2 DDP kids credit questions

[LALA2020]

Let us know how that turns out. Nothing has changed,
the literature does say child 3-9 must order from the child’s menu. Which also has what beverages are Available.

And then it also further says ANY guest can swap their drink for a speciality one. I’m not being argumentative, just going by what Disney have told me in black and white,

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Here's the applicable parts from the 2020 DDP brochure concerning children and dining plans:


Interestingly, the 2019 brochure also specified ages 10+ for Specialty Beverages:


The only difference is the wording for 2020 that kids 3-9 select a combo meal from the children's menu. Both menus state though that kids must order from a kids menu where available, so that's really nothing new, just something that they've cracked down on. Kids not being permitted to order specialty beverages also doesn't seem to be anything new but again, something they're just cracking down on... Which makes sense on a couple of levels. The $9 milkshake takes up a huge portion of the child's price for a meal plan and the size is also significantly larger than a child's sized drink. As far as I've seen, Disney has yet to offer child sized versions of their shakes/smoothies/slushes and it would likely require a revamping of all of their menus to do so to come up with pricing and such for those wishing to purchase outside of a kids meal.

Given though that kids also get 2 snack credits, it's not that hard to use one for an ice cream or slushy after a meal.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

I just realized how hard that is to read, so here are the two main sections blown up:

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

But only meals (not beverages, sides, desserts etc) are separated out into adult vs child on the menus.
The beverage section of the menu includes chocolate milk, apple juice etc, which I associate with child drinks. Please tell me if I'm wrong, but I have never seen a published menu with a separate section for childrens drinks.

Therefore the marketing wording that says all guests with dining plan are eligible to order a speciality drink should stand, no matter what the age (unless they now amend their menus into drinks for 10+ and drinks for 3-9 years). Otherwise dining plan has been mis-sold to anyone who bought it in 2019 and before.

Actually, children have a separate physical menu at all restaurants where it lists the available options for them. Here's one from Skipper Canteen where you can see the only Specialty Beverage is listed as a la carte and would not be included due to the souvenir cup and glow clip. The included beverages are milk or water, or at the bottom it says Soft Drinks can be substituted on request.

There’s no such thing as a separate kids drinks menu at QS.

QS menus list the kids drinks under the kids meal section. Here's an example from Columbia Harbor House:



Here again, the options are milk or water, or further down it says chocolate milk or apple juice can be substituted. Also, seeing that reminds me that many QS offer a Danimals Smoothie as one of the sides for the kids meal. Granted, that's not as special as a large milkshake or slush, but still a fun little drinkable treat to go along with their meal.

 

[LALA2020]

I just realized how hard that is to read, so here are the two main sections blown up:
View attachment 475178View attachment 475179

Wow thanks for this however I’m surprised as all the UK small print and main blurb for the DDP does not mention anything like this and is pretty clear in that ANY guest can have a speciality beverage including swapping for one if another drink is already included as standard. I wonder if this is a deliberate difference in UK/US dining plans or just an oversight on Disney’s part...I suspect the latter but if people have purchased on UK terms they’re on thin ice if they then try and enforce the US terms once there.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Guests can complain but more and more I’m seeing reports of we have no way in our register to rung that up.

 

[LALA2020]

Yep. Not the staff at the tills fault. It seems to be something Disney are shoe horning in without thinking it all through properly. I’ll be taking it up with the resort if there’s an issue.

 

[TeresaWen]

If enoug people get vocal about their belief that their child is entitled to a speciality beverage on the children’s dining plan Disney will do what they do best - give in and let the guests get away with yet another loop hole while they go into a conference room & craft a change that will negatively impact every guest.

I think it is pretty clear that the dining plan does not include speciality drinks for children who had a child’s dining plan purchased for them. You can absolutely age a child up & purchase an adult plan which does include these drinks or people always have the option of purchasing a drink out of pocket.

 

[LALA2020]

If enoug people get vocal about their belief that their child is entitled to a speciality beverage on the children’s dining plan Disney will do what they do best - give in and let the guests get away with yet another loop hole while they go into a conference room & craft a change that will negatively impact every guest.

I think it is pretty clear that the dining plan does not include speciality drinks for children who had a child’s dining plan purchased for them. You can absolutely age a child up & purchase an adult plan which does include these drinks or people always have the option of purchasing a drink out of pocket.

Not in the UK literature it isn’t.

 

[siren0119]

Not in the UK literature it isn’t.

You keep saying that - however I went on the UK website and it states right on the UK dining plan details pages that popcorn and drinks in souvenir containers are not included in the dining plan. The kids specialty drinks are almost all served in a souvenir cup and/or have the souvenir glow cubes included.

 

[JakeAZ]

Just to add more on this. I have now received 2 responses from Disney online support saying you can use kid's credits for adult meals, if there is no kid's menu present. I think we can all agree, based on actual in park reports, this is not true. It really sucks they keep telling me it's possible, when I try to clarify with them.

 

[mattpeto]

Like I've stated in other threads, there is no published kid's menu at Boardwalk Pizza Window, but I got about 5 or 6 pizzas with QS Child Credits the week I was in there earlier this month.

They are smaller pizzas, but you can get topping and they include 2 sides. The sides we got most of the time were fountain drinks and/or bags of potato chips. I feel like one of the sides was also a salad but we never went with that.

 

[AndreaDM]

Jumping in here with a question, are there more drink options for kids at signature restaurants? Planning on going to Flying Fish in June, the little guys don't drink anything carbonated and milk isn't really refreshing when it's hot out. They would love a smoothie type drink.

 

[Jess.stw]

Jumping in here with a question, are there more drink options for kids at signature restaurants? Planning on going to Flying Fish in June, the little guys don't drink anything carbonated and milk isn't really refreshing when it's hot out. They would love a smoothie type drink.

I believe (I know someone will correct me if I am wrong) typically where soda is an option, lemonade is too (not addressing your signature question, but in general for your little ones). Often apple juice is available too.

 

[AndreaDM]

Thanks! I forgot about lemonade, they do like that!

 

[Jess.stw]

Thanks! I forgot about lemonade, they do like that!

Was just looking online at the menus and Apple Juice is also a VERY common alternative, just did a random check of kids meals on the MDE app and all three of the ones I checked had it

 

[ugagal07]

I was looking over the new DDP+ this morning and saw this. Not sure if it’s always been there or not. But looks like the ‘fun drink’ for Disney kids is gone.

 

[siren0119]

I was looking over the new DDP+ this morning and saw this. Not sure if it’s always been there or not. But looks like the ‘fun drink’ for Disney kids is gone.

The "fun drinks" are generally in a souvenir cup or with souvenir glow cubes, and those were never allowed under the dining plan for kids or adults. It looks like they just clarified the wording so that it's more specific.

 

[TEM1234]

We were there in January with deluxe plan and our kids were able to get things like lemonade or the speciality punch that usually came with the glow cubes with their meals (but not in souvenir glasses or with light up stuff). This was at TS not QS though- we didn’t eat at QS that trip. We had to ask though

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

We were there in January with deluxe plan and our kids were able to get things like lemonade or the speciality punch that usually came with the glow cubes with their meals (but not in souvenir glasses or with light up stuff). This was at TS not QS though- we didn’t eat at QS that trip. We had to ask though

Can you please elaborate a little more? The only Specialty drinks I've seen on the kids menus have been the lemonade in a souvenir plastic cup with a light up clip on figurine. You mention they didn't get a souvenir cup or anything light up, so I'm confused on what specialty drink they got unless it was just the standard lemonade or fruit punch in a regular cup.