Help, Please...dining plan and ALMOST 3 year olds.

[Cuddlemama]

We're DVC members, going to the world again in Jan. 07 (and Jan. 08, Jan, 09..etc...~laugh~), and are going to be trying out the Dining Plan for the first time then.

At the time of our 07 trip, we'll be travelling with 6 adults, 2 preschoolers and two toddlers. The two toddlers will be 2.5 and nearly 3, and are both HUGE eaters, who would really not be satisfied picking off of other people's plates.

Has anyone ever purchased the dining plan for a child under 3? Is it allowed? I can't imagine why it wouldn't be, but I just wonder if it's happened before and how it worked out?

I understand that with regular DDP, your plan was tied to your ticket, so it would have been cost prohibitive to purchase for kids who would not normally be ticketed for admission. But the DVC plan doesn't require any particular admission media, so that wouldn't be an issue here.

~L

 

[jennifer293]

You cannot purchase the dining plan for a child under 3. This is for in room guests only and you are not in theory paying for the children under 3 as far as room, park tickets and such. You just have to pay for the little ones out of pocket or let them share off your plate. At buffets they eat free anyway.

They may make an exception for you since you are DVC members and not regular hotel guests. ya know what I mean?

I would call dining and get a definate yes or no from them though!!

 

[MichellT]

Our son was 2 and 10 months when we stayed last fall with the Dining Plan. I was honest with the reservationist, and said, my son will want to eat by golly, and can we get him in somehow? She said yes, as long as we bought him a park ticket with the package, so what she did was change his birthdate in the system to be one year off, and therefore the system rang him up as a child, and sold him a park ticket, and qualified him for dining credits, which was great. So I would recommend being honest and asking -- can't hurt, right?

 

[MomofKatie]

We're DVC members, going to the world again in Jan. 07 (and Jan. 08, Jan, 09..etc...~laugh~), and are going to be trying out the Dining Plan for the first time then.

At the time of our 07 trip, we'll be travelling with 6 adults, 2 preschoolers and two toddlers. The two toddlers will be 2.5 and nearly 3, and are both HUGE eaters, who would really not be satisfied picking off of other people's plates.

Has anyone ever purchased the dining plan for a child under 3? Is it allowed? I can't imagine why it wouldn't be, but I just wonder if it's happened before and how it worked out?

I understand that with regular DDP, your plan was tied to your ticket, so it would have been cost prohibitive to purchase for kids who would not normally be ticketed for admission. But the DVC plan doesn't require any particular admission media, so that wouldn't be an issue here.

~L

Hmmm... that is a good question. The reason I normally wouldn't recommend getting the DDP for an under-3 is the problem of having to purchase park tickets for the child, who doesn't need them. But, since DVC DDP isn't tied to ant ticket purchase, I suppose there would be no reason NOT to get it.

Although for the price of 1 kids' CS meal and 1 kids' TS meal (about $4 and $5 respectively), you would probably end up spending more by adding them onto the DDP at $11 per day. Remember, if they are under 3, they can eat for free at the buffet/preplated meals anyway, and those meals are usually the only ones to make the kids' DDP worth the $$.

Unless you are planning on saving some of their credits for adult dining, I'd probably just pay OOP for the 2 yr olds.

 

[Gillian]

My 2 1/2 year old is a pretty big eater, but I think she will be okay without the meal plan when you factor in appetizers and dessert. We have planned a few buffets/family style meals where she can eat all she wants. For counter service we can always pay out of pocket if we need to. For TS too, if she's hungry. We're not going to starve her.

I think that if you make ADRs carefully, and budget for possible out of pocket expenses for the little ones it will be okay.

As others have said, it most likely does not make sense to buy tickets just to add a 2 year old to the meal plan. I don't think you can add them for just 1 day tickets if the others in the party are getting longer length passes.

