experiences with tube fed kids being charged at character meals

[angelbearmom]

I know this is a dining thread but on the dining boards they're saying that everyone in a party at a character meal gets charged whether they eat or not. I thought I read on an earlier post on this board that kids who are tube fed aren't getting charged. What are people's experiences on this board. I'm thinking that maybe it's different when you have a clearly disabled child who can't eat vs an able bodied person who doesn't eat at a particular meal.

 

[SereneOne]

My daughter is tube-fed and she is going to be five years old in October. I paid for the meals all though she barely ate. (She eats one to three bites of a meal, etc). I would be interested in hearing what others have to say.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Officially the policy is that everyone must pay.

However, if there are special circumstances it is up to the server and/or duty manager to waive this rule. I have heard of adults being charged a children's price and have also heard of people only being charged a $5.00 "entertainment fee".

If you go in with the expectation that you will probably have to pay, and explain the situation in a nice way, you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[SueM in MN]

Officially the policy is that everyone must pay.

However, if there are special circumstances it is up to the server and/or duty manager to waive this rule. I have heard of adults being charged a children's price and have also heard of people only being charged a $5.00 "entertainment fee".

If you go in with the expectation that you will probably have to pay, and explain the situation in a nice way, you may be pleasantly surprised.

We've seen people post everything from being charged full price to $5 to nothing at all. It's going to depend on the circumstances and the server.

My DD is not tube fed, but is technically an adult and usually eats little and most of what she eats is from the children's buffet. Sometimes the server charges us the children's price for her.

 

[WLodgeLizard]

We have been to just about all of the character meals and have never been charged for DS 9. We always explain that he does not eat by mouth. We do bring a drink for him. They typically put a "child not eating" line on the bill.

WLL

 

[SereneOne]

This is good to know. Meghan is tube fed Pediasure eight ounces of Pediasure six times a day every three hours. We are working on the eating thing, but she barely eats and she does not usually like to eat when we are out.

 

[angelbearmom]

Thanks for the replies. We'll just see what they say each time. It's not a big deal as we're on the ddp with free dining but his caregiver and I could use a couple of his credits as we're booked at a signature restaurant. It won't be a problem if I have to pay oop. It would be nice if they won't charge for him, even at a couple of them but the experience he has with the characters is well worth anything they charge. Our best pictues of our other trips have been at the character meals.

Although he was over 10 on both of our other trips he was just charged a child's price. He was very small for his age and especially the 2nd year didn't eat very much. The first year he ate more and it was actually the very last time he ever fed himself. He wouldn't let me feed him there although I'd needed to feed him for several months.

 

[Camster0307]

I know for character meals that have to be pre-paid, like at CRT, they need to know the total number in your party. When I explained that my 13yr.old is tube-fed and would not be eating, they just listed her as infant. That way we had the space at the table but not the charge on the bill.

At other character dining places, I've never encountered a problem because usually our server saw that she was being tube-fed and they just took her off the bill without me even having to ask.