Yet another Jello Response

[TDC Nala]

Last week I listened to a Congressional hearing regarding the childhood obesity epidemic. One idea they are sort of floating around is to provide free breakfast AND lunch for all children in public school, regardless of means. That way the school could control entirely what the kids eat, because the parents are not going to pass up free meals.

Disney's trying this in its own way by offering only what it considers to be healthy choices for child's meal desserts. Like the fact that the schools can't control what kids eat at home, Disney can't control what you buy your kids at the ice cream cart. I am afraid I still don't see how it's that big a deal when you can just go out after the meal and buy some cake or ice cream nearby. Unless of course you are on the dining plan and didn't anticipate paying for any food.

 

[Susan555]

Being diabetic, I am very happy to trade my desert for sugar free jello or applesauce. I particularly liked the WDW jello (although you would think with Jello practically being a food group there, there would be more than one flavor). This worked out fine for us. The kid felt like he was getting something special and I was happy too.

All this jello talk makes me want to go make some right now...

I'm actually sitting here eating sugar free jello and whipped cream. Just got back from a playdate with the kids where LOTS of bad foods were served (none of which I ate) so I was wanting a sweet treat. It was yummy

 

[Susan555]

A little variety is all I am asking for. If the jello stays as the only option, I will give my kids my dessert, as I don't need it anyway. LOL

But choices are always a good thing.

I don't think they need to include dessert with CS meals at all anyway. And frankly, if I was in charge I'd have the TS credits include entree and an appetizer OR dessert. Man, would people be PO'd if I was running things!

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

Last week I listened to a Congressional hearing regarding the childhood obesity epidemic. One idea they are sort of floating around is to provide free breakfast AND lunch for all children in public school, regardless of means. That way the school could control entirely what the kids eat, because the parents are not going to pass up free meals.

Disney's trying this in its own way by offering only what it considers to be healthy choices for child's meal desserts. Like the fact that the schools can't control what kids eat at home, Disney can't control what you buy your kids at the ice cream cart. I am afraid I still don't see how it's that big a deal when you can just go out after the meal and buy some cake or ice cream nearby. Unless of course you are on the dining plan and didn't anticipate paying for any food.

Exactly. I don't think a theme park should be in the business of trying to control what children eat. They can offer the choice and then their part is done. But by offering only a healthy choice then they are getting into the parenting business and making the choice for the parents. Or it feels to me like a veiled attempt to do so. I agree that some parents need a wake up call but I don't believe that a theme park is the appropriate institution. Many parents relax otherwise healthy eating on vacation. And for the parents that don't have otherwise healthy eating habits, only offering healthy dessert isn't going to make you say, "Oh I've been giving my kid crap for all this time, but Disney has made me see the light!" No, they'll continue to parent as they see fit.

I feel very sorry for overweight children. That was why when my son was meds that caused weight gain I watched what he ate. It was hard always being the "meanie". Sometimes I just wanted to take him for an ice cream but because I knew that others (the school included) were sneaking behind our wishes and giving him food which we did not feel was appropriate, I knew I wasn't willing to take the risk. I learned to say no.

But on vacation I could say, Yes! For one, I knew exactly what he was eating. And two it wasn't what he had during one week of the year but rather what he ate the other 51.

I just feel very strongly that it is not Disney's place to parent. And by only offering that, I feel they have stepped into that arena.

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

I don't think they need to include dessert with CS meals at all anyway. And frankly, if I was in charge I'd have the TS credits include entree and an appetizer OR dessert. Man, would people be PO'd if I was running things!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Don't give them any ideas! I plan for a week of indulgence. Luckily my mother never made me clean my plate!

Plus with a 6'2 husband and 14 year old son (off his medication, thin and has grown hollow leg), I have lots on the clean up crew! I just want a taste of everything since we usually order an appetizer to share and dessert to share when we go out. This way I get to try more. Not eat more, just taste more. Yummmmm.

We leave in less than a month, though so I doubt they'll get anything changed before we leave even if they decide to take your advice!

 

[Sammie]

Actually they are not controlling what kids can eat, they are controlling the DDP, which is their right.

Just as it is any parent's right not to purchase the DDP and buy any dessert that their child wants. Or buy the plan and share desserts or buy one OOP, there are plenty of options.

If Disney said that all kids that enter the park must be on the DDP and must eat the sugar free jello or they can not eat, then yes Disney would be controlling what children must eat. But of course they are not doing that and there are hundreds of choices, they are just not all on the DDP.

 

[TDC Nala]

Unless Disney wants to remove all the snacks from the parks and resorts, it's not really able to control anything but what you can order in a combination meal at the restaurants. They've made the determination that this is the best thing to do, because they want to give the impression that they are a company with a social conscience. It may help them get better press regarding healthy meals for children, and it is probably very good for their bottom line because the jello and applesauce are no doubt pretty cheap, and very easy to store and maintain, which helps them offer the dining plan at such a rock bottom price for children.

