Table Service, Signatures, and kids

[Sakiki]

True enough. I don’t want children to be regimented, but a expecting a basic standard of appropriate behaviour doesn’t seem unreasonable. We get the little tykes running around in restaurants in the UK as well, with parents who either don’t care or who seemingly don’t know what to do about it.

We‘ve visited Florida a half-dozen times over the last 20 years and I have to say that in general American children seem to be better behaved than children in the UK. Certainly it always seems to us that there’s a greater emphasis on respect for their parents, which seems depressingly rare on this side of the Pond.

Oh dear, I’m in old curmudgeon mode again...

 

[happymommy]

Sakiki, my DH is Korean, and my in-laws used to let their toddlers wander restaurants, going up to other tables, helping themselves at a buffet with no parental assistance (here in the US; we all live in the US). My DH and I always asked for a high chair, had our kids sit at the table, brought a small toy or crayons and paper to occupy them. It never occurred to my in-laws to do this. I’m not saying it’s a cultural thing, but they thought it was a novelty to ask for a high chair instead of passing their kid (or baby) from one relative to the next so they could eat. UGH, so glad that was years ago!

I always found my kids behaved well if they were dressed nicely. It made it like a treat. We used to do Sunday Brunch at a nearby Ritz Carlton often (the staff knew us, LOL), and I got comments from other diners at how well they behaved. We’d sit for over 2 hours, but to my kids it was a treat. They got fresh berries, nice little morsels, and I often had a new ($1) toy car or something for them. It’s all in the attitude (and my oldest has ADHD, which we did not medicate for brunch as then we might not eat as much).

I know this going off topic of the OP’s point, and at Disney, I’m just too tired often at night for a nice dinner, so prefer a nice lunch break then small snack for dinner.

 

[sss]

So, as the title says... I'm loosely planning meals for our November trip. At that time, it will be myself, hubby, 6 and 4 year old daughters, and a 4 month old.

Ideally, we're looking at doing a breakfast character meal, snacking or splitting some QS meals for lunch, and then a TS dinner.

Our last trip we didn't do any TS and Signature would never have happened, but we're looking to splurge. My concern is the kids. I know people will side-eye kids in a nicer sit down. And the menu isn't always accommodating.

Are there any TS or Signatures that are maybe more relaxed and family friendly? Prefer not a character or buffet type for dinner since we are doing them for breakfast. Also not interested in the dinner show type meals.

So, we've been going with our kids since they were 14 months old. They are now 18 and our youngest is 16. I think if you want to do a signature you have to consider some things....First, I would make the reservation as close to their regular meal time as possible. If you keep them up late, you are asking for trouble. Also, know your kids. If your heart of hearts says they can't do this, don't....there's no crying at Disney! Honestly, we took our kids to signatures from the beginning and they did well. Frankly, it was a great place to teach the how to behave in restaurants. I had people come up to us and say they didn't even know our kids were there (they were 3 and 14 months on our second trip and this happened at Jiko). We made ressies as close to their regular dinner time as possible and they loved the crayons. That said, all kids are different and I also consider myself to have been super lucky. Have a good plan B if something happens. Good luck!

 

[disneygirlsng]

Idk, maybe it's just me. When I'm at WDW I expect there to be kids. And I expect them to act like, you know, kids. Now obviously I wouldn't want them knocking things over, breaking things, screaming for an hour straight, etc. But being a little loud or a little restless wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

Though I feel the same way about dress. When I'm at a place that is designed around theme parks, I have zero issue, and expect, that people will be wearing theme park attire. Makes zero difference to me or how much I enjoy my meal.

 

[Lilsia]

Idk, maybe it's just me. When I'm at WDW I expect there to be kids. And I expect them to act like, you know, kids. Now obviously I wouldn't want them knocking things over, breaking things, screaming for an hour straight, etc. But being a little loud or a little restless wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

Though I feel the same way about dress. When I'm at a place that is designed around theme parks, I have zero issue, and expect, that people will be wearing theme park attire. Makes zero difference to me or how much I enjoy my meal.

I don't think that anyone is talking about kids being a bit antsy. We are talking about how you see kids running around, standing on the chairs, screaming, throwing food, etc. I have worked in food for decades and this has become common in the last several years when we would NEVER see that kind of behavior before then. There truly has been a lack of good parenting lately when it comes to social manners.

