Problems upgrading Child to Adult on DDP

[Princess Leia]

I had wanted to upgrade my 8 year old son to adult dining. I have had disney dining previously but found that child choices were limited. He enjoys lots of different tastes including spicier options. He also has a nut allergy and the lunch-time options are limited with one of the staples being PB & Jelly sandwiches. Having looked through the forums it seemed all I needed to do was pay the difference between a child and adult theme park ticket. I have been in touch with my travel agent and been told that because we booked when they were doing free disney dining the cost to upgrade now would be to pay for the full adult dining plus the ticket price change. Needless to say I will not be paying that - if it comes to it I will pay for an additional main course or apprtiser oop.

 

[penjen]

If your family has free dining and your son is staying in that room the only charge would be to pay for adult park tickets. About $40. We did this this year after the fact also. We are in moderate so we didn't need to upgrade his dining plan since we are all on the regular dining plan with the bounceback from aug 2012.

 

[Princess Leia]

Thanks. Yes that was what I was trying to do. The problem is that I have booked through a UK travel agent. At the time I booked they were doing free dining but they have told me that because there is no longer free dining I would need to pay the full price of adult dining for 14 nights if I want to change.

 

[penjen]

I don't know how it works in the UK but you would have to talk to someone higher up. I always talk to someone in "guest services". Can you call disney directly with your confirmation number? I think they should be able to do this for you.

 

[Princess Leia]

It's certainly worth a try - I will have a search round for a contact. I'm certainly not adding on the full cost of adult dining for 14 days. I've already given them enough money.

 

[LilyWDW]

Since you booked through a TA, you will not be able to call Disney and handle this yourself. You will need to go through the TA. They own the reservation at this point in time and Disney will not even talk to you about it.

However, what your TA is saying does not make sense. You are wanting to modify the original reservation and that should not cause them to have to rebook. Many Disers do this even after the free dining offer is closed with no issues. My guess is that your TA is wrong. I would request that they call Disney (with you there if possible) and check for you.

 

[Princess Leia]

Thanks LilyWDW. That is the frustration in that I only want to modify the original booking. There is a UK telephone number for Disney so I think I will talk it over with them before getting back in touch with the travel agent.

 

[purple figment]

Some UK policies are different from booking in the US so you might want to ask this on the UK Planning board. I've read that it's more difficult to make modifications to UK bookings. Here's the link:

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=30&f=47

 

[Princess Leia]

Thanks. I have contacted Disney UK and have been told that they will not allow UK guests to upgrade child to adult for dining plan. I did mention that I think that many of the child options are too bland. I made the point that they need to think about offering some spicier options. For instance at Sanaa the Kid's Menu has grilled fish or chicken, turkey sandwich, cheese pizza, cheese burger and mac & cheese. The lady told me that they offer tacos in the Magic Kingdom. Anyway taking the kids out for an Indian buffet tonight.

 

[TDC Nala]

You have to change the child's age to 10.

However, I see you are from the UK - that's why you can't do it. In the UK it's often reported that guests have trouble changing the child's age - since you literally have to say they are 10 and not their correct age. It's a good suggestion to talk to the UK board, because I've seen some UK residents on here who said they could do it.

 

[Princess Leia]

You have to change the child's age to 10.

However, I see you are from the UK - that's why you can't do it. In the UK it's often reported that guests have trouble changing the child's age - since you literally have to say they are 10 and not their correct age. It's a good suggestion to talk to the UK board, because I've seen some UK residents on here who said they could do it.

Thanks. Yes I have discussed on UK boards and some have been able to do this. It may be a recent change to Disney policy. At least I have explored the possibility.