Change in pricing for people over 9 ordering from kids menus

[georgina]

I've always said they should call them Jr/Sr meals, as opposed to kids meals, so the older folks could order them, too.

Yes. Wasted food is a problem in this country (and probably many others). Why force people to order more than they can eat? We limit TS meals for this reason, except for breakfast which is usually more reasonable size

 

[SL6827]

You know they would just love to be able to put a stop to this with CS meals as well.

 

[maxiesmom]

Yes. Wasted food is a problem in this country (and probably many others). Why force people to order more than they can eat? We limit TS meals for this reason, except for breakfast which is usually more reasonable size

I try to share a meal with a family member whenever possible. My last trip was with my nephew, and he always finishes his meal so I had to order my own. I couldn't even finish a burger at Beaches and Cream. Lots of food wasted.

 

[notatallmagic]

I try to share a meal with a family member whenever possible. My last trip was with my nephew, and he always finishes his meal so I had to order my own. I couldn't even finish a burger at Beaches and Cream. Lots of food wasted.

I struggled with the wasted food BEFORE I had weight loss surgery and can now eat only about a third of an adult meal.

I do have a 17 year old son who can eat HUGE quantities of food, so sometimes he finishes my food. But he has severe food allergies, and we eat totally different things, so that doesn't always work. I also have another child with dietary issues, so sometimes we can split an appetizer/meal depending on the menu. We do a lot of research ahead of time to know where we can even eat; but Jungle Skipper was a great fit for us until all this drama. So we voted with our feet. Common sense would be smaller portions for a reasonable price, but...

 

[SL6827]

I struggled with the wasted food BEFORE I had weight loss surgery and can now eat only about a third of an adult meal.

I do have a 17 year old son who can eat HUGE quantities of food, so sometimes he finishes my food. But he has severe food allergies, and we eat totally different things, so that doesn't always work. I also have another child with dietary issues, so sometimes we can split an appetizer/meal depending on the menu. We do a lot of research ahead of time to know where we can even eat; but Jungle Skipper was a great fit for us until all this drama. So we voted with our feet. Common sense would be smaller portions for a reasonable price, but...

Same here!!

 

[HopperFan]

You know they would just love to be able to put a stop to this with CS meals as well.

Oh I think they could care less, they likely make so much more money at CS than they do at TS. Think about the time it takes at TS @ 1-1.5 hours how many orders are processed at each register in a QS. Even if they "lose" the extra $5-6 when an adult orders a kids meal they are still raking it in!

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

Now I see that Disney aren't cheap, it's their guests. Try so hard to get something for as cheap as possible, then complain and cry if it's taken away.

I started this thread to let people know because as it’s been mentioned on here many times, in the past they were not doing this, and all the travel blog tell you that you can do it. And I asked if my son could eat off the kids menu before ordering and wasn’t told of the new pricing strategy until after the fact. I didn’t want others to be put on the spot like that. It does ruin a good experience. In this thread I’ve learned I’m entitled, a complainer, a bad parent and Cheap!

 

[leebee]

(I only read thru page 4, so if someone else has said this, sorry!)

Back when DD was young, maybe 1998 or so, Disney table service restaurants offered half-portions. You got the same food listed on the menu, but in a half-sized serving for half-price plus $1. We liked that. DD was never a fan of "kids meals" but was happy to eat from the full menu, even at the age of 5. I was thankful that she could get a serving that wasn't particularly wasteful and I didn't have to pay for a full-priced meal.

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I also think Disney restaurants are doing with the pricing change to kids menus is so they can sell more items to the people for a more expensive price. Because no matter if you go to a Walt Disney World restaurant or a Disneyland restaurant the kids menus have always been pricey. Take for instance when I went to Disneyland I had to eat Mickey Mouse macaroni and cheese and it was the priciest meal on the kids menu but I had two bites before I said I was full. Now if you have kids and if you were going to Walt Disney World and the kids ordered from the kids menu I bet they would eat three bites of whatever they ordered then they would say "i'm full" and then you would tell them to eat all their food but if you want to save time by having the kids not eat from the pricey kids menus you can always eat during your break in your room by making sandwiches or buying TV dinners and for the kids you can always make slider sandwiches with an entree of Kraft Easy Mac and that would save money. But the main reason why Disney restaurants have always been pricey for kids menus is because it's a way for Disney to make more money and attract more deals to the people and families that dine there

 

[rdaky]

I started this thread to let people know because as it’s been mentioned on here many times, in the past they were not doing this, and all the travel blog tell you that you can do it. And I asked if my son could eat off the kids menu before ordering and wasn’t told of the new pricing strategy until after the fact. I didn’t want others to be put on the spot like that. It does ruin a good experience. In this thread I’ve learned I’m entitled, a complainer, a bad parent and Cheap!

This is why I don't always trust travel bloggers or the Disney vacation planners. Some are up to date and keep on top of changes and updates. I would say that many don't know, or don't keep their information updated.

 

[rdaky]

Oh I think they could care less, they likely make so much more money at CS than they do at TS. Think about the time it takes at TS @ 1-1.5 hours how many orders are processed at each register in a QS. Even if they "lose" the extra $5-6 when an adult orders a kids meal they are still raking it in!

I agree. I don't think they care. They're still making a high profit. I know someone who works in food and does mobile orders a lot and it sounds intense! The volume of orders per hour vs a table service is unbelievable. Add in that those kids meals didn't cost Disney much at all because everything is purchased in mass bulk with contracts with manufacturers, and Disney is making a huge profit even if your whole family gets a kids meal.

 

[DLgal]

It seems like the way they are discouraging this practice is by making the kids meals as TINY as possible. The burgers are the size of a slider now. It's truly comical. They are literally toddler sized meals at this point.

