Whats up with Kids menus?

[disnut8]

We are trying to decide between BOG and Whispering Canyon for a night of our trip and was looking at the Kids Dinner Menus. Is it me or is something strange here?

First of all, there are only really 4 choices,

Secondly, I really dont see any standard kids staples .. Grilled Cheese, Chik Nugs, Hot Dog, plain pasta wbutter, etc ... instead we are given the choice of Fish of the Day, Multigrain Cheese Dippers, Beef Macaroni, and a Cheeseburger.

I have a 3 & 5 yo .. anyone know of a 3 or 5 year old that would touch "Fish of the Day"? Understand that kids menu is for older kids too, but cmon would it hurt to have a simple kids food option for those picky or young kids? Even a cheeseburger in my mind is not friendly for the youngest of kids.

You think they would make a standard grilled cheese if we asked them?

And for those saying Disney needs to keep it more healthy thats fine to each their own.. just bring back some simple offerings as an addition.

Anyone agree?

I'm looking at the menu and at Be Our Guest, you can get the pasta without the sauce, just ask. So it's multigrain but it's not going to kill your child. And Whispering Canyon has a cheeseburger and I don't know of very many kids who wouldn't want that, otherwise McDonald's would be so out of business.

This reminds me of the time I took my son to the Grand Canyon and the one thing I really wanted was a nice dinner for the two of us along the canyon. I looked at menus and saw there was ravioli on there so he would be fine. Turned out to be spinach ravioli. We joke about it all the time now but you know what? He ate it and is still living. One of the nicest nights of my life.

 

[Lita]

I don't agree. There's a ton of restaurants there all serving mac n cheese and chicken nuggets. I think it's about time they have a restaurant serving something healthier. IMO, they need a lot more places serving it.

I agree with you. My kids eat real food. I am glad that there are more options than just yhe typical macaroni and cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Sparkly]

I hated the horrible plastic bright yellow mac & cheese from the kids menu when I was nine! Put me off eating mac & cheese in the US because I thought it was always like that :lol:

Nine year old me's favourite meal off the kids menu was probably the peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

 

[tinytinkmom]

What I don't get is why Disney seems to make the menus "all or nothing". Either the kids menu is only chicken nuggets, hamburgers and Mac and cheese, or it is grilled chicken, fish and steak. Why not a mix of both sets at ALL restaurants? 2 options could be for the "picky" eaters and 2 options could be for the more adventurous eaters. It seems to me there are a lot of people unhappy with kids meals at Disney on both sides of the issue. If they just did a combo of both everyone would be happy.

I agree!!!

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Honestly? You can't swing a mouse by it's tail and NOT hit someplace that serves nuggets, mac n cheese or pizza for kids. Enough of it already. One of the BIGGEST complaints about the kids options on the Dining Plan, is that they don't service enough of options - So now they offer other options.

 

[minnie mum]

What I don't get is why Disney seems to make the menus "all or nothing". Either the kids menu is only chicken nuggets, hamburgers and Mac and cheese, or it is grilled chicken, fish and steak. Why not a mix of both sets at ALL restaurants? 2 options could be for the "picky" eaters and 2 options could be for the more adventurous eaters. It seems to me there are a lot of people unhappy with kids meals at Disney on both sides of the issue. If they just did a combo of both everyone would be happy.

If restaurants expanded their menus to include everything that everyone just might want to eat on any given night, they'd all have to be buffets or have a 10 page menu, and it would be doubtful that they would turn a profit.

Guests have access to the online menus before they even arrive at the parks. People can make ADRs 6 months in advance. What is so difficult about selecting a restaurant based on the food that is advertised? (again, assuming no dietary restrictions).

 

[North of Mouse]

When children are offered different foods at home, they will more than likely develop tastes for more than just *kid* offerings.

Our children ate from the table what was cooked, so learned they couldn't have PBJ, or macaroni whenever they wanted it. There was no getting up and making, or having it made, any other food than was on the family dinner.

 

[SmileEar2Ear]

If restaurants expanded their menus to include everything that everyone just might want to eat on any given night, they'd all have to be buffets or have a 10 page menu, and it would be doubtful that they would turn a profit.

Guests have access to the online menus before they even arrive at the parks. People can make ADRs 6 months in advance. What is so difficult about selecting a restaurant based on the food that is advertised? (again, assuming no dietary restrictions).

I don't think they would need to include every option, but at least provide a varied menu from both sides of the fence with a total of only like 4 options. People would still have to look at menus and pick what best suits their child. For example, one restaurant would offer chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, grilled chicken and fish. The next could offer hot dog, pizza, steak and shrimp. It wouldn't really be that hard. Its not much different than the sides they offer now at CS. Fries are usually an option, but then the "healthy" sides vary by location and may include carrots, grapes, applesauce, yogurt, etc. I usually keep an eye on those so that my kids can have variety throughout their week instead of only having grapes and carrots. Setting the menus up this way would help the majority of people avoid chicken nuggets all week, but would still offer another "kid friendly" item for picky eaters.

