My only three disappointments from recent trip

[Lorilais_mommie]

I agree kids menus are awful...

Wen we did the DDP, the kids menus were all the same!!
I could believe it..
This time we will be OOP (cheaper then DDP)
But have booked more buffets, so she can eat some roast beef, salad, and other things..

Disney needs to realize children need a little variety..
Maybe have the standard chicken, pizza, and Mac and cheese..
Then pick two things off the adult menu and make it into a smaller size..
There would be no extra cost, since they order the same food anyways for adult menus..

 

[redkel]

Duh! But I'm a trombonist LOL. I should have known that!

Oh my...and now I'm hearing RIB with Oboe. *shudder*

I'm a clarinet player!

Love my Gershwin...

 

[rizzo0904]

I don't give my kids nuggets. They don't get fries. Yah, I'm mean.

We will visit tangierine in morocco....my boys love hummus! Fairly certain it will be their favorite meal of the trip!

My four year old loves salad and last time I went that was a kids option at many cs locations.

Doing boma one night too. The three year old will have a meal of hummus and the older one will be in buffet glory!

 

[maxiesmom]

Disney needs to realize children need a little variety..
Maybe have the standard chicken, pizza, and Mac and cheese..
Then pick two things off the adult menu and make it into a smaller size..
There would be no extra cost, since they order the same food anyways for adult menus..

They do have variety. But you need to know which places have what you want ahead of time. Then it is easy to find things like steak, salmon, chicken salads, vegetable lo mein, shrimp,.......

They won't ever do the smaller portion thing on the menu as they would stand to lose money from the adults if they did so. Unless they set and enforced an age limit on who could order the kids sized portions, and then people would be up in arms over that.

Disney has plenty of variety for kids. But you have to be willing to find it.

 

[World Showcaser]

There are so many people who complain that restaurants do not have enough dumbed down kiddie food. Then there are those that say *all* they can find is kiddie food - Disney just can't win, or please all the mommies. Just need to look at the menus, then you'll see there are options.

I think they could win if they made it a little more balanced. While it's true that some kids menus offer a single more sophisticated option, it is typically one option out of five or six. Why not make half the options your "junk food" like nuggets and mac and cheese and half the options something more interesting?

I don't think anyone's saying that Disney doesn't offer some options for kids. I think the complaint is that there aren't enough options. And it's not a matter of simply looking at the menus ahead of time. I have studied all the menus and booked restaurants based on the variety of their kids menus and still sufficient options just aren't there, in my opinion.

And for those who say you can just order off the adult menu for them...while that is true, I don't think you should have to pay adult prices and get an adult serving just to avoid chicken nuggets and pizza. Also, they heavily market a dining plan and, with that, ordering off the adult menu for children is not an option.

 

[AngiTN]

I don't if anyone's thought about bringing a bobble with them, but I'm going to try it on my next trip to the World next year. I've been using it on tap water in my house, and it really does taste like filtered water. Check it out on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Bobble-Water-Bottle-Ounce-Magenta/dp/B003LTFS5Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1360966113&sr=1-1&keywords=bobble+water+bottle

Yes, I took Bobble bottles on our trip last December and they managed to filter out the nasty FL water just fine. I made sure to have a brand new filter considering I knew how hard it would have to work to make that water drinkable

 

[ThreeBeans]

Yes, I took Bobble bottles on our trip last December and they managed to filter out the nasty FL water just fine. I made sure to have a brand new filter considering I knew how hard it would have to work to make that water drinkable

Does anyone know if you can use the Bobble filters in a different bottle, or do you have to buy theirs?

 

[larryz]

Florida water always has that sulfur smell and taste. Drink packets work wonders on it. Or just stick with bottled water.

I grew up over in Lou'siana. Our tap water had the same sort of rotten eggy smell...I think it has something to do with the vegetation rotting in the sands of the aquifer...

Anyway, to get rid of it, we'd simply fill empty milk containers and let them sit overnight in the 'fridge.

Today, you can take a portable counter-top filter system with you (or use a portable system like Brita) to clean up the excess "rotten egg" smell.

 

[huhwhat]

It is kind of funny that you comment about that food being boring. The new Be Our Guest restaurant has kids food that is NOT nuggets and pizza, and many posters are up in arms about that! Just shows that it really can pay off to look at menus ahead of time (and pray they don't change them on you!)

my son loved the mickey meatloaf, I tasted it and whuuuh, gag. My daughter had the turkey sandwhich and it was gross....the french ionion soup would have been good if they actually sliced the onions...huge onion chunks ! yuck

 

[chartle]

Yes, I took Bobble bottles on our trip last December and they managed to filter out the nasty FL water just fine. I made sure to have a brand new filter considering I knew how hard it would have to work to make that water drinkable

Yes we used a Brita and the carbon filter bottles work.

Does anyone know if you can use the Bobble filters in a different bottle, or do you have to buy theirs?

Probably not the Bobble but the Brita ones maybe. The neck of a Brita bottle appears to be the same size as a regular water bottle. Someone asked and I tried a Brita filter in one of those roll up water bottles. The problem is that with all these filter bottles you have to squeeze them. So the bottle must be flexible but not too flexible.

You are best just to get their bottles. I liked the Brita so much more than the Bobble. The Rubbermaid one also looks good.

 

[songkat]

2. What happened to Illuminations? I remembered this being a great show with tons of cool laser light effects and dancing lights on each country's building, projections on water sprays, etc. It was mot worth waiting for 9:30 to see in my opinion.

I totally agree - we are so disappointed by Illuminations that we avoid it now. It's more a pyro show than anything.

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

They do have variety. But you need to know which places have what you want ahead of time. Then it is easy to find things like steak, salmon, chicken salads, vegetable lo mein, shrimp,.......

