Disney bans children...

ORLANDO, Fla. (Jan. 5) - The home of Mickey Mouse, Tigger and Tinkerbell has banned kids from its fanciest restaurant.

Beginning this week, children under 10 are no longer welcome at Victoria & Albert's in the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. Victoria & Albert's is Walt Disney World's only restaurant with an AAA five-diamond rating.

"We want to be the restaurant that's available for that adult experience," said general manager Israel Perez.

Only about three families a month ever brought young children to Victoria & Albert's, said Rosemary Rose, Disney's vice president for food, beverage and merchandise operations.

Men are required to wear jackets, and women must wear dresses or pantsuits. The hushed atmosphere features live harp music, and the menu, which changes daily, offers seven-course dinners that can last as long as three hours. Prices start at $125 a person.

Rose noted that there are plenty of dining options for families at Disney, which World has 97 other full-service restaurants.

wow, but i don't have a problem with this at all.

Yeah I have no problem with htis either! Adults need a 'place'...we ban our kids sometimes :rotfl:

I totally agree. I'm not surprised given what a big hit Palo is on the cruise.

Well that is a move in the right direction. I wish they'd make Pleasure Island 18 and up again or 21 and up. Last time I was there (now this is 4 years ago when I went to PI) there were young kids crawling all over the dance floor at midnight. I don't really want to see a kid in a bar with me. :(

I agree as well...just wanted to see what the opinions were. PP are all right that adults need their own time and place...in fact I am wishing for that right about now!!

This is a great idea.
Catherine, I do believe PI is back to the 18 or 21:confused: I thought that is what I had seen. It might have even been 21. Our oldest wanted to go and then I think we found out it was back to 21 to go into the clubs. (I may be wrong on this)

well i think its a good idea, now if they did that for a lot of resturants that would be another story, but V&A is not a family/kids resturant its an Adults resturnat! and like Tricia said like Disney Worlds version of DCL palo!

With all the places to eat at disney... I do not think anyone will have a problem with this infact it may bring in more business...

Well, personally as a mom of 3 kids, I wouldn't take my kids to this kind of dining experience. They would be bored to death and I would not want to pay those prices so that DD7 can ask for chicken nuggets and fries:rotfl:

I'll stick with Club33.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by coastalgirl

This is a great idea.
Catherine, I do believe PI is back to the 18 or 21:confused: I thought that is what I had seen. It might have even been 21. Our oldest wanted to go and then I think we found out it was back to 21 to go into the clubs. (I may be wrong on this)

---

I know at the time there was one club that was 21 and up and a few were 18 and up but then like the 80s club is the one with the kids crawling around and I was just thinking it was way too late for those kiddos to be out. Hopefully they were cranky the entire next day to make up for it.

I would give it another try this year if there are age restrictions. I'll have to do some more research on it.

I think this is a great idea. Frankly, V&A is WAY too gourmet for my tastes, anyhow, but I totally understand this idea.

So I ventured to the CB on the DIS and read their version of this thread which of course was starting to get nasty but one point brought up was people on the dining board hoped other restaurants (siggy restaurants) would follow suit.
I'm not totally for that but I would be for a child vs. child free section of the restaurant to take place of the old smoking vs. nonsmoking. Has that ever crossed anyone else's mind? I first thought of it during a horrid dining experience at Macaroni Grill with the kiddos crawling all over, yelling, and running into the servers.

I know that in a lot of restaurants they have an unofficial child free area. H has been working in restaurants for years and this is from him. They will seat children/families in one area to keep noise to one area. Not to say every place does this but a lot of our NY diners do!

The sad thing is that if restaurants tried to do that, people with kids would start freaking out. But for me, I would RATHER be seated with a bunch of other families when I have my kids with me because I feel guilty having my kids with me in a restaurant when it is a bunch of other adults only. I always hope that they will put us with other kids. And when we don't have our kids with us, I cringe when we have to sit with other people's kids. LOL!

