Free Dining Question

[Embel]

We booked an August FD bounceback. At the time, our son will be 2. A family that we met this year told us that they bought a 1 day park pass for their 2 yr old, and that entitled the child to their own free dining credits for the duration of their stay. Could this be true?

 

[mbanks21]

You would have to call disney and change your 2 yo to a 3yo and pay for a child ticket but yes, it will work

 

[Pumbaa_]

in order to get the dining plan for a child, the child has to be 3. So if you age the child to 3, you will have to buy the same ticket for the child as you do for the rest of the family.

 

[skier_pete]

Well, what you are saying is that you would have to say that your child is 3, and buy them a ticket...but with the Free Dining package, everyone in the room has to be on the same length ticket...so if you are already getting park tickets for yourself for say 6 days - that would mean your "free" child would be on the same ticket. This would be so not worth it.

You are much better off not buying the ticket for the child...at buffets, the child will be allowed to eat free anyways...the basic DDP is so much food, you can share your meals a lot anyways...if not, buying the occasional meal for your child will not break the bank, especially if you are not paying for your own meals.

SkierPete

 

[asmit4]

My mom and I went last year on Free DDP. We booked 1 day passes and got the free DDP. Upon arrival- I added 7 days to my pass...my mom didn't. She and I had no problems having different #s of pass days. We both got the DDP the entire time- she had a 1 day ticket and I had a longer ticket. We both had free DDP credits based on the number of NIGHTS booked, not the tickets.

Couldn't the mom just get everyone a 1 day ticket and just choose upon arrival to upgrade those in the family over age 3?

That way for the cost of a 1 day non hopper her 3yo could eat with dining credits all week?

This might be cheating but in all reality- I don't see why it wouldn't work- it worked for my mom and I no problem. (granted, we weren't attempting to cheat the system but the concept is the same.)

 

[Embel]

in order to get the dining plan for a child, the child has to be 3. So if you age the child to 3, you will have to buy the same ticket for the child as you do for the rest of the family.

Well- there's the catch. Since ds is 2, we can stay in one room. If I say he is 3, I need a 2nd room, and then it's no longer worth it. I will just buy his meals OOP.

Thanks for your help!

 

[PictureJumpr]

We went in September during free dining with a 2-yr-old and he did not have a set of credits, but had no problem eating during the week.

At TS restaurants he just ate off the adults' plates - at a couple of places they even brought him his own mashed potatoes (a favorite thing) or other side dishes. At buffet places we just got him his own plate and there is no charge since he is under three. All of them brought him his own milk/water cup and once brought him some ice cream for dessert even though he didn't have a kid's meal.

At CS restaurants he ate from our stuff, and he ate his older brother's kids-meal grapes more than once (the 4-yr-old older brother doesn't like grapes). A couple of times we purchased oop for him (i.e., a kids pack when older brother was starving and adults were sharing) but that's very minimal. We also carried in cracker packs and fruit bits and juice boxes and stuff for him in his diaper bag. Being that young we were already going to have to have a stroller anyway, so carrying this stuff was no issue.

We were there for eight days and we spent maybe $15 total on food for him. Maybe. Much less than the $75 to buy him a one-day ticket so he could have his own credits.

Also, since Disney is the ultimate in recordkeeping where their visitors are concerned, aging him to 3 now would have resulted in prematurely aging him to 10 from 9 later - which opens up a whole new set of higher charges on a future trip for the sake of saving $15 now.