Its Not Fair

[Sandi]

We made BBB reservations for DNiece (3) and DNephew (5) at the Castle a few weeks ago. They do a "cool dude" for boys. DNephew walked in for his appointment and basically said "no way" there were only girls. My sister talked to the staff there who said that they are working on another venue for boys that would have a pirate theme -- hair, costumes, etc. DNiece, on the other had, had a terrific time and enjoyed being a princess for the rest of the day. We're looking forward to the pirate place.

 

[iheartdisney]

I like that Idea rotate the characters on different days. Great Idea.

It is agreat idea, but could you imagine the UG and Birnbaum guide? And the number of people who make ADRs thinking they are going to get Toy Story and get lets say, a princess tea? it is a good idea in theory but not so much in practice! (kinda like the night-time versions of rides...its just not practical!)

 

[allisonswonderland]

I love the idea of Princess meals and all of that...as a newly married woman who has a husband who has only abrother and who's father has only brothers....I think I may be seeing a future of having no princesses....I do think that they could make some additional meals...Maybe one at MGM centered around movies that is a bit more versatlie with their characters: like right now Ratoullie is HUGE put those characters in there now and then when the next big hit comes out, put those characters in there. It would not be hard to switch them around.

I think a Pirates Meal would be great because it would be gender neutral and I believe that tweens could get into it too.

 

[dshouse4]

Hi, this is my first trip to Disney with my two grandsons. I had two girls, both girly girls. My oldest daughter has blessed us with two grandsons, ages 9 & 7. We are visiting the world in September. The only request of my youngest DD (age 20) is to have breakfast at the Castle with Cinderella. When I approached my DGSs about this, no way Grammie!!! My DH, DSI and DGSs are taking a boat to Fort Wilderness to eat at trails end buffet and to rent water mice afterward. They think that is great and mom and DDs will have a princess breakfast. We have also booked the pirate cruise from the Grand Floridian (after checking with DGSs about mom and dad not going). And we are planning to go to the Main St. Barber Shop for hair color gel and pixie dust on Tuesday morning so that it will be in their hair for MNSSHP that night. I just had to search for things that would seem special for them. Of course it is their first time and the adults have not been in 8 years.

A special character meal would be great.....but I'm going to make it as special as possible now, we may not make it back to WDW for a few years.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I think one issue with a boy's breakfast is finding something that appeals to all ages. Most girls, even those of us with kids or those with grandkids, still want to be a princess. Eating in a castle & being treated like royality, appeals to all ages. OTOH, the ideas such as Toy Story, Cars, etc. only appeal to most younger boys. I'm sure there's exceptions, but I don't know a teenage boy who would choose to dine with Buzz & Woody. Things like pirates & Star Wars only appeal to a certain demographic. Believe it or not, there's some of us ladies who couldn't care less about dining with Johnny Depp himself, much less a close representation of him. On a similar note, I don't know any teens secretly wishing to sail the high seas in search of loot.

I personally think 1900 PF's addition of Cindy's stepmom & stepsisters was a step in the right direction. Most boys like to be entertained through humor regardless of how old they are. By the time my DS was 8, the only character meal he wanted to attend was 1900 PF's breakfast. He thought the Mad Hatter was a riot, but you can only go to the same restaurant so many times, before it starts to get old. I'm not saying they shouldn't add Pixar, etc. meals. I do think it would be great for the younger boys. A pirates makeover would also be really cute for that same demographic. There should be more opportunities like that. I just think that humorous face characters would appeal to a wider age range. 1 for the younger set & 1 for the boys who've outgrown most of those characters would work for me.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

With Toy Story 3 coming out in a couple of years, there is no reason they couldn't do a Toy Story breakfast with Buzz, Woody, Jesse, army guys and a couple of others.

Like maybe Stinky Pete?

 

[mello]

Oh, that sounds neat!

 

[aarmando20]

yes it does

 

[teedisney]

I love the ToyStory breakfast idea.

