Swap an appetizer for a kid's meal?

[goofygal531]

I'm a travel agent and have a client going to WDW for the first time with her family in August on the free dining package. My client asked me if it was possible to swap one adult appetizer for a kid's meal at dinner. She has a 2 year old who's not a paying guest. I advised her the 2 year old can eat for free at the buffets but elsewhere she'd have to pay for his meal.

I don't know if swapping meals is possible, I know it's not "according to the rules of the plan". But has anyone been able to fudge things like this? I told her it all depends on her server. I'm not encouraging her do this, I told her from day one she's going to have to pay for her 2 year old's meals.

And I'm not getting any ideas for myself if that's what you think - my DH does not like the meal plan.

Just curious if anyone's ever done this.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Children under 2 are allowed to also eat for free at non buffet restaurants. They just have to share off someone elses plate. So, it would be allowed to share the appetizer and make it the "meal".

Copied from allears:

Children under 3 do not need to purchase the plan. At table service restaurants, there is no charge for children under 3 who share from an adult's plate. However, if you order from a menu for a child under 3, you will be charged the menu price. At buffet and "all-you-care-to-eat" restaurants, there is also no charge for children under 3 who share from an adult's plate. However, if you order from a separate children's or ala carte menu for a child under 3 (rather than eating from the buffet or all-you-care-to-eat offerings), you will be charged the price reflected on the menu. At counter service restaurants, you will be charged the menu price if you order a meal for a child under 3.

 

[pperfectmom]

I have an always hungry DS who will be 19 months old when we go to WDW. We will be eating mostly buffets where I'm hoping he'll get a free drink as well as free food. The couple of TS where it will be regular food, we are planning to share. He is not picky, so that shouldn't be a problem. For drinks, I'm assuming he can have mine since I will be partaking of one of the lovely sounding adult beverages that are offered.

 

[goofygal531]

I explained the policy to her. She wants a kid's meal for her two year old. He's a good eater and can eat a whole kid's meal himself.

She's thinking of doing this in adult restaurants where her son won't like what she's eating for example the Bistro in France.

I'm NOT encouraging her to do this. I told her if it works, great but be prepared to pay for the kid's meal. (I mean, really it's only what $4.99?)

 

[mlwear]

My best guess is they won't allow this. If they did as a general rule, I can see that getting really out of control, esp. if there is no distinction between adult and child credits and some families (not mine ) plan to pay OOP for their kids and use their TS credits for adult meals. Then, they get out of paying OOP, too. What a good deal, if you could stand to take advantage of the system that much. (Could that be what your client is ultimately planning?). That probably sounds mean but it seems to me that could be the plan.
She may find a server who will let her if she asks, but I wouldn't count on it. As you wrote, she needs to be prepared to cough up the $5 for the kids' meal.

I'm not one to watch every dime Disney could lose on the DP, they have accountants for that. But, this idea is a bit much.

 

[Disney_Freak56]

I'll go ahead and say what others are thinking. I'm not too proud.

Good golly! She's getting free food for herself and her husband. Tell her to bite the bullet and pay for the 2-year-old's meal out of pocket. Come on! Give the rest of us a break!

 

[ReneeA]

Nope, they more than likely won't allow that. She'll have to plan to eat at buffets or pay OOP for her kid's meal.

 

[Tjaleks]

When we went in December my 10yr was considered and adult and my 9 year old a child. This cause alot of friction since my youngest was limited to the kids menu. However, in all honesty how many of us can eat 3 appetizers in addition to your regular entree. So we would usually get chicken fingers as an appetizer to buffer the lack of food my youngest got with the kids meal. If for some reason there wasn't chicken fingers available we would let him pick an app. that way he would have some additional food. We always had food left over. It was a lot of food. So they could just get an app. for the childs meal and maybe pay for a side of fries? Just a thought.

 

[shellybaxter]

I explained the policy to her. She wants a kid's meal for her two year old. He's a good eater and can eat a whole kid's meal himself.

She's thinking of doing this in adult restaurants where her son won't like what she's eating for example the Bistro in France.

I'm NOT encouraging her to do this. I told her if it works, great but be prepared to pay for the kid's meal. (I mean, really it's only what $4.99?)

I would say there is little to no chance she will be able to do this at Bistro as they do not have a child's menu. If I were her travel agent I would recommend that she skip Bistro all together with a two year old

 

[Pams]

I didn't think that bistro de Paris was on the DDp

 

[goofygal531]

I would say there is little to no chance she will be able to do this at Bistro as they do not have a child's menu. If I were her travel agent I would recommend that she skip Bistro all together with a two year old

I said for EXAMPLE like Bistro - not that she's eating there but refering to an Epcot restaurant that has adult food (non-burger joint).


