WDW bans children from fanciest park restaurant

lebeau · Post by **lebeau** » Jan Wed 09, 2008 12:40 pm

My first reaction was that this sort of thing shouldn't be necessary.

But then I thought about my years in customer service. And it occurred to me that they wouldn't have taken the time and effort to institute this policy if it wasn't necessary.

Those few instances a month where someone brought a kid must have have resulted in enough complaints to warrant the change.

I can't imagine this negatively impacting many people. And I can see a lot of adults who shelled out big bucks to eat at V&A's being very pleased by it.

And, before I come across like a snob, I doubt I will ever be one of those adults shelling out big bucks to eat at V&A's.

mageloff · Post by **mageloff** » Jan Wed 09, 2008 2:28 pm

What I find amazing is that anyone who could afford such a meal would have kids that would be anything less than polite in such an environment.

I am thinking royalty or dignitaries who are accustomed to this kind of lifestyle.

csquare77 · Post by **csquare77** » Jan Wed 09, 2008 8:20 pm

I can see why they do not allow children under 10. l I would not want to spend all of that money, and then have a crying/whiny child sitting next to me.

Post by **js3901** » Jan Wed 09, 2008 11:11 pm

mageloff wrote:What I find amazing is that anyone who could afford such a meal would have kids that would be anything less than polite in such an environment.

I am thinking royalty or dignitaries who are accustomed to this kind of lifestyle.

you'd be surprised. I worked in the kitchen of a 5 star/5 diamond resort, and we had a sunday night buffet which included a manned dessert station and manned carving station. the minimum charge to just get into the dining room was about $120 per person (including kids), and this was 5 or 6 years ago. the food itself was an extra charge. and we catered to everyone from (former) President Bush to members of the royal family. it seemed like the richer they were, the worse the kids were, as they felt privleged enough not to care what they were doing. almost like they felt because they had the money, they had the right to misbehave

jeremyleo · Post by **jeremyleo** » Jan Thu 10, 2008 9:30 am

I think that Disney may be missing another great opportunity here. I, for one, would love to try the VA dining experience but my spouse would never agree to vacation at WDW without the younglings. Our options are to hire a nanny (neither of us is overly comfortable with that idea) or miss out. As I stated before I would never put other guests through the experience of my kids hating being at a 3-4 hour 'quiet' meal.

Perhaps Disney should consider a "dinner and a movie" place for kids at the GF where families like mine might feel more comfortable dropping kids off for a few hours. Somewhere close to the restaurant where the kids can have their kind of fun as well. Give parents a pager, charge $15 per hour per kid, have some kid friendly activities, movies, kid's buffet and make VA more accessible to guests in situations like mine.

Disney could even market it as a VA family package.

mageloff · Post by **mageloff** » Jan Thu 10, 2008 10:12 am

js3901 wrote:you'd be surprised.... almost like they felt because they had the money, they had the right to misbehave

I guess you can see that I don't have a clue!

Calypso · Post by **Calypso** » Jan Thu 10, 2008 10:36 am

When we ate at V&A, we spent something like $400. I can tell you that I would have complained to management if that expensive experience was interrupted by some child that is othewise well-behaved, but for the fact of being in the parks all day in the sun, etc. has sent him/her into an overly exhausted rage that the parents couldn't have foreseen. Besides, its not like V&A is the only place that prohibits kids --- look at Pleasure Island.

jcodirewolf · Post by **jcodirewolf** » Jan Thu 10, 2008 11:17 am

I think part of the problem is that a lot of families are willing to pay anything at Disney. It's not like it's hard to do. Once you add up 7 days in a value resort, plus tickets for a family of 4 you are talking a min of $1600 (based on the ads) plus airfare (call it $100pp) so now you are talking $2k. Then add meals/food, transport to the airport/parking, gifts, etc... now you are talking $3-4k. (remember the median, US income fro 2006 was only $48k, so it's about 10% of your income.)