 

[JFox]

I don't think that anyone is talking about kids being a bit antsy. We are talking about how you see kids running around, standing on the chairs, screaming, throwing food, etc. I have worked in food for decades and this has become common in the last several years when we would NEVER see that kind of behavior before then. There truly has been a lack of good parenting lately when it comes to social manners.

Yeah. I'm allergic to kids and would pay BIG money for adult only days at WDW. The only good thing from this type of behavior is the free birth control.

I had 4 kids of my own and consider myself a strict parent. I had zero tolerance for acting up in public. I wanted people to notice my kids for how polite and behaved they were not because they were a disruption.

We also didn't bother with kid menus. I didn't want to condition my kids into the hamburger, pizza, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese mold. They get accustomed to those things and then we wonder why they are so picky and won't try new foods.

One time I walked into a restaurant with 2 of my 4 for a reservation. The hostess immediately said, "we don't have kid menus" not that I had asked for one in the 3 seconds after entering the restaurant. My youngest said, "do you have steak and lobster because we will eat that". All of them have developed a varied palate.

 

[HikingFam]

We were at Cali Grill on NYE, and they were cranking out the chocolate chip cookies and dessert “sushi.” Plenty of kids! You’ll be fine. We left the kids with grandma that night, but we’ve taken them before (as well as to most other Disney TS) and never felt out of place- except Nomad Lounge felt iffy and didn’t offer a kids menu until I asked.

 

[Lilsia]

Yeah. I'm allergic to kids and would pay BIG money for adult only days at WDW. The only good thing from this type of behavior is the free birth control.

I had 4 kids of my own and consider myself a strict parent. I had zero tolerance for acting up in public. I wanted people to notice my kids for how polite and behaved they were not because they were a disruption.

We also didn't bother with kid menus. I didn't want to condition my kids into the hamburger, pizza, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese mold. They get accustomed to those things and then we wonder why they are so picky and won't try new foods.

One time I walked into a restaurant with 2 of my 4 for a reservation. The hostess immediately said, "we don't have kid menus" not that I had asked for one in the 3 seconds after entering the restaurant. My youngest said, "do you have steak and lobster because we will eat that". All of them have developed a varied palate.

I am the same with my kids when it comes to food. They ate what we did. We loved going on the Disney cruise because they could order the steak, shrimp, fish, and lamb. I even had servers on the cruise(they come from different Countries) comment about how they can't believe how horrible kids eat from this Country. It is shocking how parents have been brainwashed into thinking that kids can only eat the junk food. At WDW, we would just order another adult meal for them to share. The servers where great and most of the time brought out the food already separated on 2 plates for them.

 

[disneygirlsng]

I don't think that anyone is talking about kids being a bit antsy. We are talking about how you see kids running around, standing on the chairs, screaming, throwing food, etc. I have worked in food for decades and this has become common in the last several years when we would NEVER see that kind of behavior before then. There truly has been a lack of good parenting lately when it comes to social manners.

I mean I eat out quite a lot and I've never once been annoyed by kids in a restaurant. Just saying that my tolerance is even higher at a place that there tends to be more kids. Unless I was having food thrown at me or the kids were standing on my table/chairs, the things you listed likely wouldn't bother me a whole lot.

 

[piccolopat]

Well behaved children should not be a problem in any Disney restaurant that allows them (V&A is the only exception that I know of). Well behaved children sit in their seats and don't run around or climb on the furniture, creating a nuisance for other diners and a safety hazard for restaurant staff. Well behaved children use an inside voice and do not yell and scream without parents taking prompt action to remove them until they calm down. Well behaved children eat their food rather than play with it or throw it all over the table and floor, making it difficult for staff to clean the area for the next diners. Well behaved children, if permitted to use electronics by their parents, only do so with the sound off or using headphones so as to not disturb others. I think most people would be a little more understanding of infants and very young toddlers but I would still expect parents to do what they could to minimize issues. If my child was unable to do these things, she would not have been able to go with us. Thankfully she was not only well behaved most times (and dealt with when not) but she also became a very adventurous eater. Now we have an infant grandson and hope he will be the same.

