DDP question: 9 year old when vacation was booked...

[brownsthreesons]

I hope someone can help me with this. When I booked our vacation (with DDP)through WDW, my middle son was (and still is) 9. However, he will be 10 the end of February and we vacation in March. I explained this to the lady I spoke with while booking, and she still put him on the child's dining plan. I told her I would pay the extra for him to be able to order off the adult menu's, but she did not want to change it in the system. My delimma is that my son is a big eater. I have shown him the child's menu's online, and he is disappointed that he can't order from the adult's menu. I read someone's post that said her child (under 10) was allowed to order from the adult menu. Does anyone know if this is true? Doesn't it show up that you have child credits and adult credits? I hope someone can help me with this.
Thanks,
Tina

 

[mom2my3kids]

When I booked the CM I spoke with went by his birthday. So when we arrive he will still be 9 by 2 days. My middle son's birthday is September 30Th so he will be considered a child the whole trip, even though he turns 10 a couple days into the trip. So if your son turns 10 in Feb but your trip is in march then he should be considered a adult.

 

[clemsondisneyfan]

That same thing happened to us....our son was 9 when we booked the trip 7 months in advance and when they asked for his age I said he was 9. I was not thinking about the age change....because I didn't even know that the "magic" age was 10 at the time. I am sure they probably asked for his B-Day and I gave them the honest answer. He turned 10 right before we left - the trip was for his B-Day. But, the dining plan was different a year ago and he could order a lot of items - just child-size portions. So, he was OK. We paid for a child, and he ate like a child.

Now, he has just turned 11 and of course we are paying for a junior or adult ticket....whatever it is called after they turn 10 - even though he was 10 when we booked 6 months ago! They probably have him down as 10 for this trip. Who knows?!

I would say you need to make sure you pay and get the junior/adult plan if your child eats as much as my son does! He is 50% on the weight charts, but he eats like a horse! Growing boy I guess! I am glad he can order adult meals this time....he will enjoy them.

Have fun!

 

[n2mm]

If you want him to eat adult meals, you need to call and change your package to him as an adult. Otherwise if you are paying for a child, he will only be able to choose from the children's menu which now includes TS and CS. Unless you plan to eat all of your TS meals at buffets, you'll have a problem feeding your big eater with the kids meals. Or you can choose to pay OOP for most of his meals. I'm sure Disney will have no problem modifying your package.

As for being allowed to order adult meals if you card says child, don't count on that happening. According to most post for 2007, Disney now rings up adult and children's meals on separate tickets. If you card said 2A/1C, you will only be able to order 2 adult meals and 1 child's meal. However, you or your husband could just eat the kids meal and give your son the adult meal. That might work, but I wouldn't recommend it, especially after seeing the kid's menus....not very appealling.

 

[brownsthreesons]

Thanks for the information. The other thing I was thinking of doing was having him order a child's meal, and sharing mine with him. It sounds like the adult portions are very large. Did you find that to be true? My mom is also going, and not a big eater, so between the two of us, he should get plenty to eat. We are not big buffet eaters, so he will not have that option. I am sure none of us will go hungry from what I have been reading!

 

[frndofpooh]

Thanks for the information. The other thing I was thinking of doing was having him order a child's meal, and sharing mine with him. It sounds like the adult portions are very large. Did you find that to be true? My mom is also going, and not a big eater, so between the two of us, he should get plenty to eat. We are not big buffet eaters, so he will not have that option. I am sure none of us will go hungry from what I have been reading!

That's what we did in December. DS9 is a big eater (he's a competitive swimmer, swims every day and his coach wants him to eat 2500-3000cals/day so that his body won't eat his muscle). Needless to say, the child meals were not enough food so DM and I gave him part of ours. We found the adult portions to be more than enough so this was not a problem. The bonus was that DM and I came home a couple of pounds lighter and still with many fond dining memories.