TS Kids Appetizer?

[srdipert]

We are doing three TS that are not family style or buffet....Cap'n Jacks, Mama Rosa and Kona Cafe. Do the kids still get an appetizer with their meals on the DDP? I don't see it listed on the menus for kids appetizer choices so are there seperate choices or do they get to order adult appetizers?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Depending what the kids order, Mama Melrose's and Kona Cafe DO have appetizers on the childrens' menu - read the item descriptions:
Kids' Picks: Choice of 1 Appetizer, 1 Entree, and 1 Dessert - Selection of appetizers: garden salad or chicken noodle soup. Selection of entrees: Macaroni & cheese, Hamburger, or Hot Dog. Selection of desserts: fruit salad or ice-cream sundae. Includes choice of Kids' juice, 1% milk, or bottled water. Soft drinks and french fries available upon request. - $7.49
Kids' Picks: Choice of 1 Appetizer, 1 Entree, and 1 Dessert - Selection of appetizers: vegetarian minestrone soup or vegetable salad. Selection of entrees: cheese or pepperoni pizza or spaghetti with tomato sauce. Selection of desserts: fruit salad or ice-cream sundae. Includes choice of kids' juice, 1% milk, or bottled water. Soft drinks available upon request. - $7.49


If Cap'n Jack's does not have appetizers on the kids' menu, you should be able to order those from the adult menu - but ASK. Not all restaurants allow it.

 

[Paddydax]

CJ's have either Chowder or Salad for the Little ones.

PaddyDax

 

[scrapperjill]

So your saying if your child wants an appitizer they have to order the kid's pick and decid between those choices? They can't pick any of the other items off the childs menu?

For example....I think my dd would rather have the grilled chicken strips off the kids menu over the mac & cheese, hot dog or burger. But by picking the kids grilled chicken she won't be able to order an appitizer or dessert from the kids choices?????

I've seen this "Kids Pick" option at a few places and I still don't quite understand why the kids can't pick off the kids menu what they want including the appitizer and dessert from the kids menu...why group it together in a "kids pick" combo???

 

[BrerMama]

On the new kids menus, there are 2 types of meals. "Complete Meals" and "Kid's Picks."

For example at Mama Melrose's the grilled chicken strips "Complete Meal" is:

Chicken Strips - served with barbecue sauce, sweet potato sticks, green beans, carrots and yogurt parfait $7.49

If your child chooses that meal, the carrots are considered the appetizer and the yogurt is the dessert. So there is one set of meals that comes with preselected appetizers and deserts. At Kona, for another example, the Grilled Chicken Strips from the Kids' Complete Meal side of the menu has vegetables as an appetizer and a fruit cup as dessert. The appetizer and desert are there, but if your child chooses from the "Complete Meal" portion of the menu, they don't get a choice as to appetizer and dessert. Also, from what I've read, it's all served at the same time, in a cute Mickey head dish.

Then there's the other half of the menu, the "kid's pick" side, which is detailed above. If they want an entree from the kid's pick side, they can choose from 2 appetizers and 2 desserts (usually).

I don't know why they don't just make everything a kid's pick. Here's your choice of 2 appetizer, your choice of entrees, and your choice of desserts. But that's not how it's done. If you go with the complete meal, that's what you get and again, from what I've read, no substituting. That's how Disney has chosen to handle kids meals and if we don't like it's there's not much to do but complain to Disney and hope they hear us.

 

[always on vacation]

There's really not a lot of choices for kids..especially older ones. I wish they had the option of not getting the meal plan for kids & just letting them order something from the regular menu. I'm not talking about sharing your meal but maybe ordering an appetizer or a chicken sandwich. The things offered on the children's menu are not what we would ever feed our kids at home..crustables & mac & cheese..give me a break! If you have 2 kids you could certainly have them split a meal if you're not on the ddp.

