CS credits question

[teag_98]

Can anyone tell me if they keep track of CS credits as far as children/adult meals? For example, each day we get 4 CS credits, 2 for my DH and I, 2 for the kids, but are two of them "child" credits or are they all just CS credits?

Sorry, I'm trying to figure all this out!!

 

[mikeandsunshine]

I'm not sure, as our first trip is this May. I believe that they are seperated into adult and child credits though. I know that children have to order from a children's menu. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

[Katiebell]

The CS credits are all pooled...however...

Your key card will say you have 2 adults in your party and 2 children. So when you order at a CS, you will not be able to order more than 2 adult meals at one time, if you order 2 more meals they would have to be childrens' meals.

The average price for an adult CS meal is 8.00-15.00. A child's CS meal is about 4.50. The entire day's price for the kid's dining plan is 9.99. It does not make any sense at all for one kid's CS meal to possibly exceed the cost of the whole day's plan, which also includes a snack up to $4, AND a TS meal, too.

If the kid's meals don't have enough food or aren't choices your kids prefer, you can always buy an extra item or two to round them out, or share some of your adult meal with them.

 

[teag_98]

That's a help, from what I see in the "food porn" thread, the portions are so big that I was just wondering about sharing some. I'd HATE to see a lot of food go to waste!

 

[robinb]

My husband and I have occasionally stood in line separately. He would order his own adult CS meal and I would order 2 adult CS meals, one for me and one for my DD. I don't do this to cheat the system or get more food. I do it because my DH and I are carnivores and my DD is a vegetarian. For instance, my DH and I LOVE Flame Tree BBQ and the kids meals are chicken wings and hot dogs. We order an adult fruit plate for her instead. In fact, the ONLY veggie CS option for kids in all of Animal Kingdom is a PB&J over at PizzaBarfy. And yes, sometimes I will go all the way over to PizzaBarfy to get her a PB&J while my DH gets us ribs. We also carry PB&J sandwiches with us (made back in the room) for situations just like this and we often have left over "child" CS credits left at the end of the trip.

 

[faindrops27]

My husband and I have occasionally stood in line separately. He would order his own adult CS meal and I would order 2 adult CS meals, one for me and one for my DD. I don't do this to cheat the system or get more food. I do it because my DH and I are carnivores and my DD is a vegetarian. For instance, my DH and I LOVE Flame Tree BBQ and the kids meals are chicken wings and hot dogs. We order an adult fruit plate for her instead. In fact, the ONLY veggie CS option for kids in all of Animal Kingdom is a PB&J over at PizzaBarfy. And yes, sometimes I will go all the way over to PizzaBarfy to get her a PB&J while my DH gets us ribs. We also carry PB&J sandwiches with us (made back in the room) for situations just like this and we often have left over "child" CS credits left at the end of the trip.

Robin, I have never tried this. But what you claim you do. How is this cheating the system anyhow. Ok say you hypothetically stayed for 6 days 5 nights 2 adults, 1 child.

Are you telling me that cs credits would be pooled like 15 cs per stay? Or are you telling me. That after you used the 3 adult cs meals. Would not the plan reflect 7 adult credits 5 child credits still available?

 

[robinb]

Robin, I have never tried this. But what you claim you do. How is this cheating the system anyhow. Ok say you hypothetically stayed for 6 days 5 nights 2 adults, 1 child.

Are you telling me that cs credits would be pooled like 15 cs per stay? Or are you telling me. That after you used the 3 adult cs meals. Would not the plan reflect 7 adult credits 5 child credits still available?

In Dec 2007/Jan 2008 the CS meals were still pooled. So, in your example we would have 15 CS credits. Some CMs would see "2 A 1 C" on the key and would not allow us to purchase 3 adult meals in one transaction. So we purchase using two transactions. I personally don't feel too bad about. The reason why we sometimes purchase an adult CS meal for my DD is the same reason we end up leaving left over "child" CS credits on our key card when we leave.

