Anyone else frustrated with kid's menu?

[Magic2000]

Although we were not on the dining plan, when we were at Disney this past July and also last December, my DD often ordered the kids meal and substituted fries with no problem at all. Just ask. At the TS restaurants, it says on the menu that "fries and softdrink" can be substituted.

Have a great trip!

 

[penguincrazie]

My DD is allergic to dairy and eggs as well as avoiding nuts, so she can't eat off the kids menu. We usually order her grilled chicken or something and we've always been charged the kids price. She gets more than she can eat too (but she is only 2).

 

[OneBadApple]

My DD is allergic to dairy and eggs as well as avoiding nuts, so she can't eat off the kids menu. We usually order her grilled chicken or something and we've always been charged the kids price. She gets more than she can eat too (but she is only 2).

Was this at CS places or just TS? I know that most TS restaurants around here will allow the kids to order something off the regular menu in a child's portion.

 

[yngsj]

I also agree the kids meals need more options. On our last trip we had so much food from the DDP that my kids hardly touched their meals and shared ours. On our next trip in 14 days my DS in now 10 so there will be even more food for my DD8 to share but it would be nice if there were small sizes of more adult meals for the kids.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Don't like the child menus?
2) Easy solution.
3) Either pay out-of-pocket (OOP) or don't get the DDP.
4) Problem solved.

 

[jenjersnap]

I agree with OP! It has nothing to do whether you get the dining plan or not. The kids' meals do not offer enough variety for a weeklong vacation. We found that to be true as cash-paying customers last time.

I like the healthier choices personally, but, when planning our meals, there are going to be a couple days when the TS and CS choices for that day are pretty much the same exact stuff. We somewhat are getting around most other days by eating lots of buffets as our TS and I am going to take turns exchanging my CS meals for my kids' meals to inject a bit more variety for them. I also think I will be eating my share of TS ice cream sundaes and turning over my yummy desserts to them. I don't need the calories anyway, but, gosh, the sacrifices we make for our kids ...

 

[skater]

At buffets, your kids will have all of the same choices as adults, and can eat as much as they want. Boma was fabulous, and so was the breakfast buffet at the Crystal Palace.

As for other places, you just have to look around. PT 50's serves grilled fish, hot dogs, meatloaf, soup and salad. Mama Melrose's has grilled fish, pizza and pasta, fruit salad, and sundaes. Sci Fi has burgers and hot dogs. And that's just TS at MGM.

If you are looking for good kid's choices for CS, look at Epcot. Kids can order quesadillas, BBQ chicken drumstick, teriyaki chicken with rice and veggies, hamburger or pizza (the last two in Morocco, of all places!)

A lot of it is attitude. If you go into it thinking, "All of the kids' menus stink, they are all the same, my kids will be bored, my kids will hate it," then you are probably right. You will set up that expectation for yourself and your children. If you go into it thinking it will be fun to try new things, and see what different places serve, your kids may feel the same way. And if you are on the DDP, a lot of people feel the adult meals are just too much food, so share a little with your kids, and they will be fine. And they will each have a snack credit every day for an extra treat

I hear what you're saying, but am a little confused about the being fun to try new things statement. That has been our difficulty with the DDP in the past - our kids love to try new things and it can be extremely challenging to do that with the kids' menus. As far as good choices at Epcot, that's fine for when you're there . Also, attitude has nothing to do with thinking the kids' menus stink - they really aren't that great and I have to set up certain expectations for my kids, so they're not shocked when we get there. Explaining it ahead of time also prepares my DD 13 to share some of her food. Now, I am truly respectfully disagreeing with you, these are just my opinions . Also, I understand that the value of the kid's meals has to be less since the cost is so much less - I just wish Disney would be a tad more creative. I do agree with you that Prime Time has some good kid's choices. Also, we're excited about Le Cellier since we can pay $2 and the kids can have steak!!! (Maybe that might be a good solution for other restaurants - a small charge that would allow some more interesting choices?)

 

[aceandmee]

My DD is allergic to dairy and eggs as well as avoiding nuts, so she can't eat off the kids menu. We usually order her grilled chicken or something and we've always been charged the kids price. She gets more than she can eat too (but she is only 2).

Was this at both TS & CS? Two of my kids have food allergies and I was wondering if we would be charged extra, even though we have the dining plan. My son for sure can't have any of the items typically on the kids menu.

 

[firsttimer2007]

Was this at TS & CS? Two of my kids have food allergies and I was wondering if we would be charged extra, even though we have the dining plan. My son for sure can't have any of the items typically on the kids menu.

TS = Table Service
CS= Counter Service

 

[firsttimer2007]

I can tell I will be eating a lot of kids meals. While my DS's 6 & 8 will be eating my meal. YUCK!

 

[mom2my3kids]

My son will turn 10 Sept 30th so I just upped him up and paid for him as a adult..No way he would eat mac and cheese the whole trip..

