Saving a child's TS credit for later (NOT for an adult)

[andysgirl360]

I am not looking to re-start the great credit sharing debate....I have a legitimate question. I am planning a dinner at California Grill for our first night, for DH, DD6 and myself. Looking at the prices for the children's meal (avg $10.00 for a meal) it seems a waste of 2 TS child credits.

Will we be able to pay OOP for our DD's meal, and keep her 2 credits for her to use later on in the trip? We would not be trying to use these for an adult meal.

 

[powellrj]

Only disney can answer your question for sure, but I would be surprised if they will let you anymore.

They will charge you 18% tip, plus tax, plus the cost of your drink plus dessert, so you are looking at much more than $10 when you add the rest to your tab. Since the dinning plan for a child is $10.99 and you will still have 2 more counter service meals plus your two snacks, you are still coming out ahead by using your dining plan credits.

To use the 2 childs dining credits anyplace, you will have to pay oop at any TS resturant for the 2 adult meals where they will add the 18% tip, plus tax to your bill so I am not sure you can come out ahead.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

I think you may be able to. However, I know for me, I will not eat more than one TS meal per day. They kill too much time for me. So I will just use my kids credits regardless of if we are losing money. But if you like a few TS per day, then it may work for you.

 

[deedeetoo]

The question is when are you going to use it if you save it. You will have to go back to a TS restaurant when you are all out of adult credits and pay out of pocket for your meal just so you can use up the child credit. If you were planning on doing some OOP dinners anyway then I guess that's OK. Otherwise it will cost you more to use that extra credit than you save by not using it at CG in the first place.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Work it backwards.
Average snack would cost $3.18 with tax.
Typical (aka most) kid's counter service meals cost $7.65 with tax.
Total is $10.83 per night (dining plan accounting period).
Typical one-credit kid's meal is $9.33 including tax and tip.
Average price of a kid's meal at California Grill is $16.93, with tax & tip.
Cost of Dining Plan per child is $10.99.
The snack and counter service meal total $10.83. That means the table service meal "costs" sixteen cents.
Therefore, the kid's meal at California Grill "costs" the Guest thirty-two cents.

AND all members of the party end up using the same number/amount of credits.

 

[bicker]

Indeed, and that fine math is really a reflection of how incredibly inexpensive the child Dining Plan is. I think keeping that in mind will help get folks over those spurious "it seems a waste" feelings.

 

[lklasing]

Okay, I have a question. I have planned to do the same thing OP is planning, but for a different reason. We are very heavy on 2 credit TS meals, and also have one night when we are going out without the kids. Therefore, in order to not have 1 TS credit left over for each of them at a 2 credit meal (they are 8 and 10, so one is counted as an adult and the other is a kid), I have planned on paying OOP for each of them at one of the meals where I plan to use the DDP for DH and me. If I don't do that, then I will only have 1 credit left at a 2 credit meal for each of them. Will I be able to do this?

Like the OP, I am not at all going to try to use a child credit for an adult meal - I'm just trying to make sure I don't end up wasting 1 TS for a kid and 1TS for an adult when we only have 2 credit meals left.

My apologies to the OP - I hate to try to hijack the thread, but I'm very concerned about this!

Thanks for any thoughts!

Leslie

 

[DCDisney]

Now that the TS are totally separated you should be able to do this because there is no way to cheat and convert the child credits to adult credits. If you just explain to the server that you are eating more meals than cedits and don;t want to have an odd number of credits at the end I'm sure they'll understand. The only paying OOP issues there were were back when the credits weren't separated. I don't recall this being an issue again since the credits were separated. They have to ring up 2 checks anyway so it's not like it's even any extra work for the CM.

Yvonne

 

[lklasing]

Now that the TS are totally separated you should be able to do this because there is no way to cheat and convert the child credits to adult credits. If you just explain to the server that you are eating more meals than cedits and don;t want to have an odd number of credits at the end I'm sure they'll understand. The only paying OOP issues there were were back when the credits weren't separated. I don't recall this being an issue again since the credits were separated. They have to ring up 2 checks anyway so it's not like it's even any extra work for the CM.

Yvonne

Perfect! That's what I was hoping for. Thanks, Yvonne!

 

[andysgirl360]

OP here -

Thanks everyone for the serious replies.....you never know when you're gonna get flamed for something.

I should have mentioned earlier that we do have 2 more TS meals planned than credits, and that the DDP is free for us. So I was thinking that paying the 10.00 OOP (DD rarely eats dessert) would be more cost effective than paying OOP twice for the remaining TS.

Just looking for some clarification though - earlier on someone had mentioned that I would be charged 18% tip on my OOP child's meal. If I am paying OOP, don't I get to decide how much tip to leave? Or is it because that the adults are on the DDP?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Just looking for some clarification though - earlier on someone had mentioned that I would be charged 18% tip on my OOP child's meal. If I am paying OOP, don't I get to decide how much tip to leave? Or is it because that the adults are on the DDP?

Nope, you don't get to determine the tip in this case and yes, it's because you're using Dining Plan credits to pay for one or some of the meals at that location (not solely because you're on the DDP; if you were to pay for ALL meals out-of-pocket, you get to decide how much to tip). Same thing if you ordered wine or other alcoholic beverages, or side dishes priced separately, or an extra appetizer, or if one of you chose to order just a salad and sensibly not use DDP credits. While you would get a separate check for anything you order not included on the Plan, an 18% tip would automatically be added to any such check.

 

[andysgirl360]

Thanks, I thought that might be the case but I wanted to check to be sure. DISers are really smart and I appreciate your help!

 

[bicker]

That automatic 18% would apply even if you had dinner with another couple, who weren't on the Dining Plan: Their check would have the automatic 18% gratuity solely because you were on the Dining Plan.