MDR and picky eaters.

Lesverts

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
Messages
1,661
I was on the Wonder and my brother and his family were on the Wish. There was drastically different types of kids menus between the two sailings. The menus on the Wish made my brother decide not to go to a single MDR dinner because of how picky his wife and the 2 kids are (think pizza, some pasta, chicken nuggets/fingers and fries). My ship was perfectly accommodating to that type of meal restriction. My brother didn't even ask or attempt to see if they could make things work on the Wish.

Am I right in thinking that Disney is use to these kinds of restrictive eaters and accommodates regardless of the menu? Because currently I kind of feel like my brother was being a bit dense for not even asking and missing out on 2 dinner shows.
 
I agree with you. They’ll accommodate picky eaters, adults and children. There’s the Lighter Side offerings that are super simple. There’s also “I would like a plate of plain pasta” that they can easily accommodate, imo.
 
The menus on the Wish made my brother decide not to go to a single MDR dinner because of how picky his wife and the 2 kids are (think pizza, some pasta, chicken nuggets/fingers and fries).
I haven’t been on the Wish yet, but is your brother saying these things are NOT available? According to menus posted on the disneycruiselineblog.com pizza and pasta are available at each MDR and chicken tenders at one. Did he not look at the kids menus?
 
I haven’t been on the Wish yet, but is your brother saying these things are NOT available? According to menus posted on the disneycruiselineblog.com pizza and pasta are available at each MDR and chicken tenders at one. Did he not look at the kids menus?

Makes me think he didn't look closely enough and my experience is that chicken tenders were brought out even when they weren't on the menu on the night.
 

You can also ask for a garden or caesar salad if you don’t like the options On the menu. I do that often because I’m picky too.
 
Mac n cheese is usually available every night. I saw an adult order a steak and a bowl of Mac n cheese every night on one of our Fantasy cruises. I believe bake potatoes are also available every night.
 
On every DCL ship and DCL cruise we've been on we see servers accommodating dinners. We don't go to a lot of MDRs just because we are casual and prefer to eliminate the questions (questions which are very nice and asked with the best intentions of good service). The one aspect I enjoy about the MDRs are the different offerings, usually the vegetarian offerings which are so different than the standard meat/shellfish and potatoes. The last cruise we went on was with family so we attended most of the MDRs and the server said, "Are you sure you're not a vegetarian?" LOL. The one MDR we missed the server was very anxious over why we didn't attend because DH's brother told them we didn't like anything on the menu. We didn't but really we just wanted to relax.
 
My daughter used to be very picky. Every night our server brought her a bowl of fettuccine Alfredo and made her feel so special because it was ”just” for her.
 
I agree with the the majority of posts above, the MDR servers will be very accommodating. We often get Caesar Salads even though they are not on the menu. I have asked for a side of pasta with the Eggplant Rollatini appetizer to make a meal, and they will get us items from the other restaurants if possible (pasta pursettes 3 nights in a row, LOL). Once we cruised with someone who enjoyed spicy food and our servers got the chef to make all sorts of creations for him. Seeing that I'm sure they can make simple, plain meals upon request.
 
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Myself, my wife and my 2 daughters were just on the Wish from Nov. 13th-17th. I am a very picky eater, burgers, chicken strips type of person. My kids are the same. The first night, we talked to our Server and Servers Assistant and they were the most friendly and super accommodating people ever. Each night they made sure my youngest daughter (2) always had chicken strips and fries waiting for her and always had either cheese/pepperoni pizza waiting for my oldest daughter (5).

I made it clear I was picky and they were super friendly about it and I actually did try out each MDR menu every night and tried something but they let me know if I just wanted a burger, chicken tenders or even pizza they'd have it ready for me each night.

So my best advice is talk to your servers, they are there to help and make your cruise better and that's what happened with us.
 
Quick hijack question - anyone ever ask for some real Mac and cheese with real cheese in it? The stuff they typically serve on the buffet and MDRs is such low quality mush - thank you
 
Quick hijack question - anyone ever ask for some real Mac and cheese with real cheese in it? The stuff they typically serve on the buffet and MDRs is such low quality mush - thank you
That's probably all they have, unless it's a side that is part of a specific night's menu. But even then, it's probably boxed/food supplier mac n cheese. Real mac n cheese is actually not easy to make to get it creamy and not runny. I doubt they would go to the effort.
 
Our first night, my teenage picky eater ate off the kids menu. After that disappointment, I looked through the next night's menu at Animator's Palate and noticed they had "Pennette Bolognese" on the menu. We discussed it during the day and he understood this was penne pasta (not an issue) with a meat sauce (which typically isn't an issue). So we went with that, and he liked it. So much so that the next night at the Enchanted Garden, we asked if he could get that again...and sure enough, we had an Animators Palate plate at the Enchanted Garden.

The next night was Pirate Night, and before we left the Enchanted Garden, our waiter asked if he would want this again the next night, because they could place a special order for it since it wasn't going to be prepared otherwise on Pirate Night. He ended up having the Pennette Bolognese four nights in a row on our five night cruise.

Bottom line is that Disney will do their best to accommodate picky eaters, but you have to give the staff a heads-up over what you need so they can be prepared.
 
We were just on the Wish and an adult diner next to us had pizza and fires for dinner every night in the main dining rooms.
 


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