 

[Tink415]

PB&J, chicken nuggets and mac & cheese , these are my DD's favorites, EXCEPT she doesn't like the PB&J or mac & cheese at WDW What we do, eat at buffets, share our dinners, buy her something she will enjoy eating. Even w/ DDP. The DDP, for this year anyway, is still a good value even if you buy extra food

 

[pcparamedics01]

We are are the dining plan and my DS is still considered a child. I have looked at many of the kid's menus and they seem to be all the same, especially the counter service. How many times can a kid eat PB&J, chicken nuggets and mac & cheese in a 6-day period? There are places that have pizza on the main menu, but none on the kid's menu. There are other places that have burgers on the main menu, but not on the kid's menu. Why don't they add things like turkey sandwiches to the kid's menu?

I thought it was pretty limited too.

 

[HappyTap]

We found a few more adventurous items on TS in Epcot, like others have stated.

But something we finally figured out toward the end of the trip was that on our receipts, child and adult table service meals were listed separately (in the area where it says how many we have left), but our counter service meals were listed all together. We ended up ordering more adult counter service meals than we did kids (and we used all our credits), and they all counted the same.

So it looked like in the system, our account for two days would have looked like:

Available TS Adult: 4
Available TS Children: 4
Available CS: 8

So you may be able to order adult counter service meals for your kiddos. We did with no problems.

 

[keeping quiet]

The restaurant I work at in the parks originally had 4 healthy option choices, along with the standard kid's menu choices, when Disney first rolled out the healthy options program. Due to lack of sales, we had to drop 2 of the options. To this day, we really only sell one of the options (no one chooses the other healthy option) and the chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and hot dog are by far the most popular (in that order). The bulk of our guests opt to get them with french fries instead of the mashed potatoes.

One of my favorite CS park restaurant is Columbia House and they have great kids options including grilled chicken breast on a salad.

Unfortunately, while many complain there is nothing by the usual on kid's menus, when they change, no one buys the other options and the chicken nuggets always win out.

 

[OneBadApple]

The restaurant I work at in the parks originally had 4 healthy option choices, along with the standard kid's menu choices, when Disney first rolled out the healthy options program. Due to lack of sales, we had to drop 2 of the options. To this day, we really only sell one of the options (no one chooses the other healthy option) and the chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and hot dog are by far the most popular (in that order). The bulk of our guests opt to get them with french fries instead of the mashed potatoes.

One of my favorite CS park restaurant is Columbia House and they have great kids options including grilled chicken breast on a salad.

Unfortunately, while many complain there is nothing by the usual on kid's menus, when they change, no one buys the other options and the chicken nuggets always win out.

I'm not necessarily looking for healthier choices, just other choices. Like I said how many times can a kid eat PB&J, mac & cheese and chicken nuggets.

Going to a pizza place that doesn't have pizza on the kid's menu, is like McDonald's not having hamburgers on the kid's menu.

 

[keeping quiet]

Healthy or otherwise, it is a choice. Disney uses that term and as such, so do I. I still stand by my statement. When we expanded our menus, we still sold pretty much only the chicken, hot dog and mac and cheese. For the record, my restaurant has 2 additional meals that we offer for children on request only. Include that 2 and my restaurant offers 8 choices for the childrens meals. All of the restaurants in my park offer at least 6. If your child really does eat food other than the standard children fare, then ask. If I had a guest who politely explained to me that their child was sick of nuggets and fries (or whatever) I would gleefully run to the chef and see what we could do.

I agree, no pizza on kid's menu at a pizza restaurant is stupid and I would ask them what you need to do to get pizza for your child. As someone else posted, the children/adult coupons are not differentiated by the computer.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay, here's the deal.
I used the two best websites for menus - wdwinfo.com and allearsnet.
I used the most up-to-date menu for each restaurant.
Park restaurants only.
No closed or about-to-close locations.
No buffets or family-style service.
Only locations with separate kids menus.


I found thirty menu items available at only one restaurant each. That sounds like variety to me.

I feel I could have included "Fish of the day, since that's likely different from day to day - hence, the name - but I didn't.

These unique items are bolded for ease of identification.

Now, I do realize that many items ARE found on more than one menu. I tried to count those (see below) but may have gotten confused on the chicken dishes.

Here we go!

Cinderella's Royal Table 6/07:
Lunch
[Minor Domo
Chicken Strips
Pretzel Dogs
Baked Pasta Marinara
Dinner
Baked Pasta Marinara
Beef & Macaroni
Chicken Strips
Mini Hot Dogs

Liberty Tree Tavern 4/07
Lunch
Pizza
Beef & Macaroni
Sliced turkey
Macaroni & Cheese

Plaza Restaurant 4/07
Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Grilled Chicken on a Stick
Junior Chef Salad
Mickey's Turkey Sandwich

PB & J Sandwich
Two Mini Hamburgers

Tony's Town Square 4/07
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Grilled fish of the day
Pizza
Macaroni & Cheese

Chefs de France 8/07
Blanc de Poulet aux Nouilles - Breaded chicken strips served with pasta.
Croquette de Boeuf en Brioche - Ground beef steaks in a brioche bun
Filet de limande saute avec haricots vert et tomates - Pan roasted flounder