 

[Katiebell]

And I don't see that as "cheating" the system at all. If you have purchased the DDP for 2 adults and 1 child for five days -- or even if you got it for free -- you have purchased and are entitled to to 10 adult CS meals and 5 child CS meals. If you wanted to walk up to a CS and order 10 adult meals at once, theoretically you should be able to do that -- but the plan does not allow sharing meals with people not on your package, so the only way to try to prevent that is for the CM's to only allow you to purchase the maximum # of A or C meals in one transaction that show up on your key card -- in this example 2 A and 1 C.

In your example, you are sharing some of your allowance of 10 A CS meals with your daughter so she can have appropriate choices for her diet. There's nothing requiring you to use all of the remaining 5 C CS meals on your card. The problem gets sticky when people start saying, "oh my 9 year old eats more than those kid's meals", or "little Jimmy doesn't like the choices on the kid's menus, he wants what we are having", and then use those kid's CS meals credits to purchase adult meals instead. And I'm not saying that anyone in particular plans to do that! But, I've seen lots and lots of posts on this same topic that suggest or recommend it and that's obviously a blatant misuse of the credits. And honestly, if a lot of people are doing it and it affects Disney's bottom line seriously enough, they should figure out a way to segregate the credits A and C, just like they did with the TS credits.

 

[teag_98]

Ok, just to make sure I'm clear....technically, you could use all CS credits for adult meals if you got the meals separately? Not that I plan on doing that so please don't flame me , I just wanted to know in the event that there is a restaurant where my picky kids won't eat the kids meal, we could have the option of getting another adult meal...not likely since they are big chicken nugget and burger fans, but I just like to be prepared!
Thanks everyone for your help

 

[Jersey Girl]

I find the child CS's to be hard to deal with but still find the DDP too great a deal to not have it. It worked when we went in Oct. 2006 because my kids used their CS credits for breakfast at the food court each day, since that's their favorite meal, and if they needed a lunch, I'd pay OOP for it from the adult menu. My kids don't like the children's menu; for them one day of chicken nuggets in a week is enough and there aren't many places that even offer burgers on their menu. I would do deluxe in a second because of all the character buffets I want to go to but I would still have to pay for their lunches off the adult menu and it would wind up costing me more money. The only thing I could come up with if we went deluxe was using a snack credit in the morning for me to get something from the bakery and with my non used Credit from that meal, get another adult lunch for the kids to maybe share. But then I'm wasting their credit and since I'm not really sure if we'll need lunches each day, I don't know if it's such a good deal. So as of now, we're going with the DDP and I'll be paying OOP for any lunches the kids need and the couple sit down meals we'll have and just not order appys or dessert to save a little money.

 

[robinb]

Ok, just to make sure I'm clear....technically, you could use all CS credits for adult meals if you got the meals separately? Not that I plan on doing that so please don't flame me , I just wanted to know in the event that there is a restaurant where my picky kids won't eat the kids meal, we could have the option of getting another adult meal...not likely since they are big chicken nugget and burger fans, but I just like to be prepared!
Thanks everyone for your help

Technically, you are supposed to only purchase kids meals for your children. In reality, the CS credits are still pooled and there is currently no adult/child distinction. I don't think it's a big deal if you occasionally choose an adult meal for your picky kids over the kids menu. I do think that you cross a line when you plan on feeding your kids all adult meals.

Because my DD is a vegetarian, I usually plan my CS restaurants for the day in addition to my TS restaurants. I get an idea of the kids menu from All Ears:

http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

For instance, I know that she would find nothing to eat at Backlot Express or the Commissary in DHS and that we'll need to eat at Flatbread Grill for a vegetarian option.

 

[TDC Nala]

This thread is closed. The DIS does not advocate the violation of Disney policy regarding the dining plan, which is that children's credits should be used to purchase children's meals where they are available.