I suspect that's because Pecos Bill's also sells bbq pork. The bbq pork and sloppy joe have essentially identical heating and holding procedures and equipment. And the chilled chicken at Pecos Bill's is doubtless the same chicken (or possibly slightly different chicken, but probably stored on the line in the same container) as the chicken for the adult salads.
Now I'm curious. Hrm - I don't see anywhere in MK that has burgers for kids. I see..
chicken salad
chicken nuggets
corn dogs
chicken noodle soup
tacos
pb&j
mac and cheese (twice)
grilled chicken with cheese
sloppy joe
Chilled chicken
So other than a single repeat of Mac and cheese - there's really a lot of variety.
AK has
chicken drumstick
mac and cheese
hot dog
baked chicken wings
pb&j
cheese quesadilla
Epcot has
mac and cheese (twice in FW)
chicken nuggets (twice, once in FW, once in WS)
turkey and cheese pinwheels
sweet and sour chicken
sub sandwich
chicken leg
chicken and cheese quesadilla
pb&j (twice in WS, although one of them had no adult entrees -that's a credit thing)
chilled chicken over romaine
egg roll and fried rice
burger
pizza
chicken tenders (presumably whole meat, not nugget)
teriyaki chicken
MGM has
chicken nuggets
fried fish
veggie noodle stir-fry
grilled chicken wrap
chicken drumstick
pb&j
Really - if you have a kid who only eats mac and cheese, or only eats PB&J - there aren't many places you can eat. If your child eats chicken - they can eat almost anywhere. There's much more variety than non-variety.
Disney sells kids' pizza at several of their CS venues -- except for Pizzafari, where the specialty of the house is obviously pizza. This makes no sense at all, and is disappointing to families who go to a pizza place, wait in line anticipating pizza, and everyone gets pizza, except their 7 year old who gets...a quesadilla? Or PB&J?
Well, except that they really only sell it as a kid's meal in Morocco of all places. And at the other venue that sells pizza (Pizza Planet) they presumably feed kids pizza because there isn't a children's menu. My understanding is the Pizzafari has logistic reasons for not serving pizza on the children's menu.
I propose pretty much the same thing for kids' entrees -- two or three choices on each menu. One standard favorite (like a hot dog, burger, or chicken strips), one item appropriate to the restaurant's theme (ie: pizza at a pizza place, taco at a Mexican place), and one item appropriate for vegetarian kids.
Yeah, but that's really sort of how it is now.
AK has 2 CS out of 3 that are like that. And the quesadilla at Pizzafari sort of ties in with their hot sandwiches.
All of MGM is like that.
Epcot is almost exclusively like that, they did a really good job with Sunshine Seasons, for example.
At MK it's a little less ideal, but that's really prime kid territory and there's a lot of variety in the kid's meals with very little prep space. The big exceptions are Pecos Bill's (and there are no kid's burgers in the parks), Cosmic Ray's - where they serve the same kid's options at all bays so it has to take up very little space - you'll note it's all fried, or friedged except the soup that fits in a single hot pot. And Tommorrowland Noodle Terrace which is only open seasonally and is still trying to find itself.
I mean really - most theme parks are much, much worse. Disney does amazingly well, IMO.
It's not that hard. They already serve each one of those entrees at a few of their CS restaurants. All they have to do is shuffle the deck a bit. By keeping with the restaurant's theming, the same equipment can be used to prepare kids' meals as adult meals, which will save time and is more efficient.
Yeah, except that using the same equipment isn't always what you're going after. What you're going after is "doesn't interrupt throughput" particularly throughput of adult meals, which are the profit center. Sometimes that means re-using the same equipment as the adult meals do, and sometimes it means not reusing the same equipment because that equipment is at capacity. It *always* means low labor cost and using excess capacity. I don't think that any of us know WDW CS kitchens well enough to know which ones have extra capacity where.
Yes, it costs money to change a menu, but the change menus all the time. Maybe next time they change a menu, they could do something that makes sense. "Scientific" market surveys are all well and good, but the real, unedited voice of the consumer is on these boards -- whether or not Disney chooses to listen to it.
The plural of anecdote is not data. Changing menus on a one for one basis itself doesn't cost a significant amount of money. New signage, swap a few items in the computer, no net additions or deletions. The manner in which you change a menu can be very expensive or it can save money.
Guests would be pleased with the changes. They would meet the needs/desires of many guests (peanut allergies, vegetarian, want healthy choices like milk and fruit, kids want fries and soda, etc). To help cover any costs incurred, Disney could raise the price of some of the CS meals so they are all $4.99 or even $5.50, across the board, which further simplifies and streamlines things.
I wouldn't count on it - I'd be really mad if they raised the prices again for children's menu items. Particularly by that much. A 25% or 38% increase in the cost of a children's meal? I'm already irritated that they got rid of high-fat milk (it used to be whole, and they've gone to cheaper 2% or skim, even at TS) and that chocolate milk appears to no longer be an option for kid's meals on the dining plan. Off the dining plan you're paying for a kid's drink anyway and then having to purchase a separate chocolate milk and find someone to pawn off the child beverage on.
Ultimate benefits to Disney:
Guests will be happier with the choices -- happy, satisfied guests spend a lot of money
Oh my, you must believe in Tinkerbell - most guests have a fixed amount of money to spend on vacation. And they spend it until they're gone. Keeping the money on property is the most you can hope for.
More guests will want the dining plan/will not be hesitant because they dislike the kids' menus (and it seems like Disney is heavily promoting the
DDP and they want guests to purchase it)
Most visitors to WDW haven't even read a guidebook - let alone all the menus online. That's a trivial, trivial percentage of park-goers who have a) read the menus online b) found them lacking c) would prefer any reasonably cost effective alternatives
Guests will not be as inclined to cheat and use child credits for adult CS meals because their kids hate the kids' choices
Nah, people who cheat do it because they can, not because their kids hate the options. If their kids hated the dining plan they'd figure out if it was cost effective to use the dining plan and pay OOP for their kids or if the dining plan was a bad fit. Kids hating the dining plan is just a handy excuse. It would just be "My child has an adult appetite and needs more food" or "My child needs something other than pudding and jello! Pudding and jello for 2 weeks gets old!"
Now really - I understand the the choices are not what people on the Disboards seem to want. However, I don't know that more choices would solve it.