Is there anything more depressing than a kids menu?

[The WDW 3]

Generally speaking kids menus are horrible, correct?

 

[Carol_]

Not when you actually have real children to feed.

 

[The WDW 3]

Not when you actually have real children to feed.

We’ve always ordered off of the adult menu.

 

[J-Dog]

"Horrible" how?

Yes, I agree that some kids entrees are really overpriced - $8 for a few chicken nuggets or cheap mac and cheese is a huge markup.

But I don't agree that, generally speaking, the food is horrible for the intended audience. I don't expect or want my kids to have expensive tastes or refined tastebuds when they are young.

 

[MrsNick]

Generally speaking kids menus are horrible, correct?

Hi, I can't speak to post pandemic, but I actually found Disney kids menus to be better than most restaurants. While each restaurant at Disney may vary in its kids menu offerings, our daughter routinely ordered nice entrees like grilled salmon, steak and grilled chicken along with broccoli or green beans and rice or mashed potatoes. And Disney is excellent with food allergies and sensitivities.

 

[Merlin's Magic]

We were definitely not a fan when we went in 2009, or in 2015, or 2020. The quick service meals are so limited that a kid could literally end up eating only 3 different things in a week trip. The table service meals can be better, and have more variety, but we ended up with a few different options:
-getting the kid an appetizer or snacks from the menu instead and/or splitting an adult meal
-not doing QS in the MK. They were the worst for options or listening. DS6yo kept wanting green beans with his meal and they'd give him fries.
-TS as much as possible. The kids' menus are more balanced and healthier.

 

[B-Ride]

Generally speaking kids menus are horrible, correct?

Agreed but I can think of a lot more depressing things although I try not to.

 

[J-Dog]

I guess I just don't see the issue. Granted my kids are still fairly young, but they would gladly eat mac and cheese for every meal.

 

[mom2rtk]

We’ve always ordered off of the adult menu.

Then I'm not sure why the kids' menu is an issue for you.

 

[PAGA2003]

Sure some of the children's menus are basic both I think those places tend to have basic adult selections as well (I mean I love Sci Fi but your going there for burgers and shakes!). I think children can have some great options if you choose restaurants wisely and many provide better options that restaurants in the real world. If there are better options on a menu I don't even give my kids a choice of pizza/chicken nuggets/burgers. Just on this last trip my son loved the fruit and cheese plate and beef tenderloin with wild rice and green beans at Be Our Guest, the Galactic Salmon with mashed potatoes and broccolini at Space 220, the slow roasted sliced grilled beef bowl at Satu'li Canteen, the Ithorian pasta rings at Docking Bay 7 and the list goes on! My daughter still shares with us quite a bit but at Kona she wanted the Kid's sushi! In the past Columbia Harbour House and Sanaa have had great options as well like shrimp skewers, grilled salmon, butter chicken etc. I really have no issue with the child options at Disney and order them for myself along as well if I want a smaller portion.

 

[Lilsia]

I agree with the kids meals for the most part. There are a few places that have decent but they're usually the sit-down restaurants and not the quick service. We just never gave our kids that type of food and they ate what we did, basically normal home cooking. The whole mac and cheese, chicken strip, pizza, burger thing really did not sit well with them physically. If they ate that food for a couple of meals they would actually start feeling sick and it also affected their behavior. When they were growing up they started going to their Grandma's house to spend the night and she would just go and feed them McDonald's and other junk food and they would always come home cranky and then get sick. It got to the point where we had to tell her to stop feeding them that stuff and that we would provide the food if needed. When we went to WDW with them when they were little we would just order an extra adult meal for them to split. I have been saying for years and years and years that I wish that they had a better, healthier variety of food for children. Not every kid lives off of mac and cheese, chicken strips, pizza, and burgers. Kids will learn to like to eat whatever they're given from the start. So I don't understand the whole limited menu for kids that is out there right now. As if kids can't eat anything else.

 

[soniam]

I’m glad for some of the bland plain things. Otherwise, our incredibly stubborn teen would starve to death. I’m sure you think I am exaggerating, but I have seen him go multiple days without eating, if he can’t get what he wants. He’s probably going to starve to death when we go to Japan, unless he can get plain rice for every meal or figure out how to eat more than a handful of foods. If he had more bulk to burn it wouldn’t be an issue, but he’s always been pretty low on the weight charts.

 

[gharter]

Not a lot of imagine at any of them. when our kids were young, it was good enough for them. by the time they were 10, not even close.

 

[The WDW 3]

Fluorescent yellow mac & cheese again

 

[Disneylover99]

Fluorescent yellow mac & cheese again

We’ve tried lots of great kids meals over the years that included salmon, grilled chicken, shrimp skewers, steak, etc….. You just have to check out the menus ahead of time.

Never tried the mac and cheese, but I’m intrigued. Lol.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Kids meals are there for kids - lower sensory experiences of low-to-medium caloric content - some kids expand their palettes and appetites faster than others and that expansion is not uniform for everyone.

Even though I have kids still of kids' age, none of mine eat off the kids' menus anywhere anymore...but when my 1st was young, she ate off them to the very last day her age allowed b/c her palette just took longer to accept more taste profiles. So, she enjoyed the "comfort" of not overwhelmingly flavored kid food.

 

[FCDub]

Then I'm not sure why the kids' menu is an issue for you.

Everyone needs to have an opinion on everything these days – even things that don't impact them at all. It's exhausting.

 

[lukemorenus]

Incorrect

 

[CBMom01]

I like places that have kids menus that are just smaller, simplified versions of the adult menu.

 

[Lilsia]

Kids meals are there for kids - lower sensory experiences of low-to-medium caloric content - some kids expand their palettes and appetites faster than others and that expansion is not uniform for everyone.

Even though I have kids still of kids' age, none of mine eat off the kids' menus anywhere anymore...but when my 1st was young, she ate off them to the very last day her age allowed b/c her palette just took longer to accept more taste profiles. So, she enjoyed the "comfort" of not overwhelmingly flavored kid food.

I don't agree with that at all. It's not the child, unless you're talking about babies that are still having food introduced to them. But any toddler age kid and older, can eat pretty much anything. Kids all over the world are not fed mac and cheese and chicken strips. They eat whatever their parents are having. This whole mentality that kids are incapable of eating other foods is a western mentality and has no merit to it, especially since you consider that these foods only became the "norm" around two decades ago. Before that we all grew up eating whatever mom gave us and that did not include chicken strips and mac and cheese. You might get mac and cheese as a side dish occasionally but it was never a main dish for children because it doesn't have the complete nutrition that kids need. This mentality of kids only being able to eat certain items is marketing at its finest. We do our kids a disservice in limiting them. I imagine most people would be amazed at what their kids would eat if only they were given a wide variety from the beginning.