Le Cellier 8/07
Beef & Macaroni
Pasta with tomato sauce
Hot Dog
Grilled Steak
Pizza

Nine Dragons 8/07
Fried Rice and Spring Roll
Pork pot sticker and sweet and sour chicken
Sweet and Sour Chicken

Restaurant Akershus 8/07
Grilled Chicken Breast
Grilled Salmon
Cheese Ravioli
Pasta and Meatballs
Hot Dog (served with corn)
Cheese Pizza
Viking Turkey & Cheese Roll Up

Restaurant Marrakesh 8/07
Chicken Tenders
Child's Kefta - Hamburger
Child's Vegetable Couscous
Moroccan Pasta

Rose & Crown 8/07
Bangers & Mash

San Angel Inn 8/07
Mahi Mahi
Pollo con Fideos
Quesadilla de Pollo

Coral Reef 8/07
Grilled Fish of the Day
Pizza
Grilled mahi mahi
grilled chicken breast
Macaroni & cheese

50s Prime Time 6/07
Grilled Chicken Strips
Grilled Fish of the Day
macaroni & cheese
chicken nuggets
meatloaf
grilled hot dog

Hollywood Brown Derby 6/07
Beef & Macaroni
Grilled All-Beef Hot Dog
Grilled Breast of Chicken
Grilled Cheese
Tempura Grouper Strips

Mama Melrose's 6/07
Chicken Strips
Grilled Fish of the Day
cheese pizza
pepperoni pizza
spaghetti or penne pasta with tomato sauce
spaghetti or penne pasta with cheese sauce


Sci-fi 6/07
Beef & Macaroni
Macaroni & cheese
Hot dog
Hamburger
Pizza


---
Columbia Harbor House 10/06
Grilled Chicken with Cheese
Macaroni & Cheese

Cosmic Ray's 10/06
Garden Salad With Chicken
Mini Corn Dogs

Pecos Bill's 5/07
Sloppy Joe
Chilled Chicken with Carrots & Celery

Cantina de San Angel 2/07
Chicken & cheese quesadilla

Kringla Bakery og Kafe 8/07
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

Liberty Inn 8/07
Chicken Nuggets
Chilled Chicken
Peanut Butter & Jelly

Tangierine Cafe 8/07
Kids Meal Chicken Tenders
Kids Meal Hamburger
Kids Meal Pizza

Electric Umbrella 8/07
Chicken Nuggets
Mac & Cheese
Turkey Pinwheels

Sunshine Seasons 8/07
Chicken Leg

Macaroni & Cheese
Make Your Own Mini Sub
Sweet & Sour Chicken

ABC Commissary 6/07
Child's Chicken Nuggets
Child's Fried Fish
Vegetable Noodle Stir Fry

Backlot Express 6/07
Chicken Nuggets
Chilled Chicken & Vegetables

Rosie's All-American 6/07
Child Chicken Nuggets

Pizzafari 5/07
Quesadilla
Peanut Butter & Jelly

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Eight Macaroni & cheese
Five Beef & macaroni
Nine grilled OR broiled chicken nuggets OR strips
Three chilled chicken
Six hot dog
Nine Pizza
Five Hamburger
Four Grilled fish of the day
Two pasta with red sauce
Three Quesadillas

 

[ang]

We just came back from wdw. My ds was not happy (9). We were on the ddp so we share a lot of our food.
The chicken breast are tasteless and the hamburger he had at kona was horrible, and mac and cheese is nasty. He did enjoy the soups. Oh, ff are extra at kona cafe.
the kids menues do suck.
Now at coral reef the kids menu offer mahi (fish) which he loved.
At commissionary at mgm they offer fish.
When we ate at POP I ate the kids meal and I let him have mine.

I am sorry,I think they can do better on the kids meals. Not all kids live to eat chicken nuggets and mac cheese.
I did go through all the menus way in advance before I left. I made all our table restaurants to make sure he had different things to pick from.

Sorry to say, when you are hungry and tired you not going to walk all away across the theme park to get that different one item. LOL

 

[cinjoe22]

We never have a problem with the kids meals. We ate in 5/07 at Kona the kids had Mahi Mahi, Coral Reef they ate Mahi Mahi, Narcoossee they ate Salmon, Yatchsman they had steak, 50's primetime meatloaf, Spoodles the pizza and Concourse Steakhouse they had steak. I have one who always orders french fries and the other that always asks for broccoli. I actually think this years menus are much better than last year when they had taken off the mac and cheese, burgers and hotdogs. People were furious because they are on vacation and didn't want their kids to have to eat healthy. Now every place offers the 2/3 kid picks, and a couple of special items that change per restaurant. A bunch of the places also serve the beef macarroni which is just spaghetti with meat and we also have ordered that with no sauce and have put butter and parmesean on it. We also had many place change veggies to one they had on the adult menu. It is all in the presentation to the server. We never had an issue.