Can you buy a child's DDP for a 2 year old?

[KristinU]

Thanks! I just called member services and added DS to the dining package with no problems. It just seems like it will be more convenient that way

 

[amarberry]

Can I ask a sort of dumb question about this? Are the people who have been able to add there two year olds to the plan all DVC/AP holders? Did you have to buy your 2 year old a ticket?

I would really like to add my 2 year old on to the dining plan because she is a big eater and has dietary restrictions that making sharing a meal with her very difficult. We are going during free dining, so I thought that I might be able to add her on if I bought a 1 day ticket. I was told that I would have to buy her the same ticket as DH and I, which is a 10 day park hopper, to be able to add her to the dining plan.

 

[lordmadcow]

You need to call back disney and change you and your husbands passes to 1 day passes and add your child. After you check in you can take 2 of the tickets and upgrade them to a 10 day pass and just save your childs until they really are 3. Hope this helps, I know it works because we did it last August we had AP and saved our 1 day passes we got with the free dining.

 

[JodyTG]

I am still trying to talk my DH into getting our DS a meal plan. He'll turn 3 in February 2007 and I just KNOW that he'll have an even bigger appetite when we're at Disney in December.

 

[MTW]

Our son will be 27 months when we go in October and we added a child's DDP for him to the reservation. 6 nights at $11.99/night is around $72 so we figured that was worth it to have everything prepaid. We usually order him something (even if it's not a whole meal - i.e. sweet potato or vegetable side). And we're on a DVC reservation, so we were not required to purchase a ticket for him.

 

[amarberry]

You need to call back disney and change you and your husbands passes to 1 day passes and add your child. After you check in you can take 2 of the tickets and upgrade them to a 10 day pass and just save your childs until they really are 3. Hope this helps, I know it works because we did it last August we had AP and saved our 1 day passes we got with the free dining.

A few more questions about foing this if you don't mind... .

I just called Disney to ask about doing this. The first guy I talked to said I couldn't buy a ticket for a child under 3 . The second woman I talked to told me I could do it, but then I got cold feet because I have a couple of more questions/concerns before I pull the trigger!

1. If I buy DD a 1 day ticket, will it say on our resort id/park ticket that we are 2 adults and 1 child? If it does, are we going to get harassed about having a ticket for DD at the park gates? Do I need to bring a copy of her birth certificate for proof?

2. With upgrading the tickets once I get there, how do you do that? The nice CRO woman I talked to said you have to do the upgrading at the theme park. Can I also do that at the hotel?

3. What will happen when we go somewhere that kids under 3 eat free. Will they charge for DD or not? I'm not trying to scam DD's extra credits for DH and I to use somewhere else...I swear! My concern is that we have one extra TS meal planned, so we were planning to pay OOP for the Playhouse Disney lunch. If I'm paying out of pocket, I don't want to have to pay for DD who should technically be free. Maybe it isn't even an issue if we just paid seperately and didn't use our resort charging privilege, but I guess I just want to make sure. I guess that I could always bring along a copy of DD's birth certificate again!

4. Last question, how do we save DD's 1 day ticket for future use? Do we just hold on to her resort id or do we have the ticket taken off of the resort id? I guess this might also apply for DH and I since I am trying to talk DH into AP's and another trip next January!!! (Wish me luck on that one...I'm probably going to need it!)

Thank you for this great advise. If we could add DD to the dining plan it would be fabulous! She has a severe food allergy that makes sharing more complicated so we would most likely be buying her meals OOP during our CS meals and non buffet TS meals.

 

[Disneywed]

OK, this is so confusing to me....we leave friday and I am still baffled by the kids part of the DP. I have a DD that will be 3 in July, and a DS that is 20 months. I was told when I booked everything, that they "just eat off your plates" now I am reading that a bunch of you paid for putting them on the dining plan?? This was sooo not explained well by the cast member on the phone.
Lets say we go to Applebees here at home....DD and DS each get a childs meal. Now if I want to do that in WDW, I pay out of pocket, right?? What if I get a seperate plate for them at a buffet??

