Dining plan question

[NYmickey]

I'm not sure where to post this so I understand if it needs to be moved. The situation is this. My son is 9 and we are again purchasing the DDP but he hates the kids meals at counter service restaurants. I have called Member services and gotten different answers each time. We have the deluxe plan for the first couple days of our trip (which doesnt cause a problem because we will be doing signature dining and table service meals) but the second half of our trip we will be dining occasionally at counter service. I have been told that I would have to purchase an adult park ticket for him (even though they will never have to see the ticket as it will be kept seperate from our key) then I could pay for him to have the adult dining plan. Then I was told I could just pay the difference for the meals at the counter service (which didn't seem likely to me) and then I was told there was nothing that could be done. Any suggestions as to what I should do?!?! And please don't suggest I just make him eat off the childrens menu as I am well aware that this is an option but he is over chicken nuggets and peanut butter and jelly. Thanks

 

[MareSINY]

A few years back my family was staying at CR and we wanted to figure out how many CS credits we had left, because something seemed weird and we were confused. My sister called concierge to have them check and the woman explained that the kids CS credits were the same as adults, they weren't labeled any differently. In the years since (we did this in November) we have ordered my niece chicken and fries from the adults menu at CS locations and have never had a problem with a child ordering a kids meal.

I plan to do the same next week with my niece, I'm really hoping they haven't changed their system because otherwise I'll be eating a lot of kids meals. LOL

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

This will probably get moved to the dining board...

Anyhow, from what I hear, they don't distinguish between a kids' CS credit and an adults' CS credit. Not sure why not. When I was there with my nephew who had the kids' DP back in July I figured we would both order what we wanted when it came to CS and if I ran out of adult credits I would just pay for what we wanted. Most of the time my nephew didn't order the kids' meal and we didn't run out of adult credits. We used all of our dining credits and it wasn't a problem. When you get your receipt for a TS meal, there is a note at the bottom regarding how many kid TS and how many adult TS are left on your plan. When you go to a CS meal, the receipt only tells you how many CS are left on your plan.

 

[rgf207]

What you would need to do is purchase the Adult plan for your son. That would require him to have a 1 day adult ticket at a minimum

The CM was incorrect. You can not pay the difference at a counter service restaurant, or a TS restaurant for that matter either. I have never heard of that.

 

[rgf207]

A few years back my family was staying at CR and we wanted to figure out how many CS credits we had left, because something seemed weird and we were confused. My sister called concierge to have them check and the woman explained that the kids CS credits were the same as adults, they weren't labeled any differently. In the years since (we did this in November) we have ordered my niece chicken and fries from the adults menu at CS locations and have never had a problem with a child ordering a kids meal.

I plan to do the same next week with my niece, I'm really hoping they haven't changed their system because otherwise I'll be eating a lot of kids meals. LOL

Hasn't this recently changed (within the last year or so)? Each card is clearly marked with how many children and adults are on the plan. If there are children's credits, they have to order off the Kids menus. The credits are not pooled between Kids and adults anymore.

 

[sportiegrl1213]

It stinks that you can't purchase so many days - rather then paying for the whole time you are there. We will be going off site for 2 days and we didn't want to get the dinning plan but you can't buy 5 days if you're there for 7. I find that dumb.

 

[MareSINY]

Hasn't this recently changed (within the last year or so)? Each card is clearly marked with how many children and adults are on the plan. If there are children's credits, they have to order off the Kids menus. The credits are not pooled between Kids and adults anymore.

They were still pooled in November. We had two kids and 3 adults, and we had 5 CS credits a day, they weren't distinguished between kids and adults. Like I previously said, I don't know if they changed it this year, and I'm really hoping they haven't or else I'll be eating a lot of kids meals because my picky niece wont eat the kids meal offerings.

 

[NYmickey]

Ok lets see if this helps any. We are DVC members so it is not crazy that our tickets are seperate. We can buy our tix seperate and not have to get a one day ticket thru our reservation. So technically I could just purchase him the adult dining plan for the second half of our trip. I have never heard a waiter ask to see our park ticket. I just wish I could get a clear answer instead of a different one everytime I call.

 

[squirrel]

You won't be allowed to order two adult meals, when you go to pay (KTTW) the CM will see that you are one adult and one child and that is all you are able to get on the DDP.

I don't think it would be worth upgrading him to an adult, but you will have to run the numbers. There are however some CS places that don't have children's meals so then your son would be able to eat off the adult menu.

 

[2MOdisneyfans]

When we went in Sept., there was no distinction between kids meals and adult meals at counter service places. My friend always got her daughter an adult meal at the counter services. Like a previous poster said, on the receipts they just put how many meals are left. If one person goes to order, how are they going to know who the food for.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

I think the cost diff. between the adult and kids plan is about $30 a day. Even if you had to buy your son an adult CS each day, it would not cost $30. And, at least 3 of us here have experienced that there is no differentiation between the kid and adult CS meal credits.

 

[vicki_c]

What you would need to do is purchase the Adult plan for your son. That would require him to have a 1 day adult ticket at a minimum

The CM was incorrect. You can pay the difference at a counter service resaurant, or a TS restaurant for that matter either. I have never heard of that.

I believe this is supposed to say you CANNOT pay the difference.

 

[vicki_c]

Ok lets see if this helps any. We are DVC members so it is not crazy that our tickets are seperate. We can buy our tix seperate and not have to get a one day ticket thru our reservation. So technically I could just purchase him the adult dining plan for the second half of our trip. I have never heard a waiter ask to see our park ticket. I just wish I could get a clear answer instead of a different one everytime I call.

The thing about upgrading his tix to an adult to buy the adult DDP is true. BUT ... normally Disney would know you did this because you have to buy a package (room+tickets) to purchase the DDP. In the case of an AP holder or DVC member, I don't know how they would handle it because you're right - we don't have to purchase tix to buy the DDP. So I'm taking a guess that for those 2 types of DDP add-ons, you probably can get him the adult plan without buying an adult ticket. But I don't know that - that's the first time I've seen this come up in the context of a DVC DDP add-on.

 

[rgf207]

I believe this is supposed to say you CANNOT pay the difference.

oops. Yes you CANNOT pay the difference

 

[Suellen]

Ok lets see if this helps any. We are DVC members so it is not crazy that our tickets are seperate. We can buy our tix seperate and not have to get a one day ticket thru our reservation. So technically I could just purchase him the adult dining plan for the second half of our trip. I have never heard a waiter ask to see our park ticket. I just wish I could get a clear answer instead of a different one everytime I call.

DVC resort and dining systems are different. You can upgrade his age for the dining portion only. They are not linked.

We called to upgrade our 2 year old to a 3 year old so that she could have meals too. The DVC rep said it didn't matter that we now have 3 adults and two kids on the dining and it wouldn't affect the room reservation.

I would upgrade his age on your dining only.

As far as the credits being pooled ~ I believe that is only true for deluxe dining.

I wonder if they would look at me funny if I upgraded my 4 year old foodie to an adult so she could eat some good meals!

 

[Suellen]

Oh and we have been upgrading the ages of our kids for the dining plans for about 2.5 years and have never bought DD's park tickets when they were under three. We have never been asked to see the park ticket as long as the KTTW is right # of adults and # of children all should be good.

Besides that doesn't even make sense if you ate at DTD with the plan or at any resort.