Waving Dining Plan Fee for Child with G-tube

[Caltitan]

Has anyone ever received a cost adjustment on the disney dining plan if you have a child (or adult) who does not eat restaurant food? I ask because DD-7 is on a liquid diet using a g-tube and thus does not eat normal food. For our trip last October the CM told me the DDP cost could not be waved for my daughter but given the inconsistencies in what CMs can/can't do I thought I'd ask here. During our trip, the character dining restaurants were always understanding and did not charge her for a meal. And I know it would be difficult for Disney to screen out "liars" who claim this during the booking process. Just wondering if anyone was ever succesful at removing this "barrier" to cost savings.

 

[pumpkinboy]

I wish I could enlighten you on this, as we have the same issue: DS is fed by g-tube only. Not knowing has been one of the reasons we have not tried out DDP. Keeping track of all the credits would seem to be a hassle as well, but I'd just hate to pay for him when he is not able to eat anything in any restaurant.

I'll be interested in other folks' replies to this.

 

[cdhheidi]

I wish I could enlighten you on this, as we have the same issue: DS is fed by g-tube only. Not knowing has been one of the reasons we have not tried out DDP. Keeping track of all the credits would seem to be a hassle as well, but I'd just hate to pay for him when he is not able to eat anything in any restaurant.

I'll be interested in other folks' replies to this.

I asked our TA last year if we could do the DP for the rest of us (he is tube and IV fed) but they said no. They "have" to charge for all members of the traveling group... they said you could use it for extra's for the rest of the family, but it made no sense to us so we skipped it. Besides, we were in a villa for part of the time and ended up cooking some of our own meals.

I DO think it is irritating though that Disney can't find a way to help us out when a member of our family is tube fed and we dont need that food for him/her... some restaurants are better than others when we eat out, he likes to play with dry food on occasion, and some don't charge us, others do.

 

[Lillypug]

My oldest is 8 and is fed via g-tube and eats very little food by mouth. When I booked our upcoming trip (through our AAA agent) I explained the situation and requested that Noah be left off of our dining plan. Our TA was successful at getting Disney to agree to this when she explained that he was fed via g-tube, etc. Disney said to leave him off of our hotel & dining plan and buy his park admission seperate from ours. I don't know if she had called the regular reservation line or the special needs line. HTH

 

[merryweather20]

A while ago maybe December I was reading a thread on the DVC board, where several families resorted to lieing about the room occupancy since Disney was being so unflexible, but there was a similar thread on this board where Disney waived dining plan charges for the family members that were tube fed.

The families that made ADR's said the CM's coded one member of the family as an infant so they would still have enough spaces at their table.

It sounds like it might take some wrestling with the CM's to do it. Lots of luck

 

[Camster0307]

As the previous poster mentioned, your g-tube fed child can be listed as an "infant" on your reservation.

I've had problems with this also - not just in booking the DDP but also paying for the Candlelight Processional. It's a delicate issue for the CM on the other end of the phone; I usually request to speak to a supervisor and explain my daughter's medical issues. They've actually been very accommodating and it has been explained to me that many people lie about the number of people on their reservation. If your child is fed through a g-tube, you should absolutely not have to pay for the DDP for that child. I would keep going through the chain of command until you get that confirmed.

 

[Forevryoung]

I believe that the issue with leaving your child (or adult) off the reservation and buying a separate ticket is that they can not participate in any extra magic hours because you need a room key to do so.

 

[missy2217]

I don't know if they would be such a stickler with the extra hours wheen the rest of the family has room keys. JMO

 

[Lillypug]

EMH never even crossed my mind with doing our ressies the way they are. If you use EMH that may be something to ask about esp in a special circumstance. (Disney has always been very accomodating to us when they know all of our circumstances. I guess that is why we are going on 3 years in a row of Disney vacations.)

Even though we always stay onsite, we have never used EMH. With Noah's special needs, we go for rope drop at a non EMH park and usually get to bed early and include a midday break. We typically go for 10 days and take our time and go at Noah's pace.

 

[dclfun]

I also dine by G-tube and my family has done the DDP several times. In my case, I just keep myself on the ressie and other adults use my credits. While everyone on the ressie must have the DDP and it's not flexible at all, the way around this that the res agents have suggested ( and was mentioned above) is to either NOT have the person who is tube fed on the ressie or code them as under age 3. As to EMH, I have friends who did this for their 8 year old. The GS CM's at their resort were happy to provide this family with an extra room key which they used for her for EMH. It isn't considered lying when you have to make these kind of arrangements for a special needs guest and there's no other way to do it. Unfortunately in our entitlement and "me-first" society many people would have no problem lying about a person in their party being unable to eat, just to get around NOT having to purchase the DDP for each guest but at least there's a workaround for people who truly have this issue and don't want to pay for someone who truly cannot eat orally. The restaurants will also puree foods for a guest who needs that kind of accommodation, just FYI.---Kathy

 

[merryweather20]

I also dine by G-tube and my family has done the DDP several times. In my case, I just keep myself on the ressie and other adults use my credits. While everyone on the ressie must have the DDP and it's not flexible at all, the way around this that the res agents have suggested ( and was mentioned above) is to either NOT have the person who is tube fed on the ressie or code them as under age 3. As to EMH, I have friends who did this for their 8 year old. The GS CM's at their resort were happy to provide this family with an extra room key which they used for her for EMH. It isn't considered lying when you have to make these kind of arrangements for a special needs guest and there's no other way to do it. Unfortunately in our entitlement and "me-first" society many people would have no problem lying about a person in their party being unable to eat, just to get around NOT having to purchase the DDP for each guest but at least there's a workaround for people who truly have this issue and don't want to pay for someone who truly cannot eat orally. The restaurants will also puree foods for a guest who needs that kind of accommodation, just FYI.---Kathy

I'm not sure whether your post was directed at me, but that was indeed what several families had to do since the Disney CM's they spoke to refused to make any reasonable accommodation. I was releived to hear better stories from several people on the DisAbilites board, but I would expect to request to talk to a supervisor if I was making the arrangements myself.