Can someone point me towards "DP for Dummies"

 

[beattyfamily]

OK, this is so confusing to me....we leave friday and I am still baffled by the kids part of the DP. I have a DD that will be 3 in July, and a DS that is 20 months. I was told when I booked everything, that they "just eat off your plates" now I am reading that a bunch of you paid for putting them on the dining plan?? This was sooo not explained well by the cast member on the phone.
Lets say we go to Applebees here at home....DD and DS each get a childs meal. Now if I want to do that in WDW, I pay out of pocket, right?? What if I get a seperate plate for them at a buffet??

Can someone point me towards "DP for Dummies"

Children are free at "all you can eat", buffet and pre-plated restaurants like Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace, LTT (dinner only), HDDR, CRT, PSB etc...at a buffet, you'd just get them their own plate.

If you go to a regular sit down restaurant with a menu, you will pay for whatever you order for them off the menu. For example California Grill, Tony's, Kona Cafe, 50's Prime Time, MM, Brown Derby etc....

You will pay for anything you order for them at a Counter Service restaurant.

Regarding the dining plan, for those under 3, you'd have to call and ask if you can add them but then you must also buy them at least a one day base ticket to put them on the dining plan. Some CMs say you can do this and some say you can't. You have to decide if it's worth it to add them to the dining plan and pretend they are 3...is it worth the $10.99 and one day base ticket to add them to the dining plan? Will they eat enough to make it worth it?

 

[Bird-Mom]

A few more questions about foing this if you don't mind... .

I just called Disney to ask about doing this. The first guy I talked to said I couldn't buy a ticket for a child under 3 . The second woman I talked to told me I could do it, but then I got cold feet because I have a couple of more questions/concerns before I pull the trigger!

1. If I buy DD a 1 day ticket, will it say on our resort id/park ticket that we are 2 adults and 1 child? If it does, are we going to get harassed about having a ticket for DD at the park gates? Do I need to bring a copy of her birth certificate for proof?

2. With upgrading the tickets once I get there, how do you do that? The nice CRO woman I talked to said you have to do the upgrading at the theme park. Can I also do that at the hotel?

3. What will happen when we go somewhere that kids under 3 eat free. Will they charge for DD or not? I'm not trying to scam DD's extra credits for DH and I to use somewhere else...I swear! My concern is that we have one extra TS meal planned, so we were planning to pay OOP for the Playhouse Disney lunch. If I'm paying out of pocket, I don't want to have to pay for DD who should technically be free. Maybe it isn't even an issue if we just paid seperately and didn't use our resort charging privilege, but I guess I just want to make sure. I guess that I could always bring along a copy of DD's birth certificate again!

4. Last question, how do we save DD's 1 day ticket for future use? Do we just hold on to her resort id or do we have the ticket taken off of the resort id? I guess this might also apply for DH and I since I am trying to talk DH into AP's and another trip next January!!! (Wish me luck on that one...I'm probably going to need it!)

Thank you for this great advise. If we could add DD to the dining plan it would be fabulous! She has a severe food allergy that makes sharing more complicated so we would most likely be buying her meals OOP during our CS meals and non buffet TS meals.

We are thinking about buying a ticket/dining plan for our 2 year old also. She eats as much as her 4 year old sister, and they are bickering over everything lately. I think our dining experiences would be much more pleasant if they had their own plates! I can't imagine what would happen if they tried to share a dessert!

I doubt that you will be harassed at the gates. Your cards will say 2A/1C, but the CMs don't look at your card-you put it through the reader and pick it up after your finger scan. We have been asked the older dds age when she was 2 (she was a huge 2 year old) and we had her birth certificate with us anyways-never had to show it though.

You can upgrade your tickets at check in unless you are upgrading to APs which would mean you have to go to Guest Services at a theme park. We did this last year for free dining because one of our party had an AP. We bought one day base tickets and upgraded to 10 day MYW Premium.

We have the same concern about paying at the under 3 are free places. We figure that we will bring her birth certificate with us just in case. When we hand over the card and check, we will say something to the effect of we are using the DDP for 2A/1C and one 2 year old.

I don't know about getting the ticket off the resort ID. I think you can just save the ID and use it towards a longer ticket when she is 3.