 

[sullyfam]

We've been dining with our 3 kids at all different ages and stages for years at Disney. The toughest age I think is 1-3 - the toddler age can be particularly challenging because they just don't like to sit still for very long! At that age we always tried to dine at places with distractions (characters, shows, lights/sounds, entertaining servers, views, fireworks, the ability to get up and walk around in a lobby area etc.) just makes it easier. But in general, kids are everywhere at Disney, even the signature dining places. We've brought our kids to Cali Grille, Yachtsmen, Narcoossee's, Boathouse before it was Boathouse (forget what it was called) and other more "adult" places and they've always been perfectly fine and we often see other children as well. As long as you come prepared (books, games, toys, electronics etc.) and you have proper expectations then you should be fine. If your kids are extra cranky, tired etc. and you have a reservation that you just know isn't going to fly, change it and make other plans. It is what it is. Also, stick to their regular eating times and a similar schedule to what they do at home. Another thing that I think a lot of people don't do enough of is take their kids out to restaurants on a regular basis from a young age. The only way they are going to know how to act is if you expose them to those environments often! We've always done this with our own kids and so they know how to behave in restaurants. That's not to say that we haven't had our moments and had to take them out of a restaurant multiple times or even ask for our food to go because it just wasn't worth it. But in general, they are well behaved and we always have a ton of fun dining at Disney; that's a huge part of the vacation for us and we often do 2 TS meals per day when we're there. Enjoy and I wouldn't stress too much about it!

 

[Lilsia]

I mean I eat out quite a lot and I've never once been annoyed by kids in a restaurant. Just saying that my tolerance is even higher at a place that there tends to be more kids. Unless I was having food thrown at me or the kids were standing on my table/chairs, the things you listed likely wouldn't bother me a whole lot.

How myopic of a statement. You have be fortunate enough to have not been directly affected by this so you think it's OK. I have seen all of the following. A child running and knocking into a person carrying bowls of soup(hot obviously) that all fell and splattered everyone around them, including the child. An elderly woman slipped on one of the many grapes that a child had fun throwing on the ground, that was of no concern to the parent, causing her to have to leave in an ambulance. A child screaming that he had to go to the bathroom and the parents ignoring him while on their phones and so he peed on the seat that the parent refused to clean up. That was fun. Parent's letting their kids be "big kids" and getting their own soda when they can't even reach it properly and then spilling it all over the place, repeatedly. Having to replace new booth seating AGAIN, because of kids jumping on it like a trampoline. You think those costs are not passed down to you? There is a reason why it is called "public behavior" because it affects EVERYONE.

 

[MomOTwins]

How myopic of a statement. You have be fortunate enough to have not been directly affected by this so you think it's OK. I have seen all of the following. A child running and knocking into a person carrying bowls of soup(hot obviously) that all fell and splattered everyone around them, including the child. An elderly woman slipped on one of the many grapes that a child had fun throwing on the ground, that was of no concern to the parent, causing her to have to leave in an ambulance. A child screaming that he had to go to the bathroom and the parents ignoring him while on their phones and so he peed on the seat that the parent refused to clean up. That was fun. Parent's letting their kids be "big kids" and getting their own soda when they can't even reach it properly and then spilling it all over the place, repeatedly. Having to replace new booth seating AGAIN, because of kids jumping on it like a trampoline. You think those costs are not passed down to you? There is a reason why it is called "public behavior" because it affects EVERYONE.

As a waitress for many years, I can give you just as many awful stories about adults behaving badly in restaurants—insane messes on the tables and floors (and bathrooms), LOUD phone calls full of swearing, screaming matches, dancing on tables, sexual harassment. Often alcohol involved but not always.

Seen it at the disney parks too. Even physical fights—saw domestic violence situation once at Epcot with police and paramedics called. On a disney cruise had a middle aged man follow me and my kids screaming and cursing at us because we accidentally walked through an adult only pool area even though my kids were quiet and in their stroller the whole time—CMs had to intervene. Drunk adult vomiting all over a bus.

People pick on kids as a group but for every bad example you gave there are plenty of uneventful instances of kids dining out.

Bad behavior happens at every age group. No reason to lump all kids together, just as there is no reason to complain that adults as a group shouldn’t dine out.

 

[piccolopat]

As a waitress for many years, I can give you just as many awful stories about adults behaving badly in restaurants—insane messes on the tables and floors (and bathrooms), LOUD phone calls full of swearing, screaming matches, dancing on tables, sexual harassment. Often alcohol involved but not always.