 

[stopher1]

I personally think 1900 PF's addition of Cindy's stepmom & stepsisters was a step in the right direction. Most boys like to be entertained through humor regardless of how old they are.

You bet - Anastasia was a scream...I had to get my picture with her, it was great, many of the guys in the room were just playing it up with her when we went last fall. Druzilla was good too, but that Anastasia, my goodness, she was fun. The rest of the experience was just so so, but that Anastasia - I'm smiling now just thinking back on that dinner.
They made it all the better for my sons, too, who were only tolerating the Cindy part for their sister's sake....

 

[TDC Nala]

someone mentioned a Ratatouille meal - does Ratatouille appeal to boys?

I'd do the meal but it'd have to be gourmet food. Remy wouldn't settle for less.

 

[SunnieRN]

someone mentioned a Ratatouille meal - does Ratatouille appeal to boys?

I'd do the meal but it'd have to be gourmet food. Remy wouldn't settle for less.

lol very cute!!

 

[Minniemouse07]

When the families of boys book activities (like the pirate cruise) and buy merchandize about "boy characters" at the same rate as the families of girls book activities and buy merchandize about princesses I bet Disney will add more opportunities.

FWIW..my princess loving almost 7yo daughter (we are drowning in them here at home) picked a second pirate cruise over going to BBB for her birthday trip in July.

The pirate cruises are NOT a "boy" activity...they are a CHILD activity.

Our family would also be all over a pirate meal... and ds is only 2yo and heavily into Cars and Thomas the Tank Engine. Pirates are waaaaay off his radar!

 

[luvtogo12]

Years ago, there was a VILLAINS breakfast at the GF. It was only around for a few months because of so many terrified children.

We went to the Villians dinner at 1900 Park fare and it was a blast. I wish they still had this.

 

[EnnEss]

I think one issue with a boy's breakfast is finding something that appeals to all ages. Most girls, even those of us with kids or those with grandkids, still want to be a princess. Eating in a castle & being treated like royality, appeals to all ages. OTOH, the ideas such as Toy Story, Cars, etc. only appeal to most younger boys. I'm sure there's exceptions, but I don't know a teenage boy who would choose to dine with Buzz & Woody. Things like pirates & Star Wars only appeal to a certain demographic.

You're right, it would appeal to a certain demographic. All males everywhere. I guruantee you 90 percent of boys/guys want to be a jedi. I dont care if you're six, seven, fourteen, twenty one or thirty nine. Star wars hits every demographic of males. Do you think they pulled in 400 million dollars on one movie by hitting the age 8 - 15 bracket? Star wars would hit HUGE. You can add every princess movie together and one Star Wars movie still obliterates it, let alone the six of them. I think Star Wars would out draw princesses easily for at least the first year it was open if they had a meal. Star Wars is like the catch all for guys, its superheroes, action stars, spies, all rolled into one. Grab a lightsaber, throw it at any guy, 9/10 will play with it, regardless of age.

I'd like to comment on the whole, girls buy more things, put forward. Thats a result of society telling them to buy more, and marketing being geared to them. Do people really think girls are wired to buy more than guys? I can't believe I actually read women supporting this view, its probably one of the most sexist things I've ever read. To attest that young girls somehow want to buy more than guys, if anything, speaks to the fact kids are influenced more by marketing than their own parents, and parents of those children may wish to reflect on the values they are instilling.

Anyways, I'm always surprised how under utilized the Star Wars franchise is, I can only assume its a result of issues with George Lucas's company because I know Disney would exploit this franchise if they could, it's probably their number one franchise, easily outselling anything they've ever produced. It's ashame too because its not like Lucas Arts is doing anything with it.

