Someone with boys has to agree with me!

[Lolsmum]

I have a 6 1/2 year old boy and an about to be 5 year old girl. We're taking our first trip to WDW in a month and I've found it so hard to balance the two of them.

My daughter is currently very into the princesses (against her mother's wishes really) while my son wants nothing to do with them. Our first full day will be at DHS with hopefully Jedi training and Star Tours to help offset his feelings that the vacation is more about his sister than him.

I think this will be our only Disney only trip to Florida because of the fact girls are catered for so much more than boys. If you have a boy who isn't into pirates, there's little left for them.

 

[nansmama]

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.

 

[maxiesmom]

As long as parents get upset because a character looked at their child a certain way (you know, behaved in character) there will not be a meal with villains. All you would see would be posts about how Captain Hook was mean, or Jafar was scary and made their child cry.

Disney has made a few strides towards reeling the boys in. The Pirate's League is fairly new. They will have Lion King rooms at AoA, plus the pirate rooms they added to CBR in the not so distant past. Not everything is being geared just towards the girls.

 

[Princessmommymouse]

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.

Ha ha! So true!

 

[yaddo121]

I agree. I have always thought a Toy Story or Pirates character meal would be a great addition. My 7 year old son is not the least bit interested in standing in line to meet the princesses or dining with them I was pretty letdown that the new Fantasyland expansion seems so very 'princess-centric'. I'd love for them to bring Cars Land to WDW or some kind of Phineas and Ferb attraction/meal/etc. As another poster noted, both Toy Story and Phineas and Ferb could include both genders (Jessie, Candace, Vanessa, etc). From this board to Disney's ears

 

[bowbat]

On the one hand, I totally agree that there are a lot more Disney character meals/meetings/products geared towards girls. As a mom of one young boy, it's frustrating. I mean, he won't even consider a meal that features princess characters, so as much as I'd like to try Akershus, it ain't happening on his watch.

On the other hand, though, honestly? My boy couldn't care less. He has no desire to wait in line just to meet a character and he wants meals to be as quick as possible. His SOLE focus at Disney is on the rides. He's got his Barnstormer, his Thunder Mountain, his Star Wars...he's happy.

 

[Magalex]

We have one soon to be 12 yr old DS. We have been going to Disney since he was 4 1/2 yrs old. He still loves everything Disney. Matter of fact we went to Universal for the first time in June & I thought for sure he would think those parks were awesome. He had fun but he says Disney is still the best ever! Which makes me so happy We don't go to any character meals & he is a good sport of getting some photos with the classic characters. We just walk past the princesses. We save lots of money not going to any stores. So more money for the next trip We do really enjoy the on-site resorts with the theme pools, the water parks & having dinner at DTD.

In three years we will be visiting WDW with extended family. We will have 2 little girls with us & we can't wait to have some "girl time" with the princesses.

 

[Bonniec]

I completely agree too. Disney has saved me a lot of money with the lack of boy stuff.

As for the rooms, why not a good old fashioned fab 5 themed room?

Our first full day will be at DHS with hopefully Jedi training and Star Tours to help offset his feelings that the vacation is more about his sister than him.

You probably know this, but make sure you get there at least 30 minutes before open to have a chance with the Jedi training. It's really cute!(But fills up fast)

 

[mkdreams]

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 100 percent,

Making the only standard rooms at AoA Little Mermaid, was a bad idea. The rooms looks very girly. They have other themes but not everyone want/needs to stay in a suite. CBR does have the pirate rooms, but you have to pay extra for it, plus if you want a more gender neutral room at CBR you just get the standerd nemo room. We have been noticing more of this at Disney, and its not too fair to the boys.

 

[Butterflygirl35]

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.

Best idea ever!! Love it!!!

 

[Elmo888]

I agree. But, then again, it also drives me crazy that the ratio of girl's clothing racks to boys is 10:1 when I go shopping! I'm assuming people just spend more money on girls, as much as I hate to say it.

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.

I do not have boys, and I do not disagree that there is a lack of merchandise and experiences for boys.

