Kids' meals are lousy

[2binak]

We ended up using some of the kids' credits for breakfast. We'd get a kids' platter of bacon and eggs and share it. Remember also that restaurants that don't have a kids' menu will let you use the credit for an adult meal. For example, we were able to get a turkey leg using DD's credit (but no dessert since they didn't have anything). We had a great breakfast sandwich in AK back by the safari that we got with a kids' credit since there wasn't a kids' meal offered. We all split it to hold us over until lunch.

This isn't always true - maybe it depends on the place or maybe it depends on the CM but we were in line at Tamu Tamu last Nov when the family ahead of us overheard the cashier telling another family that they could not use kids credits there. The parents were not happy and were not shy about expressing their unhappiness, especially after a 15+ min wait just to get to the ordering window. The dads of both families ended up going to Pizzafari to get their kids meals there while the rest of the families got their meals at Tamu Tamu.

 

[sukhakuli]

We ate at Tangerine cafe twice. Food was warm and bland. Service was slow and rude.

We ate at WP and didnt like it, so I have never tried WPE

I have not tried Flame tree as my wife will not do BBQ...I guess I should try. I am actually content to grab a corn dog at one of the carts in AK, but I really expect the parks to have some repeat factor to them...

Just ate at Harbour house and was not impressed there either. Had 2 pieces of greasy fried fish with warm tartar sauce...yuck

I guess I just expect more out of a $9 meal than most people...

Honestly, I think your expectations are a bit unreasonable. Even a happy meal is 5 bucks these days. I took my oldest out for lunch at the Saltgrass, and our meal, for 2 people, was 55, not including tips. Food has gotten very expensive everywhere, so honestly, what Disney does for 9 bucks is pretty good, especially when you add in the theme park upcharge. Go out to Sea World sometime and see what you can get for 9 dollars....

 

[HunnyJar]

Honestly, I think your expectations are a bit unreasonable. Even a happy meal is 5 bucks these days. I took my oldest out for lunch at the Saltgrass, and our meal, for 2 people, was 55, not including tips. Food has gotten very expensive everywhere, so honestly, what Disney does for 9 bucks is pretty good, especially when you add in the theme park upcharge. Go out to Sea World sometime and see what you can get for 9 dollars....

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

 

[RMulieri]

Honestly, I think your expectations are a bit unreasonable. Even a happy meal is 5 bucks these days. I took my oldest out for lunch at the Saltgrass, and our meal, for 2 people, was 55, not including tips. Food has gotten very expensive everywhere, so honestly, what Disney does for 9 bucks is pretty good, especially when you add in the theme park upcharge. Go out to Sea World sometime and see what you can get for 9 dollars....

I also agree..I live near Hershey Prk..You get hardly anything for $9..Food in general ( as well as clothing) costs have risen astronomically everywhere in the past 3 yrs.OT- But My weekly bills for groceries used to be $100-150 for family of 3.I buy the same stuff weekly and my bills are now $200 easily..

 

[sukhakuli]

I also agree..I live near Hershey Prk..You get hardly anything for $9..Food in general ( as well as clothing) costs have risen astronomically everywhere in the past 3 yrs.OT- But My weekly bills for groceries used to be $100-150 for family of 3.I buy the same stuff weekly and my bills are now $200 easily..

Don't I know it. I used to be able to feed a family of 7 (my parents were living with us) for about 350 a month. Now if my grocery budget is under 1,000 it was a good month.

 

[vossjemi]

I have an 11 year old daughter who eats like a bird and likes the kids meals of nuggets and mac n cheese. I also have a 9 year old son who eats like a horse and will definitely want the adult sized portion of ribs. Can they swap credits like this? I figure most menus will be like that for them.

 

[Tramp68]

Honestly, I think your expectations are a bit unreasonable. Even a happy meal is 5 bucks these days. I took my oldest out for lunch at the Saltgrass, and our meal, for 2 people, was 55, not including tips. Food has gotten very expensive everywhere, so honestly, what Disney does for 9 bucks is pretty good, especially when you add in the theme park upcharge. Go out to Sea World sometime and see what you can get for 9 dollars....

At Sea World (and US/IOA) I can spend $15 for a child and get unlimited meals AND Free drinks all day long. for $30 I can get the same thing as an adult. This is a much better deal than anything I can buy at Disney. (although the food is just as bad)

$9 for a sub par grade hamburger (insert menu item here) and warm undercooked fries is not good by any means. I can eat a meal WITH drink at any major fast food joint for under $8 and sit at a cleam table and expect the food to be hot at the very least.

Disney does their TS above all expectations, why can't they get CS down? There really is no excuse for luke warm food and dirty tables. There is also no excuse for buying the cheapest meats and products available either...