 

[amarberry]

We are thinking about buying a ticket/dining plan for our 2 year old also. She eats as much as her 4 year old sister, and they are bickering over everything lately. I think our dining experiences would be much more pleasant if they had their own plates! I can't imagine what would happen if they tried to share a dessert!

I doubt that you will be harassed at the gates. Your cards will say 2A/1C, but the CMs don't look at your card-you put it through the reader and pick it up after your finger scan. We have been asked the older dds age when she was 2 (she was a huge 2 year old) and we had her birth certificate with us anyways-never had to show it though.

You can upgrade your tickets at check in unless you are upgrading to APs which would mean you have to go to Guest Services at a theme park. We did this last year for free dining because one of our party had an AP. We bought one day base tickets and upgraded to 10 day MYW Premium.

We have the same concern about paying at the under 3 are free places. We figure that we will bring her birth certificate with us just in case. When we hand over the card and check, we will say something to the effect of we are using the DDP for 2A/1C and one 2 year old.

I don't know about getting the ticket off the resort ID. I think you can just save the ID and use it towards a longer ticket when she is 3.

Thank you so much for this information!!!! It is exactly what I need to know. I'm just going to bring along a copy of DD's birth certificate for the park entry issue and I'm thinking that we will just pay for the OOP lunch with either or Disney Rewards card or credit card instead of our resort id.

 

[noahynav]

I am also considering doing this. My ds will be a few months shy of his third birthday when we are in WDW. He is a good eater and especially likes to have his own snacks. I think he will be very upset if he doesn't have his "own" Mickey bar and has to share. Plus, he seems to want everything his older brother has. Terrible twos I guess. It just seems more economical to put him on the plan and be able to order him his own meals and his own snacks and desserts.

My question is, does anybody know of any good reason not to do this? Any other drawbacks I may not have thought of? I have been over it several times in my head and I cannot come up with a good reason not to, other than the cost of the one day ticket which we will save for later. I will also take along a copy of his birth certificate for park gate entry.

Can we be sure that we will not have any problems upgrading the tickets once we get there? Can this be done at Downtown Disney or our resort? Am i missing anything else? My husband and I have been debating for a while how to deal with this and we were just planning to pay OOP for our younger DS, but this seems like a better solution.

Editing to also ask......
IS it possible to just upgrade 3 tickets ( me , dh and DS 8) and not all 4 of the single day tickets? Right now we have 8 day NE, waterpark and fun option, hopper tickets. Since our youngest is 2 we could just keep his ticket for a future visit when he turns 3?

Sorry to ask so many questions and sorry if I came off as confusing, I am just trying to make sure I have this all in order before I call tomorrow and change my package reservation info.

 

[amarberry]

noahynav...that's a really good question to put out there...is there any good reason not to add the two year old. Thank you for asking that since we seem to be dealing with the same issue.

I'll probably get flamed for saying this since I should be grateful that kids under 3 are "free", but I REALLY wish Disney would give parents the option of buying the dining plan for kids under three. I suppose the argument is that some people would abuse the credits, but it would be very nice if they had some sort of legitimate option available instead of us disboarders coming up with a more creative option like this.

 

[Disneywed]

I'll probably get flamed for saying this since I should be grateful that kids under 3 are "free", but I REALLY wish Disney would give parents the option of buying the dining plan for kids under three. I suppose the argument is that some people would abuse the credits, but it would be very nice if they had some sort of legitimate option available instead of us disboarders coming up with a more creative option like this.

No flaming here, I completely agree with you.

 

[noahynav]

Well, my husband called this morning and changed our ressie to make our 2 year old a 3 year old. The cast members he spoke with said this would be no problem at all. We are now purchasing 4 1 day tickets and upgrading 3 of them when we get to WDW. We will save the last ticket for our next trip when our youngest is actually 3 and needs it to get in. HE is now on the dining, and will have his own meals.

My only worry is that now when we try to get into the parks we will get hasseled about whether or not my son is 2 or 3. But I am taking his birth cert. just to be safe. I am not so sure the CM's at the gate even check your tickets that closely though..... Does anyone know what will happen when we upgrade? Will the tickets remain on our room key or will we be issued new seperate tickets?

