Upgrade 9 year Old to Adult on DDP?

[trspohr]

Hello. I am a Disney newbie. We will be using the DDP, the 101 of Feb. It will be myself, DH, and our 4 DD's.

My question is, My oldest daughter is 9. We were wondering if we were able to upgrade her to an adult on the DDP? Even at 65 pounds, she is a huge eater! Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[janets]

If you upgrade your 9yo to the adult meal plan, your cost will increase not only for the plan itself (from $10.99/night to $38.99/night) but you will also have to upgrade her as far as park admission tickets (you will need to buy at the adult rate rather than at the child rate). So you must take into consideration the overall cost increase and see if it's worth it to do that vs. perhaps purchasing an additional item at certain meals to make her happy.

When eating TS meals, both you and your husband will get adult appetizers. Sharing some of this with the kids (and they will have some sort of appetizer for themselves as well...soup or salad or veggies in most cases) might be enough to keep her satisfied. Or you can share a bit of your entree with her as well.

Do you think that she will eat the equivalent of more than $28 of additional food a day (that's just the meal plan difference) to justify upgrading her? If she's really hungry, you can always use the kids CS credit for the side and drink and de-combo an adult meal for the bigger burger (Lewis says this is possible) for a cost of only a few dollars, or at TS meals, perhaps purchase an additional appetizer (maybe costing $8-$10). That is much less than the difference in the meal plan cost per day.

 

[vernfonzndrian]

I'd like to know this too, I have a 6 yr old growing boy, and man can he eat. Im not sure he'll get full off the kids menu. He'll like the choices however he wont fill up and will be buggin all day long that he's still hungry. So DH and I are thinking maybe it's better to try and get him an adult DP it's possible. More money I know, but at least it wont always be him eating OOP. Right?

 

[vernfonzndrian]

If you upgrade your 9yo to the adult meal plan, your cost will increase not only for the plan itself (from $10.99/night to $38.99/night) but you will also have to upgrade her as far as park admission tickets (you will need to buy at the adult rate rather than at the child rate). So you must take into consideration the overall cost increase and see if it's worth it to do that vs. perhaps purchasing an additional item at certain meals to make her happy.

When eating TS meals, both you and your husband will get adult appetizers. Sharing some of this with the kids (and they will have some sort of appetizer for themselves as well...soup or salad or veggies in most cases) might be enough to keep her satisfied. Or you can share a bit of your entree with her as well.

Do you think that she will eat the equivalent of more than $28 of additional food a day (that's just the meal plan difference) to justify upgrading her? If she's really hungry, you can always use the kids CS credit for the side and drink and de-combo an adult meal for the bigger burger (Lewis says this is possible) for a cost of only a few dollars, or at TS meals, perhaps purchase an additional appetizer (maybe costing $8-$10). That is much less than the difference in the meal plan cost per day.

Mannnnn I forgot about ticket prices. Dang! Okay that makes sence about just sharing our appz with him. And that might keep him okay. What exactly does it mean as far as DE-combo a meal? I've heard of it before, however I dont really understand. SOrry.

 

[trspohr]

If you upgrade your 9yo to the adult meal plan, your cost will increase not only for the plan itself (from $10.99/night to $38.99/night) but you will also have to upgrade her as far as park admission tickets (you will need to buy at the adult rate rather than at the child rate). So you must take into consideration the overall cost increase and see if it's worth it to do that vs. perhaps purchasing an additional item at certain meals to make her happy.

When eating TS meals, both you and your husband will get adult appetizers. Sharing some of this with the kids (and they will have some sort of appetizer for themselves as well...soup or salad or veggies in most cases) might be enough to keep her satisfied. Or you can share a bit of your entree with her as well.

Do you think that she will eat the equivalent of more than $28 of additional food a day (that's just the meal plan difference) to justify upgrading her? If she's really hungry, you can always use the kids CS credit for the side and drink and de-combo an adult meal for the bigger burger (Lewis says this is possible) for a cost of only a few dollars, or at TS meals, perhaps purchase an additional appetizer (maybe costing $8-$10). That is much less than the difference in the meal plan cost per day.

Thanks for the advice. I think you are right. It definitely would be cheaper. Can you explain the de-combo thing to me?

 

[TheDizMom]

I have had this experience myself with my DS who was 81/2 when we went last time. While it is more expensive to declare as 10 had I thought of this option them I would have done it anyway, and we were on a tight budget. Here's why. Children under 10 are required to eat off of the childrens menus, unless you are at a buffet. While for smaller kids this is no big deal, this presented a problem for my son because he didn't want hot dogs, mac and cheese and chicken nuggets for every meal, which is unfortunately about the only thing they can chose from on the kids menu. On a few occasions we solved this problem by having me or my husband order something on the kids menu instead that we were O.K. with, but we weren't really happy with the selection either. Their kids menus in general are boring and I have no idea why . We are listing my 9 year old niece as 10 when we go for spring break We decided it was worth the money so she could have whatever she wanted.