If the kid doesn't like it, why not buy them something else. I sort of understand the angst over the dining plan, but the child's plan is so darned cheap that I can't imagine it being a hardship to buy the kid some ice cream after you eat, for example, or to use the snack credit for some. I don't have kids, but I can't say I understand why it's a big problem that they can't order the same dessert as you while they're standing at the counter service line, when the stuff they probably want is all around and easy to get after you are finished eating the counter service meal.

The poster who has a hollow leg 14 year old son - he isn't eligible to get children's meals, which is all we've been talking about, so no worries there.

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

Actually they are not controlling what kids can eat, they are controlling the DDP, which is their right.

Just as it is any parent's right not to purchase the DDP and buy any dessert that their child wants. Or buy the plan and share desserts or buy one OOP, there are plenty of options.

If Disney said that all kids that enter the park must be on the DDP and must eat the sugar free jello or they can not eat, then yes Disney would be controlling what children must eat. But of course they are not doing that and there are hundreds of choices, they are just not all on the DDP.

I suspect when I really think about it, they are in a no win situation. They want the child's plan to mirror the adult plan which includes dessert. However, they probably received flak either internally, externally or both that offering children two desserts plus a snack each day was irresponsible. So they came up with the alternative of healthy dessert.

I still maintain that within the realm of DDP, they are attempting to remove parental choice. Most sane parents would alternate between fruit, apple sauce, jello and a baked goodie. They don't allow parents to the option (WITHIN THE DINING PLAN) to make a sane choice. They make the sane choice for you. It is their right! I disagree with it. On principle.

In my opinion they are attempting to make a parental choice for what is likely political (in the advertising sense most likely) reasons.

I want to make it perfectly clear that I agree with:

I think it is way too much food and that you can easily share a dessert on the DDP.
I think the kid's price is one heck of a deal! For that matter for us, so is the adult!
That the DDP is not for everyone.
If my child pouted or became upset at sharing said dessert with mom or dad that would make the decision easy, I don't reward bad behavior.
If I can't afford to supplement the really, really cheap price of kid's meal with an oop dessert then I personally have stretched MY disney budget too far. (Not saying everyone should feel this way.)


But since the way it reads right now is that they offer dessert. Two times each day. Plus a snack. I feel the sugar high coming on now!

And neither Jello nor apple sauce, whether it has sugar or not, is not dessert in my world!

Am I arguing over semantics. Probably, but I'm bored waiting for my trip!

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

The poster who has a hollow leg 14 year old son - he isn't eligible to get children's meals, which is all we've been talking about, so no worries there.

I know! But I disagree with any corporation regardless of how pure the motivation in attempting subvert the parental role. I honestly think that is why some of the parents are upset. Or it could be that most humans just like choice and lots of it.

People keep repeating so just buy your child (fill in the blank.) The cost of the DDP is cheap so what is the problem.

I'm just tossing out one reason why it might be a problem that has nothing to do with the money.

Because I have been following this thread from the beginning. At the beginning they were upset because the jello had artificial sweeteners. Then they offered unsweetened apple sauce and people were still not happy. Sure some people are never happy, but I didn't get that feeling. Personally I think the reason is because of choice. And that parents feel very strongly that they have the right to make the choices for their children.

I said in an earlier thread that I didn't personally have a dog (or kid) in this fight but I still have an opinion even if it doesn't personally affect me.

Anyway, I appreciate you pointing it out because I would hate to lead someone astray that a 14-yr old would be impacted. Sometimes he's kinda weird. I dunno, maybe he'd like the jello!

 

[TDC Nala]

People keep repeating so just buy your child (fill in the blank.) The cost of the DDP is cheap so what is the problem.

I'm just tossing out one reason why it might be a problem that has nothing to do with the money.

Because I have been following this thread from the beginning. At the beginning they were upset because the jello had artificial sweeteners. Then they offered unsweetened apple sauce and people were still not happy. Sure some people are never happy, but I didn't get that feeling. Personally I think the reason is because of choice. And that parents feel very strongly that they have the right to make the choices for their children.

Yes, most parents want a choice. I am sure many can't see their kids being happy with the jello or unsweetened applesauce, and little kids sometimes live in the here and now and they don't really get that they can go get some ice cream later. All they see is what's in front of them, not to mention what's in front of mom and dad or (worse) big brother or sister, and if they don't like it they will probably at least do some whining. Aren't parents sort of used to dealing with whining?

But Disney isn't giving any indication that they're going to change their minds and start putting ice cream, cookies and cake on the CS children's menus, so parents will have to deal with what they are offered. If that means you have to budget an extra $10 a day or so for snacks, then at least if you read here you've been forewarned.

