Kids Menu for Adventurous Eaters/Have your kids suffered food burnout with the menu items at WDW?

[Mr. Pricklepants]

Looking at the kids menu at most of the table service restaurants, I notice that most only have the standard kids fare entrees... hamburger, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, some sort of sandwich. My DD5 is a pretty adventurous eater. One of her favorite foods is crab and loves fresh fish and seafood of all types. She will even try new foods and I'm a bit worried that she will get tired of having the same limited choices that are on the kids menu since we will be staying on site for a week.

Take the Sanaa adult menu, there are really great items on the menu, but on the kids menu you only have the items that I listed above. Can you order items off the adult menu and scale it down to a kids portion and scale down the price too? Or will I just be sliding things off of my plate and onto hers?

Have your kids suffered food burnout with the menu items at WDW?

 

[Weather_Lady]

You are so right -- the kids' menu offerings are ridiculously limited, although some of the "Mickey Check Meals" on some of the menus extend beyond the burgers-and-chicken-tenders fare and offer things like grilled fish or chicken and veggies. It all depends on the restaurant. Still, it feels totally absurd when, for example, DH and I are noshing on tabbouleh, baklava and shawarma platters in the Morocco Pavilion while our kids are forced to eat... hamburgers or fried chicken tenders.

First, if you're not on the dining plan, you can always split an adult entree with your daughter, or order her a soup or an appetizer (or any side dish you see) instead of an entire meal. I'm not sure that the restaurants will permit you to order her smaller portions of adult entrees for smaller prices, although it can't hurt to ask. Certainly, at counter service restaurants, there is always the [never publicized but always available] option to order an adult entree without the advertised side, for a reduced price (e.g., a sandwich without the fries).

If you are on the DPP, meaning that your daughter has to order off of a kids' menu if one is available, then the best thing to do is avoid places with a separate kids' menu! One way we got around the "kid menu boredom" was to restrict our table-service meals (we had one TS meal per day) largely to buffets, or restaurants that served a single menu, family-style, to everyone. (e.g., Biergarten in Epcot, Akershus in Epcot, Liberty Tree Tavern in MK, 'Ohana at the Polynesian, Crystal Palace in MK, Trail's End Restaurant at Fort Wilderness, Boma at the AKL, 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian - for your seafood-loving daughter, I would suggest the Cape May dinner buffet at the Beach Club Resort -- you can walk there from Epcot's World Showcase -- it is chock full of seafood!). At such restaurants, the kids had all the same options that we did, and they really enjoyed exploring and trying new things. You can do the same with Counter Service restaurants. The smaller ones in each park have more limited choices for adults, but they don't tend to offer a kids' menu, either, so kids can order what they like there. Examples: Sleepy Hollow Refreshments (MK, serving waffle sandwiches in Liberty Square), Tamu Tamu (AK, serving curry dishes in Africa), Yorkshire County Fish Shop (Epcot, fish-n-chips in the Great Britain pavilion) and Casey's Corner (MK, offering "gourmet hot dogs" on Main St., USA).

 

[NiarrNDisney]

I have always wondered this myself! My sisters kids have always been pretty adventurous when it came to eating so the same old same old offerings at every CS can get very boring. However we always ended up going to certain restaurants with either a nice variety or large portions for sharing.

__CS__

MK - Colombia Harbour House, Tortuga Tavern

Epcot - Boulangerie Patisserie, Katsura Grill, La Cantina de San Angel, Sunshine Seasons, Tangierine Cafe, Yorkshire Fish & Chips

DHS - Starring Rolls, Studio Catering Co.

DHS - Yak & Yeti Local Foods, other wise we snack around

DTD - Cookes of Dublin, Earl of Sandwich, Wolfgang Puck Express

When it comes to TS if they aren't interested in the Kids choices then we either order a normal entree or a appetizer which in both cases usually ends up being shared since they are still little and only have small appetites.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We have ordered off of the adult menu before for our kids, but we usually have them split it when we do that. Out of curiosity, which Sanaa menu are you looking at? I'm looking at the kids menu on Allears and while it's not a kiddie version of the main menu, it's also not your generic nuggets, pizza, etc. either. i.e. the burger is a turkey burger with mango ketchup and roasted potatoes and the pizza is made on naan bread like they offer with the bread service on the adult menu. They also offer shrimp and fish on their kids menu.

