Someone with boys has to agree with me!

[kamik86]

As a mom to one daughter, I would love to see less gender-specific meals...

I know my kiddo would LOVE a Toy Story and/or Phineas & Ferb character meal. Heck, she loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates so much, we had to get the only shirts the Disney Store had available a few months ago -- which were only in Boys' sizes. (Had to hem in the sides to make it more figure-fitting like a girl's shirt -- along with her Chewbacca t-shirt.)

This would be the one problem with ever doing a more boy themed meals. All the boys will want to go. Many of the girls will be fans and want to go too. It would very quickly become one of the most popular places at Disney and then everyone would still be complaining that there is SOO much girl stuff and the one boy thing is always impossible to book!! (I agree this would still be better then doing nothing for them I'm just saying it wouldn't reduce the complaining much)

 

[OceanAnnie]

The cold hard truth is that many (most?) moms will spend more on girls than boys. The princess stuff is also way more marketable than anything else at Disney. You can stick a sparkly pink princess on anything and girls young and old will covet it. Boys, although they do ask for souvenirs, are just not as stuff-oriented as girls, in my experience. At least not past the age of 8 or so. My 16yo son pretty much just wants t-shirts at this point, while my 14yo daughter is still all over the cute and sparkly everything. To put it bluntly (and yes, I know this is a generalization, but a pretty accurate one)--girls are shoppers and boys are not.

I am surprised there is no Pirates character meal, however. Girls would like that, too. Get a Johnny Depp lookalike and the moms would be all over that one.

It's a girl's world at WDW. Seems like so much more to buy for girls, IMO. I guess it all evens out in the end.

We took our kids to the BBB before a character meal. Girl's tickets were around 55 bucks, hair, sash, teeny tiny crown, makeup (not including gown/shoes/accessories -- bought those on sale at the Disney store at home), boy's tickets around 15 bucks just for the hair (had all the accessories from home). Huge difference!

I thought it was an interesting contrast.

 

[LaurieN]

I'm a grown up girl an have always hated princesses and all things pink! Why do they think ALL girls like sparkles, tiaras and fairy tales?

^^^ This is me too!!!!! Never was I into the whole "princess" thing! Although I do love Snow White, and now Merida (who isn't your everyday princess) Now I'm the mom of 2 boys and yes I wish there was more "boy" driven character meals, theme rooms, etc. I would love to see a P&F or Toy Story character meal, Hollywood & Vine would be a GREAT place for it
I don't understand why they had to make the regular rooms at A of A Little Mermaid that (at least to my boys) is VERY girly!!!!!! At least they did decide to do a Cars section even if it is suits.
Laurie

 

[meljean]

OP I couldn't agree with you more! As a mother of two boys, it would have been fun to have a cars/toy story/incredibles themed something. We were really hoping for our next trip to stay at AOA but seeing the rooms are Little Mermaid themed, we will look somewhere else. Why couldn't they have done a few standard rooms of each theme? And I agree with a PP that they could do a Hero theme vs. villians. My boys did enjoy the princesses this past visit. I think that the older they get though they will enjoy more "boy" themes.

 

[ElizabethG]

There was a villian meal for dinner at 1900 Park Fare. The meal was discontinued in 2001 and replace by Pooh and then Cinderella's family. The meal had four characters present, usually from the following list; Cruella De Vil, Wicked Witch or as Snow Queen, Capt. Hook, Queen of Hearts, Gov. Ratcliff, Prince John. While regular Disney goers liked it. There were many complaints and crying children, so it was banished!

I think the limited range of meals is to cater to Disney Worlds core audience; new visitors. When someone visits for the first time, they want a meal with Mickey. On your fifth visit, you wish there were more options.

That said, I have one DS and one DD. My DD's favorite meal is Mickey's Backyard BBQ (neutral) and DS's favorite is Garden Grill (also neutral). In addition to those two, we will also visit Crystal Palace, CRT, and Ohana for breakfast. Only one of the five character meals is "girly".

The kids will also be going to the pirates league and on a pirate adventure.

