Magical/Grand Gatherings - should we lie about age?

[Hieatt]

Originally posted by cleo
When your Grand Gathering was booked Disney took note of the names and ages of all children in the party, even if it's a Room Only reservation. Your daughter is listed as an 'infant', a 2 year old, or not at all (depends on the CM who books it. Some do not hold names of children under 3). Also, for the Safari Celebration you will need park admission to experience the Grand Gathering event, so it isn't just a matter of purchasing a Grand Gathering event ticket, it's park admission, too.

Disney will certainly know 2 of the children are not over the age of 3. They are not going to count them, even if you offer to pay. Not good news, but better to be aware of it than to try to pass the children off as 3 when Disney will know they are not.

One question...........how did you get a Grand Gathering if you do not have 8 or more paying guests? Disney policy is GG's are for 8 or more paying guests only. Not questioning whether or not you DID book as a Grand Gathering, just curious as to how it happened.

We have a 2 bedroom suite at the Dolphin, with nine people in our room (it holds 10). Two of the nine in our party are under 3 years of age. I simply gave the Dolphin agent all of the names and ages of the people in our party, EXCEPT that I told her our 2 year old was 3 years old in order to qualify for GG. So, as far as Disney is concerned, my 2 year old son is 3 years old, and they are getting their $19.99 for his Safari experience, so everyone is happy!

 

[cleo]

Plus the $46.00 for his admission to Animal Kingdom, correct?

 

[justhat]

I don't see why you'd pay for his admission to Animal Kingdom. I haven't done the GG Safari, but unless you all enter at once with a CM, how would they know if the 2 (3) year old has a ticket? I could see if it were the Sunrise Safari at AKL since you have to show your tickets to a CM at the Lodge before you leave, but since you can stay at all different WDW resorts to do a GG I'm guessing you just meet at the set activity. If this is the case, why would you have to buy a ticket for the 2 year old? The GG CMs would never know. And if they happen to ask once you meet for the GG Safari, say he's 2 (and have proof in case). They're not going to deny you the Safari once you're all there and ready to go. If they tried all you would have to do is say that the CM you booked with asked how many in the group, you said 9, including 2 2 year olds, and the CM said that was fine but that you'd need to pay for 8 people, not just 7. There's no way they'd fight you to the point that you'd even need to say that since you'd all be there ready and they'd have no way of knowing if that's what happened.

 

[degrapevine]

Do you have any other relatives who'd like to go?
If so, you could add that person as the 8th and still bring the baby as a free 2 year old.
I'm not sure if you said how many adults and children over three you are bringing.
Maybe a cousin or teenager who would like to go?
If you're going to pay for 8 anyway, maybe this is a solution.
I know, it means increased food costs, admission tickets, etc. Just a thought!
I sure seems that Disney is making this difficult!
I hope your vacation goes well, regardless!

 

[gigi1313]

i don't think disney is making things difficult... i think they are making things fair... there is a rule... 8 paying over 3's... someone wants to break that rule... a gathering is 8 over 3's or more... therefore 7 is not a 'gathering' and doesn't qualify... imo, the end...

and why pay admission for the two? because if you are going to lie and call the 2 a 3, then he/she cannot be a 3 only when it's convenient... it's all or nothing... pay as a 3 for meals, admissions, etc...

no?

 

[degrapevine]

Sorry if my post was misunderstood ...
I just thought that the idea of a Grand Gathering was to be able to allow a large party to do special activities together as a group.
If you are required to include 8 people over the age of three and the original poster really wants her family to the the GG,
finding another family member to go would be the best (and honest) solution.
I understand there are rules - trust me, we have always paid admission and buffet charges for our kids as soon as they turned 3,
even for our DD who is extremely petite (only 39" at 4 years old) and eats like a bird!
My comment about it being difficult did not mean to imply that I felt Disney was unfairly setting requirements.
I just think that if you are willing to pay a premium for special activities (like the safari), they might want to consider reworking their policy to allows groups with children under 3 to do so.
Maybe charge a standard fee for a "private" safari?
For this situation, though, it seems like another 3 or older guest is needed to meet the requirement.
Sorry for the long post - Thanks for letting me clarify!

 

[05ChristmasSurprise]

Just an update - since it was bumped back up

I spoke with a CM today at the reservations office and he said, without a doubt, that "by all means" if we wanted to pay admission for her that we would qualify as a GG and that would be no problem at all.

So... I guess I just have to decide if the perks are really worth it to pay the extra $300 or so.