Kids ages dilemma...

[lwc]

My family (how we are booked):

Mom
Dad
DD10
DD9
DD7
DS2
DD 5months

The dilemma is that mealtimes will be a disaster if DD10 gets to order off the adult menu, but DD9 can't.

Additionally, I would love to have DS2 on the dining plan, seeing that he too will want to eat at most meals...

I am willing to bend rules, but have limits. For example, I am not willing to book DD10 as a 9 year old, as I would not want to put DD10 in the position of having to lie to pay less. HOWEVER I don't have the same problem telling DD9 that we said she was 10 and paid more to put her on the adult plan so that she would be able to order from the adult menu....

My family (how we are booked):

Mom (Adult)
Dad (Adult)
DD10 (10)
DD9 (10)
DD7 (7)
DS2 (2)
DD 5months (5)

This way we will have 4 adult and 2 child credits for each meal, DD9 can eat off the adult menu and DS2 off the kids menu.

Obviously we will be getting park tickets with our package. We will have 4 adult and 2 child. Is there anything that would prevent us from having mom, dad and DD10 use 3 of the adult passes, DD9 and DD7 use the 2children's passes, DS2 and DD5months use no passes, thereby saving one adult pass for another trip?

I recognize that some may have an ethical issue with this plan, and I can understand that, but I am comfortable with it, as while we will enjoy extra benefits by bending the rules, we will also be paying the additional charges that go with these benefits.

 

[carmie3377]

My family (how we are booked):

Mom (Adult)
Dad (Adult)
DD10 (10)
DD9 (10)
DD7 (7)
DS2 (2)
DD 5months (5)

This way we will have 4 adult and 2 child credits for each meal, DD9 can eat off the adult menu and DS2 off the kids menu.

Do you mean you have DS2 booked as a 3 YO? Otherwise, you would have 4 adults and 1 child.

Anyway, this is what I would do. Book with their real ages. Then, let DS2 order a kid's meal using your DD9's child credit. Then, order for your DD9 out of pocket. That way, instead of buying 4 adult tickets and 2 child's tickets, you'll be buying 3 adult tickets and 2 child's tickets. Plus, you'll be saving $37.99/day on the dining plan. Think about the cost of the extra ticket and the $37.99/day for the dining plan. I don't think your DD9 will be eating that much!

 

[lwc]

Do you mean you have DS2 booked as a 3 YO? Otherwise, you would have 4 adults and 1 child.

DD5 months is booked as a 5 year old...DS2 is actually, 1 and will be celebrating his 2nd b-day during our vacation, and so I couldn't quite bring myself to book him under the wrong age.

Also, I figured if push came to shove, I could blame it on a miscommunication between me and the travel agent...(I guess I have to admit that I do feel a tad guilty over the rule bending, even if I can rationalize it.)

 

[maxiesmom]

A couple of things: First, for cost purposes, you child at Disney is the age they start the trip at. Say you have a child that has their 10th birthday the third day of your trip. Disney still considers them 9 for the whole trip!

Second, Disney will keep the ages of your family members in their memory bank FOR EVER! Which would mean if you continue to visit Disney World, you will be paying adult prices for one of your children before you have to. Why would you want that?

I would follow carmie3377's advice on how to order meals. That makes the most sense, and will cost you the least.

 

[bumbershoot]

I think that in your case, the DDP isn't worth it.

Or if it's overall worth it, look into just putting people as their normal ages and pay OOP for something extra like a different meal for the 9 year old.

If you're having to bend things THAT much, it's time to figure out if it's even worth it.

 

[carmie3377]

DD5 months is booked as a 5 year old...DS2 is actually, 1 and will be celebrating his 2nd b-day during our vacation, and so I couldn't quite bring myself to book him under the wrong age.

Also, I figured if push came to shove, I could blame it on a miscommunication between me and the travel agent...(I guess I have to admit that I do feel a tad guilty over the rule bending, even if I can rationalize it.)

Oops, sorry, I missed that . Anyway, still works out the same as I stated - you'd have one extra adult listed as your DD9 would be listed as an adult and your DD 5 months would be listed as a child.

But, that brings up another problem. Disney keeps track of your kids' ages. I don't think they have specific birthdays in their systems, but they have a good idea how old they are. We went in Jan and my kids were 8 and 1. When I booked for Sept, I was asked, "are your children still 8 and 1?" So, you stating your DD 5 months is five will cause problems in a few years. Say in 6 years y'all go again. That DD will be only 6 but Disney will think she is around 11.

Also, are y'all doing a bunch of buffets? Your DD9 will be able to choose the same foods there as your DD10 and your DS2 will be able to eat there for free.

Anyway, how many days are y'all going? I'll do a breakdown for you on tickets and meal plan costs.

