Upgrading a child ticket to get adult dining

[Sam1]

I've read about people doing this, but I'm not sure how it works. My daughter will be five and doesn't really eat the typical kids meals on offer, so I was thinking about upgrading her ticket. If she did decide she wanted something off the kids menu instead, could she do that?

If so, what about tips? I know the tips are going to be a bit more expensive with her ordering an adult meal, but what about at the buffets? Obviously she can only eat the amount of a kid, not an adult, so would we be expected to include tips based on an adult meal still? I can't remember if the price between an adult and a child at a buffet is different enough to worry about the more expensive tip, so that bit might be irreverent. It's mainly, can she order a kids meal if she wanted one?

 

[lpereira]

The childrens meal selections at Disney World go beyond chicken fingers, french fries, and pizza. You might be worried about nothing. My child has gotten salmon on the kids menu and had chicken nuggets on the kids menu.
I don't think I'd upgrade a child's ticket to get adult dining for a 5 year old, especially if you plan on doing character buffets where the food is exactly the same for both at a much higher price. The child will be drowning in wasted food at TS and QS non buffets.
To answer your other question in the US the tip is based on the amount charged not the size of the eater. A good thing because I'm a big girl
If you upgraded your child to an adult the option would still be there to order a kids entree but it will be adult size and adult charged.

 

[Elise79]

The childrens meal selections at Disney World go beyond chicken fingers, french fries, and pizza. You might be worried about nothing. My child has gotten salmon on the kids menu and had chicken nuggets on the kids menu.
I don't think I'd upgrade a child's ticket to get adult dining for a 5 year old, especially if you plan on doing character buffets where the food is exactly the same for both at a much higher price. The child will be drowning in wasted food at TS and QS non buffets.
To answer your other question in the US the tip is based on the amount charged not the size of the eater. A good thing because I'm a big girl
If you upgraded your child to an adult the option would still be there to order a kids entree but it will be adult size and adult charged.

I agree with this totally!

We have a nearly 7 year old now however she has been many times and not once had I wished she had the adult dining plan.

Most people that do it are with older children who want the larger portions as well as the choice - you can also only do it if you have booked accommodation and tickets separate from flights.

Our DD has had steak, grilled chicken etc as well as pizza and other more kid food but her choice. But like everything some restaurants have better choices than others - you just need to do your research.

Your tips will be a lot higher as you are tipping on the cost of an adult meal regardless of her age as you will want to use an adult credit.

 

[chmurf]

we have upgraded our son for our next trip.
He'll be almost 8 (2 months shy)

our last trip was in 2013, he was almost 6 and he sometimes would eat from our plates.
There was that time at Coral Reef where he ate DW's Lobster Orichiette (almost the whole plate) while DW ate his Mac&Cheese

That's the kind of memories that had us upgrade him for the next trip.

I agree with the PPs, there is more than just nuggets and fries on the children menus, but if the kid has a hearty appetite, or is adventurous, upgrading might sound like a plan.
But I don't know if I would do it for a 5 year old

what you need to consider is how many buffets you will do.
At buffets, a child will eat from the same counters as you. So they will basically get an adult menu for the price of a child's menu. BUT if you use an adult credit for a child, you'll pay tips on the adult price
example : Tusker House is (roughly) $35 adults, and $18 child for lunch/dinner
2 adults + 1 child : $88 @18% that's a $16 tip
3 adults : $105 @18% that's a $19 tip

so you basically pay $3 more in tip for the same plate, same menu

On the other hand, you can always order an adult portion from the kid's menu if nothing on menu appeals to the child
IF you're going for a deluxe, and get the DDP for free, then upgrading is good value, and won't be offset by the higher tips (and as mentionned above you can still get adult portions from the child menu, so you don't lock your child in with more "intense" tastes and experiences)

but IF you go for mods and need to pay to upgrade from QSDP to DDP, then don't do that with a 5 years old

if you stick with QSDP then it's really no need. I won't go in depth because the rules of this forum do not allow me to. But I'd only state that (for the time being) there is no difference made between a child and an adult CS credit (and I'll stop at that)

If you do a majority of buffets, don't upgrade.
If your child wants something more than just what's on the kids menu, you can always order an extra appetizer or entrée and use the child's plate as a sides for the whole table to share.
At the end of the trip and depending on how adventurous/picky your child is, it might be cheaper than paying the overhead on tips.