They won't ever do the smaller portion thing on the menu as they would stand to lose money from the adults if they did so. Unless they set and enforced an age limit on who could order the kids sized portions, and then people would be up in arms over that.

Disney has plenty of variety for kids. But you have to be willing to find it.

I agree there is variety, but you have to know where to look.. However if you are on the DDP, they really don't give your little one much choice..
This is why on our next trip, we are going to pay OOP.. And use TIW card, for the extra 20% off..
We like a lot of character meals, which AT THE TIME only offer the pizza/nuggets/ Mac and cheese/ and maybe grilled cheese on the DDP..
But with the TIW now I can order one adult meal and let me kids share it..
And we can go to other locations not on the DDP..

 

[Deb & Bill]

I agree there is variety, but you have to know where to look.. However if you are on the DDP, they really don't give your little one much choice..
This is why on our next trip, we are going to pay OOP.. And use TIW card, for the extra 20% off..
We like a lot of character meals, which AT THE TIME only offer the pizza/nuggets/ Mac and cheese/ and maybe grilled cheese on the DDP..
But with the TIW now I can order one adult meal and let me kids share it..
And we can go to other locations not on the DDP..

Most, if not all, of the character meals are either family style or buffet. Your kids can eat anything off the buffet, not just the pizza, nuggets, etc. You will pay the full price for each child aged 3 through 9 for character meals whether they eat it or not. The baby (under three) will not be charged, but you might have to pay for a beverage for the baby. Not sure.

TIW does not offer discounts at all the table service dining and at most of the counter service, just selected counter service and most table service. And there are holiday blackouts for TIW if you are there for holiday times.

My guess is that anywhere and more than TIW offers a discount is on the Disney Dining Plan. So you might have fewer options using TIW. Unless you will forgo TIW for some of your choices for dining and just pay the listed price.

TIW also adds an automatic 18% gratiuity to your table service dining.

 

[maxiesmom]

I agree there is variety, but you have to know where to look.. However if you are on the DDP, they really don't give your little one much choice..

I'm a bit confused by this comment. They don't have separate menus for kids on or off the dining plan. The menu is the menu.

Just a quick check for the Magic Kingdom shows more than 17 different choices for kids at the table service places alone! That doesn't count any of the buffets or quick service places. I think that is a lot of different choices.

 

[chartle]

I'm a bit confused by this comment. They don't have separate menus for kids on or off the dining plan. The menu is the menu.

Just a quick check for the Magic Kingdom shows more than 17 different choices for kids at the table service places alone! That doesn't count any of the buffets or quick service places. I think that is a lot of different choices.

I'm thinking if on the DDP kids can only get kids meals. OOP you can get either one.

 

[2binak]

Yes we used a Brita and the carbon filter bottles work.

Probably not the Bobble but the Brita ones maybe. The neck of a Brita bottle appears to be the same size as a regular water bottle. Someone asked and I tried a Brita filter in one of those roll up water bottles. The problem is that with all these filter bottles you have to squeeze them. So the bottle must be flexible but not too flexible.

You are best just to get their bottles. I liked the Brita so much more than the Bobble. The Rubbermaid one also looks good.

We have both the Brita & Camelbak filtered bottles. We brought the Camelbak to Disney because we find it easier to use since you don't have to squeeze the bottle. Just bite the valve and drink like you're using a straw.

 

[GiJohnsGirl]

I'm curious...has anyone ever offered to pay for an extra kid's meal for an under three year old? It's a moot point for us now, because our youngest is now over three, but I'm still curious. It was a very perplexing situation at the time.

We have. My daughter is a big eater and loves everything (she is also going to be the tallest in the family). At counter services we ordered an extra for her, but a lot of times we were offered separate plates for her at ts so we could share (like CRT in my profile pic). Sometimes we were given some side things for her for free (just bc we had nice servers, not the standard). They brought her free grapes and milk at Sanaa (she had already eaten prior to our dinner and was fussing). So, yes it did happen to us and we did have to order for her sometimes (w/o any fuss). Maybe the people had an off day or maybe it was the time of year.

 

[GiJohnsGirl]

I think they could win if they made it a little more balanced. While it's true that some kids menus offer a single more sophisticated option, it is typically one option out of five or six. Why not make half the options your "junk food" like nuggets and mac and cheese and half the options something more interesting?

I don't think anyone's saying that Disney doesn't offer some options for kids. I think the complaint is that there aren't enough options. And it's not a matter of simply looking at the menus ahead of time. I have studied all the menus and booked restaurants based on the variety of their kids menus and still sufficient options just aren't there, in my opinion.

And for those who say you can just order off the adult menu for them...while that is true, I don't think you should have to pay adult prices and get an adult serving just to avoid chicken nuggets and pizza. Also, they heavily market a dining plan and, with that, ordering off the adult menu for children is not an option.

I agree with this. I wish there was less junk on the menu. They can get enough from snacks an desserts at the parks.

 

[DisneyFive]

I do tend to agree about a fairly limited menu for kids, particularely at TS meals (except for buffets). It seems that most kid menus are almost carbon copies of each other...

Pasta, chicken strips, burger, grilled cheese, maybe fish, rinse, repeat...

Fortunately, our kids don't mind. (two still use the kids menu). However, we do tend to share our adult meals with out kids at TS meals so they get more variety.

In our three trips to the world (23 nights total), we still haven't seen Illuminations. We have seen every other parade, nighttime show, etc.. but Illuminations has just not drawn us in yet. From the descriptions here, I think I would have LOVED the previous version. We are making a specific effort this year to see it though.

Dan

 

[patsal]

I always just ordered and paid OOP for my DD when she was under 3 I figure the server isn't psychic and I knew what I wanted to do for her so it was easy.