Question about paying OOP for child...

[akalittleeva]

With the new changes to the children's menu, I expect I will end up buying a few meals OOP for dd8. Will this be allowed or will I be given a hard time with the whole thing about Adult credits and Child credits - will they think I am trying to save child credits to use for adult credits and therefore not allow it - don't plan to, but it may happen, depending on what menu is where.

Just a little rambling...I am debating cancelling the DDP, savings or not, because I don't want to have to feel like I have to negotiate at every TS to give dd a meal she will enjoy. I am on vacation and don't want to start every meal asking permission for my dd to eat what she wants. The DDP seems to be becoming more and more inflexible and not family friendly. Restaurants outside WDW have improved their children's menu greatly. When DH and I plan on going out to dinner in our area - the very first thing that we look for is a good children's menu - good meaning a balance of healthy and family friendly choices. If the menu is limited, we simply don't go. I made my ADRs for WDW based on the same thing - I would never have chosen any restaurant with the selection they are offering the kids now, but I have no choice with them at this time - our trip is not too far off and it is too late to change our ADRs ( I tried with no luck). I'm very grateful to even be going to WDW and I wish this didn't bother me so much, but it does. I probably wouldn't feel this way if we were able to go every year, but we can only swing it every 5 years or so. It's all very disappointing...

 

[lsjones]

We're going in a couple days and we're paying oop for the dining plan. We made ADR's based under the "old" style menu's. Do you know where all they are offering this limited menu at?? We are doing Le Cellier and I'm going to be extremely if the kids aren't allowed to have steak!! I mean really, how many chicken nuggets and mac and cheeses can they stand...blech

 

[Mcqueen Fans]

We're going in a couple days and we're paying oop for the dining plan. We made ADR's based under the "old" style menu's. Do you know where all they are offering this limited menu at?? We are doing Le Cellier and I'm going to be extremely if the kids aren't allowed to have steak!! I mean really, how many chicken nuggets and mac and cheeses can they stand...blech

Please let me know how this goes with the new menu, I am really upset about this and thinking about taking the ddp off our tickets.

 

[Amyrlin]

If you are going to buy an adult meal for her then I can't see them trying to force ypu to pay for a child meal, so I would think paying OOP would be fine for that.

 

[billysarmywife]

We did it when we where there 3 weeks ago and there was no problem....they where very accomidating.....however be aware that you will get charged a 18% tip on anything that you would like to pay OOP for.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I have also been looking at menus for my niece and nephew - can't see giving them unhealthy food at every meal anyway, you can look at menus, which restaurants are which, and what the children's choices are at
allearsnet.com

I am going to change alot of our plans based on what the kids can eat - although, there is so much adult food available, I am sure we may order kids food and then share some adult choices with them.

 

[bicker]

can't see giving them unhealthy food at every meal

The new child menus are actually much healthier than the old ones.

 

[DisneyDivaMom]

I called WDW this morning to cancel the DDP. I was told that I wouldn't get my cc charged back (my package is paid for) and I would be charged 60 dollars to cancel and the balance put on my room key. I declined as I don't want to lose 60.00 and I never charge on a room key. I did get to speak to a manager and respectfully express that I was unhappy with how restrictive the kid's meals are becoming. I pointed out that when I booked my package and chose the DDP that we the kid's menus were more flexible then they seem to be now. I may not be using much of DD's meal plan as I will pprobably split with her from the adult menu with a few possible sides added for which I will be charged the 18% tip whether I wish it or not. She was polite but not much occurred from the conversation other than I got to talk about. Oh well, maybe if they get enough feedback they might rework it to offer more intelligent choices. In the meantime I get to be creative at our TS meals.

 

[akalittleeva]

My question is, anyone know if they will allow me to share/pay OOP for a child, because those unused credits could be used to pay for adult meals. I'd just like to know what to expect before I go rather than "hope" for the best. I also called to cancel and didn't like the $50 cancellation fee - forgot about that, so decided not to cancel just yet.

 

[bicker]

My question is, anyone know if they will allow me to share/pay OOP for a child, because those unused credits could be used to pay for adult meals.

The rule is very clear: Child meal entitlements cannot be used for adult meals. Forum rules prohibit further discussion of that here in the forum. If you need further information, you'll need to call Disney Dining directly. Sorry.

 

[Tinker74]

My question is, anyone know if they will allow me to share/pay OOP for a child, because those unused credits could be used to pay for adult meals. I'd just like to know what to expect before I go rather than "hope" for the best. I also called to cancel and didn't like the $50 cancellation fee - forgot about that, so decided not to cancel just yet.

we had no problem paying out of pocket for our two kids in august...the points are pooled ..they are there to use as you wish. if disney ever decides to seperate them to child and adult..then obviously this will be different.
we payed out of pocket because we wanted to save the points for later in the week.
don't worry.all the servers we encounted didn't even bat an eyelid. We even had a discussion about it with the manager at whispering canyon...he was amazed that anyone would think it was against the rules...he said if it was we wouldn't be allowed to do it ..he said he has heard nothing about it changing to non pooled credits..and that the dining plan is very succsesful for disney as it is.
it was an an interesting conversation.

 

[akalittleeva]

Thanks for sharing Tinker74 - hopefully I'll have a similar experience if I decide to stick with the plan.

 

[everest]

My DD6 doesn’t and will not eat most items on the children’s menu (P&J, Mac & cheese and so on). So when we were there a few weeks ago I often asked the sever if I could pay OOP for my daughter dinner as she would like to order off the adult menu. NOT ONE and I repeat NOT ONE hassled us about it and they ALL said that if we wanted to use the DDP as her meal that that was good with them and that we wouldn’t need to pay OOP.

All I can say to you is try to get more relaxed about this issue before going and don’t go all worked up on this issue. I have always heard that Disney really tries to please their guest and after going, I couldn’t believe how true that is. I wish for you all to have a magical and relaxed trip.

 

[Tinker74]

this is sooo true...disney wants to make its guests happy. I think we can get paranoid sometimes from reading these boards..we become afraid that what we are doing is somehow wrong...I told the manager at Whispering canyon our fear of this..and he looked concerned that guests could be getting misled and afraid to use the points as they wish.
I relaxed a lot after my talk to him...and all the servers we had were so friendly and even made suggestions themselves on getting the best use of the dining plan.

 

[akalittleeva]

Thank you, Everest and Tinker74.

 

[everest]

Akalittleeva; I would love to hear how this turns out for you and your family. I hope your will consider posting how the DDP turns out for you when you return home. I think it could help everyone concerned if they could see if this works out for you or if it was an inconvenience for your family.

Have a great time!!

 

[bstnsprts]

My question is, anyone know if they will allow me to share/pay OOP for a child, because those unused credits could be used to pay for adult meals. I'd just like to know what to expect before I go rather than "hope" for the best. I also called to cancel and didn't like the $50 cancellation fee - forgot about that, so decided not to cancel just yet.

We had no problem doing this in September, and like others have said it is still encouraged by the waitstaff. Things can change, but as long as the credits are still pooled, which they still are, you will have no problems doing this. Enjoy your trip and take full advantage of your pooled credits!

 

[CamColt]

While I think there is some good information here, please keep in mind the only one who can give a definite asnwer to these questions is Disney. Things change with them so often and the DDP can be interpretted different ways, so I think the best advice to give to the OP here is you might want to contact Disney directly for any answers to these questions. What someone tells you happened to them, may not be your experience so it is best to go to the Mouse directly for clarification on the rules.