For our personnal experience (yet to come) we've booked OKW with the free FD and upgraded our son to adult
Your question was about procedure, just input "child" and "10" as the age, it's as simple as that

also be advised that you'll pay for an adult ticket, that's £20 more, and you'll pay tips as an adult

 

[Sam1]

Yeah, I know it's not just nuggets and stuff, but I do remember seeing there was nothing she'd eat on the kids menu a few times, so we just got an extra plate and she shared with us. Would that still be okay if the kids meal really wasn't suitable for her? I don't really want to upgrade a five year old to get a better variety, especially when we'll be doing a few buffets, but I also don't want to be stuck with a kids meal that she won't eat.

 

[Sam1]

If you do a majority of buffets, don't upgrade.
If your child wants something more than just what's on the kids menu, you can always order an extra appetizer or entrée and use the child's plate as a sides for the whole table to share.
At the end of the trip and depending on how adventurous/picky your child is, it might be cheaper than paying the overhead on tips.

Thanks, that gives me something else to think about. Ordering a starter to get a bit more variety sounds good.

I agree with the PPs, there is more than just nuggets and fries on the children menus, but if the kid has a hearty appetite, or is adventurous, upgrading might sound like a plan.
But I don't know if I would do it for a 5 year old

It's not the amount she eats, it's the variety I was wanting. She's always eaten what we eat, so has never eaten typical kids food and will try almost anything. The main reason we were considering it was because it'll only cost about £20 to upgrade because we've only got the accommodation and tickets together, not the flight.

I'm still not sure, maybe I need to look at the menus and see what we would actually order and see what's available for her.

 

[Mummycat]

Hi we upgraded our then 9 year daughter (now 11) to the adult dining plan on our trip 2 years ago. She has a healthy appetitive and can be adventurous with her food choices. Easy to do-1 quick call to Disney.
This year our now 9 year old son is very happy to stick with the kids dining plan as loves this kind of food and would not really enjoy the adult plan, and he can share some of ours if portions too small. Just thinking this could be a problem on our next trip when he only wants the kids plan and is too old!!
Each family is different so work out what is best for you

 

[chmurf]

Just thinking this could be a problem on our next trip when he only wants the kids plan and is too old!!

as said above, no issue at all
you can order adult sized portions from the kids menu.

 

[Sencybil]

We did this for our 6 year old a couple of years back. I had exactly the same feeling that the kids options weren't really suited to dd's style of eating. Yes, there are options of steak, fish and slamon, but they do get a bit samey if you're there for say 2 weeks. It worked for us because we did a few signatures / 2 credit options. On some occasions dd ordered a child meal and we paid oop for her but credits for us - this is no problem. At buffets we paid child rate for her oop, but credits for our adult meals. At some TS meals she ordered an appetiser, we paid oop for that, DP for us and we all more or less shared everything. We always ordered some extras - alcoholic drinks at least, so we always had an oop charge as well as dining credits, there is no problem with mixing and matching. The adult credits we saved when we paid oop for a child meal or starter we could use to 'pay' for our 2 credit meals - so we didn't loose out on any of the 'value' of them. The only time this didn't work out optimally was for Hoop de Doo, where I 'paid' for the booking with DP when we reserved, so dd was counted as an adult, not sure how possible it is to split payment on that one. Overall though, it really worked for us. (We're so much about the food, we actually ran out of credits and were one short at the end of the holiday, and I cancelled a TS ressie that I'd been planning or we'd have been 3/4 credits short!). We used QS credits for breakfasts as well as lunches, generally sharing one or 2 meals between the 3 of us - so we easily got through all our credits.

As pp said, its about working out what suits you best. If an unneccessary $3 in tips here and there is a concern, then don't do it. If you can use up spare adult credits then do If you're somewhere in the middle, its harder to choose. But process wise there's no problem.

Enjoy yourself!

