Not happy! Childrens food changes at DLRP

[SammieG]

We just got back from a great 3 day trip to DLRP...and had a fab time.

We ate in two full service restuarants on this occasion... Walts and The Silver Spur.

We ate at Walts last year and loved it, but were not at all impressed this time .. but thats for another post.

One of the things we noticed, was since our last visit the childrens menu has changed.
As they are in WDW they are making the food look a bit more fun.. and prix fixe menu food comes on a large mickey head shaped plate with two bowls containing starter and dessert for ears and the main course in the middle on a plate too ..

All of this sounds good.. and Im a great believer in offering lots of healthy options for childrens.. in fact nothing irks me more than going to a restaurant and being offered the usual british kids fayre when my child would prefer proper food!

So .. the menu arrives... and basically consists of 3 options.. all given a character name like Bambi..
it is not clear whether you can mix and match the options.. but i suspect you can.

The starters were all uber healthy options such as cherry tomatoes, or green salad perhaps with a yoghurt dressing or something like that.

The main courses that my son chose was grilled chicken breast with Spaghetti (dry, no sauce) and vegetables (probably brocilli.. but to be honest I have forgotten)

Dessert consisted of Apple Puree or fruit salad. The apple puree had a face put on it in sweets or little chocolate drops or something..

All sounds good? Yes in THEORY.. it sounds great... but in reality... for my son.. and many other children.. he does not like cherry tomatoes. We did find an option that contained cherry tomatoes and carrot sticks.. and he loves carrot sticks so.. he was happy with that...

the main course he chose was DRY! He didnt complain at all.. as he loves all three elements of the meal.. but no sauce...? I could see him struggling with it and in the end had to order some ketchup just so he could get through the meal....

The pudding.. well despite apples being my sons absolute favorites... apple puree is not a favorite.. and we noticed in very small words at the bottom of the menu that we could change the apple puree for ice cream... which we did.. but the staff grumbled about it at both places!

As I said.. Im a great believer in healthy eating and would absolutely support any changes they made to get away from chips and burgers to offer other choices... BUT this seemed a step too far for me! This was supposed to be a treat.. and a holiday... and thats the one time you dont mind so much what your children eat...
We sat there with our full menu and chose exactly what we wanted and i looked at my 7 year old and felt a bit sorry for him. Dont get me wrong.. he didnt notice a thing.. other than it was tough to get all this low fat dry food down.... although he did miss the exciting puddings he had on our previous visit...

He had looked forward to having the piece of chocolate imprinted with mickey.. and the fruit coulis and paint brush.. and you painted the chocolate with the coloured coulis and then ate it ! Yes... not terribly healthy.. but imaginative.. and fun... and kinda magical for a little boy... and something he would never ever have at home!

I notice that the WDW menus dont seem to be as restrictive.. or maybe it was just the two restaurants that we went to...
i didnt keep the menus so i cant remember exactly what they were.. but i remember being unimpressed and a bit sad that this was happening.... are we not responsible enough to make choices for our children any more?

 

[wideeyes]

I posted a review about Walt's when we came back, my DD hates spaghetti so we asked them to swap it for chips(which you could get of the teenage menu0, which they happily did, we also ordered ice cream in place of the apple sauce. The CM did not seem to pleased with the new menus ether. At another meal we ordered the teenage menu of fish and chips for my DD(5), The chicken would be much better with potatoes then spaghetti.

The choice of desserts for kids at Walt's in appalling, my DD was really looking forward to the painter dessert which she had seen pictures of on here, the adults desserts are really amazing they should be something special for the kids too!

 

[karenmoloney]

I know exactly what you mean. I really want to do the princess meal this time, but looking at the children's menu, I don't think my DD(5) will do it much justice. It would be perfect if we didn't have to get her a meal & she could just eat from our plates, as she doesn't eat much & we sometimes do this when we go out at home, but I don't think we could get away with that there! I was thinking that DH & I will probably eat her dinner and she can eat from ours. She will eat chicken, potato & veg at home - but with gravy, and the cherry tomatoes & mozarella will be a definite NO. Pity there isn't more of a selection, I can think of loads of healthy options that she would love. I totally agree with healthy eating. Hopefully now DLP will open a shop/stall selling fresh fruit, smoothies, yogurts - I would definitely buy from it.