 

[creativeamanda]

I have been one who has had a difficult time finding a "boys" activity for my son. He loves his sisters, but frankly, I think he is a bit weary of all of the girly activities we toss him into. The problem for me, and I think any parent who has more than one child of varying sexes is this: how do we do what is fair for all of our children? I think, for instance, the dinner at 1900 Park Fare is a good mixture. At least the boy gets to see Prince Charming. (but then again, I am not doing that one, either)

 

[ICF]

Anyways, I'm always surprised how under utilized the Star Wars franchise is, I can only assume its a result of issues with George Lucas's company because I know Disney would exploit this franchise if they could, it's probably their number one franchise, easily outselling anything they've ever produced. It's ashame too because its not like Lucas Arts is doing anything with it.

Disney can only do what Lucas says they can, although I think a breakfast would be awesome.

Lucas is doing plenty with SW....he has a new SW movie coming out this Aug to launch the new CLone Wars animated series....there is a new live action TV series coming likely in the fall of 2009 and a new game for the XBOX / Wii (and perhaps PS3) is coming out this fall as well to bridge the gaps between Eps III & IV.

 

[mdoc]

I'm surprised that Disney hasn't introduced a character meal with pirates or monsters or Star Wars characters or Woody/Buzz or even villains. I have three daughters. They're 14, 11 and 8 now, but we've been going to WDW a couple times a year since the oldest was 4 and they have NEVER been into the princesses. We've never been to CRT, the Princess Breakfast in Norway or BBB and none of my daughters has ever asked to go there. They have no desire to go to Ariel's Grotto or to wait in the super-long princess line in ToonTown (did that once, never again). They've enjoyed meeting the characters at Chef Mickey and Crystal Palace, but the things they like to do are ride horses or ponies at Fort Wilderness and ride the Sea Raycers. They'd much rather do that than meet characters or get made up as princesses. I think that would be the case even if there were "boy" oriented character meals.

 

[carmiedog]

The Jedi training...I think is offered all of the time but you have to get their early and chance being picked which we will be doing for all of the show the two days we are at studios. DS is really wanting to do this and yes if it cost 150$ like the crown package I would be pulling out my credit card just like the parents of the girls.


I would be willing to bet if their were a Star Wars character meal you would have to call 180 days out at 7am just like CRT once the word got out.

oh yeah! I think Disney missed on that one - I'd definitely pay for a guarantee that my boys could face off with Vader!

agree with the SW meal as well. except it wouldn't just be for little boys...there'd be some serious competition between families and grown-up fans for those spots!

 

[Rylee]

I'd like to comment on the whole, girls buy more things, put forward. Thats a result of society telling them to buy more, and marketing being geared to them. Do people really think girls are wired to buy more than guys? I can't believe I actually read women supporting this view, its probably one of the most sexist things I've ever read. To attest that young girls somehow want to buy more than guys, if anything, speaks to the fact kids are influenced more by marketing than their own parents, and parents of those children may wish to reflect on the values they are instilling.

QUOTE]

Hi, as the mother of 3 girls and 2 boys... I just wanted to respond to your comment.

I was a firm believe, that some of the differences between young girls and boys, was a direct result of how the parents treated them... right from birth. Example: 6 month old girl wakes from nap, parent - high pitch voice... "Good morning sweetheart." 6 month old boy wakes from nap, parent - lowers voice... "Hey Slugger, how ya doin"?"

Our 3 girls were born first, then came the boys... We were every bit as tender and loving in the way we handled the boys as we were with the girls.

What we discovered was we were wrong... the boys were drawn to some very typical "boy stuff" that neither my husband or I are even interested in... (DH is a music loving, peace-keeping musician and the intellectual type, doesn't hunt or even play a sport... okay, I'll be really honest... think - nerdy book smart, philosopher that sings for our supper, accountant by day) yet, the boys are the opposite... rough acting, into sports, etc.

Anyway, all three of the girls love to shop, and would always want to go into the gift shops and just had to buy something. The boys hate the gift shops, and on our last trip, the older boy asked to buy a sword on the way out of Pirates. The younger one never asked for a thing.

I realize this may not be true of all girls and boys, and more related to personality differences, but so far, this has been our experience, even though we think of ourselves as very conscientious parents.