 

[scrapperjill]

I'm getting it now I guess I never realized how they grouped things together and considered things like carrots as an appitizer...TRICKY

I also agree there choices are VERY limited especially for older kids. And it's not that my dd eats a whole lot...but she dose have some health care needs and does need to eat certian things. Which for the most part are not on the kids menus....or at least in the way they have them 'grouped' together. I guess one good thing about having the ddp is there is SOOOO much food that if the pb&j or mac-n-cheese isn't cutting it she'll be able to share some of our meals.

 

[Paddydax]

As a server at Disney I (we) ask often for a Jr. Menu. You know real food for 8 to 15 y.o.’s not just PB&J’s or Hot Dogs. Disney has a closed ear to the cast. But, will listen to you “the guest”.

 

[scrapperjill]

Thanks for the info...I may just ask for a Jr Menu. After all it can't hurt to ask right??

 

[kaytieeldr]

There's really not a lot of choices for kids..especially older ones. I wish they had the option of not getting the meal plan for kids & just letting them order something from the regular menu.

You can do that. You just need to tell Disney your child is ten, so they'd be charged the adult price for tickets and the adult price for the DDP - the latter meaning they can order the same items that are available to adults.

 

[Paddydax]

Disney does not have a Jr. menu per say, but I (we)(Cast members) keep asking for them. I would help if you (the guest ) ask as well.
Paddydax

 

[Katiebell]

The dining plan for kids 9 and under is an absolute bargain for $11 a day. Once they turn 10, or if you choose to upgrade them to an adult ticket and dining plan, it's $39 a day -- that is $28 more per day. If I had an 8 or 9 year old who didn't like the kids' menus, I'd go ahead and buy the plan, order the kids' meals anyway for whatever they would eat (they'd definitely drink the beverage, eat the TS desserts, at least some of the entrees and sides, and the snack credits would never be wasted), then just pay OOP for a few items to supplement, which would cost a lot less than $28 a day. Or I'd share some of my meal with them if I had more than enough, or use snack credits for treats for them. I'd pick the CS that don't have kids' menus like Pizza Planet and Caseys so my kids could legitimately use their credits to have the same choices as adults. I'd also plan on a lot of buffets and character meals, probably almost every day for our TS meals -- kids get the exact same choices as adults and can eat as much as they want, for a LOT less money.

 

[englishrose47]

Honestly I thinkthere is plenty of food to share with kids!We are 4 adults ( in Disneys eyes)& 1 child. 4 appies between 5 and he can help with our 4 choices and again 4 desserts the same thing. The kids picks aren't the best at dsome cs but we'll avoid them. Also picked TS with kids picks in mind So am hoping everyone will be happy!!

 

[bicker]

I have posted this a few times recently, because it tends to help folks understand why there is no junior menu, i.e., no menu of regular menu items with simply smaller portions: If an adult meal costs $25.00, cutting the portion size in half saves about $4.75, so a reasonable menu price for a half-portion (half-sized appetizer, half-sized entree, half-sized dessert) is $21.25. If an adult meal costs $25.00, cutting the portion size to one quarter of the adult portion saves about $7.13, so a reasonable menu price for a quarter-portion (quarter-sized appetizer, quarter-sized entree, quarter-sized dessert) is $17.87.

Could you imagine ordering a junior meal, paying $21.25, and being pleased about those portion sizes? Is it really worth the $4.75 savings, if you're going to be getting half-sized portions of everything? Generally, I think most folks would not be happy, first that the savings is so small, and second that the portions are so small. And I think the quarter-sized option would be worse -- what does a quarter-sized portion of some of the smaller appetizers even look like?

 

[NMW]

I'm getting it now I guess I never realized how they grouped things together and considered things like carrots as an appitizer...TRICKY

I also agree there choices are VERY limited especially for older kids. And it's not that my dd eats a whole lot...but she dose have some health care needs and does need to eat certian things. Which for the most part are not on the kids menus....or at least in the way they have them 'grouped' together. I guess one good thing about having the ddp is there is SOOOO much food that if the pb&j or mac-n-cheese isn't cutting it she'll be able to share some of our meals.