 

[shan136]

What I don't get is why Disney seems to make the menus "all or nothing". Either the kids menu is only chicken nuggets, hamburgers and Mac and cheese, or it is grilled chicken, fish and steak. Why not a mix of both sets at ALL restaurants? 2 options could be for the "picky" eaters and 2 options could be for the more adventurous eaters. It seems to me there are a lot of people unhappy with kids meals at Disney on both sides of the issue. If they just did a combo of both everyone would be happy.

I agree with this statement. I don't think it would be cost prohibitive or inconvenient for WDW to have a larger children's menu. Most restaurants in WDW and elsewhere have a decent selection of "Adult Entrees" why limit children to only a few selections.

We have just started planning our October trip and I am trying to plan out our ADRs but the limited children's menus are making it tricky as I don't want my own dining experience to be limited to what my kids will eat on the "Children's Menu".

 

[Kwaschitz]

We are trying to decide between BOG and Whispering Canyon for a night of our trip and was looking at the Kids Dinner Menus. Is it me or is something strange here?

First of all, there are only really 4 choices,

Secondly, I really dont see any standard kids staples .. Grilled Cheese, Chik Nugs, Hot Dog, plain pasta wbutter, etc ... instead we are given the choice of Fish of the Day, Multigrain Cheese Dippers, Beef Macaroni, and a Cheeseburger.

I have a 3 & 5 yo .. anyone know of a 3 or 5 year old that would touch "Fish of the Day"?

At age 3-5, the ONLY option on any of the kids menus my son would have touched is grilled fish. His favorite has always been salmon, followed by ahi tuna, then mahi mahi/other white fleshed fish. We hated kids menus that only had "kid staples" because he turned up his nose at every. single. item. Now, at age 7, he'd still pick the fish most of the time but would agree to the cheese dippers you also listed (but neither of the others - he doesn't care for beef at all really other than a few bites of steak every once in a while).

When we were faced with more typical kids menu options, we were generally able to get them to make minor substitutions (for example, he wouldn't eat chicken nuggets then and disney was happy to sub grilled chicken though I can't remember which restaurant).

 

[Eliza'sMom]

My 4-year-old ordered the fish at BOG of her own volition and ate it, and all the sides, wonderfully. Isn't there also pasta with marinara sauce on that menu? Isn't that a pretty kid-friendly selection? Most children I know eat spaghetti.

She also will eat hot dogs and chicken fingers, but we really try to limit that. I love to see more menus with healthier choices.

 

[Eliza'sMom]

Also, we didn't want to order my 1-year-old a full meal, so we ordered her a side of macaroni and cheese, which is on the adult menu.

 

[photo_chick]

We are trying to decide between BOG and Whispering Canyon for a night of our trip and was looking at the Kids Dinner Menus. Is it me or is something strange here?

First of all, there are only really 4 choices,

Secondly, I really dont see any standard kids staples .. Grilled Cheese, Chik Nugs, Hot Dog, plain pasta wbutter, etc ... instead we are given the choice of Fish of the Day, Multigrain Cheese Dippers, Beef Macaroni, and a Cheeseburger.

I have a 3 & 5 yo .. anyone know of a 3 or 5 year old that would touch "Fish of the Day"? Understand that kids menu is for older kids too, but cmon would it hurt to have a simple kids food option for those picky or young kids? Even a cheeseburger in my mind is not friendly for the youngest of kids.

You think they would make a standard grilled cheese if we asked them?

And for those saying Disney needs to keep it more healthy thats fine to each their own.. just bring back some simple offerings as an addition.

Anyone agree?

My son has Aspergers and there's very few food he will eat. New things = meltdown. SO while we'd like to try some different restaurants, like BOG, we may have to skip it because they just don't have what he will eat. I think it's great that they're offering variety for kids, but they need to keep the picky eaters in mind too. For some of us vacation is the last place we should try to get our kids to eat new things because of special circumstances.

 

[ttintagel]

I have a 3 & 5 yo .. anyone know of a 3 or 5 year old that would touch "Fish of the Day"?

I would have at that age. We ate what our parents ate.

 

[GenevieveRaqs]

We are trying to decide between BOG and Whispering Canyon for a night of our trip and was looking at the Kids Dinner Menus. Is it me or is something strange here?

First of all, there are only really 4 choices,

Secondly, I really dont see any standard kids staples .. Grilled Cheese, Chik Nugs, Hot Dog, plain pasta wbutter, etc ... instead we are given the choice of Fish of the Day, Multigrain Cheese Dippers, Beef Macaroni, and a Cheeseburger.

I have a 3 & 5 yo .. anyone know of a 3 or 5 year old that would touch "Fish of the Day"? Understand that kids menu is for older kids too, but cmon would it hurt to have a simple kids food option for those picky or young kids? Even a cheeseburger in my mind is not friendly for the youngest of kids.

