DDP upgrading a child to adult?

[WrenNCuckoos]

We're looking at a trip (our first) when there is free dining offered to UK guests. My kids will be 6 and 4 when we go. My now 5 year old can eat more than me, and will likely get bored with the child menu options in addition to still being hungry after eating. Can I upgrade him to the adult plan? I think that means I have to buy him the adult ticket to the parks, but that's fine. The difference in price is pretty small.

If we do this, can he still order from the kid's menu if he wants to in a particular restaurant?

Is there any other downside to this?

Will there be a problem having a 4 year old, a 6 year old and 2 adults when the meal plan is for 3 adults and one child? I know "adult" starts young at Disney, but I don't think my son will be able to pass for 10 even at the rate he's growing now.

We're not booking flights with our package, as we have enough miles to fly for free. Well, for taxes and fees only, which isn't free, but still cheaper.

 

[disneyholic family]

just lie about his age when you make the reservations...
you'll have to pay for an adult ticket, but you're get adult free dining credits..

a friend of mine did that with her 8 year old daughter....made her 10 or whatever it is that's considered an adult..

 

[2Tiggies]

I did this year. You seem to have all the facts straight and there is nothing more to it.

All you do is change the child's year of birth on your reservation to 2001 (for a trip this year), purchase an adult park ticket and you're good to go. I didn't 'lie' about my child's age. I told them when I booked what i wanted to do and they just changed it for me. I booked through WDTC so they are used to handling this. You may want to twist the truth if you are booking through another agent though just in case.

And yes, he can still order off the kids menu.

Since you are not booking flights with the package you have nothing stopping you from doing this.

The only thing that changes for you is that the child will be on an adult park ticket and therefore will do the fingerprint scan, but they will override this if it proves a problem for the child.

 

[crabbie1]

Iv done this as well this time thanks to the advice of lee above.DD was sick of mac cheese pizza and nuggets.She is 8 and will be 9 when we go. I think it is up to you if you want to pay for the adult plan. That way the kids can still have the odd kiddies meal if they want. Go for it.

 

[2Tiggies]

Iv done this as well this time thanks to the advice of lee above.DD was sick of mac cheese pizza and nuggets.She is 8 and will be 9 when we go. I think it is up to you if you want to pay for the adult plan. That way the kids can still have the odd kiddies meal if they want. Go for it.

I must admit I got off quite lightly on this as DD was GF so her special meals were often items they would cater off the adults menu anyway. You CAN get variety and healthy options for kids but you have to work really hard at it and plan even your CS meals so upgrading during free dining is the way to go IMO. Also, try telling your 6 year old that grapes are dessert while you sink your teeth into a chocolate cake You won't regret it, but you may want to share some meals (like 3 meals between four of you and burn the extra credits on a breakfast or two). You can also do this with non buffet TS if you are on the regular DDP and use the remaining credits to book an additional meal.

 

[crabbie1]

I must admit I got off quite lightly on this as DD was GF so her special meals were often items they would cater off the adults menu anyway. You CAN get variety and healthy options for kids but you have to work really hard at it and plan even your CS meals so upgrading during free dining is the way to go IMO. Also, try telling your 6 year old that grapes are dessert while you sink your teeth into a chocolate cake You won't regret it, but you may want to share some meals (like 3 meals between four of you and burn the extra credits on a breakfast or two). You can also do this with non buffet TS if you are on the regular DDP and use the remaining credits to book an additional meal.

Lee we have already decided on this.I want to take DB to a 2TS meal not decided which one and my mom will babysit Also DD and me will share a combi as we did last year as I just cannot eat a big meal.

 

[WrenNCuckoos]

Thanks all.

We're planning to book this weekend, so I think my son will magically gain a few years as far as Disney is concerned.

I won't bother upgrading my daughter. She would happily live on mac and cheese and chicken nuggets if allowed. This will be her dream trip foodwise if we just get her a kids meal everywhere. She even loves carrot sticks and grapes that seem to show up over and over on the kid's menu too.

 

[2Tiggies]

Let us know how it goes. Since your package is not inlcuding flights you will have no problems. A little tip: if you have any bother for some unlikely reason, just tell the CM you will think about it. Then call back and speak to someone else.

 

[disneyholic family]

Let us know how it goes. Since your package is not inlcuding flights you will have no problems. A little tip: if you have any bother for some unlikely reason, just tell the CM you will think about it. Then call back and speak to someone else.

this is what my friend did..
i helped her plan her trip and when i realized her daughter would get the kids meals i told her to call up and tell the CM to switch her daughter.
the CM balked, so she called back and just told the next CM that there was a mistake on her daugther's birthday - and corrected it so that her DD was now an 'adult'...no problem at all....

and when they were at WDW, there was no problem either..

in any case, the servers in the restaurants prefer adult meals to kid meals, since they make a bigger tip on adult meals...

