children needing adult tickets

[catrinuk]

I am having a big moan here but does any one else think it is unfair that i have to buy adult park tickets and dinner tickets for my DD who is 10 ( since when did adulthood start at 10 years of age?) She is still in junior school is not old enough to be left on her own and yet Disney class her as an Adult!! Can anyone tell me why this is? I always thought that disney prided itself on being child friendly but this does not seem right or fair to me. Her sister age 9 is still classed as a child but this will pose a problem when dining on our forthcoming trip as our 10 year old eats less and will probably want to eat the same as her sister. Can she still order from the kids menu? and will we have to pay adult prices if she does?
Has anyone else had this problem? what can be done to make the system fairer??? or can big institutions such as disney decided for themselves when to start charging adult prices?

 

[theflowerladee]

I also think this is ridiculous, I am still debating the dining plan for our next trip, I have a 12ds and I would have to pay for him as an adult on the plan(38 a day) and he still eats off the kids menu. I think it is ridiculous. Also the park pass, I think they should go back to the 3 tier pricing of child, junior and adult. I could live with that.

 

[graciespeaks]

I have a 10 year old DS. We chose the Dining Plan but have had some second thoughts, because my husband and I can see the large amounts of wasted food in our minds. I have already made so many changes with our travel agent that I hate to change to " no dining plan", especially since we had no dining plan and I called her up and asked her to add it. LOL
I wondered if its alright for him to share his dessert with his sister (6), I hope so!

 

[DisKim]

I think it is totally ridiculous too. I could see if they wanted to have a "junior" price for kids around ages 10-13 or something. They could increase the ticket and dining prices but to have them pay as adults is crazy. One reason we are going during free dining is because it won't annoy as much that my DD10 is considered an adult.

 

[HappyLawyer]

i agree also, my dtr is only 10 they could at least make it 13 or so.

 

[crisi]

There has to be a line somewhere. My seven year old son out eats me at most meals, by the time he is ten, I fully expect he'll get full dollar from a dining plan. (We are cruising this year, in part to see how he reacts to adult restaurant food).

Adults include my 62 year old mother who has never had a big appitite (and eats even less now that she has become older) and doesn't ride thrill rides. And it includes my friends twelve year old who rides every thrill ride nine times and needs to be fed at buffets in order to give him enough calories.

For some families, the dining plan may not be worthwhile - a family where Dad eats, but mom had her stomach stapled, 16 year old Susy is on a diet, and 10 year old Brad still eats off the kids menu is not going to get as much value as a family where everyone eats like adults. Same with tickets....there may be some years where it isn't really cost effective to go - maybe your ten year old doesn't ride thrill rides yet and you can't see paying adult ticket prices so she can still ride Dumbo.

Short of going back to the old A-B-C-D-E ticket experience, I'm not sure what Disney could do.

 

[disneychrista]

I hated it when I had to start buying adult tickets for my kids. But if you look at it from Disney's stand point, most 10yo's are tall enough to meet all the height requirements, so why not charge them full price. Back "in the day" there used to be a junior ticket, too bad they stoped offering that.

 

[katied]

I was a little irritated once I realized I had to pay adult prices for DNiece on our upcoming trip (she was 9 when I booked, but shortly after booked I realized she would turn 10 before the trip and had to call back). The price difference for tickets and DDP is about $250. But, between her and DNephew, it will be nice to have extra food choices. Her and DNephew can share 1 kid/1 adult meal between the two of them for more variety. Sometimes she won't eat much, and othertimes either her or DNephew can out eat me (DNephew is age 8).

Also, I can understand there needs to be a cut-off. I would prefer age 12 to age 10, but since the rules are clear, I'll live with it.

I also think it balances out the pain of 10+ as adults that kids under 3 are free, so when I go with new DNiece in May 2008 (who will be 2 then), she'll be free.

