Question for dining credits for 2 year old

[jhpatrick1]

I know you cannot purchase the DDP for 2 year olds. I have a DS2 who will be 3 in a little over a month, but will still be 2 during our trip. He can be a big eater and can eat our 5 y.o DD under the table sometimes. I was wondering if anyone has had experience/success with using a dining credit for a 2 year old at a TS meal? It may not be enough for him to eat off our plates, but would like to use the TS credits I have for the other children instead of paying OOP for his meal. Has anyone done this?

 

[jhpatrick1]

I might add: i know for buffets and family style meals (which we have some) there won't be a problem and he can just eat off our plate. My worry is that when we order a meal at a TS and try to use 3 TS credits for a 2, 5, 7 year old the CM will give us a problem. I'd rather use up all my TS credits before I start paying OOP. Any experience?

 

[TDC Nala]

I might add: i know for buffets and family style meals (which we have some) there won't be a problem and he can just eat off our plate. My worry is that when we order a meal at a TS and try to use 3 TS credits for a 2, 5, 7 year old the CM will give us a problem. I'd rather use up all my TS credits before I start paying OOP. Any experience?

All I can tell you is that you will not be permitted to use more TS credits than you have persons on your reservation. The 2 year old will not be on the reservation. This means that you have two adults and two children with the dining plan on your reservation. You will be permitted to order only 2 adult meals and 2 child's meals at any one transaction.

If you then want to give one of those two children's meals to your 2 year old, then you probably could. Then, you have another child whose meal needs to be paid for. But with only two children on your reservation, you won't be able to order meals for 3 children on the dining plan.

 

[Lstar311]

Interesting. We just got back last week with our DS1. He mostly ate food that I brought him or off our plates but at Captn Jacks I ordered him a kids meal and planned to pay oop. I happend to ask the waitress if I could use one of my TS credits bc we were leaving the next day and not going to use them all up. She did it and never said anything about it except to just make sure that we'd still have enough meals left for ourselves since his technically cost less than the credit we used to pay for it. We are going back next summer w/ family and I was planning on doing the same thing if we had extra credits. Didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

 

[jhpatrick1]

Interesting. We just got back last week with our DS1. He mostly ate food that I brought him or off our plates but at Captn Jacks I ordered him a kids meal and planned to pay oop. I happend to ask the waitress if I could use one of my TS credits bc we were leaving the next day and not going to use them all up. She did it and never said anything about it except to just make sure that we'd still have enough meals left for ourselves since his technically cost less than the credit we used to pay for it. We are going back next summer w/ family and I was planning on doing the same thing if we had extra credits. Didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

That's what I thought. I know they are technically "not transferrable", but was wondering if anyone had personal experience of using the credits this way. Doesn't make sense to me. You paid for the dining plan and should be able to use the credits as you feel fit. Especially if it is the same family/reservation. They have the name of all the children on your ressie (even the 2 yo), so it's not like you're trying to feed someone not on the ressie. Either way, if you run out of credits, that's only the better for Disney because then you will have to pay oop anyway-so they'll make even more money. Thanks for your input. Anyone else have any luck or told no at a restaurant?

 

[TDC Nala]

Then you could ask - they might say yes and they might say no. But I wouldn't count on them saying yes every time, as technically they are not supposed to do it.

Using your credits for people who are not in your room or on your reservation is against the WDW rules, although if an exception is to be made I could see it being made for an infant in the same family.

Although they will have the name of your infant on the reservation, that child will not be listed as a dining plan user. There will be a notation on your card that you have two adults and two children on the dining plan.

 

[Lstar311]

Well the reason that I never thought twice about it is because when you read the literature about the dining plan it says you can use as many credits per day as you want. Its not like you are locked into 3 meals a day. You can order more or less food. But think about it what if you were to go up to a counter service and order 3 meals. I don't think they would say no because there are only 2 people on the card. They probably don't even look. What if my dh wanted to order 2 entrees at dinner and use 2 credits. I don't see why this would be a problem. Like the op said you have already paid for them, it should be at your descretion how to use them.

I would just try it but also be prepared to pay oop if they say no.

 

[TDC Nala]

Well the reason that I never thought twice about it is because when you read the literature about the dining plan it says you can use as many credits per day as you want. Its not like you are locked into 3 meals a day. You can order more or less food. But think about it what if you were to go up to a counter service and order 3 meals. I don't think they would say no because there are only 2 people on the card. They probably don't even look. What if my dh wanted to order 2 entrees at dinner and use 2 credits. I don't see why this would be a problem. Like the op said you have already paid for them, it should be at your descretion how to use them.

I would just try it but also be prepared to pay oop if they say no.

You can use as many credits as you want per day...but you cannot use as many credits as you want PER MEAL. WDW does not want you sharing those credits with people who are not on your reservation, or using your child's credits to buy adult meals.

You can use 2 credits to buy 2 separate meals for one person...as long as the credits used do not exceed the number of people on your reservation. If you have two adults on your reservation, you can order 2 TS adult meals per transaction, no more. You cannot order 3 adult TS meals in one transaction, no matter who is going to eat the meal. There are several reports on this board from people who were not permitted to order 2 adult TS meals with credits at a restaurant when only one adult was listed on their reservation.

As for CS, it's your speculation that they won't look at the card. It's possible they WILL look. They're supposed to be enforcing the limit.

As stated, it's possible they'll make an exception if you want to use a child credit to buy a meal for an infant in the same family. It's also possible they won't. Technically those credits do not belong to the infant and they are not transferable.

 

[Lstar311]

Thanks for the info. I didn't come across anything in my reading about the dining plan that limited it to the number of people on the reservation. Good to know!