DDP--Kids Options (Venting)

[Nebraska_Disney]

we used the regular DDP on our last trip (10 days) just a few weeks ago. I understand that Disney is trying to promote a healthier menu for kids, but after 10 days you really do figure out that there is very little in the way of variety. In many instances, the menu's at the table service places were almost the exact same as what was served at the counter service places. I mean kids can only eat so many of the same options before they get bored. Some places are great about mixing up the kids menu's but they (Disney) really need to look outside of the box a bit more. We finally started asking our servers what they could do for substitutions and that did help. If you are listening, please, PLEASE have more choices at table service options that are NOT buffet. Ban the chicken nugget !

 

[hannahdrewmom]

and meaty macaroni!

 

[mickeygirl14]

ITA - I would love if they'd have smaller portions of some of the adult menu items for kids. I have a daughter that's a very adventurous eater - she doesn't want the "kid" stuff.

 

[sl_underwood]

My son is the same way. He will try anything. Some of his favorites are sushi, crab legs, and other non kid type foods. He will do PB& J on ocassion but not the nasty uncrustables they sell in the parks. Meaty macaroni- not likely. We tend to use his kids credits for breakfast and share at CS for lunch or dinner. It just works better. I do wish they would come up with some better options though.

 

[jm106]

we also struggled with his, almost a reason I stayed away from DP but we looked and found some options we are happy with. we wont even bother to mention kids foods, my kids dont care for them. I need to make sure someplace ODS can get his broccoli fix or it could get ugly.
Boma- Buffett but not typical
Ohana
Whispering Canyon Cafe
San Angel
then 2 breakfast buffets for characters (I would love a character breakfast that wasnt preplated or buffet just prder what I would like andnot a princess or the like)

 

[heatherbynum]

Same thing here. My 8 year old likes to eat more and different things. I know he would get tired of eating the same things all week long, so he is now upgraded to dine on the adult menu. More choices and more food

 

[smiths02]

we used the regular DDP on our last trip (10 days) just a few weeks ago. I understand that Disney is trying to promote a healthier menu for kids, but after 10 days you really do figure out that there is very little in the way of variety. In many instances, the menu's at the table service places were almost the exact same as what was served at the counter service places. I mean kids can only eat so many of the same options before they get bored. Some places are great about mixing up the kids menu's but they (Disney) really need to look outside of the box a bit more. We finally started asking our servers what they could do for substitutions and that did help. If you are listening, please, PLEASE have more choices at table service options that are NOT buffet. Ban the chicken nugget !

If you have a kid like that, you need to upgrade to the kid to Disney adult, choose more buffets or pay OOP. You can get by cheaper paying OOP-you might even be able to find other discounts.
Or you could eat table service breakfast at places like Kona to use kid credits and just pay OOP for something for the adults and then share or pay something OOP for the kid at a later meal.

If Disney offers more kid options, I see the price of DDP for kids going up. Do you expect a lot more than chicken nuggets for $12/day

 

[imthatgirl]

Well lets face it you are paying $12 a day for your childs food, Disney isn't going to be serving them gourmet meals for that price.

If anyone has a child that wants more, upgrade them to the adult dining plan.

 

[jlk806]

Restaurants we've found with different options:
Tony's Town Square
Planet Hollywood
Whispering Canyon Cafe

all the buffets

 

[5boyz]

They could just give smaller portions on some of the stuff including CS places....the kids meals are brutal.

 

[jm106]

Well lets face it you are paying $12 a day for your childs food, Disney isn't going to be serving them gourmet meals for that price.

If anyone has a child that wants more, upgrade them to the adult dining plan.