 

[amarberry]

Well, I just took care of my reservation as well and added DD. It was actually a bit of a hassle because we bought our airfare through Disney and that caused some sort of problem with changing DD's age (not really sure how since she'll be over 2 and therefore a full priced airline ticket). The agent actually added a 2nd child to the reservation (DD's name, but with her middle initial), so now our reservation has two children, one age 2 and one age 3.

Hopefully, this will all be okay when we check in to the hotel in September!!!

 

[grimgrningghost]

My sister has called twice to try to do this for our neice and both times the cm has told me that if we bought a ticket we wouldn't be able to save it until a future trip because it would be activated when we checked into our room since the tickets are on our room keys. I didn't think that was correct but now she is worried about losing the money they paid for her ticket if we are wrong. Has anyone saved tickets on their room key before without the no expiration option?

 

[noahynav]

I guess I would also like to know the answer to the question the above poster asked....however when I called I was told it could be done. I think though that if we are told we cannot do this, we will just upgrade our 3 tickets to make them hoppers, NE, and waterpark plus....but one day my older DS will use the remaining ticket and just save a day on the hopper pass. I realize that if we do that he will not be able to hop that day, but oh well. We will work around it.

That being said, you do realize that often times CM's give out incorrect information. I have had it happen many times. In fact there are times that I call and seem to know more about certain things than the CM I am talking too. I just think there are so many different facets to WDW, and most CM's, especially if they are fairly new, just do not know everything there is to know. It has always been my understanding that one day tickets never expire, they are good until you use them. IF I am wrong someone please correct me.

 

[bicker]

I can understand the concern and confusion. It stems from our efforts to use offers that really don't suit us. The Dining Plan is supposed to be part of a package, accommodations, dining and admission. What a lot of folks are trying to do is comply with the letter of the offering, but not its spirit. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that that is actually okay. However, whenever guests do try to make the offerings "good for them" by making it meet their own personal specs, there is going to be much more confusion as compared to when guests assess whether the offering, as it is offered, is good for them or not. My advice: Don't count on anything they're not willing to guarantee you in writing. If you do get a CM to say that the admission can be used during some later trip, get them to put it on Disney letterhead and fax it to you.

 

[Pedler]

I can understand the concern and confusion. It stems from our efforts to use offers that really don't suit us. The Dining Plan is supposed to be part of a package, accommodations, dining and admission. What a lot of folks are trying to do is comply with the letter of the offering, but not its spirit. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that that is actually okay. However, whenever guests do try to make the offerings "good for them" by making it meet their own personal specs, there is going to be much more confusion as compared to when guests assess whether the offering, as it is offered, is good for them or not. My advice: Don't count on anything they're not willing to guarantee you in writing. If you do get a CM to say that the admission can be used during some later trip, get them to put it on Disney letterhead and fax it to you.

Out of curiosity have you had much success with getting CM's to put that type of stuff in writing and faxing it to you?

 

[noahynav]

I realize that we are tailoring this offer to fit our needs, but until Disney offers a way to feed 2 year olds on the dining plan, I feel that I have to do this. I do not feel that he should be charged admission to a park where he is not old enough to ride the majority of the attractions. HE does need to eat while we are there though. Yes, we could pay out of pocket, but this defeats the whole purpose of the dining plan in my opinion. We want to go on vacation and relax. Not worry about bringing a lot of extra cash along, not worry about having to figure out a tip, not have to deal with the hassle of paying with cash and our dining plan etc. I just want for it to be simp;e and easy.

I also cannot justify having my child eat off my plate the entire trip. I am on vacation, and therefore do not want to have to order child friendly fare my entire trip. I want to try some different things that I am sure my 2 year old will not like. Plus he is a good eater and needs his own plate. My 2 year old is very independent. He likes to have his own plate brought out, his own place setting so to speak. And I like that idea because I think it is teaching him how to act when dining out.

I do not feel like I am cheating Disney. We have several ADR's at buffets....at least 4 I think. HE will be charged 1 credit from his dining plan when we eat there. He otherwise would have been free. I am not intending to abuse my credits in any way. My sons credits will most definitely be used and eaten by him.