Bon Voyage breakfast - upselling to kids

Truthfully as a parent I would have stepped in, but I find upselling annoying. If I want to order something extra I’ll do it....if we could read the menu to order we could read to see the bonus expense items.

I just hate the practice in general though (build a bear up sells, donation requests on top of store bills, etc..) I blame corporate climate and/or management though. Most servers and cashiers don’t really WANT to up sell if not pressured to.
 
I'm actually wondering if the server was even upselling? If you look at the menu, the lemonade is very clearly listed as coming in an $8 souvenir cup. Perhaps she was clarifying that that is what you actually wanted or if you just wanted it in a regular cup? You mention the server didn't mention a price, but it's very clearly marked on the menu.
 
Has this happened to you? Wondering if I should comment on it to Disney? The lady at the gift cart in the front was a little pushy with the kids, putting the Pasquale wristlet on them, etc, so maybe it’s the restaurant’s leadership that is pushing the upsell really hard.

I don't see what there really is to comment to Disney on. "Someone offered my child something that costs extra, it happened right in front of me and I didn't say anything but I wish the server hadn't said it so I wouldn't have been in the position of saying no" ? Sorry, OP.
 
My 6-yr old ordered for herself the entire trip and my 3-yr old about half the time, and they were never once asked about the glow toys. So, it definitely isn't some sort of policy or common practice for this to happen at Disney (we ate at Frontera Cucina, Mama Melrose, Tiffins, Skipper Canteen, Whispering Canyon, Akershus, 'Ohana, BoG, and 1900 Park Fare so a pretty broad sample there). I did order it for one meal and I specifically had to ask for it.
 


We were at the Bon Voyage breakfast the other day and had a server completely take advantage of the situation. My 4yo ordered, and then my 8yo dd asked for lemonade, and the server asked if she wanted it in the Ariel cup. Well of course she did! And then asked if she wanted the Ariel glow straw. Well of course she did!


Then the server goes back to my 4yo and asks him if he wants the Pasquale glow straw. Basically, she just sells them $16 worth of garbage with no mention of the cost, and no glance in the parents’ direction.


Now that I've actually seen a picture of the actual menu, OP, this one is totally on you. The only lemonade on the menu specifically states that it comes in a special cup, either Ariel or Toy Story. The server was not doing an upsell at all! She was clarifying which cup your child wanted and which straw. Since the 8 yr old chose Ariel, she simply asked the other child if they wanted the other straw. There is no mention anywhere on the menu that you can have lemonade in a regular cup.

So you are the responsible one here for not reading the menu clearly. I certainly hope you don't write to Disney about the server who was only responding to what your children ordered.
 
Now that I've actually seen a picture of the actual menu, OP, this one is totally on you. The only lemonade on the menu specifically states that it comes in a special cup, either Ariel or Toy Story. The server was not doing an upsell at all! She was clarifying which cup your child wanted and which straw. Since the 8 yr old chose Ariel, she simply asked the other child if they wanted the other straw. There is no mention anywhere on the menu that you can have lemonade in a regular cup.

So you are the responsible one here for not reading the menu clearly. I certainly hope you don't write to Disney about the server who was only responding to what your children ordered.

Yeah I was gonna ask if that's only on the lemonade. Mainly because my son has ordered for himself every time and looks younger than his actual age. But he's never been upsold on anything. He mainly orders Coke or Sprite which he normally doesn't get to have at home.

Edited to add:

Also OP I want to thank you for teaching your children how to order for themselves! As a reformed food service worker, it was torture to see a 12 or 13 year old kid who did not know how to order from a menu because their parents always did that for them. I taught and encouraged my child to do this when he was around 5 or 6 and not only is it very cute but it gives them a sense of empowerment. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with holding the line on certain things. You don't have to be a wet blanket about stopping that stuff. Depending on your family dynamics, a laugh and a "nice try" will defuse that situation in most cases.

I do think the server should have reiterated "This comes with a special cup, is mom/dad ok with this?" and let you take the lead there. Perhaps she was inexperienced or just in a time crunch and wanted to get to her next table. But I also hope you did not include the cup costs in your tip either!
 
Last edited:
Sorry to add to the "it's on you" message but it is.
We too encourage DGD to order for herself. But, it's not any fault of the server if she then asks the person who orders if they want something additional. I do not believe she did anything wrong and if you didn't want it, then it is up to you to speak up.
I can't believe you really want to complain to Disney about it because the server took the order from the child and then asked the person who placed the order (in this case the child) a question. If you didn't want them to have it, it's up to you to speak up, and to deal with the repercussions of being told they can't have something.
 


Now that I've actually seen a picture of the actual menu, OP, this one is totally on you. The only lemonade on the menu specifically states that it comes in a special cup, either Ariel or Toy Story. The server was not doing an upsell at all! She was clarifying which cup your child wanted and which straw. Since the 8 yr old chose Ariel, she simply asked the other child if they wanted the other straw. There is no mention anywhere on the menu that you can have lemonade in a regular cup.

So you are the responsible one here for not reading the menu clearly. I certainly hope you don't write to Disney about the server who was only responding to what your children ordered.

Even though the lemonade/punch is usually listed on the menu as coming in the souvenir cup, it is also available as a normal fountain drink option. I've personally never had a server assume that because my kid ordered lemonade instead of soda, she also wanted the souvenir with it. I've had a few servers ask, though, rather than defaulting to serving the lemonade in a normal glass. It sounds like maybe that's what this server was trying to do - "No, a regular glass is fine." being a perfectly valid answer to "Do you want it in the Ariel cup?". Personally, I'd have stepped in with that "no" and then told my kids if they really wanted the cup/straw we'd get one at a later meal when we wouldn't have to carry it around with us all day. 95% of the time, that kind of delay was enough for my kids to realize they didn't really want whatever they were so fixated on in the moment.