But in the great scheme of things, this doesn't seem like much...unless kids have a screaming meltdown when they see the jello...I don't have kids, and I don't really take my niece and nephews out for a meal, does that happen?

 

[Susan555]

I know! But I disagree with any corporation regardless of how pure the motivation in attempting subvert the parental role.

I find this somewhat amusing since 90% or so of parents allow schools to subvert their parental role 9 months out of every year, not only with dietary decisions but also with the transmission of knowledge and values. And that's a heck of a lot more "subversion" than Disney offering only one dessert option with kids' meals!

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

I find this somewhat amusing since 90% or so of parents allow schools to subvert their parental role 9 months out of every year, not only with dietary decisions but also with the transmission of knowledge and values. And that's a heck of a lot more "subversion" than Disney offering only one dessert option with kids' meals!

 

[Susan555]

So you disagree? I was being totally serious, by the way, and I mean it 100%.

 

[photo_chick]

In our house we don't have dessert after every meal. Desserts are a special thing. We eat out at places often that do offer dessert as part of the meal and my kids rarely eat it, they are too full from their meals most of the time. So the whole jello controversy is not really a big deal to me.

HOWEVER, I get that people want choices here though, and I don't think it is fair to give adults such a broad choice and not give the same for kids. Geez, if it were not fo rmy kids I would not even be going and spending my money there in the first place. Although now that I am becoming obsessed I fear that I will be making trips to WDW long after my kids are grown and the only food I can gum down will be Jello!

 

[jojoandhb]

I have a different take on it. I feel that since this is such a hot issue, Disney should make changes. From a business perspective, they need to give their customers what they want. I don't think there's any point in debating high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and sugar substitutes on this board. It's not going to do anything but make people angry and defensive.

 

[bicker]

My only idea would be, could we vary the choices by restaurant.

I can see the logic of adding the applesauce. That gets around the resistance some folks have for artificial sweeteners. Having one more option would be rather generous, at $3.99 per meal. Having more choices than that would be unnecessarily so, IMHO. Folks who want more choices can always pay cash if they wish, but I think, it makes sense to keep the cost of providing the offering low (i.e., keep the number of different choices that have to be made available, and the value of the offering as a whole low), in the interest of keeping the child meals low priced, for the young families who simply cannot afford to see a big price increase there. If they make the child meals more attractive, then they're obligated to reflect that higher value with a higher price.

 

[bicker]

I don't think they need to include dessert with CS meals at all anyway. And frankly, if I was in charge I'd have the TS credits include entree and an appetizer OR dessert. Man, would people be PO'd if I was running things!

However, there's a lot of merit in your suggestion. We would never order dessert in a restaurant if it weren't for the Dining Plan. We just ate a big meal -- we typically would wait an hour or so before we stuff more food in our bodies.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a change, next year -- just guessing here, but let's say $35.99/$9.99, and the TS meal no longer includes dessert. That reflects a price increase, but appears as a price decrease -- bonus!

 

[bicker]

Exactly. I don't think a theme park should be in the business of trying to control what children eat.

I think it is important to remember how this all went down originally. Some of the big chains have been getting hammered by the lobbies that are concerned about health. They've been wielding Bad PR like a bludgeon. Disney took preemptive action based on indications that they were next on the hit list. I doubt Disney specifically wanted to address these issues, but threats of bad PR prompted their actions.

Folks should keep this in mind whenever reading any mass-media. A great portion of it is sensationalistic -- people with one perspective using the media to prosecute that perspective, and the media going along because the sensationalism sells papers/earn ratings/increases clickthroughs. We're all constantly being abused by the media, through no fault of the media, nor the agents pushing specific agendas, but rather just as a reflection of human nature.

 

[bicker]

I know! But I disagree with any corporation regardless of how pure the motivation in attempting subvert the parental role.

However, Disney's not doing that. They will not prevent the parent from purchasing additional desserts. The parental privilege is respected. All that we're talking about is how much value Disney will provide for $10.99 per day.

 

[bicker]

I have a different take on it. I feel that since this is such a hot issue, Disney should make changes. From a business perspective, they need to give their customers what they want.

The question is, "How do they know what their customers want?" The reality is that they have sales data, market research, and customer surveys -- they do thousands of surveys each week. This is all normalized data -- in other words, each guest gets a vote proportional to how much of the population they represent. Normalized data is data based on which you can make decisions. AFAIK, none of us here have access to the normalized data, so we don't really know what customers want in this regard.

Based on the non-normalized data of online postings, we know some customers want something different, but what do customers as a group want? Only Disney knows, and the only way we gain insight into what they know -- into what customers really want -- is to watch Disney's actions.

Over 20 years online, I've developed a good rule of thumb for judging a company's decisions based on online discussions: If everyone online is saying something is bad, then it might be. If more than one person online is saying something isn't bad, then it probably isn't bad. If a small group of people are saying something isn't bad, then is almost surely isn't bad.