto 18% tip, but how do they work out the amount - is it of what you order, or is there just a standard DDP adult price tip? Sorry, if that sounds dumb....

 

[2Tiggies]

Can I ask - how does the tip thing work on DDP? As we will be a group of 6 I know we get the auto 18% tip, but how do they work out the amount - is it of what you order, or is there just a standard DDP adult price tip? Sorry, if that sounds dumb....

They work it out on the actual price of the menu items as if you were paying for it. Gratuity is calculated on the pre-tax amount.