Would this be OK?

[KathyK]

My sister is going to WDW in November. She has herself, DH, DS 13, DS 11, and DS 7. So if she gets the DDP (paying for it, as she's staying on DVC points), she'd be paying for 4 adults and 1 child. She thought that it really won't work out, because she has 13 TS meals planned for her 7 nights, and would need to pay OOP for so many meals. Plus, her 13 and 11 year olds eat almost nothing. So I suggested to her that (with the exception of the buffets, character meals, etc.) that she use the adult credits for herself and her husband, and allow her "adult" sons to order their side order of fries or whatever and pay OOP for what they order. This way, she could use the plan for more TS meals. Also, if they wanted to order off the children's menu at 11 and 13, would they be able to do so? I recently had a 10 year old at my table (not on DDP) who was given an adult menu, but the waiter didn't mind when he ordered off of his younger brother's menu.

Her husband asked her to develop to spreadsheet with a budget for meals for the trip, and not knowing what everyone wants to order, she thought it might be easier to budget if they were using dining plan credits.

 

[DaniB]

Another suggestion - figure out how much it would cost to upgrade to DxDP.

Then figure out how much she will spend OOP for the remaining TS meals not covered under the DDP. Include the tax but not the tip in that. If she's planning on spending more OOP on other items (ie, 2nd snack for each person) - add that in as well.

If the total is very close to or more than the cost to upgrade - she might want to upgrade.

 

[Kimberle]

It sounds like an awful lot of work. Yes, it could work, but it will take a lot of planning. I think it would be easier not to purchase the dining plan and pay OOP for this trip.

 

[KathyK]

Another suggestion - figure out how much it would cost to upgrade to DxDP.

Then figure out how much she will spend OOP for the remaining TS meals not covered under the DDP. Include the tax but not the tip in that. If she's planning on spending more OOP on other items (ie, 2nd snack for each person) - add that in as well.

If the total is very close to or more than the cost to upgrade - she might want to upgrade.

But if she decides on the DxDDP (not really an upgrade, as they have no dining plan now), they would have 84 adult credits avail. to cover ~13 meals (not knowing how many are buffets) for 2 people that would actually be eating them, and would only really need ~26 credits. They have a 2 BR, so most other meals will be in the room.

When I say that her older boys eat nothing, they literally eat almost nothing. They will come to my house for a party and have a roll and a beverage. They are not just picky eaters, they are non-eaters. So the idea of spending $72/night for them to order a drink and pick at the bread basket for 2 meals a day is pretty much out of the question.

I regularly do the DxDDP, but my kids are under 10, and they actually eat.

It's a choice for her between OOP or regular DDP in her case.

 

[jreed1920]

It seems it would be better for her to go OOP. If they really do eat next to nothing they probably aren't going to eat a full adult QS meal with dessert either especially in addition to what seems to be 2 TS meals per day so those credits would be wasted as well.

 

[sndral]

She'll have 4 adult TS credits per night X 7 = 28 TS credits.
She's planned 13 TS restaurants where 2 adults will have dinner = 26 TS credits.
Does she have any buffets planned? She'll have to use TS credits for the 2 'adult' children @ those, no matter what the children actually eat. So if she's planned one buffet, she'll use all of her adult TS and pay OP for whatever the 2 'adult' children eat @ the other TS meals. If she's planned more than one buffet, she will run out of TS credits and have to pay OP for for some TS.
She'll have 28 adult CS credits - will she use these for lunch? Breakfast?
She'll have 28 snack credits - pretty easy to use.
The child would use their TS for 7 of the TS meals, but she'd have to pay OP for the other 6.
How do they eat, appetizers, soup, salad? All of those are OP, as well.

 

[Cafeen]

For starters, yes, it can be done. Unless at a fixed price location, you can spend fewer credits than available without an issue (technically, you can at the fixed prices too, but you'd still be charged adult prices).

In your friend's situation, they can pay OOP for the two oldest if it makes sense (e.g. apps as entrees, sides, kid's meals, etc) and bank those credits for themselves for the other locations. Choosing kid's meals when over 9 is usually possible, but it is generally up to the server/manager of the restaurant. There have been tons of cases where it didn't matter, but enough that weren't allow to warrant the "Up to the restaurant" statement. Most certianly make sure that she mentions how she's splitting up between DDP and OOP before ordering though.

It's not nearly as complicated as it sounds. Essentially, she'll just pay OOP for the two oldest and use their credits for the two real adults. Do that 6 out of the 13 meals, and all 13 of the real adults meals will be covered by credits. She'll even be able to split the covered desserts with the kids paying OOP if she so desires.

And I agree that DxDDP would not be a good idea in this situation. She's just under the break even point of 2/3 credits used at TS and the two oldest kids would certainly not order nearly enough to cover their side of it.