Med. exceptions to DDP & other help

[Mickey'sApprentice]

We are going to WDW in July with my sister and her family. We have all signed up for the regular dining plan. My nephew turned 12 in March. He has some sort of intestinal disorder that makes him not want to eat. My sister and brother-in-law try everything to get him to eat and he weighs 60 pounds. He is much smaller and eats much less than his 9 year old brother. He will have no trouble passing as a 9 year old, or even a 7 year old. He is so small, so thin, and sickly in appearance. He is under a physicians care, and is SLOWLY gaining weight. With that said, my nephews condition is well documented and his doctor would be willing to write something if that would help.

My sister doesn't want my nephew to lie about his age, but BIL thinks its the only logical thing to do. They rarely eat out at home because they are sick of ordering food that is never touched. Things are a little better at Disney because of all of the activity, but he will still not finish off a kids meal.

Our ADRs are primarily at buffets so that my nephew will have a wide selection of food to pick at.

We could possibly put SIS and BIL on mine and DH's room reservation as well as their room and get the dining plan for the adults and not have the dining plan for the kids. That would still mean that Sis and BIL would have to lie at the buffets, or really just not correct the waiters when they charge nephew as a child. I think they would even correct the waiters on the off occassion that my nephew would actually eat more than 2 small bites.

Will Disney do anything to accommodate my nephew? I admit Sis & Bil would be most gracious if they allowed my nephew to be considered a child, but would be grateful if Disney helped them with their efforts to get him to eat instead.

 

[gamomof2]

I'm afraid they won't. Even tube fed visitors are having to pay for the dining plan and just let someone else in the room double up on their credits. We have faced this for years. Our DD (15) has Crohn's and at one point was tube fed. She is on a modified diet now and what we've done is purchased the plan and had a nice adult meal one night at a 2-credit restaurant. We buy out of pocket for her. We do still have to buy an adult plan for her though. Counter service restaurants don't ask to see the customer when we order a childs plate for her. Some sit down restaurants are better than others about allowing us to order off the childs menu if we're paying. We've only done regular restaurants, no character interactions that might have a different policy. Good luck. Hope you have a nice trip.

P.S. Wasn't sure if you knew about the July thread. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2247684

 

[anonymousegirl]

I'm not sure Disney will allow you to just have children listed for the rooms. I believe each room has to have an adult registered, but I could be wrong about this.

I like the idea of paying out of pocket for your nephew and saving up the sit-down credits. One night you and DH could use 2 of your nephews credits for a2credit signature restaurant and another night his parents could do the same.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Thanks for the replies.

I really appreciate it.

Gamomof2, you were so helpful. If they won't make exceptions for feeding tubes, then they won't make exceptions for my nephew.


ananymousegirl...the thought was that my sister and bil could be listed on BOTH rooms. They would stay in their room, but be listed in our room for noshing purposes.

I spoke to Sis this morning and she told me that they have decided to come clean. They will admit that my nephew is 12 years old and pay the $230 for the adult dining plan.

 

[dawnball]

If you don't need Magical Express, I believe that they could leave him off the room, and then add him at check-in (and buy his tickets separately then or later) without having to purchase the dining plan. It would be worth asking when they call to make reservations. Without being on the reservation before check-in he wouldn't be eligible for ME, though.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Thanks dawnball.

That's a pretty good idea. We are driving from Alabama. We are staying DVC so we aren't using a room/ticket/food package. Everything is separate.

 

[gamomof2]

changes to the DDP have to be made 48 hours in advance of checkin. No changes at the counter. They will give you a room key for each person in the room and that will be how they base your DDP charge. We have left someone off the room reservation before but they didn't get a room key and a room key is how you get on the rides during extra magic hours now.

 

[dawnball]

As recently as summer 2009 you could add people (with no dining plan) at the counter. You can't make changes to the dining plan at the counter, but you could to room occupants.

You book the room with 3 people, all on the dining plan, so it's set 48 hours out. Then when you arrive you ask to have the 4th person added to the room. They get a key (for access and EMH) but no dining plan, no ME from the airport (they can get ME back to the airport) and no ticket by default (you can add a ticket to the room key if you want.)

Additional occupancy charges may apply if you're adding an adult, of course.

 

[gamomof2]

Our visit was March 2010. No changes per CM at SSR.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I see you have made your decision, but if you can add him when you get there that sounds like a great idea.

But another thing to comment on the original idea in case anyone else is thinking of it, is that not only do you need to have an adult on each room reservation but if you have more than 2 adults in one room you have an extra per night fee per adult. It would still be less than one other Adult Dining plan cost but would negate most of the savings.