Question about Child's Dining Credits

[donnab2005]

We have a trip planned for April 2006. It will be myself, DH and DD9. (who looks older than she is) I was wondering if Disney seperates the dining credits and marks a certain amount for the adults and a certain amount for children. Does she have to always order from a childs menu. I am sure that she will be sick of Mac & Cheese and Chicken Fingers. So my question is are the dining credits somehow marked for adult or child???

 

[CRCrazy]

Your credits are pooled on your key - and the key says how many adults and how many children are on your plan - so yes, when you all eat together, they will know that her credits are child credits.

When you purchase the dining plan, they tell you that a child MUST order from the children's menu, when one is available. Unfortunately - their children's menus assume that just because you are young, and may need smaller portions, that your taste buds have frozen somewhere between mac & cheese and pb&j.

At the start of the dining plan, the rules were a little more lax - and it truly was magic YOUR way dining. You could pay for the kids' meal, and use the extra credits towards a signature meal, etc. Although they have not recoded the program so that the computer can tell how many adult vs child credits have been used - the restaurants, especially some of the sit downs, are being more insistent - for example - if you want to use credit for anyone in your party, you must use them for all. I personally haven't encountered this.

We first used the dining plan when it was offered for free in September. There were five of us - 2 adults, 2 teens, and 1 child (8 turning 9 during the trip). While we did not use kids' credits for adult meals, we did use 3-4 credits per table service meal, and ordered extra drinks and maybe an entree for the ones not eating the full credit at that particular meal. We did this as we could NOT eat 4 adult appetizers and still eat our entrees and desserts! We also had more TS meals planned for this birthday trip than we had credits.

We had no trouble doing this until our last night, when we were at the 50's PT. Before we ordered, we explained to the waitress that we only had 3 credits left, as it was our last meal, and we would be ordering some items to pay cash. She said that would be great - We ordered 3 appetizers to share, then each ordered an entree - and asked that the 3 more expensive ones be put on the dining plan, and the kids' meal and the lowest priced adult meal be put on the cash ticket. She had no problem with this. Then for dessert - we just ordered the 3 dining plan desserts to share - and at that time - she wanted to know if these 3 credits were all adult credits - which they were! We had used our child TS credits for PSB, CRT, Concourse Steakhouse, and Chef Mickey's - which were better deals for the Child meal. They are all over $10 per kid, rather than the $5.99 meal she chose at the 50's.

Another strategy we used was to have my youngest order the mac & cheese (which my middle teen LOVES) and have my teen order the salmon or whatever meal my little one wanted - she loves to eat REAL food. After the food was delivered - they'd switch plates.

I am taking just my 9 year old with me to Mousefest - and we've purchased the dining plan. I'm interested to see how this works. One counter service meal will definitely feed the two of us - I'm not that big an eater - so we plan on doing some sharing. I planned on having her eat her CS meal at breakfast, while I have my coffee from a refillable mug, then sharing my CS meal at lunch. I hope they will allow this. Then we will each purchase dinner at the TS meal.

Good luck with your dilemma - I'm sure my 9 year old will be eating most of my meals!

 

[bicker]

As CR alluded to, keep in mind that the particulars of the dining plan are subject to change, so while what CR indicates may have been the case, it may not always be that way, and you may be faced with the program implemented much more closely to the standard of "child credits for child meals".

 

[DrTomorrow]

Boy, looking at CR's post, it seems like you need to bring along a CPA & an abacus!

 

[LaLa]

I have to say I think alot of it has to do with your server at the time. On our trip last month, our first meal on the Dining Plan was at POR Food Court. Since it was our first foray into the Dining Plan world, the CM that checked us out went into great detail about how we could get the most out of the plan, including the much debated child credit for adult credit exchange idea. According to her, a credit was a credit. That night at Planet Hollywood I asked our server about this, and she said in no uncertain terms that this was not allowed. Another night, we ate at Boatwright's. We traveled with some friends of ours and they sat us at separate tables. I asked our server if the kids were allowed to order an appetizer from the adult menu since the kids' menu did not offer one, and she said no. Our friends's server told them the exact opposite and their children were allowed to order off the adult menu.

Go figure. Technically, you are probably not supposed to be able to use child credits for adult credits, but IMHO it all comes down to your server. Never hurts to ask I guess.

 

[Terri C]

We used the dining plan for the first time and loved it. We found that when using the cs credits it was easy to order an from the adult menu for my DD8. The only exception was at cosmic rays in mk. We were told she had to order from the childs menu. But they have one of the better child menus IMO. TS however she had to order from the childs menu. No exceptions.

I hope this helps.

Terri

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Cosmic Ray's at MK was the one place we got an Adult meal for DS!

Sorry, it really isn't funny. There is so much left up to the whim of whatever CM happens to be on duty at the time.

We had no problems with the dining plan, but DS only ordered Adult food from CS places, and he only did it twice. Every time we ate TS he ordered from the kids menu.

 

[Terri C]

Cosmic Ray's at MK was the one place we got an Adult meal for DS!

Sorry, it really isn't funny. There is so much left up to the whim of whatever CM happens to be on duty at the time.

We had no problems with the dining plan, but DS only ordered Adult food from CS places, and he only did it twice. Every time we ate TS he ordered from the kids menu.

That's too funny about Cosmic Rays I guess we should have jumped into another line

Terri