To me, they are huge. A serving size of meat is
supposed to be 3 oz. A 10 oz steak is 3x that plus a starch/side which is double the recommended serving size and a vegetable of some sort. Then add the rolls or whatever bread is served with the meal even if you have just one or a slice. That's about 5x the amount we require which seems ridiculous, again to me.
Why would you order a 10oz steak? I believe most menus give you the size of steak. I don't eat steak, specifically because the portion size is too big for
me - frankly, anything over 1oz of steak is too much for me! Steaks are are a bad example though, as most restaurants give larger portions of steak. Although I do remember my DD's steak at California Grill to be only a few ozs., so if that restaurant let you order a kids' portion, that might be an option for you too.
Other meals, as I've mentioned, are getting small. The sides are getting very small (especially steamed veggies or whole grain rice), and some of the chicken, fish or lamb portions are too. Some of the soups are ridiculously small too - $5.00 for a small cup/bowl of mostly broth. No thanks!
As I've said many times on these boards, just because a meal has different components to it, it doesn't mean you have to order them all, and if you feel you must, it doesn't mean you have to eat all of that food. I frequently don't order food that I'm not going to eat, and so my portion sizes are just fine. As well, in relation to this thread, all WDW owned restaurants allow for kids' meals to be a la carte, which means you only have to order the items you want. We frequently don't order dessert for our kids - they don't need an ice cream sundae for lunch, so I am grateful that option is there, as I only get charged for what they eat, it saves on food wastage, and it keeps reasonable portion sizes.
And I'm also very selective about what I order, but after having eaten pretty much everywhere on property for the past 10+ years, I would not paint all of Disney restaurants as serving ridiculous portion sizes, as that is just not true. They may be too big for you, or me (as I mentioned with my steak example), but they aren't all huge across the board.
And so, in relation to the OP's thread topic, some of the portions are large, and can be shared between children or adults, but some are not large enough to be shared, so ordering kids' meals may be the right amount of food for that particular child. In regards to getting a different item, I have found that most restaurants are pretty accommodating and will make special requests, like a grilled cheese sandwich. It does depend though, as some restaurants are a bit picky. We eat at Plaza all of the time, and my kids share an adult sandwich, as this is better for us, as they like the selections better. We can do this as we pay cash most of the time, if on DP though, this might be an issue, as mentioned in this thread.
Tiger
Getting penalized for trying to be healthy makes no sense to me.
The mark up on food is very high so please don't tell me they'll lose money by honoring the requests of those wanting to simply not waste and eat less and not get screwed over while trying to do so.
) , no one was bothered by this. The portion sizes at WDW are totally obscene. And I enjoy a good sized meal!! It was really crazy. We wasted so much food, we both felt pretty sick about it.