 

[lwc]

I've run the numbers. Overall the dining plan works well for our family. We will purchase the package with one day base tickets only. The CM I spoke to at reservations confirmed that I would be able to upgrade some or all of the tickets after the fact. We are doing it this way, as we do not know how well the babies will tolerate the parks, nor what the weather will be.

By fudging the numbers we pay for an adult dining plan for DD9 because she will want it if DD10 has it. (though DD10 would be fine eating off the kids menu if she were allowed to. Ironic.) And we will pay for a kids plan for DS2.

We will end up with an extra 1 day adult pass that cost us $75, but that we can use at another time.

It bends the rules, yes. But it is definitely the scenerio that works best for our family.

So, again, is there any reason this wouldn't work?

 

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

It would be cheaper to keep DD9 as a child, let DS2 eat DD9's kids meal and then pay cash for a meal for DD9 at sit down restaurants.

That way DD2 is still free at Buffets, and DD9 is still charged the child buffet price. (making the tip a few dollars lower also.)

And you save the $75 on the one day ticket that you don't need right now.

Adding the dining plan for an adult (DD9/10) and the 1 day ticket, is over $49 a night (based on a 7 night stay) DD9 pretending to be 10 is unlikely to eat $50 worth of food a day. And there might be meals she would prefer a kids meal, letting you just pay cash for the 2yo, a cost of under $10.

Where do you plan to eat and how long are you staying? That might help to give you more accurate math.

Legally, there is no reason you can not do this, Disney will happily book your children as older and take the extra money you want to give them. But you would likely come out ahead if you just go with the real ages and pay a little out of pocket.

The only potential problem is when dd9 turns 17 but Disney thinks she is 18 and wants to charge you the extra adult in the room fee. Or when DS 5mo is really 2 but disney things he is 5 years old. Easily repaired problems, but still can be issues.

Sheli

 

[carmie3377]

So, again, is there any reason this wouldn't work?

Stating your DD 5 months is 5 years old will cause problems in the future IF you go back to Disney World. If you don't go back, no, I don't think it will cause problems. Obviously, you do plan to go back because you don't mind buying an extra 1 day ticket to hold on to for future use. So, in Disney's eyes, she will always 5 years older than she is.

I would rethink things. I'm not trying to critique you, I'm just trying to offer advice and let you know of problems that might arise in the future. Also, I'm not saying the DDP is not for you. I just don't think fudging the ages will really work best for you. But, you've crunched the numbers and if you don't mind Disney thinking DD 5 months is 5 years old, go for it. Just be prepared for problems in the future.

 

[septbaby]

It really ought to be a non issue for you. With that many adults eating together there really shouldn't be an issue with the 9yo not getting grown up food with sharing or switching. With CS credits you'll have flexibility as they are not categorized. We were two adults and a 5yo and most times he wanted kids food at TS places, but at CS we often just shared 1-2 adult meals. There really is plenty of food on the DP.

I would keep ages true and share. I think at some meals the 10yo will want something on the kids menu so the 9yo can have free reign to pick something off the adult menu. The DP removes a lot of stress, this will be a minor "management" issue vs not being on the plan.

Have a magical time.

 

[lwc]

Thank you for all the advice.

It sounds like if I decide to go this way it would work fine (but create possible age problems in the future.)

However, even with all ethics and morality pushed to the side, everybody thinks I should take another look at the numbers and make sure it really works in my favor.

 

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

I think you are exactly right. The future age problems could be worked out. Ethically and morally you are fine, Disney offers to bump up ages for people as it creates a profit for them.

BUT, we want the best for you. Financially you may be better off going with the correct ages and paying a small amount of cash. In the long run you may save yourself several hundred dollars. For me that would be the biggest consideration.


(I thought of bumping my youngest up to 3 so she would have meal plan credits but we have Liberty tree Tavern, 1900PF, Cinderella Castle breakfast and Chef Mickey scheduled which are all buffets and as an under 3 she is free at the buffets. I would be buying her meal plan to cover WCC, Teppan Edo and Marakesh...it didn't make sense for me to pay more to save so little. If all our meals had been table service it might have been different.)

Best of luck, If you want any help figuring the cost difference just shout out, I love this stuff!

 

[abc999]

I've run the numbers. Overall the dining plan works well for our family. We will purchase the package with one day base tickets only. The CM I spoke to at reservations confirmed that I would be able to upgrade some or all of the tickets after the fact. We are doing it this way, as we do not know how well the babies will tolerate the parks, nor what the weather will be.

By fudging the numbers we pay for an adult dining plan for DD9 because she will want it if DD10 has it. (though DD10 would be fine eating off the kids menu if she were allowed to. Ironic.) And we will pay for a kids plan for DS2.

We will end up with an extra 1 day adult pass that cost us $75, but that we can use at another time.

