My small gripe

[3DisneyNUTS]

Now we LOVED our visit and will definitely be going back but here are just some of the things I would like to see changed.

The kids meals (now this is not exclusive to DL but to the world too)
why when you go to say a pizza themed counter service do they not offer pizza as a kids meal? It is like they force you to buy adult portions for kids which costs more. Once in Magic Kingdom and once in California adventure we stopped to get my son pizza and they didn't have it as a kids meal option and it was at pizza themed restaurants. It was $9 for a (one) slice of pizza and a drink and DS didn't get any of the goodies that came with the kids meal options. It is mind blowing. I have seen it with other themed counter service as well. The childrens options don't match the theme of the restaurant. It is odd. We even had this at the Blue Bayou the selections were odd compared to the resort theme. I know this is really minor but still a bit annoying especially when you want to eat somewhere but the choices for the kids meal don't match and you wind up either having to buy adult portions (which we did) or eating in shifts (which we wouldn't).

The last gripe is the fountain drink prices. It is a little out of control. We are not the type to lug in drinks or powder packets to flavor the free cups of water. It is $2.90 after taxes for a fountain drink. That is just insane. Between 3 of us we easily spent $30 a day just on drinks. It just makes you feel taken advantage of after spending $3k for the disney portion of the trip (lodging & tickets only) and that is cheap for the Grand Californian only to walk to the counter service restaurant to be charged that! Now we could have purchased the mug but that is only good in the hotel. Once in the parks we were still paying $2.90. The bottle drinks were $2.75 before tax. And forget if ou wanted a Mickey Bar that was $3.50 I don't know it just seems like they are pushing the prices a little too high. I mean we still bought the stuff and that is why they can charge those prices but it still seems to be ridiculous after spending so much to get into the parks. We could easily spend $50 a day in drinks and snacks.

 

[amw]

The last gripe is the fountain drink prices. It is a little out of control. We are not the type to lug in drinks or powder packets to flavor the free cups of water. It is $2.90 after taxes for a fountain drink. That is just insane. Between 3 of us we easily spent $30 a day just on drinks. It just makes you feel taken advantage of after spending $3k for the disney portion of the trip (lodging & tickets only) and that is cheap for the Grand Californian only to walk to the counter service restaurant to be charged that! Now we could have purchased the mug but that is only good in the hotel. Once in the parks we were still paying $2.90. The bottle drinks were $2.75 before tax. And forget if ou wanted a Mickey Bar that was $3.50 I don't know it just seems like they are pushing the prices a little too high. I mean we still bought the stuff and that is why they can charge those prices but it still seems to be ridiculous after spending so much to get into the parks. We could easily spend $50 a day in drinks and snacks.

This is not just Disney. Those are the going rates at any amusement park. I went to our local park -- Canada's Wonderland -- this summer, and the rates were higher. Around $4 for a pop. They had no kids meals whatsoever, and I could only find milk in one concession stand in the whole park, no juice whatsoever (my kids refuse to drink pop which is fine with me). I don't want to be a Mary Poppins but we've been to the World regularly and I thought they did a really good job on the concessions. Lots of options, fruit and vegetable stands, carrot sticks instead of fries option on kids meals, choice of milk, chocolate milk, or juices, etc. There's always room for improvement, but even between my 2003 and 2005 trips, Disney and bettered their healthy selections.

We do tend to drink lots of free water, but I do understand the toll of snacks. I guess it is inevitable and you have to budget for those things.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Yeah I guess you are right. It is just a little upsetting to see the prices . It feels like they are taking advantage KWIM?

Anyway to get off the negative you are gonna love DL. We heard alot of negatives about it and went expecting to be underwhelmed. Well we LOVED it Disneyland is amazing!

 

[amw]

Anyway to get off the negative you are gonna love DL. We heard alot of negatives about it and went expecting to be underwhelmed. Well we LOVED it Disneyland is amazing!

Glad to hear it. I'm quite excited about experiencing a "new" park to me. My husband travels a lot for work, so we get to travel on aeroplan points. It's the same amount of points to fly to California as it is to Florida, so I thought "Why not?"

So for now I continue my anal pre-planning ... including researching kids menus

 

[thunderbird1]

Now we LOVED our visit and will definitely be going back but here are just some of the things I would like to see changed.

The kids meals (now this is not exclusive to DL but to the world too)
why when you go to say a pizza themed counter service do they not offer pizza as a kids meal? It is like they force you to buy adult portions for kids which costs more. Once in Magic Kingdom and once in California adventure we stopped to get my son pizza and they didn't have it as a kids meal option and it was at pizza themed restaurants. It was $9 for a (one) slice of pizza and a drink and DS didn't get any of the goodies that came with the kids meal options. It is mind blowing. I have seen it with other themed counter service as well. The childrens options don't match the theme of the restaurant. It is odd. We even had this at the Blue Bayou the selections were odd compared to the resort theme. I know this is really minor but still a bit annoying especially when you want to eat somewhere but the choices for the kids meal don't match and you wind up either having to buy adult portions (which we did) or eating in shifts (which we wouldn't).

This is odd, very odd, and we encountered resistance from our dd a LOT on our recent WDW trip at CS restaurants. My hunch as to why they no longer offer kids' pizza at the pizza places or kids' burgers at the burger places isn't because they want you to order the (more expensive) adult portion, but because they had too many adults ordering the (less expensive) kids' portions. Of course, this is backfiring at WDW, where more and more people are getting the dining plan, which doesn't separate adult and child credits, so many children are getting adult meals at kid prices. But until they offer "theme appropriate" kids' meals, we'll just continue buying adult meals for our kids.

 

[calena]

The prices are hard to deal with, but it is that way anywhere where they 'gotcha' like the zoo, movie theatres, amusement parks etc. The thing I find most sad is so many families can't afford to go to places like WDW or DL or Canada's Wonderland because not only do they pay a lot to get in, but they also pay a lot while they are there for food and extras.
We are fortunate to be able to go to these great places, but it does burn to feel gouged on stuff. We brought our own water to WDW and will do so DL. That saves, plus, I always feel better drinking water. We also bring some snacks - fruit roll ups, dunkaroos things like that for the children to have.
Deb
We are also using something like Aeroplan to get to DL and it is also the same as going to Florida so we are excited to see DL... plus DH has family in LA so that will be good.

 

[bjakmom]

The best 'bargain' of our trip was the pure water 2 go filter bottles that DNeph and I took on our 2 week CA trip : http://www.************.com/index-3_1new.html !! (that's pure water 2 go dot com)

We spent 9 days in various theme parks and all of them were charging those prices for drinks. We filled our bottles throughout the day with cold water from the water fountains and it always tasted great - we prefer the small, 16 oz clear bottles that are like regular water bottles - they are easier to carry.

We had a ticket agent at gate check who tried to make me throw mine away on the way to LA (I had the bottle in the outside pocket of my backpack) - I kept showing him that it wasn't an ordinary water bottle and that it was empty - no liquid, buddy !! He kept insisting - and so did I - and he finally let me through - on the way home we just stuck our empty bottles in our carryons - no one was actually checking for liquids at the gate - just making you throw out any drinks you were carrying in plain site.

 

[MirandaPen]

For my family of 4, I budget $200 dollars per day for food. I don't like to go to the fast service places. I don't feel like I am getting the value for the money (ambiance). Whatever we don't eat and drink goes for shirts and toys. I still bring the flavor drink packets (love the strawberry lemonade).

 

[mystic_path]

You really do have to expect those prices from any amusement park. The prices at any park will be rediculous. Its where they make their profits.