I think it comes down to how you raise and disipline your kids. I have 3 and they have NEVER crawled around under the table or made a scene by throwing a fit. If they couldn't handle going to a restaurant then we found a sitter.

I don't know how I feel about the kid vs. no-kid sections. I wouldn't want to be bothered by unruly children when my kiddos were behaving.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DisneyMa

I think it comes down to how you raise and disipline your kids. I have 3 and they have NEVER crawled around under the table or made a scene by throwing a fit. If they couldn't handle going to a restaurant then we found a sitter.

I don't know how I feel about the kid vs. no-kid sections. I wouldn't want to be bothered by unruly children when my kiddos were behaving.

---

Yeah its just a hard place to be in now a days with parents refusing to parent. I don't know what the answer is but I don't think banning kids from all restaurants is the answer either. I think the real problem is that management won't enforce any rules. Mike and I just dined at Fogo de Chao here in houston (really nice & expensive place) and it was so not the type of place you would wear jeans to but they wouldn't enforce a dress code so of course people were wearing them while others were in cocktail attire as you would expect.

That one time where it really bugged us (as noted above) the parents were on bottle #2 of wine while the kiddos ran all over and ran into waiters. I felt bad for the table with the girl that was about 8 that had sat there and behaved the whole time while having to look at the kids acting like animals nearby.

As the owner of a FAMILY restaurant we get people who complain about families with kids. Most of the time the kids are being kids. The complainers often ask for a separate section for adults only. We are a family restaurant and children are just as welcome as any of our guests in all dining sections of the restaurant.

There aren't many of them but they are persistent.

The way our building is set up we couldn't possibly segregate nor would we want to. We had a very difficult time separating when we had smoking and non smoking. BTW....we went non-smoking 10 years before our state made it mandatory. We would have a line at the door, with non-smoking section full and smoking section empty and no one wanted to sit there.

I think it's a good thing Disney did that at V&A. It's one restaurant.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ~Kathie

As the owner of a FAMILY restaurant we get people who complain about families with kids. Most of the time the kids are being kids. The complainers often ask for a separate section for adults only. We are a family restaurant and children are just as welcome as any of our guests in all dining sections of the restaurant.

There aren't many of them but they are persistent.

The way our building is set up we couldn't possibly segregate nor would we want to. We had a very difficult time separating when we had smoking and non smoking. BTW....we went non-smoking 10 years before our state made it mandatory. We would have a line at the door, with non-smoking section full and smoking section empty and no one wanted to sit there.

I think it's a good thing Disney did that at V&A. It's one restaurant.

---

Thanks for your perspective and I can see your side of things as well.

I've often wished for family/people with no kids sections too, but for completely different reasons. It really irritates me to have people ask to sit somewhere else b/c they don't want to sit by people with children. It actually makes me very sad and angry when a table is about to be seated near us and then they see the kids and ask "Is there someplace else we can sit?" :( :mad:

I would rather sit by other families and not have to endure the dirty looks of people who glare if a child dares to speak a little to loudly or is fidgeting in their chair.

I understand that everyone wants a nice experience when they go out to eat (including me and my family) by I can tell you several times that we have been forced to sit by groups of "young adults" talking loudly, swearing, talking about sexual activities, wearing shirts with f word on them etc., can they get a separate room too?? :p

I also think that kids need to go to restaurants and learn how to properly behave from an early age, otherwise you can't expect them to know how to act.

Lack of parenting is the major issue though as many parents are too busy enjoying their restaurant experience to worry about keeping their kids under control!! Or maybe they let their kids act like that at mealtime at home too?? :confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LuvMyBoys

Lack of parenting is the major issue though as many parents are too busy enjoying their restaurant experience to worry about keeping their kids under control!! Or maybe they let their kids act like that at mealtime at home too?? :confused:

---

I agree. I also think some kids(and parents too) think that every restaurant at Disney is like a character meal restaurant...where it is okay for them to run wild. I have seen the same behavior at Nine Dragons(Epcot-China) that I see at Crystal Palace or 'Ohana.