I told her if they offer chicken fingers as an appetizer, give it to your son, if not pay for the kid's meal. Yes, she's trying to finagle the system and I don't agree with it. I personally don't pinch pennies in WDW, heck you pay thousands for the vacation what's $5 to feed your kid.

 

[n2mm]

During our early May trip, we ordered a child's meal for my granddaugther (13 months old). She's a big eater and we wanted normal kids food for her. We had no plans to give her the things we ordered (too spicey/and rich). We paid OOP for all of her meals TS and CS. But I want to mention, for some reason when eating at LeCellier, the server said that the baby's meal was complimentary and would not be charged. Of course, we didn't have a problem with that, but thought it strange that no other place ever offered that, plus I've never read it on the boards anywhere. Don't know why?? We did use our DDE card for all of the baby's meals to get the extra off. We went knowing that we would be paying for her meals OOP, and it was not a big deal. Of course, now I read that disney will let you add toddlers to the plan in some cases, and we would think about this in the future, because paying $10.99 would certainly be a bargain to cover most of her meals (she's an eating machine.)

 

[goofygal531]

Of course, now I read that disney will let you add toddlers to the plan in some cases, and we would think about this in the future, because paying $10.99 would certainly be a bargain to cover most of her meals (she's an eating machine.)

Never heard of this before! Where can I find out more. This might workout for her!

Anyone have more info on this????

 

[n2mm]

Never heard of this before! Where can I find out more. This might workout for her!

Anyone have more info on this????

I have read a few threads where people with toddlers have called Disney and have added them to the dining plan. Of course this can change a reservation occupancy, because disney will list the little one as officially three, meaning you have to buy a ticket for the child (which can be saved for later) and if you are already at the allowed people in the room, this would affect the occupancy of the resort you're staying at, i.e. 2 adults, 2 children, 1 baby under 3 at the All Stars.....if you change it to 2 adults, 3 children, then you would not be able to stay there. All the factors have to be right in order to pursue this option.

In my daughter's case it works out because she is 2 adults, 1 junior, and 1 baby or toddler. Would it work out for the OP, not sure. But worth a try.

We plan to try next summer (07), when the eating machine is 2 1/2, we will certainly try to list her at 3 if disney will allow us to do that. If not, we have no problem paying OOP for her meals.

 

[amarberry]

On our last trip (January) my DD was 18 months old. She and I are both vegetarians (DH is not) and she has a severe egg allergy. Therefore, her diet is pretty limited and it is very difficult for DH and I to share meals with her. Even though she technically could "eat free" from DH's and my plate, we needed to buy a kids meal for her at the non buffet TS restaurants.

When we were at Kona Cafe in January, there wasn't an appetizer that really appealed to me. Since the price of a kids meal was less than the price of most, if not all, of the appetizers, I asked our server if I could substitute a kids meal for DD for my appetizer. After speaking with her manager, she was able to do so. I certainly wouldn't count on this happening...I think that I just had a very accomodating server and manger...but I did want to let you know that I was able to do this.

Also, I did add my DD (she will be 26 months old) to the dining plan for our trip in September during free dining. Of course, I was flamed to death for it even though I explained very honestly to Disney what I was trying to accomplish and they didn't seem to have any issues with it. We changed the tickets on our package to 1 day base tickets for all three of us and then we will upgrade DH and I to either 10 day park hoppers or AP's when we get there. We're just going to save DD's ticket for future use. Cost wise, I estimate that it will be about a wash, but we have been on the DP twice and REALLY prefer the freedom of it. My DD is at the point where we can't just buy a $5 kids meal and be done with it. If we're eating an appetizer, she's going to want one. If we're going to have dessert, she's REALLY going to want one. With desserts especially, we really can't share unless we want to have tofutti every night of our vacation .

 

[ZPT1022]

We contemplated buying tickets for at least one of our twins, to get them on the dining too. They will be 26 months when we are there but they will need their own meals. One is not a picky eater (she does better than me, lol!) but the other is going to want kids meal food. One of the reasons we like the DDP so much is that everything is prepaid, but with having to pay OOP for the kids at least one meal a day it takes away some of that convenience. I was warned by my TA, just to pass this along, that if you make your two year old three, WDW does keep track of it and when your child is really only 9, WDW will have them in the system as 10 and make you buy adult passes. Just something to think about- that was part of why we ultimately decided not to.

 

[beth_cam]

and when they are 9 not 10 you bring the birth certificate to prove it.

 

[ZPT1022]

and when they are 9 not 10 you bring the birth certificate to prove it.

This is true, but we ended up deciding the hassle was not worth it. Oh well I guess. Oh and we also were told that if we added both of them we could no longer stay at Pop Century in one room, so we decided to just pay OOP for the meals where they can't/ won't share with us and leave well enough alone.