Personally, I have never found the gender disparity to be a problem or unfair. As pointed out by PP, those things are marketable from baby to adult. Many teenage girls will wear a tiara (note I said many, not all), but you'd be hard pressed to find a teenage boy that wants to carry a little sword around. They are stocking more Marvel T-Shirts and trying to take advantage of those characters as much as they can.

There are only two things I wonder about; Why not replace Hollywood & Vine with Phineas and Ferb? Why did they make the only standard section of AoA Little Mermaid? I think they should have picked lion king. (It is wise to leave Cars and Nemo in the suites to draw people to the more expensive rooms).

 

[Missoutandabout]

...

(I agree this would still be better then doing nothing for them I'm just saying it wouldn't reduce the complaining much)

LOL. Oh, nothing they ever do will reduce the complaining -- people derive too much pleasure from it. XD

 

[Glielina]

I've been waffling between AoA and POFQ/POR, and this is one of the biggest reasons. I think the kids would LOVE AoA for the theming of the resort itself, but I would love love LOVE if some of the standard rooms were Cars/Lion King/Toy Story, etc. LM is just... meh.

I totally agree with you on that one. With 2 teens and my husband, no LM for us.

 

[Rayvnn]

I agree. I have 2 boys.

Leslie

 

[VP037388]

Totally agree!! I have 3 boys and they are not into princesses. Everything is "girl" or "gender neutral". We all know Disney has the characters with all the Pixar movies. Why aren't they using them?? Especially character dining!
BTW, my friend was at WDW a few weeks ago. She said Pirates League has all these girl packages now and it was at least as crowed as BBB...with girls. It's new and for those without BBB reservations, they were flocking to Pirates League. So now even the semi-boy "thing" is being turned into princess-esque.
On the flip side, the same friend complained that one of her girls isn't into princesses or the Fab 5 so, as a girl, that didn't leave her any options either. She just wanted to see Jesse from Toy Story. Didn't find her.
What did happen to the Villians Character meal? We really wanted to do that one.

 

[justakrazymom]

I'm starting to get frustrated that Disney World continues to cater more to girls. First of all, no villain character meals, the Fantasyland expansion and now I'm reading that the only standard rooms at AoA are in the Little Mermaid section. Don't they think about these things at all? I mean why couldn't the only standard rooms be something gender neutral, like Nemo? It doesnt make sense to me.

Thanks just venting!

I have three boys.. I will slightly agree. Although they used to have the Villains meal at 1900 park fare and it scared my then 6 year old so bad he wouldn't eat. My son's wouldnt care if it was nemo or Little mermaid themed room, and for the most part there is plenty to do in the parks that is more gender neutral or boyish but I would love a more boy oriented meet and great ( ie peter pan and the lost boys or something like that) .

 

[amathieu3]

I too am mother to three boys .. All under 11. We are dvc members but now spend a week at Hilton head or vero beach...which I feel is geared to boys. This trip in August we are doing 4 nights at universal and only 1 night at Disney..for me. I'm taking the youngest 2.5 into magic kingdom while my husband takes the other into Disney quest. Sad but this is our new vacations. My boys don't want to do Disney. They say it's for girls so our money is now spent at the dark side which I'm learning to love. Who cares if they have a few boy themed rooms when you don't spend time in there. Feels good to vent on this thread.

 

[MMlvsMM]

I'm starting to get frustrated that Disney World continues to cater more to girls. First of all, no villain character meals, the Fantasyland expansion and now I'm reading that the only standard rooms at AoA are in the Little Mermaid section. Don't they think about these things at all? I mean why couldn't the only standard rooms be something gender neutral, like Nemo? It doesnt make sense to me.

Thanks just venting!

I agree with you. I know exactly how you feel.

