Has anyone ever bumped up an 8 YO child who eats well to the adult DDP?

[Alisha's mom Sarah]

I too called Disney and asked if it would be OK to age my child and they said it was perfectly fine. I did it because we're not doing many buffets ( she's afraid of a lot of characters) and I don't want to have to order boring foods so that my dd ( who does not have an adventerous palatte) will have something to eat.. It was easier to buy her a 1 day ticket..

 

[septbaby]

Just curious? Why do you think it is wrong? If I upgrade my 7 year old son to an adult during free dining or not, I am paying more for his ticket into the parks so I am "paying" more for him to have this option.

When we get into issues of "that's just wrong", try not to take anything on these boards too personally. There is a lot of passion on the boards, but I don't think there is nearly as much malice!

Good luck with your decison.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

When we get into issues of "that's just wrong", try not to take anything on these boards too personally. There is a lot of passion on the boards, but I don't think there is nearly as much malice!

Good luck with your decison.

I definitely agree with you here! I was more curious as to what the thought was to it being wrong during free dining but not any other time. I really haven't heard many people "aging" their children during free dining as they are still going to pay more for a ticket so it really isn't free that way either (some cost would be associated with aging a kid). But I'm sure there are many out there that do it too.

 

[cherylvl]

I think its fine to upgrade your child when you are paying for the plan, but doing it during free dining is wrong.

You're kiddin' right?? What about all the adults that will be ordering more than they normally would just because it's free?

Here's what I think is wrong. I think it's WRONG that Disney is making me pay for an adult park ticket (extra $40) for my child simply because I want her to eat from the adult menu (& paying an extra $28 PER DAY! in December...thank you very much!).

So for one month this year a few people won't pay extra for their kids to eat from the adult menu. Like a previous poster said, they're still paying extra for the kids to have an adult park ticket.

And the other 11 months of the year Disney is coming out WAY ahead on customers like me. Something tells me that Disney knows what they're doing. I doubt that they would allow upgrades OR do free dining if it didn't benefit the bottom line.

Cheryl

 

[septbaby]

Here's what I think is wrong. I think it's WRONG that Disney is making me pay for an adult park ticket (extra $40) for my child simply because I want her to eat from the adult menu (& paying an extra $28 PER DAY! in December...thank you very much!).

Disney isn't making you do this, you're choosing to do this. You could just pick places that allow your kid to eat more like an adult and pay OOP if she actually orders adult items. You know your family, if you think she'll eat an extra $28 everyday plus the daily split for the ticket upgrade than its the right decision for you.

Selecting buffets or all you care to eat for all TS meals gets you the same result. Choosing CS meals where kids menus aren't available does the same thing. No extra $40 or $28/day. Maybe this isn't the way you want to eat on vacation, but Disney does give you that option on the standard DP, no extra cost.

For me the upgrade is a financial decision. My analysis tells me its better to mix up the meals and pay OOP as needed. However, I respect that others might value the decision differently and choose to upgrade. Their decision will be based on emotion or a desired experience, because the pure numbers say pay OOP as needed.

Good luck to all making this decision! I'm not one of them, but it would be an easy one for me anyway.

 

[Pooh Bear Hugs]

No I'm not kidding it's something I wouldn't feel comfortable doing.

 

[NMW]

For our May 2008 trip with the Deluxe dining plan, I aged my middle child from age 9 to 10 so he can get the adult plan. I paid for an adult ticket and the 69.99 a day cost of the deluxe plan. The CM had no problem doing this and told me that lots of people do it.

Last year our older son was 10 and ate adult food/apps/desserts the entire trip on the old DDP. Our middle son was miserable with the kids choices. No way DH and I want to go through that again! It's worth the extra money for us.

 

[happytogo]

To keep my DS who is now 8 as a child on the paid DDP and share app's and order OOP if he needs something more than what is offered to him on the kids DDP.

We reviewed our ADR menus and figured out that three of the meals worked out fine as a child DDP with the $2 upgrade for steak and family style meals. That leaves three other TS meals; if he wants to eat an adult entree we will order OOP and he can eat his Child meal as an appetizer.

If I have to order three adult entrees at about $25 each ($75 total OOP expense), I will be ahead of the game when the upgrade to adult DDP had a ticket price of $202. Done and paid for! How nice to have our vacation mostly paid for in advance. I think I will like being on a dining plan just in time for Disney to change it.

Thanks to all for your valued input.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Enjoy your vacation.

 

[happytogo]

Enjoy your vacation.

Thanks. I hope you do too!

 

[mom2my3kids]

We upgraded my 9 year old son, we arrive on Sept 22 and he turns 10 on Sept 30th and he eats like a adult so the CM said that was fine. We just paid for a adult ticket..