 

[Harvest02]

I think this is crazy! I have 2 boys, one who is 5 and the other is 9. We went to Disney in June, and plan to go back again in October 2007. Of course, my 9 year old will be 10 by then(he turns 10 in March). So, I will also have to pay adult price for him for park tickets. As far as the dining plan goes, we have not tried it because I think it would be way too much food. My 9 year old would never eat all that! It is a shame they don't have the junior ticket pricing. My 10 year old is definitely not an adult!!!

 

[ctbasketlady]

When we went to the YC in March we just asked for children's menus for my 11 yo DD & DNiece. They never questioned or asked. After that we did the same where ever we went. The only places we didn't were for buffets where they did ask the children's ages. I agree - the age should be bumped back up to 12!

 

[weirdpaintballr]

..but, it's the way Disney does things. I don't think they will change it anytime soon.

 

[catrinuk]

surely if enough people were to make their feelings known? would it not at least be worth a try? who would you write to though to express the stupidity of the situation? any ideas????

 

[Mom to Jordan]

If you are not doing the dinning plan it should be no problem for your children to both order off the children's menu. If you are doing the plan, it might be fun for the girls to share the starter & desert that comes with the adult plan and then order one adult and one child plate and let then share that as well.

Ticket/ ages/ prices will never be fair to everyone. My DH is 47 and does not ride anything that a child under 40 inches can not ride!!

Jordans' mom

 

[NotUrsula]

Unless you can somehow make the avg. American shorter, a letter campaign will be useless, and could actually end up costing you more. The admission charge is based on avg. height, because height determines what a child can and cannot ride. By age 10, there are VERY few American kids who are not 48".

WDW is already quite generous on their admission prices, most parks that charge by height will begin charging the adult admission younger than 10; my DS has been paying full price at 6 Flags parks for 2 yrs now, but at WDW he'll still be a kid for one more year.

On the meal plan, I personally think that they could if they chose sell a child's ticket that is based on restricting ALL purchases on it to "child" portions. They don't choose to do that, allowing children to order off the regular menu at times, and not policing the difference when the credits are used by adults.
(To do that, you would have to have the KTTW scanned each time a credit from it was used, so that only the person whose name was on it could "spend" from it.)

It all balances out in the end. At some point in your life you'll be shortchanged, but at some other time you'll end up ahead.

 

[eryn the pooh]

Ticket/ ages/ prices will never be fair to everyone. My DH is 47 and does not ride anything that a child under 40 inches can not ride!!

Jordans' mom

My daughter just turned 10 this year and I have been brooding to myself about how it'll cost more now and its so unfair-until I read this! You made me giggle to myself and think "really, who cares, as long as we're all having the time of our lives!" I still dont fully agree with age 10 but theres more important thing for me to spend my time grouching over. Thanks muchly!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Yes, it's ridiculous that a 10 year old has to pay adult prices for restaurants and park tickets, my ds is going to be 10 in a couple of weeks. An Adult , i think not, the kid can't even match up an outfit yet Like another post said it would be good to have a 10 to 13 range or something!

 

[Deb & Bill]

There are not adult and child prices. Prices are for Guests age ten and over and Guests age three to nine. Guests under the age of three are free (except if you order something off the menu for. You will have to pay for that).

There are a lot of guests way over the age of ten who cannot do the same attractions that many nine year olds can do. They don't get a ticket price reduction either. Many adult guests cannot eat what many nine yr olds can.

 

[UtahMama]

Yep a "junior" rate would be swell but I cant complain a have a 2 year old FREEBIE!

 

[3dog2kidmom]

WDW is already quite generous on their admission prices, most parks that charge by height will begin charging the adult admission younger than 10; my DS has been paying full price at 6 Flags parks for 2 yrs now, but at WDW he'll still be a kid for one more year.

It all balances out in the end. At some point in your life you'll be shortchanged, but at some other time you'll end up ahead.

ITA with this. My 8 year old DS is 57" and rides more rides and can eat as much or more than I do. I'm very excited that when we go in January he's still going to be charged a child's ticket and a child's price for a buffet. Most of the time he'll eat off the child's menu, but is still hungry.