 

[Maddie2]

I have a 9 year old too, but we'll be keeping him on the children's DDP. I figure between my DH, our 12 year old (adult!?) and I, we'll certainly have enough food to share with him as well (if he isn't full from a kid's choice). We are going to a couple of buffets too -- so it shouldn't be a problem there at all.

The difference in the child/adult DDP prices -- not to mention park ticket price differences are crazy IMO. It would be nice if there was a mid-range price for say 10-14.

 

[TinkerbellMama]

Go to buffets! Don't pay the higher prices for meals AND park tickets! JMO! Good luck!

 

[janets]

Thanks for the advice. I think you are right. It definitely would be cheaper. Can you explain the de-combo thing to me?

From other posts (and Lewis has posted many times about this), when you go to the counter, tell them that you don't want the burger/fries combo, you only want a plain burger. Or if it's chicken strips/fries, the same thing. They will sell you only the main item w/o the side and you pay a lower price.

Some people have reported being able to get a kids size version of the adult meal, but that goes against everything that the kids menu is attempting to accomplish (keep adults ordering from the adult menu, since the kids items are unappetizing), but like most things in life, it never hurts to ask.

It might be worth your while to review the counter service menus and see if you can pin down ones that will offer enough items to satisfy everyone.

We will be in the world in just a week and we'll be 3A2C this time (mom is coming with us). We're coming for ds's 9th birthday and believe me, he can eat as much as an adult, but the items he prefers are more kid oriented (doesn't like most fish, only likes certain sauces, etc), so while he'll be fine at TS places (we pick places that offer steak for the kids), it's the CS menu that presents a problem. What we do is order 2A meals and split them between us. Usually dh and ds9 share and me and ds4.5 share. This time, mom is coming, so we'll probably order ds4.5 a kids meal (he's not a big eater and as long as there are nuggets or m&c he's fine), mom and I will split and dh and ds9 will split. We've found that by ordering the double burger and asking for an extra bun, we can make 2 meals out of it, utilizing the toppings bar in most places.

It does take a bit of creative thinking to make sure everyone is happy, but honestly, I enjoy the TS meals so much more that if I have to give up some of my CS meal to keep ds9 happy, then I'm okay with it (especially if I get to use my snack credit for a fresh made ice cream sandwich over near Hall of Presidents LOL!).

 

[NMW]

I completely understand where you are coming from. In Oct we had the DDP and our 10 year old ate great! He had steaks, ribs, lots of great appetizers and desserts. Our 4 year old DD was fine with the kids menu for the most part. Our 8 year old son was pretty miserable. He did not like the choices on the kids menu all that much and the stuff he DID like, he got sick of eating over and over again. They pretty much had the same menus everywhere. Plus, the portion size, while perfect for my DD was really very small for my son. His appetizer choices were soup or salad with ranch dressing and those two choices got old everywhere too. Even though we shared some appetizers with him, it was really the adult entrees that he wanted-steak, pork, chicken.

In Dec he will only be 9, but I am getting him the adult plan. It is worth it not to hear him sigh when he is handed the kids menu. We are DVC members though, and the DDP is not connected to tickets. However, I would probably buy him an adult AP instead of a child one if we weren't DVC, just to get him the adult plan. If I started paying OOP for adult entrees even with our DDE card 20% savings, it would be more than the child/adult difference in the price of the passes. We eat TS dinners every night. For our family it would be worth it. I would look at the menus fo both TS and CS places and decide for yourself.

He also hated most of the kids menu items at CS restaurants. Glad I won't have to deal with that either!

 

[ReneeA]

I would think it would be cheaper to order him something extra off the menu if he's still hungry, or stop for an extra snack along the way rather than upgrade.

My kids are both good, adventurous eaters and we always had tons of food to share with them.

You'd be surprised how much food the dining plan actually is.

 

[delmar411]

is eating at the buffets not a good option? We are planning that every TS meal will be a buffet(have to feed 2 of the kids 2 and under) and there are always tons of great choices with that.

I was looking over the kids menus and I know my kids will sick of eating those for lunches real quick so we are going to have to get creative.

 

[canwegosoon]

I think many people that are trying to get the biggest bang for their buck avoid the buffets, at menu TS they can order what they want at a higher dollar price, the problem is ...now with the new kids meals all of the menu TS have a limited kids meal.

I have 2 - 8yo boys who love to eat, and ordering appetizers to split really helped, and having a few buffets helped keep them from getting too bored with the selection. Also don't forget you can always get an extra appetizer OOP.

 

[delmar411]

I think many people that are trying to get the biggest bang for their buck avoid the buffets, at menu TS they can order what they want at a higher dollar price, the problem is ...now with the new kids meals all of the menu TS have a limited kids meal.

Ah, I forgot about that. I was figuring we'd be getting the most out of our plan if we don't have to pay to feed an almost 3yr old (will be 3 on the last day) and an 18mth old. My kids are way picky about their food so I'm planning on using snack credits for a loaf of bread and some PB as a backup plan! LOL