It bends the rules, yes. But it is definitely the scenerio that works best for our family.

So, again, is there any reason this wouldn't work?

There is nothing that says that your 10 year old can't order off the kid's menu, since she is willing to do that. you can just let your kids swap the orders..

 

[septbaby]

There is no charge for a 2yo to enter the park or eat at a buffet/AYCE meal. However, if you buy the DP for a 2yo you'll have to pay for all of those things. It is more cost effective to pay for whatever you buy outright for the 2yo. Its not just $10 a day you'll pay, but you have to buy a ticket for them too. A one day ticket will cost $45-$50 and the cost just goes up from there. Do you realize how many kids meals you can buy for her for $60?

 

[SmallWorld71]

I hate crunching numbers, so I am no help there. But, I just wanted to tell you what we did when we went last year. (I had an 11 year old "adult" and an 8 year old child who loves seafood and other adult food and was concerned about eating from the kids menus. I told him that we (DH, DS11 and I) would be happy to share with him if there was something he really wanted that we had or that we would buy him something if he wanted something that we didn't order. Anyway, with a little careful planning he was able to have his salmon, shrimp, mahi mahi etc. on the kids plan and I only shared with him twice. (1x was some of my shrimp at GFC and the other was some of my spinach artichoke appetizer at Sci-Fi)
Also, at CS places we would often share 3 or 4 meals among the 5 of us since portions are so big.
So, what we thought might be a problem, turned out to be a non-issue. You have enough adults on your plan. I would think that your 9 year old getting to have some adult food would be easy without having to change everyone's ages. Once the food is at the table, Disney doesn't care who eats it.

 

[septbaby]

Thank you for all the advice.

It sounds like if I decide to go this way it would work fine (but create possible age problems in the future.)

However, even with all ethics and morality pushed to the side, everybody thinks I should take another look at the numbers and make sure it really works in my favor.

I really would not pay Adult rates for a child at WDW. Those are real savings ($36 on a 5Day ticket) and I'd take them for as long as I can get them. I would not list a 9yo as 10.

The tickets are not shared, they are hard cards printed with each persons name on them. The baby and 2yo won't get cards, but everyone else will. There is no way to save/not use a ticket unless you have another ticket to use, say from previous visit.

If your trip is 5 Nights it will cost you: $181 to pay for an adult ticket and upgrade the 9yo to an Adult on the Dining plan, if you are paying for the plan. To me I could pay for a lot of extra items for a 9yo to eat and still not spend all that money.

 

[mommycrawford]

I have booked my daughter as a ten year old for three years now using Disney Travel Company each time, with no problem! Years ago I viewed menus and realized she would never eat the things on the kids menu: her dad is a chef. I just bought her an adult ticket, and the rest was no problem.

Perhaps you could modify your existing reservation....That's what I did the first time we did DDP. Explain that your child cannot eat what you have seen on the children's menus, and that you would like to upgrade his ticket so he can have food more appropriate for his dietary needs.

I don't think most CMs worry about the math of it.

I would mention that, if you are doing several buffet/family style dinners, being listed as a child makes no difference as to what he can eat, and it would be much less expensive than listing him as 10....You could POP for the few meals that are not buffets, as others have said, and come out ahead.

Best of luck!

 

[DiszyDean]

Well, besides the fact that I think there is probably a much cheaper way to accomplish the same thing, I think you are going to have a logistical issue when entering the parks. Your 5-month old will be issued a card to enter the parks if you say she is 5 years old. Each park has a fingerprint biometric scanner for entry. I think it is going to look very odd (and not sure it is even possible) trying to get your 5 month old in the park through the scanner. Just thinking out loud here.

 

[carmie3377]

Well, besides the fact that I think there is probably a much cheaper way to accomplish the same thing, I think you are going to have a logistical issue when entering the parks. Your 5-month old will be issued a card to enter the parks if you say she is 5 years old. Each park has a fingerprint biometric scanner for entry. I think it is going to look very odd (and not sure it is even possible) trying to get your 5 month old in the park through the scanner. Just thinking out loud here.

While I agree that I think there is a much cheaper option than what she plans on doing, she won't have an issue with the biometric scanner. Only adults are required to use the scanner. I personally think kids should be required to use the scanner so it would cut down on ticket fraud (ie passing around or "renting out" child APs), but as of Jan when we were last there, they didn't use the scanner on kids.

 

[dzorn]

Disney is more than happy to have your child listed older, but I thought it also ment they would be older for the tickets. Your 9 year old would have to use an adult ticket for the trip not a childs ticket. If you age the kids for DDP then you are also expected to age them for tickets. Seems like the saving would be eaten up by ticket cost, especially if you are doing a few buffets.

You talked about paying for the plan so I assume you are not going during free dining because I don't think they will let you put the 5month old on the plan then.
Denise in MI