I am glad Disney did this. There are many adults that go to the resorts without children and want to enjoy things without always having to hear screaming kids. As a parent, I don't want others to be subjected to my kids when they are screaming. I had my 4 month old break down last week while we were out, he had gas pains and of course I didn't have my drops for him, we had already ordered and our food just got there. My mom took DS to the lobby area (it was of course raining so we couldn't go outside) while I quickly crammed the food down, then brought him back and I took him so she could eat. There is no reason everyone else needed to hear my kid scream while they tried to eat. I know even as a parent I wouldn't want to hear someone else's kids....But that is just me.

I think it's great Disney did it for V and A.

I think it should stop there though. It is Disney afterall- families go there. If they are going to enforce it at signature restaurants, they need to offer free childcare WITH DINNER at their facilities (with proof of reservation) so parents can eat at the restaurant without spending another $70-80 for two hours of childcare at Disney's onsite daycares. I know the Dolphin does this for Shula's anyway. I think it's fab idea myself!

I think it would be near impossible to segregate child/non child seating in restaurants. What happens on nights when a TON of childless people come in and they have to wait 2 hours cause there is only 'child' seats? Or vice versa- it would be a loss for the restaurant to lose patrons for not wanting to wait. As a family we pretty much only go to restaurants like Chili's, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Chevy's, etc. I admit, on occasion we have let our kids (usually as toddlers) sit under the table if we're in a booth. I don't think they're bothering anyone by doing that. What really ticks me off is people automatically assuming my kids are going to be obnoxious just cause they're kids. This happened to me last week in Cheesecake Factory. I took my DD there for a bite for lunch- she's almost 3. She was seriously sitting in her seat, looking at the menu and buttering her bread, acting 100% wonderfully. TWO parties were seated next to us, they took one look at DD and asked to be moved. I was really angry. The second party was told 'too bad, so sad this is the only table we have right now.' And guess what they did the whole meal- either talked on their cell phone or were talking WAY too loudly to each other.

For any regular dining experience, it's simply a crapshoot who you're going to be seated near. I don't like parents who let their kids run wild either, (my BFF parents her kid like that and I HATED going out to eat with them cause I would want to discipline him myself!), but it's the luck of the draw. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by m 'n c

I'm not totally for that but I would be for a child vs. child free section of the restaurant to take place of the old smoking vs. nonsmoking. Has that ever crossed anyone else's mind? .

---

Ya, everytime I go out to eat. Kids annoy me, so I don't want to sit by them. No use making both our meals uncomfortable.

Ya, everyI've often wished for family/people with no kids sections too, but for completely different reasons. It really irritates me to have people ask to sit somewhere else b/c they don't want to sit by people with children. It actually makes me very sad and angry when a table is about to be seated near us and then they see the kids and ask "Is there someplace else we can sit?"time I go out to eat.......I'll ask not to be seated by kids. They annoy me.

I ask before they even lead me to a table so that it doesn't embarass a family.

We tend to do the same thing Cindy with the asking before we get seated. We've never asked once we were led to a table. Normally we only care if we are in a crabby mood/tired and can't take a lot of stimulation and we see a table that is going wild. Otherwise we don't really care or ask.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DisneyMa

Well, personally as a mom of 3 kids, I wouldn't take my kids to this kind of dining experience. They would be bored to death and I would not want to pay those prices so that DD7 can ask for chicken nuggets and fries:rotfl:

I'll stick with Club33.

---

I have to agree with you!! As a mother of 3 I wouldn't WANT to bring my kids there anyway!!!! Too much $$ and wouldn't be worht it!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DisneyMa

I think it comes down to how you raise and disipline your kids. I have 3 and they have NEVER crawled around under the table or made a scene by throwing a fit. If they couldn't handle going to a restaurant then we found a sitter.

I don't know how I feel about the kid vs. no-kid sections. I wouldn't want to be bothered by unruly children when my kiddos were behaving.

