A bit of a Food Rant!!

[Jo-Anne]

I know the almighty dollar is behind this, but it really annoys me that for a place that caters to kids, other than sit down restaurants, there are typically no "child-sized" drinks or refreshments (ie. ice cream cones) available. Everywhere we went, we had to order a drink that only came in a large size or ice cream treats that were miles to big for my children to eat. On top of being very expensive, it was a huge waste! I also found the children's menus very limiting and unfortunately very repetative throughout WDW....I think my children are starting to look like Chicken nuggets as that seemed to be all they ate last week!!!! Okay, rant over....we had a very good time, but for some reason, this trip I really noticed the lack of small sized portions for the kids!

 

[RAV]

We recently returned from 17 days at WDW. We found that our son was sometimes better off ordering an appetizer rather than something from the kids menu. Adult meals are just too much food for him to consume but sometimes an appetizer and dessert were a way for him to mix it up a bit.

 

[vicb]

We found better variety on the children's menus in the WS part of Epcot.

 

[eeyore0062]

While I agree about the selection on the kid's menus, we did find that the adult entrees were large enough for DD to share with both of us, and we had plenty. She is not a picky eater and got very tired of chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, cheeseburgers and hotdogs.

As for the sizes of the icecream cones, etc... they are no different in size than other places. If you want a typical "scoop" of icecream, then you will need to go to an actual ice cream shop, not the vendors.

The drinks... we share, that way we don't waste them, or we buy the bottled drinks, so we can reseal them, and drink them at our leisure.

There are ways around your complaints, you just have know what they are!

 

[Harley Chick]

I think it's a perfectly legitimate complaint. Child-sized meals should come with child-sized drinks.

 

[dandave]

On our last visit, my then almost 6 year old asked for a double cheeseburger at Pecos Bill's. He ate it, too! He's about 53 pounds, but I don't know where he puts it!
We share drinks at the fast food places, too. I do think that the sit-down places should have more variety. I've been in the same position of fearing that I would soon be walking around with a chicken nugget, rather than a DS.

 

[eeyore0062]

When we went to Tusker house and DD got the mac and cheese, it came with a smaller sized drink, than what we got (20oz vs 32 oz). A CM came by our table and brought a smaller (10oz) cup to pour her drink into, so it was more manageable. She said that the smaller cups are available, just to ask next time. I don't mind having the extra soda, as it will get consumed, but it is nice to know that smaller, more manageable cups are available.

 

[dandave]

eeyore0062, I love those smaller cups they have at Tusker House. They have small cups stacked there by the utensils and condiments. My kids prefer water, so it was great to buy one bottled water and pour some for each into these cups.
I've never had a problem asking for and receiving extra plates at WDW take out places. Now I wonder if they all wouldn't give you an extra cup as well. Anbody asked for an extra cup?

 

[eeyore0062]

Haven't yet, but you can bet I will when we go in October!

 

[crisi]

We brought sippy cups for our kids - and now that they are a little older we will bring kids "sport bottles" with valves. We keep them filled with water most of the time, but juice mid morning and mid afternoon to keep blood sugar levels tolerable (or my daughter becomes a raving monster).

I don't let my kids drink a lot of pop - even at Disney - and milk comes in small sizes, so that's what we order.

Although I agree that the variety in kids meals is lacking, I actually think its a great thing - especially at the counter service restaurants. There is little variety at each restaurant (here you get a hot dog, there mac and cheese), but enough variety between restaurants that my kids had as much variety as they get at home. And limited menus make it possible to feed a lot of people quickly.

 

[goofiesgirlies]

March was our first trip to Disneyworld and we were very surprised at the huge portions and lack of 'kid meal' offerings. We asked for a small kid sized cup at Pecos Bills and they said they didn't have one. I think our DD (4 years) ate Cheezits and two sips of a huge pop.

Next time I will be better prepared. But it is hard when you have a picky eater.

I know the Mouse needs to make money but with a family park you would think kids meals/kids cups would be a no-brainer.

 

[pnelson]

I don't understand the complaint about the kids drinks-At almost every restaurant we ate at, we were brought a plastic cup with a lid and a straw for our son. In fact, we brought several of these home. I've always seen the kids cups at the restaurants. As far as variety, the kids meal seems to have the basic stuff that most kids want. I think ordering an appetizer is a good idea. We've also shared entrees with our son before.

 

[Jo-Anne]

If you re-read my original post, I did say that "other than sit down restaurants....", so it's not the restaurants that I had an issue with. We did do the sharing, we never ordered a meal for my 3yr old, he just ate off our dinners and I did pay full price for some ice cream treats and asked them just to fill it to a kids size, but overall, I think that the Disney vendors should be offering child portions where they can....drinks, soft ice cream treats etc.