Kid's meal questions

[pugcrazy]

This is the first time I have had to plan a trip with picky kids in mind. The menus show very limited kids menus. We will have a 6 and 9 year old with us on our next trip. I have been looking over menus for our favorite dining spots. The menus don't look promising. The dining plan has always worked well for us before, but I'm not sure this time.

Columbia Harbour house for example does not even show fish or chicken as an option for kids.

What about hamburgers. I expected to be able to get chicken nuggets or hamburgers at most Quick Service places.

The table Service spots look to be okay, but I hate to think we will have to eat at one place and then go half way across the park to feed the kids.

Anyone else have experience with this. Can we request other choices for kids?

 

[Dizneydaz]

You're right, the choices are pretty limited. I looked at Columbia, Cosmic Rays, and Pecos Bills. Only CR had chicken nuggets and only PB had a hamburger. I don't know if you can substitute another choice but if you plan it right it may not be too bad. If yous kids want a hamburger (and you want Columbia House) I would grab them one at Pecos Bills and then go to CH for your meal. One of you could be ordering while the kids start eating. Not ideal, but doable. But I agree, it pretty much sucks.

Luckily for me this year, my DD will be turning 10 and considered an adult. She can choose from the entire menu. When she was a kid though, what we did a lot of was my DM and I would order 2 adult meals and she would share with one or both of us. Usually plenty of food at CS to do this. At Cosmic Rays the 3 of us shared the Chicken/Ribs Combo plate. Just a thought.

 

[cbilton]

Just returned from our first WDW trip and this was probably our biggest beef. The kids meal choices are minimal, just plain junk, and the portions are ridiculously small. The kids meal choices on the DDP for CRT were a hotdog or chicken nuggets. This was supposed to be a grand dining event in the castle!! I definitely would not do the DDP again with a child.

 

[cbilton]

... what we did a lot of was my DM and I would order 2 adult meals and she would share with one or both of us...

Great idea - this is what I would definitely do for a child.

 

[brymolmom]

While I agree that kids picks are way limited...Keep in mind that the price for the child plan is way cheap too - so not too surprising that they can't have more expensive fare to choose from. And, having traveled with 2 kids - it IS possible to do it - just be creative and check the menus carefully. Yes, if you are going to eat when you're hungry and head into the closest CS - then you'll probably end up at a loss with kids choices, but if you plan ahead - it is not as bad as many make it out to be....

We do as other pp's have mentioned and split some adult CS meals - if you add in a snack credit or two to get an additional fries or fruit - there is plenty to go around. Also - I'll get a double burger and split it in half - I never get a double 'usually' so half of it is plenty. DS gets the other half.

Looking at Cosmic Rays - your kids could get nuggets - sounds like they like them.

My kids are always good with pizza - pinocchio village haus.

We might also hit main st. bakery and let the kids have a pastry as a meal.

We like sunshine seasons in EPCOT for some different kids choices. I would even eat ds's sweet & sour chicken and let him have an adult choice.

Wolfgang puck express in DTD has some great choices. I'm really looking forward to this one.

Also - the food courts, IMO - have decent kids CS choices. At POP - they can get pizza, pasta, stir fry, burger or nuggets. So you could split a lot at the parks and just use kids credits at the food court.

And then with TS - I usually get 90% of our reservations based on the kids menu ( I stick one or two in for dh and I ) - I'll go to places with pasta or a hot dog or to buffets - so the kids can have a little bit of kid food and a little adult food. My kids do not like WDW mac n cheese so I steer clear of those places.

Definitely possible to do it. Don't fear!

 

[RMulieri]

We usually stuck with Cosmic Rays while at MK. My DD was picky too and we managed to make it work and she never went hungry.It can be done .

 

[sdchickie]

If you are going during free dining you can have the kids put in the reservation as adults so they can get the adult dining the only thing is you have to pay a little extra for the park tickets. I did this last year and it was well worth the extra $. If not on the free dining definately not worth the extra $. Pecos Bills has a kids meal that is a salad with chicken breast on it, I really liked that one so I ended up ordering that as my meal and let my older daughter order off the adult meal with my credit. Another idea is ordering a double cheeseburger with an adult credit and ordering a second bun, they usually charge around $1.00 for the extra bun and voila 2 burgers for the kids.

 

[pugcrazy]

Thank you for all the advise. These are not my kids and I am not paying their way, I am just the "Official Vacation Planner" for the group. Our group of eight has left the planning to me on all vacations since I planned our first Disney trip in 2005. The trips we took with the boys then weren't a problem because they were younger and strangely less picky. As Disney hadn't gone to this "healthy" menu for kids at that time.

I will present your ideas to my sister and she can decide how to handle her kids.

I think I will suggest that she pay for the 9 year old as an adult. Then the boys can split an adult meal or order an adult meal & a kids meal and pick and choose what they eat off both. They are not big eaters and often split a meal when we go out to eat at home.

 

[kimgof]

I do agree that the kids menu choices are very limited. If your child is a picky eater already this causes a dilemma. Then, like my kids, who only eat pizza, chicken nuggets or hotdog, they eat it for 9 days straight! After a while they get bored of it. Even the dessert is the same thing at every place pretty much. My daughter , who likes soup would get that when available and we switched desserts a few times with the kids . There are ways to keep it interesting for them if you really try. Not that my kids really complained.....we were in Disney after all

 

[dd50]

We are getting the food package with the limited children's menu but I will be sharing my food with my two grandkids as I don't eat that much and I am sure one of my older kids will do that also. I don't usually eat much dessert so I will split that in two for them.

If the child is 9 and you are going when it is free I would put them in as an adult. If paying I would keep it as a child meal.

 

[Pumbaa_]

The kid's meals are for ages 3-9. HUGE range there. What a 3 yo may eat compared to a 9 yo can differ greatly.

Great suggestions from other posters. May even be worth it to just buy additional sides here and there

(and i agree, it is crazy you can't buy your kid a burger! )