 

[janets]

Our son was 2 and 10 months when we stayed last fall with the Dining Plan. I was honest with the reservationist, and said, my son will want to eat by golly, and can we get him in somehow? She said yes, as long as we bought him a park ticket with the package, so what she did was change his birthdate in the system to be one year off, and therefore the system rang him up as a child, and sold him a park ticket, and qualified him for dining credits, which was great. So I would recommend being honest and asking -- can't hurt, right?

Now when he reaches 9 years old in reality and can still be on the DP at a child's price, the WDW system is going to have him at 10 and you're going to have to argue with them to get it changed back.

Not sure if I would have bothered. He would be free at buffets and if I had both CS and TS (non buffet) in one day, the OOP cost probably wouldn't exceed the $10.99 DP price (and if it does, it's only by a small fraction).

 

[WDWfor5]

Just wanted to say I thought about this also as my son will be 2 and 8 mos when we go in 3 weeks. I asked the CM and she said i would have to buy him a ticket. It's not worth it IMHO. I figure at TS meals DH and I will have way too much food with a App, Entree and Dessert each and plenty to share. At CS meals, I'll probably pool all our meals (me, DH, DD 6 and DS 4) and share with DS 2 and if we want a Mickey bar later or a piece of fruit, then that's what snack creidts are for.

Even with my big eater it doesn't make sense to buy him his own plan.

 

[jennifer293]

Another thing that we noticed especially at the character dinners were that our DD's were not interested in eating because of everything going on around them. We had snacks and stuff in our room and we saved our snacks till the end of the day so we would just get them a little something when we got back to the room if they acted hungry. My DD will be 27 months old when we go back and although she can eat as much as I can I still wouldn't get her the DP. I will just feed her off my plate so that way I don't eat as much...GOOD PLAN RIGHT!!!!! Any strategy I can use to not gain weight is a good one!!!

If it were me I would just make sure you hit alot of buffets since they eat free there anyway...

Either way have a good trip!!!!

 

[Leah and Emily's mom]

I thought when we went last year my almost 3 year old ate for free. Gosh, I should check old reciepts. I would recommend calling Disney and asking them for accurate information. Most character meals charge an entertainment fee for those who do not eat.

 

[MomofKatie]

I thought when we went last year my almost 3 year old ate for free. Gosh, I should check old reciepts. I would recommend calling Disney and asking them for accurate information. Most character meals charge an entertainment fee for those who do not eat.

They do eat free at the Character meals, buffets, and all you can eat, preplated meals. The only TS restaurants you'd have to pay OOP for under-3's would be the menu ones, if you ordered a kids' meal for them. But they could eat off your plate for free. Also, all CS places charge for kids' meals. regardless of the age of the kid.

 

[gabbysmom04]

I am a dvc owner and I asked MS about my DD 1.5. I was told that I would have to call back and change her birthday to make her 3. I am sorry what is the big deal with selling the DDP to a child under three. Having the plan will make me get her her own meals. Without the plan would'nt more people share their plates with their DC. The way I see it would be disney making money! I will change her birthday if I have to. But she is really small I don't think anyone will believe that she is 3

 

[WDWfor5]

I am a dvc owner and I asked MS about my DD 1.5. I was told that I would have to call back and change her birthday to make her 3. I am sorry what is the big deal with selling the DDP to a child under three. Having the plan will make me get her her own meals. Without the plan would'nt more people share their plates with their DC. The way I see it would be disney making money! I will change her birthday if I have to. But she is really small I don't think anyone will believe that she is 3

If I had to guess about why they won't sell meals to the under 3 set, it's that too many people would use their credits for adult meals. While you couldn't convince my 6 year old to share off my plate if you tried - she needs her own everything (except if she decides my stek looks better than her kids meal ) my 2 year old would be too easy to get a $10 per day extra set of credits since as of now they don't keep track of them seperately.

Also, as another poster mentioned, if you change their birthday in the system it will effect ticket prices when they get older. Not worth the trouble for us -
and as I read the kids meal prices on AllEars, I could buy my DS2 his own kids meal every day for less than $10 and he'd eat free at buffet's.

Have fun whatever you decide