You think they would make a standard grilled cheese if we asked them?

And for those saying Disney needs to keep it more healthy thats fine to each their own.. just bring back some simple offerings as an addition.

Anyone agree?

Sorry, I disagree. My kid enjoys all of those healthier, real food items you listed. He's 4. He's always eaten "adult" food because we don't offer him meals that are different from what we eat. In fact, his first solid food meal was spanikopita!

 

[Canooknic]

This is why we have decided not to do the DDP, it's not worth paying for.
Our boys will be shariing something from the adult menu at most meals, they will occasionally agree to pizza but they wouldn't eat any 'kids' food - especially anything that is fried or in breadcrumbs.

 

[tonga]

We're going for 10 nights soon on the Quick Service plan, and I'm having a hard time finding options with a variety for my DS age 4. Sure he'd eat nuggets, pizza and hot dogs every day, but he likes a wide variety of healthier options that I'd rather he have. He would choose grilled fish, and loves any type of Asian cuisine. The one place that shocked me when I looked at menus on line was The Yak and Yeti CS. DS would eat anything on the adult menu, but the child's menu is something like nuggets and cheeseburger. Why not offer a child portion of what the adults can have? At All Star Sports food court the only pizza option for kids is plain cheese - he loves pepperoni and will happily eat mushrooms and veggies on pizza, but we'll have to use adult credits to get him that. Really, do most kids up to 9 only like cheese on their pizza? DH and I can find good variety for ourselves at the quick service places, but for DS it is going to be a challenge.

 

[minnie mum]

We're going for 10 nights soon on the Quick Service plan, and I'm having a hard time finding options with a variety for my DS age 4. Sure he'd eat nuggets, pizza and hot dogs every day, but he likes a wide variety of healthier options that I'd rather he have. He would choose grilled fish, and loves any type of Asian cuisine. The one place that shocked me when I looked at menus on line was The Yak and Yeti CS. DS would eat anything on the adult menu, but the child's menu is something like nuggets and cheeseburger. Why not offer a child portion of what the adults can have? At All Star Sports food court the only pizza option for kids is plain cheese - he loves pepperoni and will happily eat mushrooms and veggies on pizza, but we'll have to use adult credits to get him that. Really, do most kids up to 9 only like cheese on their pizza? DH and I can find good variety for ourselves at the quick service places, but for DS it is going to be a challenge.

Then maybe the dining plan isn't a good fit for your family. It was never intended to be one size fits all. Perhaps you will be better off paying OOP so that you can more easily select the foods that your child can eat. There are healthier food options available for kids, but you do have to do your homework by looking at all of the menus in order to find them .

 

[tiggerificamanda]

We're going for 10 nights soon on the Quick Service plan, and I'm having a hard time finding options with a variety for my DS age 4. Sure he'd eat nuggets, pizza and hot dogs every day, but he likes a wide variety of healthier options that I'd rather he have. He would choose grilled fish, and loves any type of Asian cuisine. The one place that shocked me when I looked at menus on line was The Yak and Yeti CS. DS would eat anything on the adult menu, but the child's menu is something like nuggets and cheeseburger. Why not offer a child portion of what the adults can have? At All Star Sports food court the only pizza option for kids is plain cheese - he loves pepperoni and will happily eat mushrooms and veggies on pizza, but we'll have to use adult credits to get him that. Really, do most kids up to 9 only like cheese on their pizza? DH and I can find good variety for ourselves at the quick service places, but for DS it is going to be a challenge.

POR dining hall has a lot of options for kids and great salad station. My husband and I shared a salad and I would a get a salad and my DD5 adn DS4 shared it. Disney does not distinguish from Adult or child dinning credits so we used ALL adult credits and meal shared. We also used our free mugs for drinks and got the bottled water for our touring bags. Saved a TON of money just doing that...

Amanda Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[tiggerificamanda]

We're going for 10 nights soon on the Quick Service plan, and I'm having a hard time finding options with a variety for my DS age 4. Sure he'd eat nuggets, pizza and hot dogs every day, but he likes a wide variety of healthier options that I'd rather he have. He would choose grilled fish, and loves any type of Asian cuisine. The one place that shocked me when I looked at menus on line was The Yak and Yeti CS. DS would eat anything on the adult menu, but the child's menu is something like nuggets and cheeseburger. Why not offer a child portion of what the adults can have? At All Star Sports food court the only pizza option for kids is plain cheese - he loves pepperoni and will happily eat mushrooms and veggies on pizza, but we'll have to use adult credits to get him that. Really, do most kids up to 9 only like cheese on their pizza? DH and I can find good variety for ourselves at the quick service places, but for DS it is going to be a challenge.

oh - on yak and yeti - that one adult portion - served my family of five! it was crazy huge!!!

Amanda Sent from my iPad using DISBoards