---

I agree 100%!!!!!!!!! How are children supposed to know HOW to act if you don't take them out and TEACH them!!!!! My children have been eating out about once a week since they were newborns. I waitressed for 10 yrs (in HS and college) so working the other side of the coin really helps. But that goes for just normal behavior in stores also.
It irks me when parents let their children get crazy, but I usually just point out to my kids, "Would you be allowed to act that way if it were you?" they get the point.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sunshinecindy

Ya, everytime I go out to eat. Kids annoy me, so I don't want to sit by them. No use making both our meals uncomfortable.

---

That hurts my feelings. I try really hard to make sure that my kids don't annoy other people when we go out to eat. They know that they will be escorted out to the car and sit there the rest of the meal if they are ruining the dinner for everyone around us. It's one thing to say that sitting by unruly kids can ruin a meal but it's completely different to say that sitting by ANY kids ruins a meal.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SunshineGirl

That hurts my feelings. I try really hard to make sure that my kids don't annoy other people when we go out to eat. They know that they will be escorted out to the car and sit there the rest of the meal if they are ruining the dinner for everyone around us. It's one thing to say that sitting by unruly kids can ruin a meal but it's completely different to say that sitting by ANY kids ruins a meal.

---

I agree Tricia.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SunshineGirl

That hurts my feelings. I try really hard to make sure that my kids don't annoy other people when we go out to eat. They know that they will be escorted out to the car and sit there the rest of the meal if they are ruining the dinner for everyone around us. It's one thing to say that sitting by unruly kids can ruin a meal but it's completely different to say that sitting by ANY kids ruins a meal.

---

Agreed. It hurts my feelings and my kids (the older boys) have noticed before when people have asked to "sit someplace else". That hurts their feelings. :(

It's like sitting on a bus and knowing that people specifically don't want to sit near you b/c of a particular characteristic you have and assumptions they are making about you based on that characteristic. :( It makes you feel like there is something wrong with you.

I give everyone a fair shot, even if they are old and crabby looking or teenaged and rowdy looking. We sit where they put us and enjoy our meal, regardless of the tables around us.

We also are VERY strict with our children's behavior in public, especially at restaurants. It hurts my feelings when people don't even give the kids a chance, they just assume that they will misbehave and that we are poor parents and won't correct it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SunshineGirl

That hurts my feelings. I try really hard to make sure that my kids don't annoy other people when we go out to eat. They know that they will be escorted out to the car and sit there the rest of the meal if they are ruining the dinner for everyone around us. It's one thing to say that sitting by unruly kids can ruin a meal but it's completely different to say that sitting by ANY kids ruins a meal.

---

I agree. We have always taken DS with us out to eat (sit down or fast food) since he was born so it's not a foreign environment for him. We do expect him to behave and not bother others or we would have no problem removing him from the table/ restaurant. Luckily to this point, we have never had to do that though. I personally would not take my kids to a place where I didn't think that they could behave for the length of time required- so at least now I would never take them to a place like Victoria and Albert's. You can only expect young kids to be quiet, etc for so long lol. Yes, some people do take their kids to these places and do not correct them or leave- but I am aware not only of what my kids are doing but also how it might affect those around us.

It makes me think of our plane trips. The first plane trip with DS was when he was 5 months old and and he's been to Disney 8 times, so that's a minimum of 16 plane trips. On every one of those flights, when people are boarding around us, they get that look on their face and quickly ask to move to another area. And you know what? The first two years worth of trips he slept from takeoff to touch down. And the rest of the time, I take plenty of things to occupy him (new toys, books, DVD player, etc). When you hear or see that person ask to move because they don't want to sit next to your kid, it does strike a nerve. Some kids do act up... but not all!

I agree what it boils down to is the parents who don't parent ruin it for hte parents who do and whose children know how to act or their parents teach them how.