I can purchase better quality hot dogs at any major sports arena for the same price, why can't Disney do it?

 

[Tinkerbellah]

Thank you for this post. Now that you mention it. Grapes every meal would get old even for my 1 year old. I'll be sharing my meal w/ my son but I know a 7 year old needs a lot more food than a 1year old. I'm happy they have healthy choices but I refuse to ever give my son chicken nuggets @ every meal. & mac & cheese has little nutritional value, unless it's whole grain pasta. I feel MOST restaurants lack healthy choices for kid's meals, not just WDW. This post made me realize I need to pack some extra snacks for my boy.So thanks!

For adults, the choice & food is great @ WDW. Many top notch places to dine. I think they could up the variety for kids.

 

[vossjemi]

Actually my favorite threads are the ones where the husband only eats those things.

On a side note, on CS, no one's kids need to eat kids meals, nuff said.

Are you saying a kid can order something off the regular menu at CS? For example, my 9 year old son will devour the 1/2 slab of ribs at Cosmic Ray's. Can he order that instead of the kids menu?

 

[2binak]

I have an 11 year old daughter who eats like a bird and likes the kids meals of nuggets and mac n cheese. I also have a 9 year old son who eats like a horse and will definitely want the adult sized portion of ribs. Can they swap credits like this? I figure most menus will be like that for them.

They won't need to swap credits since all of your credits are combined into one account. You'll order the number of kids meals & the number of adult meals that you want at each meal. It doesn't matter who eats what, just that you get a kids meal with the kids credit & an adult meal with the adult credit.

 

[sukhakuli]

At Sea World (and US/IOA) I can spend $15 for a child and get unlimited meals AND Free drinks all day long. for $30 I can get the same thing as an adult. This is a much better deal than anything I can buy at Disney. (although the food is just as bad)

$9 for a sub par grade hamburger (insert menu item here) and warm undercooked fries is not good by any means. I can eat a meal WITH drink at any major fast food joint for under $8 and sit at a cleam table and expect the food to be hot at the very least.

Disney does their TS above all expectations, why can't they get CS down? There really is no excuse for luke warm food and dirty tables. There is also no excuse for buying the cheapest meats and products available either...



I can purchase better quality hot dogs at any major sports arena for the same price, why can't Disney do it?

Your experiences with Disney CS is 180 from mine. So we will have to agree to disagree. I have always sat at clean tables, the food was always hot, and generally really yummy. DL does have better CS than DW, but DW isn't what you have described, in my own personal experience.

It seems that TS or getting corn dogs off the cart is the way to go for you. I hope you have a fun trip!

 

[crimsontide27]

At Sea World (and US/IOA) I can spend $15 for a child and get unlimited meals AND Free drinks all day long. for $30 I can get the same thing as an adult. This is a much better deal than anything I can buy at Disney. (although the food is just as bad)

$9 for a sub par grade hamburger (insert menu item here) and warm undercooked fries is not good by any means. I can eat a meal WITH drink at any major fast food joint for under $8 and sit at a cleam table and expect the food to be hot at the very least.

Disney does their TS above all expectations, why can't they get CS down? There really is no excuse for luke warm food and dirty tables. There is also no excuse for buying the cheapest meats and products available either...



I can purchase better quality hot dogs at any major sports arena for the same price, why can't Disney do it?

I can get 10cent hot dogs at a baseball game, guess Disney should beat that price and just give them all away for free too right? Disney is a business just like every other business. If you have high expectations for a $9 meal, hop yourself right over to burger king and get a #2 combo...which will run you 7 bucks for a "quality meal"

$9 for a meal at the most popular tourist destination in the world is a bargain. If you dont like the prices, stop spending tens of thousands of dollars to come here as often as your signature suggests and go to Six Flags and report back how awesome they might be.

 

[LilyWDW]

Are you saying a kid can order something off the regular menu at CS? For example, my 9 year old son will devour the 1/2 slab of ribs at Cosmic Ray's. Can he order that instead of the kids menu?

No.

Kids must eat from the children's menu where one is available (for the dining plan). This is the rule of using the dining plan and discussions about getting around Disney's official policies are not allowed on these boards.

Your KTTK card will say you have XA/YC. So, if you have 2 adults and 1 child, then your card will state that (2A/1C). You will NOT be allowed to order more meals then you have credits. So, in the example given, you can only order 2 adult meals and 1 child meal at a time. You would not be allowed to order 3 adult meals.