It would probably make more sense for them to default to charging for and providing 2 kids meals for anyone over the age limit, because anyone over the age of 9 needs more than 3 bites of food at mealtime. If your older child is truly picky (which I understand, because I have 2 of them), you should be okay paying the typical adult meal price for 2 kids meals. I have done this at counter service places when the adult menu doesn't have something the kids menu does (like a grilled cheese-comically it was 1/2 a grilled cheese, so I ordered 2 meals to make a full sandwich). At least then we got an extra side and an extra bottled water.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I started this thread to let people know because as it’s been mentioned on here many times, in the past they were not doing this, and all the travel blog tell you that you can do it. And I asked if my son could eat off the kids menu before ordering and wasn’t told of the new pricing strategy until after the fact. I didn’t want others to be put on the spot like that. It does ruin a good experience. In this thread I’ve learned I’m entitled, a complainer, a bad parent and Cheap!

IMO, WDW is not your average dining experience, because most people go to WDW for more than 10hours. In general, I would not expect a standalone table service restaurant to allow an adult to order off kids' menu, because there is somewhat an understanding that each patron will spend a certain amount.

If ever I visit a TS to order less than a meal, I tell the waitperson right away. It is a customary way of letting them know I will keep things quick to allow for a quick turnaround time. Desserts are often premade, so the server can often bring them faster than an entree would arrive. This is especially helpful in a busy restaurant.

Lunch rush is a special crunch-time though. It is typically not good manners to order just dessert during that hour of the day. Much better to do desserts-only at a slow time like 2pm-4pm.

Then again, this is another way WDW is not your typical dining experience. WDW is set up so there are not really slow times of day at most WDW dining. They are fully booked.

On top of that, I'm not sure how to explain, except to say a few times at WDW, members of our family have caught some sort of stomach-thing that caused us to be sick to our stomach. Recovery = 24 hours of a bland diet. WDW TS do not offer a bland diet. EVERYTHING is fried, covered in sauce, seasoned, or has some sort of slightly unusual ingredient. Only kids are offered plan rice. so we sometimes find ourselves seeking a kid item just to get plain food.

 

[serenitynow]

Not in our area and def not in our second home area. It is usually 9 and under, a random will go to 12. If you don't want a full meal they offer appetizers and sides. I know because I have an adult son who is disabled and would much rather have the kid's meals. We have had them do the kids food as an adult platter at an adult price.

That is great that you have been allowed to order off the kid's meals, but there is no reason for a restaurant to allow it. Restaurants have numbers to hit and they figure their prices out based on estimates of how many kids/adults will take up seats. The bottom line if adults keep ordering kid's meals or splitting meals .... the prices will go up. Disney is at that point obviously since they a la carte charged the OP. Where it goes who knows but their prices will have a breaking point and the reason they are going up is this situation - just like BOG went to prix fixe because guests were not ordering enough food to meet the numbers.

We have one that is obsessed with Disney Macaroni & Cheese. As a teenager, we would ask if he could order an adult portion without sides or drink for an adult entree price. Never had a problem.

One time at Boatrights the chef came out to try and talk him into something else to try. Kid wouldn’t budge. When our meals came out, his was served in a big metal mixing bowl. We laughed and laughed. The server said it was the Chef’s Mac n cheese trough special!

But we always expected to pay the adult price for an entree for a teenager obsessed with Disney Mac n Cheese off the kiddie menu

 

[philharmagic fan]

I think it used to be 12. My memory is Disney lowered the age so it was the same as the age for tickets.

Wait until Disney decides, for consistancy, to charge extra for more then 2 guests over 10 in the room.

We took our kids (4 and 6 at the time) for the first time in 1994, and the kids meal cutoff was 9 and younger. (BTW kids meal was usually $4.99 in TS restaurants, including dessert and beverage). Thankfully we now own DVC where there's no extra charge for the 3rd+ adults.

 

[notatallmagic]

I started this thread to let people know because as it’s been mentioned on here many times, in the past they were not doing this, and all the travel blog tell you that you can do it. And I asked if my son could eat off the kids menu before ordering and wasn’t told of the new pricing strategy until after the fact. I didn’t want others to be put on the spot like that. It does ruin a good experience. In this thread I’ve learned I’m entitled, a complainer, a bad parent and Cheap!

You are none of those things. Hugs. I've heard that "cheap" people ruined BOG by ordering dessert to get into the castle. Which I did once as a broke single mom whose 5 year old daughter LOVED Belle. I saved and sacrificed for our Disney trip years ago, and that's all we could afford. It's very sad that other's in our situation won't get to share that magic with their kids.

Our situation improved over time, and we returned to Disney dozens of times since then, so I'm pretty sure Disney has made plenty of $$ off of our family. But it still hurts to hear elitist folks shaming others who don't have the resources they do.

 

[notatallmagic]

I may have shared this, but as a family with a medical issue requiring dietary attention, another member with severe food allergies, and an adult post-weight loss surgery who can eat only 4 ounces at a time - dining at Disney is a real issue.

We do study menus ahead of time, and pick restaurants based on who can fit what we need. Jungle Skipper had been our go-to for years, but apparently not anymore. As a point of reference, Satuli is one of our favorites, and the kid's meal there is double what I can eat, so we get one adult meal and one kid's meal for three of us. I hate wasting food, so that's also an issue for me.

We have also become Universal AP's, and after 2 trips with over a dozen table service dining experiences, we have NEVER had an issue ordering what we need/want. When I have asked about ordering from the kid's menu, I was told "Whatever makes YOU happy". What a novel, and dare I say "old Disney" type of response.