When DS8 was 19 months old we flew to STL to see 3dog2kidmom and several older people rolled their eyes and didn't want to be near him. But I made sure I had stuff to keep himm occupied and when we got off to get our luggage I had several people come up to me and tell me how well behaved he was. I just hate it when people "assume" the worst.

Thankfully my kids have never overheard comments like that but we also tend to go to family oreinted restuarnts, bc I want them to be comfortable also.

It never even crossed my mind to ask a server to seat me elsewhere when there are children seated near me in a restaurant. DH and I do not have kids and we got out to eat at least once a week(it's usually 2 or 3 times a week). And in all those times we have only had 2 incidences involving kids that kinda ruined a meal for me. One was at the Chinesea restaurant in Epcot and another was at a local restaurant.

Unfortunately, I have worse luck on airplanes with kids. On an 8 hour overnight flight to Ireland, there was an infant(seated 2 rows ahead of me) that cried the entire flight. I didn't sleep a wink(even with earplugs). But, there wasn't much I could do about that. I felt very bad for the parents. They tried to quiet her, but nothing worked.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SunshineGirl

That hurts my feelings. I try really hard to make sure that my kids don't annoy other people when we go out to eat. They know that they will be escorted out to the car and sit there the rest of the meal if they are ruining the dinner for everyone around us. It's one thing to say that sitting by unruly kids can ruin a meal but it's completely different to say that sitting by ANY kids ruins a meal.

---

Fortunately, your kids are good at restaurants, never a problem, (and thats not a proud grammacindy talking, its the truth) but unfortunately, so many parents aren't diligent like you are about their kids behaving, so many look at it like its a night out for them so the restaurant can babysit them, or at least that seems to be the kids we get to sit beside. Its not the kids fault at all, it the parents. Its like people saying Rotties are mean, mine isn't, but he was trained better. I don't take offense cause I know there are a lot of mean ones out there, owners who make them that way. I'm not thrilled with unruly adults either, and in fact, just the other day we were at a restaurant and some lady was unbeliveably loud and bousterous, and I understand it was a bar type (Beef O'Bradys) but it was totally uncalled for, and I made a face at her a couple of times, but she didn't care, and I HAVE asked to be moved away from loud adults also.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kycha

Unfortunately, I have worse luck on airplanes with kids. On an 8 hour overnight flight to Ireland, there was an infant(seated 2 rows ahead of me) that cried the entire flight.

---

Oh my gosh, this happened to me on every leg of my flights to and from Hawaii this summer. I felt sorry for the infant but especially coming back I was at the end of a very long, stressful business trip and really needed to sleep or at least have some quiet. There isn't an easy answer in that case as they didn't have the option to take the kid out, but restaurants are a different story.

I would never take my kids to V&A even at 8 and 10, and am glad to know if DH and I sprung for a special meal there that there wouldn't be other children there who didn't behave properly.

We do eat out frequently and our kids behave well in restaurants, but Disney is a different story. Kids are tired, parents are tired, everyone is cranky, and my kids bicker more than usual. In fact we had an ADR at California Grill and I thought better of it and canceled remembering that the trip is for them, too, and decided to eat someplace more child-friendly that night. No point ruining someone else's expensive dinner.

I didn't even realize that children had been allowed to dine at V&A's.

Only on our last trip to WDW have we taken our boys (who were 11 and 9 at the time) to a "nice" restaurant. We brought them with us to Artist Point and they were well-behaved little gentleman. DH and I have eaten there before and been exposed to the worst behavior out of children (one episode included puking but I won't go there). Kids running around, jumping in chairs (while mommy tossed down her third or fourth cocktail) and other ill behavior.

It all depends on the parents, IMO. Our boys know better than to show their behinds in public. If they "lose their mind" at the dinner table they are immediately escorted to either the bathroom or outside and told that they better do a 180 or we will ALL be going home and appropriate punishment doled out.

Also, I've seen plenty of poor behavior out of adults, too. Too bad they can't check your attitude at the hostess podium, might save a lot of people some trouble. ;)