However, as pointed out, it is all about dollars. Stuff for girls sells. Just like every mall or shopping area in the US, there are more stores for women and girls than men and boys. Guess who is doing the buying? Women are. And guess who we are buying for? Ourselves. Or our daughters, with whom we identify. (Or other people's daughters, also with whom we identify.) Or our girls desperately want the pink sparkly thing, as pointed out in the previous post (it really isn't a quality to brag about!).

I would be happy to see more non-princess stuff. DD12 loves the youthful things, like Muppets, but she really isn't into the princesses.

Honestly, I think that if more people (lots of people) complained directly to Disney, stating directly that they would spend more money on merchandise, dining experiences, resort experiences, etc., there might be a change. I think that it is all about the bottom line. Girls' (women's) stuff makes more money if you compare square foot to square foot.

AoA on the flip side - I wish that the Little Mermaid rooms were suites because we only want to stay in a suite-type room, and I have girls that would like to stay in the Little Mermaid rooms. That might have made more sense if they made one of the other gender-neutral themes, like Lion King, into standard rooms.

 

[jenrose66]

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 two boys. My oldest son loves Legos and Star Wars and doesn't really take note of anything else. My younger son's favorite color is pink (he tells you too, he goes up to women and points at their pink stuff and says "pink, my favorite"). If you ask him what his favorite part of his trip was last year he will tell you it was meeting the princesses...

Plus...I think most of the rooms on property are gender neutral, they have the Cars Family suites that are boy suited...they have Pirate rooms at CBR. At ASMo they have Toy Story and the Mighty Ducks.

I don't think there are a lack of boy choices. But I can appreciate that others feel that way.

 

[MinnieGolf]

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.

Capt. Jack Sparrow would be lucky to escape with his life from that character meal!

 

[PrincessatheartMN]

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

 

[Avenger117]

I think the Little Mermaid hotel is pretty gender neutral. The exterior has a huge King Triton and sebastrian. The rooms have Prince Eric, Ariel, and Founder pictures. They don't seem to be overly princess themed.

 

[Disneyhenry]

I agree, 100%

 

[vicky33006]

I agree. I'm actually planning my DS's very first trip and he's 6. I found the lack of "boy" character experiences to be very few. I did decide on Chef Mickey's and Tusker House. For the resort, we don't need a suite, and we really want to stay in a value resort. So I had to decide between POP for the more boyish theme, or a LM room in AoA. I went with the LM room and know DS will be fine with it, even though I really wish that one area had a more gender neutral theme.

 

[letsgoagainsoon]

As long as parents get upset because a character looked at their child a certain way (you know, behaved in character) there will not be a meal with villains. All you would see would be posts about how Captain Hook was mean, or Jafar was scary and made their child cry.

Disney has made a few strides towards reeling the boys in. The Pirate's League is fairly new. They will have Lion King rooms at AoA, plus the pirate rooms they added to CBR in the not so distant past. Not everything is being geared just towards the girls.

I guess it doesn't necessarily need to be a villain meal, but like others have mentioned Toy Story characters would be totally cool and I'm sure everyone would like it. But DSs and DH would love Star Wars meal too! I like the idea of a Jack Sparrow one!

I know they will have lion king and cars at AoA but it's disappointing the standard rooms will be LM. Jmo!

 

[jenniferma]

I agree too, and we have three girls! Btw... If we could, we would do a toy story or Peter pan meal before the princess one any time! And we would do star wars too... For DH!

 

[nansmama]

Or our girls desperately want the pink sparkly thing, as pointed out in the previous post (it really isn't a quality to brag about!).

I wasn't bragging (?). Just pointing out the girly girl stuff (stationery, jewelry, dolls, whatever) has a much wider age range of appeal than the things aimed at boys (toy pirate swords, Cars merch, etc). Very few 15 year old boys would buy a plastic sword, but many 15 year old girls would buy a cutesy princess necklace. Including my daughter. Anyone (Disney) in the business of selling things is going to produce more of the items that have a broader range of appeal.