Paying OOP for child age 9 at buffets

[VickieMouse]

I have searched and can't find an answer pertaining to buffets/ fixed price so hopefully someone can help.

We are doing a Free Dining bounceback this August. We have to purchase 2-day tickets that we will not be using this trip since we already have tickets. Since we are putting them away for a future visit we want to upgrade my 9 year old dd to an adult since she will need adult tickets for our next trip. This seems to be the best way to do it so the value of the ticket can be bridged when we eventually use it and upgrade it. I understand this changes her dining plan to the adult version as well....

With that said, can we pay for her OOP at buffets/fixed price meals at the child price since she is technically a child? We are doing more meals than we have credits for. If we pay OOP for a few meals, will I have to pay adult price for her since she is listed that way on the reservation? I should note that all but one of our meals are fixed price/buffets. (I know I have read threads about ordering at menu TS restaurants but never about buffets).

If this is ok, Should I also plan to bring proof of age to show she is only 9?

 

[FreeTime]

The credits purchased for her are to be used for her, not other adults traveling with you. Are the adults in the same room?

 

[VickieMouse]

I guess what further complicates things is that we are doing a split stay and the first half is without dining/tickets. She will be listed as a child age 9 on that reservation. Then on the next reservation she would be listed as 10 for the adult ticketing purpose. I just don't want her to be recognized by the system as age 10 the whole trip.

 

[maxiesmom]

The problem you have is that you are upgrading her to 10. She is then considered 10 for everything, park passes and dining. Your room key will tell the wait staff how many adults and how many kids you have listed in your room. I wouldn't think they would see her listed as an adult and then let you pay the child price for a buffet for her.

 

[VickieMouse]

Perhaps I should post on the theme park board and get more information about tickets and future upgrades. It is definitely my understanding that it is easier/less expensive to upgrade a ticket that has already been used for entry. If she has the child ticket this will not be possible.

As far as dining, she will prefer the kids menu most of the time. Maybe I will change to mostly sit down TS meals, and she can just order from the kids menu. It seems to be less complicated this way.

 

[maxiesmom]

You are probably right. I just am stuck at paying extra for her plan when she will eat all kids things anyway. I know in the long run it will save us money on tickets so I still think it is worth it.

What about additional meals we do though? I won't have to pay adult prices for her then will I?

No. Disney will almost always let adults order off of the kids menu, so that won't matter. It is only when it comes to buffets or price fixed menus that they get fussy.

 

[supersnoop]

I think there's a special provision for bridging child tickets to adult tickets when the child graduates to Disney adult status. I think you should go ahead and buy the child ticket. It's worth some research. Fix what causes the problem, not the other problems it spawns.

 

[purple figment]

I think there's a special provision for bridging child tickets to adult tickets when the child graduates to Disney adult status. I think you should go ahead and buy the child ticket. It's worth some research. Fix what causes the problem, not the other problems it spawns.

It won't work in this case because the OP isn't planning to use the tickets until the 9 year old has become a Disney adult.

If you have a partially used child's ticket and you bring it back on a later trip, Disney will re-issue an adult's ticket with all the remaining entitlements if the child is now older than 9. It has to be non-expiring since you're bringing it back after the 14 day deadline and it's clear the person with you is the child who originally used the ticket.

However, if the child's ticket was never used, then you only get the value of the child's ticket towards the cost of an adult's ticket. Otherwise, some people would buy kids' tickets and then ask to have them exchanged for adult tickets.

 

[ibela]

If you look at ticket prices, the difference between adult and child tickets is minimal. If I were you, I'd go by the dining preferences. If she'd mostly eat off the kids menu and you have a lot of buffet places anyway, might as well book her at age 9 so your OOP costs will be less at the buffet places. Or use the credits at buffet places and pay OOP for the 1 or 2 non-buffet places you're going to. If you booked mostly non buffet places and you want to encourage her to eat off the kid menu, book her as age 10. There can't be that many OOP meals unless you wanted to pay for all hers OOP and use most/all the credits for other adults staying in the room (ex. staying for 7 nights, booking 10 TS and using 6 of her 7 credits for others), in that case paying adult prices for her negates the purpose since you will pay much more extra at the fixed price places (average $30 per meal so you'd be paying $300-$400 OOP for your daughter and an overall extra 3 TS meals). It's more money and not the way the DDP is intended to be used. My 2 cents.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

When it comes down to it, you don't have to bring your child to dinner with you, and you can bring other people's children to eat with you, so Disney is going to let you divide your bill how you choose. You have paid for (or otherwise received) X number of adult credits, and you can decide how to disperse them, with the exception of not going over the number of people you have in the room at any one meal.

When Alison was under 10 and was on the adult dining plan, we paid cash when it made sense, for instance, on the one or two occasions when she chose a dish that was on the kid's menu. I'm not sure if it would work out financially to do that for buffets since they are more expensive than a kid's menu item - we only did that for table service meals. It gave us a few extra credits to use toward another meal later in the trip.

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

We did that last year. We upgraded DD to adult because she prefers all the options. We ended up eating more sit downs that I anticipated. We paid out of pocket if she ordered off the kids menu. Nobody batted an eye.