Sencybil x

 

[Sam1]

We did this for our 6 year old a couple of years back. I had exactly the same feeling that the kids options weren't really suited to dd's style of eating. Yes, there are options of steak, fish and slamon, but they do get a bit samey if you're there for say 2 weeks. It worked for us because we did a few signatures / 2 credit options. On some occasions dd ordered a child meal and we paid oop for her but credits for us - this is no problem. At buffets we paid child rate for her oop, but credits for our adult meals. At some TS meals she ordered an appetiser, we paid oop for that, DP for us and we all more or less shared everything. We always ordered some extras - alcoholic drinks at least, so we always had an oop charge as well as dining credits, there is no problem with mixing and matching. The adult credits we saved when we paid oop for a child meal or starter we could use to 'pay' for our 2 credit meals - so we didn't loose out on any of the 'value' of them. The only time this didn't work out optimally was for Hoop de Doo, where I 'paid' for the booking with DP when we reserved, so dd was counted as an adult, not sure how possible it is to split payment on that one. Overall though, it really worked for us. (We're so much about the food, we actually ran out of credits and were one short at the end of the holiday, and I cancelled a TS ressie that I'd been planning or we'd have been 3/4 credits short!). We used QS credits for breakfasts as well as lunches, generally sharing one or 2 meals between the 3 of us - so we easily got through all our credits.

As pp said, its about working out what suits you best. If an unneccessary $3 in tips here and there is a concern, then don't do it. If you can use up spare adult credits then do If you're somewhere in the middle, its harder to choose. But process wise there's no problem.

Enjoy yourself!

Sencybil x

What you did sounds perfect for us! If it's just a case of tips being slightly higher I can live with that. I just didn't want her to want something off the kids menu and not be able to have it. Paying for a kids meal oop instead sounds ideal, failing that I'm sure my husband wouldn't complain if he helped her with the adult portion. I didn't realise you could order an adult sized kids meal, so she'll have the best of both worlds.

It'll be the first time we'll have had DDP, but I'm almost sure we could squeeze in more meals if we did decide to pay for a couple of hers oop. I think I'll check the menus and see where and what we'd eat to see which would work best. For an extra £20, plus bigger tips, it's worth considering a few different options.

 

[Elise79]

Honestly if you pick the restaurants carefully the kids can eat as well as the adults.

Teppan Edo for example the children's menu is just a scaled down version of the adult one.

Garden Grill for dinner is nice and served family style so they will bring all the choices for everyone to pick at.

I understand as our daughter has always eaten what we do but at the same time she also eats "fast food" (well except chips she is really not fussed by them she will eat them but would never ask for them!).

I find at lot of the menus at Disney restaurants quite samey anyway so I search for those with different choices.

Quick service- breakfasts are very similar adult to child just smaller.

Lunch we tend to share all adult meals as otherwise there is just too much food!

 

[chmurf]

just thinking out loud here

Upgrading then using the adults credits for adults is an interesting option.


if you pay oop for your child at buffets, you save 1 adult credit, each time you do a buffet
kids TS meals (regular) are generally $10

once again, calculating out loud here

1 TS where you pay OOP for a kid's meal : $10, but you save $5 in tips (rough adult TS value of $35, so $25 less on the check, @20% that's $5 saved) and that's an extra TS credit for $5

you need to do that at 2 TS to get another TS meal for 2, so $10 + the $10 for another meal OOP for the child

you basically get another dinner for 3 at a TS for $20 (if you follow my logic and calculations)

now the tricky part is to know in advance how many meals you're gonna do that for, and book the extra TS

 

[Sam1]

It's hard deciding because it feels wrong upgrading a five year old (she'll almost be six), purely because of the amount of extra food. If they just did smaller portions for kids I wouldn't be considering it because there's no way she'll be able to eat a lot. The only way it would work to our advantage is if we want more table service and use some of her credits and pay oop for a few of hers. I'd hope we could use them, but I'm always reading about there being too much food already on the dining plan, so I'm not sure.

I can't judge what our eating habits will be beforehand with it being the first time having the dining plan. Last year we ate what we wanted and all of it was within Disney. We shared maybe three counter service between the four of us and got an extra plate at some of the table service places for my daughter (Sanaa was one that I remember where she shared ours so I'm assuming they don't do curry and rice for kids). It's just a nice variety I want for her because she's used to eating the same as us.