Choices for older kids are the worst! Last trip my DS 10 was an "adult" and loved the DDP. He eats steak, pork, ribs, and most adult food. He loved his choice of appetizers and desserts and was happy with every thing. My DD, 4 at the time, loves cheesburgers and mac and cheese. She was happy pretty much every where. Well, all TS meals she was fine. I did have to get her an adult burger at CS places some times because the 2 choices at whatever CS place we were at where really bad. But, that's another thread!

Anyway, my DS 8 was miserable with the choices. He tried the chicken strips in the Mickey head plate at Brown Derby. They were really bad-dry, tasteless. DH and I tried them and they were bad. The yougurt was his dessert. I bought him an adult dessert at that meal-we paid oop for that meal anyway (didn't use the DDP). The worst part is that our trip took place during the official launch of the new, and very limited healthy kids meals at TS places. Anyone remember Just Dip it? Raw veggies and dip for dinner. My 8 year old who LIKES veggies & dip would have been starving if I told him that was his entire meal. Disney has since improved the kids menu by bringing back some things like hamburgers, pasta, french fries.

For our family, the only thing to do is to buy our middle son the adult plan for our next trips. Dec 2007 and May 2008. He will be 9 and starving. If he has to watch his brother eat filet again while he has dry broiled chick strips or mac and cheese, I think he may kill him. If we didn't do the plan, I'd be paying OOP for them to eat adult food anyway.

 

[Paddydax]

Here is a copy of Cap’n Jack’s Kids Menu. (complete). I hope that it Helps.​

​

​

​

Kids' Picks​

Guests Ages 9 and Under​

​

All meals served with 1% Milk, Bottled Water, or Juice​

“Soft Drinks Available Upon Request”​

​

Choice of one (1) Appetizer, one (1) Entree, and one (1) Dessert 7.49​

​

Appetizers​

Mixed Green Salad​

or
​

Choice of Clam Chowder​

Entrees​

Served with apples and Goldfish Crackers​

Chicken Sandwich​

Macaroni & Cheese​

Hot Dog​

Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich​

​

Desserts​

"Berried" Treasure Smoothie​

or
​

Fruit Cup​

 

[Indiana Tigger]

Just got back, and felt that I can add my 2 cents now! Our ds 9 y.o. always found something on the kids menu that he could eat. We always shared our appetizer & entree with him, and he always got my dessert, because I am diabetic and by the time that we ate our meal, there wasn't much room for dessert! DS was always full after meals, and didn't feel slighted. We don't eat 3 course meals at home, so there was always plenty of food. I feel like I gained 25 lbs.!!!! We also tried to eat places with buffets or family style meals. This worked really well for us!
And I have to say, we didn't have a bad meal anywhere! We ate dinners at: Liberty Tree Tavern, Whispering Canyon Cafe, Concourse Steak House, Coral Reef, 50's Prime-time Cafe & Donald's Breakfastasauras. We absolutely loved WCC!
Gina

 

[deedeetoo]

We are also planning to share adult meals to supplement the kids food. My kids (age 6 and 8) are not super picky but they both can eat more than me if they are hungry. I expect to be eating about half my appetizer, half my entree and half my dessert when we go to non-buffet restaurants and giving the rest to them. This will keep the kids happy and keep me from gaining weight while on the meal plan.

 

[kdkbrebel]

Just got back, and felt that I can add my 2 cents now! Our ds 9 y.o. always found something on the kids menu that he could eat. We always shared our appetizer & entree with him, and he always got my dessert, because I am diabetic and by the time that we ate our meal, there wasn't much room for dessert! DS was always full after meals, and didn't feel slighted. We don't eat 3 course meals at home, so there was always plenty of food. I feel like I gained 25 lbs.!!!! We also tried to eat places with buffets or family style meals. This worked really well for us!
And I have to say, we didn't have a bad meal anywhere! We ate dinners at: Liberty Tree Tavern, Whispering Canyon Cafe, Concourse Steak House, Coral Reef, 50's Prime-time Cafe & Donald's Breakfastasauras. We absolutely loved WCC!
Gina

So glad to here this, we are eating at the exact same places, except for 50's, I can't make up my mind between that and Sci fi. I keep going back and forth. Thats weird that our adr's are almost identical.