Seen it at the disney parks too. Even physical fights—saw domestic violence situation once at Epcot with police and paramedics called. On a disney cruise had a middle aged man follow me and my kids screaming and cursing at us because we accidentally walked through an adult only pool area even though my kids were quiet and in their stroller the whole time—CMs had to intervene. Drunk adult vomiting all over a bus.

People pick on kids as a group but for every bad example you gave there are plenty of uneventful instances of kids dining out.

Bad behavior happens at every age group. No reason to lump all kids together, just as there is no reason to complain that adults as a group shouldn’t dine out.

The subject of this thread is kids and signature or table service restaurants. The fact that there are also adults who misbehave doesn't mean we should accept kids misbehaving. Everyone should behave in public in a way that is respectful of others.

 

[Lilsia]

The subject of this thread is kids and signature or table service restaurants. The fact that there are also adults who misbehave doesn't mean we should accept kids misbehaving. Everyone should behave in public in a way that is respectful of others.

☝

 

[MomOTwins]

The subject of this thread is kids and signature or table service restaurants. The fact that there are also adults who misbehave doesn't mean we should accept kids misbehaving. Everyone should behave in public in a way that is respectful of others.

I was merely rejecting the premise that “kids” as a group misbehave in a way that makes them uniquely unsuitable to dining out. The thread was clearly devolving into a rant about “kids these days” where adults harp on children misbehaving without questioning why they are focusing all their frustration on children when adults as as likely (or more so) to be genuinely disruptive.

 

[JFox]

I have reservations next week at the California Grill, Le Cellier and Tiffins. If I encounter anyone behaving badly I'm going to ask to be moved.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I was merely rejecting the premise that “kids” as a group misbehave in a way that makes them uniquely unsuitable to dining out. The thread was clearly devolving into a rant about “kids these days” where adults harp on children misbehaving without questioning why they are focusing all their frustration on children when adults as as likely (or more so) to be genuinely disruptive.

I think the point is that society in general is increasingly willing to accept bad behavior from children, with the excuse that kids will be kids. Most adults are disgusted when other adults do it.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I am the same with my kids when it comes to food. They ate what we did. We loved going on the Disney cruise because they could order the steak, shrimp, fish, and lamb. I even had servers on the cruise(they come from different Countries) comment about how they can't believe how horrible kids eat from this Country. It is shocking how parents have been brainwashed into thinking that kids can only eat the junk food. At WDW, we would just order another adult meal for them to share. The servers where great and most of the time brought out the food already separated on 2 plates for them.

You are correct, kids are often only fed ”kid” food and don’t know any differently. My DD ate what we ate, and had similar taste to your kids. I remember the sever at Les Chets de France being floored that our American 7 year old was devouring Brie and goat cheese. We had a server at Coral Reef comment that he couldn’t get his adult son to eat a steak medium rare when she ordered hers that way at about the same age. She loved sushi and sashimi before she was 10. We have to talk to the chef sometimes because of Dh’s allergies and one time she and the chef at Akerhus created her meal by cobbling together 2 adult dishes. He told us she had an eye for food. We aged her up on free dining starting at 7 because, to quote her “ I want real food, not chicken nuggets and uncrustables”.

I will say that for some kids pickiness and food preferences go beyond parents not exposing them to other foods. I work in a school that houses a specialized program for autistic students, and I have definitely seen kids with sensory issues that make a varied diet impossible.

 

[Dug720]

What's funny is that when we were growing up, we did not have the "distractions" that they have now. We just learned to behave. I really think people are doing their kids a disservice by not having them learn to entertain themselves within their mind and by constantly having a screen in their face. Kids have learned how to act since the beginning of humanity but for some reason they can't anymore? I don't get that.

IMHO the same applies to the waiting in line thing. When we first went to Disney World (before Epcot had opened), there were NO Fast Passes of any type, no phones or tablets to play with, nada. We talked with each other, we discussed what we were going to do next, what we had done, etc. Probably helped that our first ride (due to my sister being 4 and somehow drawing first pick) HAD to be Dumbo - when there was only one set of elephants, and pretty much NO shade in the line...and it was LONG. After that, everything save 20,000 Leagues seemed short.