I think closer the time I'll have a proper look through the menus and work out what and where we would want to eat to see which would benefit us the most. I've probably looked through all the menus before, but it's different if you're looking through them pricing up to pay oop for everything, so I can't really remember the kids meals.

 

[Ruth B]

Hi. Sorry about the late addition question but can you upgrade your child to a adult ticket after you have made the booking? We don't go until October and haven't finished paying yet.... Sounds a great idea! Thanks all

 

[Portugal1000]

We did this twice but put down that he was actually 9 at time of booking. On another occasion when he was already older than that we actually said we had four people in the room so we would get an extra set of dining credits. We then used all the extra credits to eat in signature restaurants every night. We used the extra counter service credits for breakfasts and snacks for the parks. This meant we didn't need to use any snack credits and used them all on the last day for candy to put in party bags at sons party when we got home. We had to buy an extra ticket of course. When I got home I called Disney and told them I hadn't used ticket and they cancelled it and sent me a new one that expired at the end of the next year. I couldn't believe it. My plan b was to sell it on eBay but didn't need to. That was the last time we stayed at Disney. Only stay at Bonnet Creek now..

 

[Sencybil]

Ruth - did you book direct with Disney? If so I think it would be very easy to amend your booking by calling them. I'm not sure whether I'd go for honesty - my child wants to eat adult meals - or the Oops I made a mistake , please help me option. Tee Hee.

We're going back in October, and once again I've listed DD as 10, and will do the same as last time. For buffets I will pay OOP for her child price and use the saved credits to fund our Signature extravaganza! I don't think we'll do so many buffets this time though as I'm pretty much over character meals!

Good luck
Sencybil x

 

[Ruth B]

Ruth - did you book direct with Disney? If so I think it would be very easy to amend your booking by calling them. I'm not sure whether I'd go for honesty - my child wants to eat adult meals - or the Oops I made a mistake , please help me option. Tee Hee.

We're going back in October, and once again I've listed DD as 10, and will do the same as last time. For buffets I will pay OOP for her child price and use the saved credits to fund our Signature extravaganza! I don't think we'll do so many buffets this time though as I'm pretty much over character meals!

Good luck
Sencybil x

Thanks for your help. I called them and said my eldest wanted to eat adult meals! All fine. Have left our 3 year old as children dining- hope we will be able to use her credits for when eldest wants a child meal?
Did you have any issue paying for a child's buffet with your daughter being on a adult ticket?

 

[Sencybil]

No, no issue at all. The restaurants have no idea which credits relate to whom. As far as they're concerned we could be 2 adults from our party treating a child from another party, or a relative or friend who lives locally. The restaurant staff really aren't bothered. Like initially I felt bad always ordering (it seemed) the most expensive item - but then I realised the waiting staff don't give a stuff about how you use your credits, but a more expensive item means a bigger tip for them.

And yes, there will be no problem using your 3yo credits to pay for your older child. Again, they just know what credits you have left, not 'who' they belong to.

Sency xx

 

[Ruth B]

No, no issue at all. The restaurants have no idea which credits relate to whom. As far as they're concerned we could be 2 adults from our party treating a child from another party, or a relative or friend who lives locally. The restaurant staff really aren't bothered. Like initially I felt bad always ordering (it seemed) the most expensive item - but then I realised the waiting staff don't give a stuff about how you use your credits, but a more expensive item means a bigger tip for them.

And yes, there will be no problem using your 3yo credits to pay for your older child. Again, they just know what credits you have left, not 'who' they belong to.

Sency xx

Brilliant!! Thank you very much. Feels awkward somehow but your response is very reassuring!

 

[Wakey]

We got free Disney dining plan so put my daughter down as 10 (not getting flights) as was willing to pay extra for adult tickets as thought she may prefer adult meals (eats as much as an adult as tall and does lots of sport, will be 9.5). Has anyone else done this? Not like I'm trying to pass her off as younger for a cheap ticket, I'm paying the adult price for the park.