 

[jackie101]

Agree, as a mom of 3 boys and 1 girl everything is for girls

 

[Missus Toad]

I have a rough and tumble boy and a girly girl and have never had any complaints from either of them. There's plenty for both to do, IMO. I don't see any big imbalance. Adventureland, Frontierland and Tomorrowland are rife with traditionally boy activities, DHS is "boy" central with Star Wars and Toy Story and stunt shows, Epcot has all manner of boy-friendly activities and so does AK. We can go to Chef Mickey's or Tusker House or Ohana if we need to eat with boy characters, though my son has never been troubled by eating with princesses. The character-oriented hotels have Cars, Lion King, Pirates, and sports sections among others. In short, I've never ever understood this complaint.

 

[GoldieLocks5]

I have 3 boys (3yo twins and a 5yo) and they love princesses as well as others... so it's not an issue (yet, i'm guessing as they get older they will complain) ... but wow- i had not thought about it - but hell yeah, a Woody/Buzz/Jessie character meal would ROCK!!!

Or Sulley & mikey from monster's inc! Or pirates!

what is wrong with Disney not making money off of us boy moms???

 

[Kims09]

I am a mom of one child- a girl who is now 8. Honestly, I never thought about this until you mentioned it. My daughter loves Disney, but has never really been into the princesses (to my dismay ) . I completely agree with you- there should be other options that cater to things that appeal more towards boys. My daughter would love a dining option with Phineas and Ferb, Pirates, Villians...all good suggestions.

 

[mfp]

Sing it, sisters! Another boy mom here, 3 of them. My older two are NOT into princesses at all, my youngest was ok with princesses, only because he is scared to death of any of the characters with the big heads, lol. Although, when he saw the pixar parade at DHS, he loved the characters, so a pixar themed character meal would be at the top of our wish list. We are actually more into pixar than the other disney movies.

Anyway, I think what annoys me so much is that it appears that disney purposely neglects the boy crowd. They have the ability to do a more boyish character meal, yet despite yrs of complaints, they still refuse to do anything about it. It is frustrating as a mom of boys. We already get the shaft in the clothing department and then disney does the same thing too and I hate how it's just accepted as the norm in our society. My friends who had girls first and then boys after, never noticed when it was just their girl. They happily shopped until they dropped and acted like the boy moms were making a big deal over nothing. However, when they had a boy, they suddenly realized that boy moms are not exaggerating. There is about 1/3 the selection of boy stuff compared to girl stuff, it's not just our imagination. I have the $ to spend, if disney offered more boy-friendly stuff, we'd probably buy more of it. I've always wondered why these business choose to leave this sector of the market untapped. It's a dumb move if you ask me. Oh and while we are on a vent, what is up with ALL boy clothes having skulls all over it these days? I am sick and tired of the stupid skulls. I don't know what dummy got it in their heads that boys only want to wear clothes with skulls on them, but every where I go to shop now, it's like 1/3 of the boy clothes has skulls on it and my kids don't wear that stuff! Grrr!

 

[clr055]

I don't have any boys but I have A LOT of nephews and they each would rather be tortured rather then attend a princess meal. I agree there should be a pirate meal, a star wars meal and a pixar's one. Disney is really dropping the ball on this potential sector!!! Heck, my 10 year old daughter would LOVE to go to all of those too, along with the princess meals, we would be doing a whole bunch of character meals!! Is there any way to suggest this to Disney??

 

[Mkrop]

I have to agree on this one although my son is just 8. We also have a 4 yrs old princess at home. All my son ask when I mention we are going to Disney for the first time is is there Harry Potter or any things boys there? It broke my heart. I sign him up with Pirate Adventure but still feel like it is not fair for him to attending all the character dining with his little sister and want to do nothing with the princesses. He will love the food though

For those of you with boys looking for a fun meal...try Whispering Canyon Cafe! ALL my boys, young and old, love the place. They get up and do the Hokey Pokey. They love asking for Ketchup, and extra drinks, and straws etc.

 

[Gorechick]

I'm in the minority I guess. My 7 year d DS adores the princesses and can't wait to meet them. Just today, he was playing Disney DVD Bingo and Pocohontas came on the screen. He shouted, "my beautiful Pocohontas!" He loves her and Mulan especially. He likes the pirate stuff too and will be doing a Pirate Cruise and Pirates League with his twin sister.