 

[jillrobinson]

I agree wholeheartedly with what your saying, my DS's will eat almost all vegetables and any fruit, I fail to see why at DLRP they can't be offered chicken, fish, gammon, pasta dishes with salads, vegetable or potato accompaniements. I have griped in the past about the unoriginality of the kids meals, but why not keep the chicken strips (Blue Lagoon) and offer something other than fries with it

I noted at Beaver Creek Tavern DS had a choice of fries or green beans with his fish, he chose the green beans which he then wouldn't eat because they had garlic butter on them.

and as for the pureed apple, they stopped eating that when they grew teeth and moved on to the real thing.

I think they have got these healthy eating menus very, very wrong.

 

[Cyrano]

Thanks for posting this. Our troops thankfully eat a variety of choice but cherry tomatoes will not be appreciated by DS and younger DD.

Think we'll have to ask for alternatives also

 

[quirkygirl]

I have to admit that i'm dispappointed by the menu changes at some table service restuarants(esp Walts).

I understand that they wanted to improve the menu by offering healthier options but that shouldnt mean the more traditional favourites should have been removed Surely they should leave the choice with the customer on ordering...after all it is my holiday<insert food stamping option>

 

[DancingBear]

Interesting that these changes are apparently just occurring at DLP. At WDW, the healthy kids' menu came out some time ago, and they've already responded to the negative reactions and started bringing back chicken fingers and such.

 

[tennisfan]

Interesting that these changes are apparently just occurring at DLP. At WDW, the healthy kids' menu came out some time ago, and they've already responded to the negative reactions and started bringing back chicken fingers and such.

Its because the French have started a big health kick just like we have in the UK.

I think if enough people let DLRP know then they will have to look into finding a solution

 

[Raci]

I posted in another thread about this.

I am all in favour of healthy options for kids but thats just it they should be an OPTION! Not the only choice!
My DD is really good with what she eats and hates only having the choice of chicken nuggets or burger with chips. But surely it should be the parents choice

And the lovely puddings we had at Walts were a special treat because we were on holiday. When I take my daughter on holiday I want to get her something she would not get ordinarily at home. She loved the Mickey jigsaw but I wouldn't give chocolate for pudding at home. But we were on holiday and it was a treat and thats why she enjoyed it so much.

DLP have gone to far!
They should keep nice healthy options but they should also have some other choices. Then the parents can make the decision of what they would prefer their child to eat.

 

[A Small World]

DD (7) was also disappointed that she could no longer get the Mickey puzzle. We had told her about this and shown her photos from the thread and she was really looking forward to it. Thanks to info here we did realise before we went it was no longer available and so were able to warn her.
The 3 menu choices at Walts didnt give the impression you could mix and match. I kept the menu but cant find it. When I do I'll post the choices.

DD had green salad to start- nice but basically a dish of lettuce with lot of dressing on
Burger which was served with roast potatoes
Creme Caramel

No way would she have eaten the apple puree!!!!

Im not sure if it was just us but we semed to see apple puree everywhere in France this holiday. It was available for breakfast at Explorers in little tubs, on special offer in the supermarkets etc etc. Has it become a French delicacy or is it just a case of seeing it as we had read about it here.
I tried it one morning for breakfast to see what the fuss was about and ugh it tasted like baby food.

The chicken at Auberge was really tasty and not at all dry. It was served with mashed potatoes and vegetables and had a mushroom sauce on which was similar to gravy. DD hates mushrooms but really liked the sauce as she was able to pick the mushrooms out.
A choice of starter would have been good though even if it was a dish of carrot sticks.
The desert was of course the very healthy option of Cinderellas slipper!!

 

[lily73]

My kids eat healthily at home so when we go on holiday it is a treat to be allowed to eat junk for a few days if they like. They would not be impressed with cherry tomatoes as a starter I'm sure. Perhaps instead of changing the kids menus in the table service restaurants they should consider offering more choice in the snack bars as it seems to be burger, chips and more burgers and more chips! I agree that stalls selling fruit, fresh juices and smoothies would be a great idea. I know it would be a hit with my family.

Luckily (though no so lucky for my purse strings) my kids are now all old enough to eat from the adult or teenager menu. I can imagine what they would say if they were offered apple puree for dessert!

 

[Ste7en]

I thought the whole point of a healthy option was that it is an option (there's a clue in the name it's given).

When I'm faced with an "Eat healthy or die!" option I scoot off to find the most unhealthiest things I can find to eat

Looks like it's counter service all the way this time we go

Thanks for the tip!