 

[Figgy1]

My boys will eat almost anything that's not nailed down, but they love the TC, SS, and Flametree for something different

 

[Mr. Pricklepants]

@HouCuseChickie That makes feel a bit better. The menu I was looking at was the one at touringplans.com. I checked out the one disney.com and at allears and it was very different,for the better. I guess it pays to visit multiple sites.

@Weather_Lady, we have a few buffets lined up for the course of our stay. here are our adr's for the week.

Arrival day Dinner: Whispering Canyon Cafe
Day 1 Dinner: Akershus
Day 2 Dinner: Coral Reef or Biergarten
Day 3 Dinner: Chef Mickey's
Day 4 Breakfast: 'Ohana

Dinner: Flying Fish cafe or Narcoossee's (date night, hopefully without the kid)​

Day 5 Breakfast: Crystal Palace

Dinner: Sanaa​

Day 6 Dinner: Teppan Edo or Fulton's Crab House
Departure Day: bucket of tears

Now that I'm looking at my schedule, I don't think my kid will get tired of the food at all, except for maybe of getting tired of eating out. Guess I'm overreacting since the amount of $$$ we are spending on this vacation I am trying to make sure everything will be perfect.

Here's another question that I have never seen asked. Can you get a take-out order from any of the table service or quick service restaurants? Probably not going to do that but who knows? We plan to leave the parks each day after lunch and head back to the room for swimming and a nap, but maybe we could just order some food to go and eat it back in the room or by the pool.​

 

[Weather_Lady]

@HouCuseChickie That makes feel a bit better. The menu I was looking at was the one at touringplans.com. I checked out the one disney.com and at allears and it was very different,for the better. I guess it pays to visit multiple sites.

@Weather_Lady, we have a few buffets lined up for the course of our stay. here are our adr's for the week.

Arrival day Dinner: Whispering Canyon Cafe
Day 1 Dinner: Akershus
Day 2 Dinner: Coral Reef or Biergarten
Day 3 Dinner: Chef Mickey's
Day 4 Breakfast: 'Ohana

Dinner: Flying Fish cafe or Narcoossee's (date night, hopefully without the kid)​

Day 5 Breakfast: Crystal Palace

Dinner: Sanaa​

Day 6 Dinner: Teppan Edo or Fulton's Crab House
Departure Day: bucket of tears

Now that I'm looking at my schedule, I don't think my kid will get tired of the food at all, except for maybe of getting tired of eating out. Guess I'm overreacting since the amount of $$$ we are spending on this vacation I am trying to make sure everything will be perfect.

Here's another question that I have never seen asked. Can you get a take-out order from any of the table service or quick service restaurants? Probably not going to do that but who knows? We plan to leave the parks each day after lunch and head back to the room for swimming and a nap, but maybe we could just order some food to go and eat it back in the room or by the pool.​

It looks like you have a pretty varied and interesting bunch of ADRs planned, so you'll not likely get bored.

We always head back to the resort for naps too, after lunch, and return to the parks around 4pm or so. (It's amazing what that mid-day nap does for all of one's spirit - I attribute the fact that our 4-and-6-year-olds never melted down even once during our last trip to those wonderful naps!) You can get your order "to go" from any counter service restaurant, but if there are seats available, you may want to eat it there instead so things don't get cold, soggy or dropped-in-transit. Then again, my family eats pretty quickly -- it only takes us about 15 minutes to eat a counter service meal and be on our way. If you want to get out of the park before the lunch rush, consider getting lunch at your resort instead.

 

[coltow]

My 9yo has recently discovered seafood & steak. We are going to be doing slot of buffets, but do have 4 regular meals planned. For Sam Angel & Askerhaus I will be willing to eat the kids meal or we can share those 2 so we each get some of the "good stuff" at Sci Fi & BOG I'm guessing he'll be fine

 

[Jo DeVil]

DS now 9 does not eat Nuggets fries etc (his choice) he loves sea food coucous, and I think if I put garlic and tomato and basil on a sweaty sock he would eat it. This year will be the first year he will be 10 so the adults menu now, he has never run out of options and we go for at least 14 nights each time. We decide as a family on the menus and we eat at signatures which do have a wider choice for children. I can not remember which one it was but they made a special meal for him from the adults menu.