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> EMH for child unable to partake of meal plan

What happens if you "lose" a room key and have it replaced and give the original to the kid?

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[livndisney]

>>> EMH for child unable to partake of meal plan

What happens if you "lose" a room key and have it replaced and give the original to the kid?

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

But isn't the "lost" key deactivated when it is reported as lost?

 

[mechurchlady]

I believe that the issue with leaving your child (or adult) off the reservation and buying a separate ticket is that they can not participate in any extra magic hours because you need a room key to do so.

Then where does the kid sleep?

THE EMH requires a a valid Key to the World Card (Resort ID). That is given to each person in the room not one per party. Even if the kid is not on the dining plan he will be allowed into EMH if he has valid admission and is staying in a Disney Resort or the Swan and the Dolphin.

http://www.passporter.com/articles/disney-world-key-to-the-world-card.asp

The Walt Disney World "Key to the World" card is literally, your "key to the World." It acts as the key to your hotel room, your identification as a Disney resort guest, and your resort room charge chard (if you put down a credit card on your account at check-in). And depending on what options you've purchased, the Key to the World card can also be your theme park admission and/or your Disney Dining Plan credits card.

Yes, if a Key to the World card or a room key is reported lost or stolen it will be deactivated. This is standard hotel industry practice. Disney gives guests extra room keys, lol. Can you image 4 people in a room with one key, again a standard hotel industry practice.

 

[dclfun]

For EMH, no one checks to see if the room keys are activated or not, just that each guest has one. I don't really mind a workaround situation since it DOES work and thus then no one has to pay for a guest, adult or child, who is tube fed. For the family I know of who had to list their 8 year old as an infant, there were notes on the reservation to indicate the reason they were listed as such and so there was awareness both by the res agent and the resort that the child was actually older and was tube fed. I'm pretty sure that when a reservation is made and stored, the only way to store it (due to an error message otherwise )is to have everyone on the ressie with the DDP- there is no way around it due to software constraints that I'm sure were put in place for a reason. It isn't that WDW doesn't realize or care that some people shouldn't have to pay for a feature they can't really use. At least this is what was explained to me when I asked for a supervisor over something similar ( CP Package)---Kathy

 

[Charleyann]

Has anyone ever received a cost adjustment on the disney dining plan if you have a child (or adult) who does not eat restaurant food? I ask because DD-7 is on a liquid diet using a g-tube and thus does not eat normal food. For our trip last October the CM told me the DDP cost could not be waved for my daughter but given the inconsistencies in what CMs can/can't do I thought I'd ask here. During our trip, the character dining restaurants were always understanding and did not charge her for a meal. And I know it would be difficult for Disney to screen out "liars" who claim this during the booking process. Just wondering if anyone was ever succesful at removing this "barrier" to cost savings.

I called Disney and explained my child was on tube feed a couple of years back. I explained that he ate very little and asking us to pay the money for his dining wasn't an option as he didn't eat. Disney had no problem with taking my son off the dining plan and keeping the rest of us on!

Hope this helps!

Charleyann

 

[WLodgeLizard]

I've got a little variation on this topic. What about for a cruise? Our DS is 9 and completely tube fed. He drinks a few things by mouth. He wouldn't be able to participate in kids activities, since he requires one on one attention. With that in mind, I could almost justify classifying him as an infant. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any thoughts? It's only a $200 difference, so I doubt I will try too hard, but I may try a little if there is a precedent.

Thanks,

WLL

 

[dclfun]

There's no way to change the age of a child on a cruise since a birth certificate must be presented and at least with DCL there has never been a price adjustment for someone not dining or participating in activities, just FYI.---Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

There's no way to change the age of a child on a cruise since a birth certificate must be presented and at least with DCL there has never been a price adjustment for someone not dining or participating in activities, just FYI.---Kathy

Since the cruises leave the US, you could have problems leaving the US and/or getting back in if something on the birth certificate doesn't match the reservation.
You can always ask about an adjustment once you are actually there, but expect that you will still have to pay.

 

[dclfun]

Just to reiterate DCL's policy, there is no price adjustment for someone who cannot dine or participate in activities whether before the cruise, at the terminal, or once onboard. From my understanding there are no cruiselines that adjust pricing for any guest at any age who cannot "use" something that's included in the fare. Meals are included as part of the fare as are youth activities. My kids are no longer "youths" and no longer participate in them but they're still included in what we pay. Same with dining- there's no extra charge so anyone can take or leave them but you won't be charged less on your fare for not dining even if it's for a medical reason. On the other hand there is no EXTRA charge for pureed foods or even special dietary foods that cost much more than most use. Gluten free foods, dairy free products, kosher foods all come to mind as something that is provided at no extra cost if it's needed.---Kathy