 

[vossjemi]

Thanks...I think I was just misreading their post. But I read somewhere else that you can upgrade a child to adult meal relatively cheap, which I may do since my son can eat WAY more than me!!! AND he has more exotic tastes than the typical child...he's 9 and LOVES crab legs, escargot, sushi, can practically eat a whole slab of ribs himself, and last time we went to a hibachi grill, he had calamari and shrimp saute!! Nope, he won't like chicken nuggets or mac and cheese. LOL But my 11DD might...so I'm going to sit down with them and look at a few menus of the TS and CS restaurants we plan to visit and see if they can swap adult/child or if I need to upgrade him. Thanks for all the advice here or I never would have thought of upgrading!

 

[amym2]

This isn't always true - maybe it depends on the place or maybe it depends on the CM but we were in line at Tamu Tamu last Nov when the family ahead of us overheard the cashier telling another family that they could not use kids credits there. The parents were not happy and were not shy about expressing their unhappiness, especially after a 15+ min wait just to get to the ordering window. The dads of both families ended up going to Pizzafari to get their kids meals there while the rest of the families got their meals at Tamu Tamu.

That's where we got the breakfast sandwich using kids' meal credits- Tamu Tamu- and they were very nice about it. So I guess it probably is true that it depends on the CM!

 

[cavepig]

This isn't always true - maybe it depends on the place or maybe it depends on the CM but we were in line at Tamu Tamu last Nov when the family ahead of us overheard the cashier telling another family that they could not use kids credits there. The parents were not happy and were not shy about expressing their unhappiness, especially after a 15+ min wait just to get to the ordering window. The dads of both families ended up going to Pizzafari to get their kids meals there while the rest of the families got their meals at Tamu Tamu.

As far as I know if there is not kid's meal than they are allowed to order the same as the adult, so in the case of Tamu Tamu if there was no kid's meal than they should have been able to get adult meals with the kid's credits. Sounds like the CM was misinformed that time. Best places to do this that I have found are France and Main St. Bakery, they didn't have kids meals in June so the kids got the same as adults. Oh, and Casey's Corner unless they changed.

 

[nicki.momof3]

I would love to hear some examples with locations, because I have yet to find any of them. (Exception given for the options in the Land Pavillion at EPCOT)

Columbia harbor house - tuna sandwich is wonderful as is the fish. Great value for a counter service.

I agree WDW CS is better than 90% of fast food places. I think Tramp68 needs to look a little harder.

 

[Colleen27]

This isn't always true - maybe it depends on the place or maybe it depends on the CM but we were in line at Tamu Tamu last Nov when the family ahead of us overheard the cashier telling another family that they could not use kids credits there. The parents were not happy and were not shy about expressing their unhappiness, especially after a 15+ min wait just to get to the ordering window. The dads of both families ended up going to Pizzafari to get their kids meals there while the rest of the families got their meals at Tamu Tamu.

It shouldn't depend on the CM - it is official Disney policy, straight off the DDP brochures. That CM was just misinformed.

 

[Tramp68]

I can get 10cent hot dogs at a baseball game, guess Disney should beat that price and just give them all away for free too right? Disney is a business just like every other business. If you have high expectations for a $9 meal, hop yourself right over to burger king and get a #2 combo...which will run you 7 bucks for a "quality meal"

$9 for a meal at the most popular tourist destination in the world is a bargain. If you dont like the prices, stop spending tens of thousands of dollars to come here as often as your signature suggests and go to Six Flags and report back how awesome they might be.

1st of all there is no $9 meal at Disney CS..you have to add another $3+ for a beverage. So that $9 meal is really a $14 meal with tax and drink. So, yes...I would prefer a $7 combo meal at Burger King over a $14 Disney CS.

But, why would I want to do that? I do the simple thing. I spend my money on the exceptional table service restaurants that Disney has to offer. I wouldn't eat at Burger King at home and I wont eat CS at Disney unless I have to. My point is that Disney could EASILY step up their game on CS and provide truly healthy and different alternatives to the over 90% fried crap that they serve at CS. The very few options that they do provide that are not fried could be of a much higher quality. They are already making a 3000% profit on every soft drink that they sell. They do not need to make as much money on the meal itself.

I see my tastes are obviously different from the people posting here. I forgot that anything negative about Disney is met with Flames and Arrows. I truly thought that there could be a discussion about where improvements can be made. I was mistaken....
\
** fixed 2 typos **

 

[vossjemi]

We will be heading to WDW in a little more than 3 weeks. If I upgrade my son to adult menu, the cost is $23. But my TA didn't ask and wasn't sure if there would be a late change fee this close in time. Does anyone know? She thought that might be an additional fee of $15 if they charged that when she called back to upgrade me. I almost asked her to call back first, and I may, but I thought I would ask here first to see if anyone knows. Thanks.