You also need to upgrade their park passes to adult as well this way.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

I don't think the dining plan is the biggest problem of this.... its the whole menu in general. My kids are young and there is no way that they could eat an entire adult meal. They normally share a kids meal! However, many "normal" (ie. non disney) restaurants offer bigger variety. The point of this is that kids can eat more than chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. Besides the fact that they are not healthy for kids it is also limiting their parents. My kids don't eat this stuff at home. I don't let it in my house. I work hard all year to avoid it. It's vacation and I can live with it if they eat it then... but to a degree. It would be nice to see a salad or something a little more adventurous. They don't need to have crab legs (although my kids would love it).... but if you are charging $17 for some Noodles at Kona what about a smaller portion of those noodles as a kids portion. I think the thinking here is that this is vacation and the reason that we as adults like certain restaurants is for some of their "signature" meals. (Not signature restaurants) So if you love pineapple pancakes at Kona why not a small portion for kids? I don't think the whole menu has to be crazy but an option or 2 would be nice. A couple restaurants do do a good job so I don't think you can say it's the price that is preventing it. I think it is Disney not giving kids enough credit.

 

[imthatgirl]

You also need to upgrade their park passes to adult as well this way.

obviously.

 

[mom of princessx2]

I don't think the dining plan is the biggest problem of this.... its the whole menu in general. My kids are young and there is no way that they could eat an entire adult meal. They normally share a kids meal! However, many "normal" (ie. non disney) restaurants offer bigger variety. The point of this is that kids can eat more than chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. Besides the fact that they are not healthy for kids it is also limiting their parents. My kids don't eat this stuff at home. I don't let it in my house. I work hard all year to avoid it. It's vacation and I can live with it if they eat it then... but to a degree. It would be nice to see a salad or something a little more adventurous. They don't need to have crab legs (although my kids would love it).... but if you are charging $17 for some Noodles at Kona what about a smaller portion of those noodles as a kids portion. I think the thinking here is that this is vacation and the reason that we as adults like certain restaurants is for some of their "signature" meals. (Not signature restaurants) So if you love pineapple pancakes at Kona why not a small portion for kids? I don't think the whole menu has to be crazy but an option or 2 would be nice. A couple restaurants do do a good job so I don't think you can say it's the price that is preventing it. I think it is Disney not giving kids enough credit.

I totally agree! If they already have that item on the menu why can't we get a smaller portion? We have started to do more of the buffets because my dd's are sick of applesauce, grapes and chicken nuggets by the end of our trip. I plan a lot of meals based on the childs menu and those menus are sad They really need to expand the sides at the CS locations for children as well.
As far as substitutes at TS we have been told no many times. Our dd's like the yogurt and rice but not the fish and we have been told no substitutions.

 

[jm106]

obviously.

Sorry some ppl dont know that so its not obvious. I see that question here alot so I didnt want ppl to think it was a choice to just upgrade one.

 

[MSLRAC]

I don't think the dining plan is the biggest problem of this.... its the whole menu in general. My kids are young and there is no way that they could eat an entire adult meal. They normally share a kids meal! However, many "normal" (ie. non disney) restaurants offer bigger variety. The point of this is that kids can eat more than chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. Besides the fact that they are not healthy for kids it is also limiting their parents. My kids don't eat this stuff at home. I don't let it in my house. I work hard all year to avoid it. It's vacation and I can live with it if they eat it then... but to a degree. It would be nice to see a salad or something a little more adventurous. They don't need to have crab legs (although my kids would love it).... but if you are charging $17 for some Noodles at Kona what about a smaller portion of those noodles as a kids portion. I think the thinking here is that this is vacation and the reason that we as adults like certain restaurants is for some of their "signature" meals. (Not signature restaurants) So if you love pineapple pancakes at Kona why not a small portion for kids? I don't think the whole menu has to be crazy but an option or 2 would be nice. A couple restaurants do do a good job so I don't think you can say it's the price that is preventing it. I think it is Disney not giving kids enough credit.

We eat out quite often and our kids find the same choices at home that they do at Disney...burgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, mac & cheese, etc. That's why our kids tend to split an adult entree when we go out. So I don't think that Disney is that far off base with their children's menus.

I totally agree! If they already have that item on the menu why can't we get a smaller portion? We have started to do more of the buffets because my dd's are sick of applesauce, grapes and chicken nuggets by the end of our trip. I plan a lot of meals based on the childs menu and those menus are sad They really need to expand the sides at the CS locations for children as well.
As far as substitutes at TS we have been told no many times. Our dd's like the yogurt and rice but not the fish and we have been told no substitutions.