With all that in there at some point most people say "Well I've spent $x so far what's another $y."

*Then you end up with the Disney Death Spiral*
The end of the day mom and dad are cranky, we should have just gotten little Timmy that darn Buzz Toy, kids are cranky. They aren't prepared for the Fla sun. They are dehydrated, the kids got up at 5am because they where too excited to sleep. The lines are long... Now we are cranky, tired and frustrated, and we overspent our budget. Mom is mad at the digital camera she got...
*the above is a composite of things I've seen at Disney, but you know what I'm talking about*

johno

DisBeamer · Post by **DisBeamer** » Jan Fri 11, 2008 1:48 am

jeremyleo wrote:Perhaps Disney should consider a "dinner and a movie" place for kids at the GF where families like mine might feel more comfortable dropping kids off for a few hours. Somewhere close to the restaurant where the kids can have their kind of fun as well. Give parents a pager, charge $15 per hour per kid, have some kid friendly activities, movies, kid's buffet and make VA more accessible to guests in situations like mine.

Disney could even market it as a VA family package.

WDW has these already (though not as part of a 'package' with V&A or any other restaurant as far as I'm aware). There's a kid's club at the Grand Floridan, Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge aaaand ... I think there's at least one other one. It's basically exactly what you described there, though, at least from everything I've ever heard about any of them.

Edit before posting: Allears has a listing of them here. They're even cheaper than you're suggesting (I didn't think it was possible to overestimate a Disney charge - that may be a first!

)

saritajuanita · Post by **saritajuanita** » Jan Fri 11, 2008 3:26 am

While I'm surprised they took a stand like this, the policy does make sense. Even when my parents and I were eating at Catal at Downtown Disney, which has a $35/plate price fix menu, my father was still shooting eye-daggers at the couple across the way who had brought their two sugar-soaked sprogs to dine at a "wine bar" restaurant. What's sad about this is that everything about V&A screams "adults only" establishment (the price, the menu, the <i>lack</i> of children's menu, the wine pairings, the dress code, etc.), and yet some parents are so oblivious they still think it acceptable to tote junior along, much to the consternation of the staff and other diners.

wdwannabe · Post by **wdwannabe** » Jan Mon 14, 2008 11:47 pm

Just a question, did any of you get an email about your post in this topic from a blogspot?

I recieved one...it wasn't my exact words but very close.

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Jan Tue 15, 2008 10:28 am

No, and you shouldn't. It sounds like Phishing to me. Any post you do in here won't send you anything in your e-mail unless you specifically tell it to. And even then it isn't from a blogspot. The message that is sent from us says "Topic Reply Notification - WDW bans children from fanciest park restaurant", in the subject line

jumrungle · Post by **jumrungle** » Jan Tue 15, 2008 1:14 pm

I honestly don't see anything wrong with this. Plain and simple, it's an adult restaurant, you should be an adult to eat there. I remember a restaurant that did this in my hometown and there was always an allure to it. When I was old enough, my parents brought me and it was almost a rite of passage. Maybe V&A will become this for kids... with rich parents!

wdwannabe · Post by **wdwannabe** » Jan Tue 15, 2008 4:40 pm

Dr. Ravenscroft, no I did not respond, just deleted it. I knew it did not come from subsonic radio. It was just funny that it so closely matched what I said on this thread, about VA and children.
Thanks!

Post by **js3901** » Jan Tue 15, 2008 9:18 pm

wdwannabe wrote:Just a question, did any of you get an email about your post in this topic from a blogspot?

I recieved one...it wasn't my exact words but very close.

wdwannabe wrote:Dr. Ravenscroft, no I did not respond, just deleted it. I knew it did not come from subsonic radio. It was just funny that it so closely matched what I said on this thread, about VA and children.
Thanks!

this would definately be a scam. As the good Dr. said, ours would say "Topis reply Notification". Also, the email would not put the contents of any post into that email.