 

[mdearlove]

I attempted to change my 9yr old daughters plan to the adult plan - I was basically told its not possible as the Free DDP offer I had is from last year and it has now expired. If she tried to make any changes to the Plan it would charge full price for my daughter. Its a shame as I think she will be bored with the menus they provide for kids now that I have seen all the menus.

 

[Mrs Hobbes]

ONe thing I've heard is that the cash registers are not able to differentiate between child dp credits and adult dp credits. So the advice is go through the check out solo leaving your kids at the table with the other adult and they can not tell the difference or if you are not able to leave the kids just go through the register twice, once with 2 adult meals and if questioned say the kids are not eating. Then go through again, yes you might look greedy but there your credits to spend lol

I haven't tried this personally but I've read about it over on the DVC boards. I will be giving this a try for the occasional meal when we go in 2012. As DVC members we have to pay for DDP and DD only really eats chicken nuggets so its not worth the upgrade. However there are a few places like the food court at Epcot where she will eat items from the adult menu. So in order to give her some variation I will try this if it doesn't work I'll just pay cash for her meal that day.

 

[joolz1910]

I might look into this myself. Middle DD will be 8 when we go, and the limitations of the kids' menus do concern me. I would keep DD (5) on the kids' menu and DD (12) will be an 'adult' at Disney anyway.

 

[higgy66]

I attempted to change my 9yr old daughters plan to the adult plan - I was basically told its not possible as the Free DDP offer I had is from last year and it has now expired. If she tried to make any changes to the Plan it would charge full price for my daughter. Its a shame as I think she will be bored with the menus they provide for kids now that I have seen all the menus.

Last time we just chose lots of buffet meals so that I could just fill up my plate with whatever the girls fancied.

Out of the 14 days I think they only had to choose from a children's menu a few times and we didn't eat at the same place twice!

 

[2Tiggies]

ONe thing I've heard is that the cash registers are not able to differentiate between child dp credits and adult dp credits. So the advice is go through the check out solo leaving your kids at the table with the other adult and they can not tell the difference or if you are not able to leave the kids just go through the register twice, once with 2 adult meals and if questioned say the kids are not eating. Then go through again, yes you might look greedy but there your credits to spend lol

People do try this with success but the CMs are supposed to check your KTTW card. Each card has the guest's name on and specified adult or child, but if you look below that it has the breakdown of your party listed as xA xC (so if you are a couple with 2 kids it will say 2A 2C). I have stood behind people at a cash register who ended up paying for an additional adult meal as they had tried to purchase more adult meals than those on the card. Just somethng to keep in mind.

I attempted to change my 9yr old daughters plan to the adult plan - I was basically told its not possible as the Free DDP offer I had is from last year and it has now expired. If she tried to make any changes to the Plan it would charge full price for my daughter. Its a shame as I think she will be bored with the menus they provide for kids now that I have seen all the menus.

You would think they would honour the offer attached to your booking from at the time you booked. You have been given some good advice re. the buffets. The kids still get the same snack entitlements as adults.

There are ways you can get informed before you go and make the most of it. It's certainly not portion size you are wanting, it's the variety and the kids menus can be very bog standard at most places, but there are some lovely exceptions to the rule.

Magic Kingdom:

Casey's Corner and the Golden Outpost do not have kids menus. Kids credits entitle them to any entree off the adult menu, any dessert and a drink. Main Street Bakery has lovely sandwiches and savoury croissants and the same applies her so keep that in mind when planning your CS meals.

Epcot

Sommerfest, Yorkshire County Fish Shop, Boulangerie Patisserie do not have kids menus so the same as above applies here. Sunshine Seasons is also a good place to stop. Your kids will select off a kids menu, but they have an Asian food station, make your own sub and a chicken drumstick meal, all of which are served for kids on the kids menu.

Downtown Disney

Earl of Sandwich will allow your child to order off the main menu on the DDP. My DD suffered likes the tuna salad and they had no problems serving it to her on a kids credit. We have eaten there many times so it wasn't just a one off.

Wolfgang Puck Express also has lovely kids meals, great pizza and the kids can have any dessert they like so not the grapes/cookie story there.

Animal Kingdom:

Pizzafari serves kids pizzas. I know you can get sick of Pizza but at least it is a break from the usual nuggets etc.

It can also work to order your kids meal at one place and then take it with you to wherever you are ordering yours.

And share/trade. I don't eat dessert every day and certainly not twice a day so I would give DD my dessert or we would share it.