My now nine year old will be ten in Dec.

[Belle5]

I am paying for him as an adult on the DDP. I have one child who will be four by the time our trip rolls around. I purchased the child's plan for him. (That means we're paying for a total of 7 "adults" and 1 child) My 9 year old son is a small eater--likes chicken fingers and small burgers. I am thinking of purchasing a child's meal for him and paying out of pocket (and tipping out of pocket) unless we dine at a buffet or per head meal. If we are there 6 nights and we do this each night that would give the other 6 "adults" in our family one 2 credit meal. Am I correct and can I do this?

 

[illiniowl]

This thread deals with this question but the answer's a bit unclear and I imagine it's going to be up to the individual CMs at each restaurant you try this at. We know that nobody on the DDP *must* use DDP credits for any given meal, so that part of your plan is fine - you are free to pay OOP for anyone at any time, whether it's your 10-year old "adult" or your younger child or you. It's generally when you want to use DDP credits that the rules kick in.

It's really the same question as whether I, a 36 year-old, can order a Happy Meal at McDonald's (or from the kid's menu at a sit-down restaurant) if I happen to feel like it. Some restaurants allow adults to eat from the kid's menu on the theory that you should always please the customer and since so few people actually ask for this anyway it's no big deal to allow it. Others view kids' meals as a special discount that they are able to "subsidize" by charging adults full price, and as a convenience that the restaurant is free to set (and stick to) the rules for the use of that convenience by its customers. AFAIK and after a bit of a search on here it looks like there is no official Disney policy on whether adults can order off the kids' menu and you might get different results in different parts of the World. My guess is that you will be allowed to more often than not, because (a) a 10-year old wanting to order from the kids' menu isn't going to seem very unusual (whereas it's naturally going to raise eyebrows if I tried to do it for myself), and (b) Disney is generally good (IMO) at trying to make you (the customer) happy.

My advice, though, is to have a backup plan in case you run into a TS restaurant that in essence "cards" your son and bars him from ordering off the kids' menu - most likely being that he can share food off the plates of others (this is a separate topic you can search on here but the answer generally seems to be that most TS places accommodate sharing at the table as long as you're not sharing with someone who's not on the DDP at all, and since your son is on the DDP (just not using a credit at that particular time) this rule is not violated) or order whatever best suits him from the adult menu.

Good luck!

 

[Belle5]

Thank you for your attempt to help me! Let me make some things a bit more clear. We are Disney veterens. We have had 20 family vacations there together--last year alone for 15 days. I already know that it would not be an issue for my small 10 year old to order from a kids menu, as long as we are not at a restaurant that charges by the head, like a buffet. My question is very specific to the DDP. .The last time I read up on these things--it's been more than a year--there were some folks that had occasion to pay for part of their meal out of their pocket instead of using their credits. I want to know if that can still be successful and how to approach it. Frankly, I am pretty determined to do this --even if it means that at each table service I tell the server that the youngest child "isn't eating anything today" and order the kid's meal for the 10 year old. With 7 other people at the table, I am sure there will be plenty to pass over to the four year old--a few bites of meat, a few bites of fruit....

 

[illiniowl]

Oops, now I'm a bit confused. OK, there are 8 of you at the table. 7 adults (one of whom is 10) and 1 child. Do you want to:
A. Use 6 adult TS credits (for the "real" adults), 1 child TS credit (for your 4-year old), and order off the kids' menu and pay out of pocket for the 10 year old; or
B. Use 6 adult TS credits, pay for a kid's meal out of pocket for your 10 year old, and the 4-year old shares from everyone; or
C. Use 6 adult TS credits and 1 child TS credit, with your 10-year old eating the child's meal and the 4-year old sharing from everyone?

Based on your experience and what I've read on the board, either A or B would be fine. C would be a problem, because the official Disney policy is that "meal entitlements cannot be shared between Guests ages 10+ and Guests ages 3-9." I assume you're not asking about doing C, though. Hope this helps.

 

[Belle5]

Yes, you have helped very much! Yes, I was looking at a version on option "C". I know that Disney has tweaked their policy as of late. The part you quoted, I am assuming from Disney literature, "meal entitlements cannot be shared between Guests ages 10+ and Guests ages 3-9"-- I was unaware of this.

I would like to know how this is being interpreted. I am guessing it means that two adults could not share on table service meal--using one credit. Two kids cannot share a kid's table service meal using 1 credit.

 

[bicker]

The problem is that guest services is very consistently saying that "sharing is not permitted on the Dining Plan." It seems that most or all restaurants are waiving that rule for most or all of their patrons. So you cannot get a consistent answer to your question, because there isn't a consistent answer available.

 

[dodukes]

I really dotn see the big deal here, you dont have to explain anything to the server if you are doing option C. All you do is order all your meals the wya you want and the kids meal, When it is brought to the table you switch the plate around and ask for an extra plate upfront. I dont think that is cheating hte dining plan in anyway as you are not trying to use a childs credit for adult, that is where the sharing part of the plan came in, Because whne it first started people were payng for their child oop and using that credit for themselves, but in this case you are technically not doing that because you child is on the adult plan. I woulndnt worry about it and just do, dotn make a big deal of it and no problems should arise.

 

[bicker]

Better yet: Just ask. You'll often be very surprised how generous the CMs are to guests who ask nicely for things.