I'm sure they could offer smaller portions of adult foods but I'm also sure that the price of a child's DDP would probably double. That is not going to make anyone happy either.



I found plenty of other options for my kids last year but I did spend countless hours going over menu after menu for every restaurant on property in order to find restaurants that offered other things. We also opted for the DxDP to ensure that we could do TS meals for every meal because we knew that CS meals were not going to please anyone in our family.

Some of the places my kids got non kid type foods were...
All the buffets (Biergarten, Boma, Cape May, CP, TH, CM, 1900 PF) Flying Fish, LTT, The Wave, Narcoossee's, GFC, Citricos, Ohana, Cali Grill, Kona, Y&Y, 50's PT, Coral Reef, LeCellier, Rose & Crown, Tutto Italia, Akershus and Tappen Edo.

Since our trip, I've also added La Hacienda, Via Napoli, Wolf Gang Puck's Yachtsman, Nine Dragons, San Angel, Tony's, Jiko, WCC and Artist's Point to our list.

 

[Eeyore's Wife]

We have found that it is more cost effective to keep a "disney child" as a child on the DDP and Tickets and then plan for "oop" upgrades.

To maximize his dining enjoyment at a minimum price did the following:

The child's snack credit can be used anywhere, so use that credit to get a variety of things, not just mickey ice cream. When my son was 9 he got egg rolls, large soft pretzels, fruit smoothies, and hummus.

We used his kid meal credits for breakfast items, it is hard to mess up a Mickey Headed waffle or eggs. (back then it also got him a drink and a juice, which we took with us since he used his mug in the morning but now it would just be one drink.)

We used "kid credits" in Epcot for Fish and Chips and for Wurst in Germany. At Sommerfest he also got a "nice" dessert with his meal.

We planned ahead as much as possible for the better children's meals.

We ate more buffets, so he could have all the variety.

At other places we would get the adult and kid meals and then pool all the resulting food and everyone would eat a bit of everything.

All the counter service restaurants have "unhealthy" sides of cookies, french fries, and soda if you ask for them. This at least added some variety to those red grapes.

We also allowed our son to get a fun appetizer or dessert at the restaurants who had lackluster kids meals. These usually only added 5-7 dollars to the price of the day, much less than paying for the adult Meal plan and paying for Adult ticket prices.

 

[1hero2princesses]

I think part of the problem is a lot of places only have 2 or 3 choices on the menu for kids. That is just rediculous. Around here there are usually 6 to 8 choices on a kids menu at a sit down restaurant. 2 of my 3 kids do not eat macaroni. None of them eat PBJ (check out the HS counter service menus it is everywhere). I actually am amazed at how few places actually even have burgers. It is usually nuggets or PBJ or maybe macaroni and a grilled chicken breast. A few places throw a hot dog in. Come on - give them a few choices at least!

 

[mousegear]

Same as my DS who is 7. He has very grown up palate when it comes to food. He prefers sushi, sashimi, salad to chicken nuggets, pizza and meaty macaroni which he refuses to eat. So we avoid all those CS places that have those options for kids CS or I share mine with him. We like CS meals in EPCOT since they do have little more variety even for kids.

 

[maxiesmom]

Well lets face it you are paying $12 a day for your childs food, Disney isn't going to be serving them gourmet meals for that price.

If anyone has a child that wants more, upgrade them to the adult dining plan.

Exactly! For $12 day you really can't expect to get smaller portions of the food they charge adults an arm and a leg for.

And though it is too late for the OP, this is where doing research can really pay off. There are places that offer more than chicken nuggets or a burger on their kids menu, but you have to look to find them.

The Grand Floridian Cafe has salmon on their kids menu, and my niece loved it. The Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom is a family style restaurant with turkey, pork, and beef served to everyone, including the kids. The Garden Grill in Epcot has chicken legs on their kids menu. And those are just a few examples.

You really do need to do research when thinking about getting the dining plan. First you need to figure out if it would save you money. And part of that is looking at menus and seeing if your kids would eat the food they are offered. If not, then maybe the dining plan is not for you. It isn't meant to fit every family all of the time. If it works for you, great. If not, then you are better off without it.