I taught my kids to order for themselves at a young age too, because teenagers that won't order for themselves is a major pet peeve of mine. But I didn't hesitate to step in if the server came back with a question they weren't expecting, whether an upsell or just a clarification they weren't sure about. To me, that's part of the learning process - learning to ask more questions (like "how much?" about an upsell!) and navigate more complicated dialogues to get what you want and nothing more.
 
This is one of those situations where a picture is worth 1,000 words. I don't think servers should be directing upsell pitches to young children, and I was surprised it happened - until I saw a picture of the kids' menu in an easyWDW review. The meals are listed as coming with milk, water or apple juice. Then there's a large box listing the specialty lemonade in a souvenir cup as an ala carte option. The way it's set out, the server likely assumed the specialty drink is what the child wanted when he or she ordered lemonade. It's possible that, had someone (child or parent), asked to substitute lemonade in a regular glass for one of the included drinks, it may have been done. But given the way the menu sets out the options, I wouldn't call this an "upsell." I seems many of the opinions here (mine included) are being given by people who have never been to this breakfast. Someone who has actually experienced it may be in a better position to determine whether the server was actually trying to upsell to kids.
 
We actually had the opposite problem... LOL

CM's had to be told multiple times that "YES we want the $8 cup!!!" because they kept bringing kids' to-go cups to the table. :D
 
Here are the two menus ... if the kids ordered lemonade,
they come with the other items and the total cost is $8 each.
Lemonade is not offered in any other way.
Server was just verifying which designs they wanted.
Agree it would be up to parent to tell child they could not have lemonade.

[From EasyWDW https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/t...racter-breakfast-review-at-disneys-boardwalk/]

review_character_breakfast_trattoria_al_forno-3.jpg


review_character_breakfast_trattoria_al_forno-4.jpg
 
Wondering if I should comment on it to Disney?

I respect the opinions of the others, but here is mine. If you don't like Disney's servers offering your children options that cost extra without telling them what it costs or asking for your approval, then by all means, you should give that feedback to Disney.

I suppose Disney can "Upsell" if they want to, but if you don't like their tactics, you should tell them so. I personally hate always having to ask a server, "is that extra?" It hurts the company in the long run, IMO.

Now that you've had that experience, you will no doubt teach your children to ask if costs extra or be prepared to do it for them if they forget.

It's like the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

They fooled you once. Don't feel bad. You'll be ready for them next time. But it is sad that Disney has chosen to pursue a policy that makes their customers feel like they have to be "on guard" and that it is all on the customer to protect their wallets. And it is certainly your right to tell Disney that you don't enjoy being made to feel that way.
 
I respect the opinions of the others, but here is mine. If you don't like Disney's servers offering your children options that cost extra without telling them what it costs or asking for your approval, then by all means, you should give that feedback to Disney.

I suppose Disney can "Upsell" if they want to, but if you don't like their tactics, you should tell them so. I personally hate always having to ask a server, "is that extra?" It hurts the company in the long run, IMO.

Now that you've had that experience, you will no doubt teach your children to ask if costs extra or be prepared to do it for them if they forget.

It's like the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

They fooled you once. Don't feel bad. You'll be ready for them next time. But it is sad that Disney has chosen to pursue a policy that makes their customers feel like they have to be "on guard" and that it is all on the customer to protect their wallets. And it is certainly your right to tell Disney that you don't enjoy being made to feel that way.

But as the pictures of the menu evidence, there was no “fooling” going on. It clearly states that lemonade is extra.

All telling Disney will do is elicit a polite “Thank you”and then an eye roll when they are gone. This is a lack of reading comprehension and preparation on the OP’s part since they went to the effort (reportedly) to go over the menu with the kids.
 
Looking at those menus, it clearly says that the children's meals come with either milk or water or milk, water, or apple juice depending on which meal is ordered. The lemonade is listed separately as an ala carte item and states that it comes in the souvenir cup. It seems to me that the server did her job clarifying which cup your children wanted based on them ordering the lemonade. It's up to you as the parent to step in and say no thank you. I would think that would be more important if you really don't want them to have the extras than not wanting to seem like the "bad guy" to you children. I'm not sure why a comment would need to be made to Disney because the server did her job but you failed to do yours as a parent.
 
As others have stated, lemonade was not an option included in the kids meal. They ordered lemonade which comes in a souvenir cup. The server was clarifying which souvenir cup the kids wanted based on the fact that they ordered lemonade.

If you didn’t want them to get a souvenir cup, then you should have offered them only milk, apple juice or water as options as part of your menu review, as that is what is included in the kids meal.

I don’t know what you would even complain to Disney about. Your kids ordered an upcharge item (lemonade) that comes in a souvenir cup.

Good thing you didn’t complain about the server there, because there is absolutely zero reason to. Sorry, OP, the server wasn’t pulling anything on you. She was just doing her job based on the item your kids ordered.
 
Last edited:
As others have stated, lemonade was not an option included in the kids meal. They ordered lemonade which comes in a souvenir cup. The server was clarifying which souvenir cup the kids wanted based on the fact that they ordered lemonade.

If you didn’t want them to get a souvenir cup, then you should have offered them only milk, apple juice or water as options as part of your menu review, as that is what is included in the kids meal.

It isn't quite that cut-and-dried, though. You can order that same lemonade as a regular beverage, just like you can order soda which isn't (last I looked) explicitly mentioned on the kids' menus because they're pushing the healthier choices.

I agree that the waitress was probably just trying to clarify, not just which of the two cups the kids wanted but whether they wanted the souvenir cup at all, and an adult should have stepped in to help the kids navigate the unexpected question. But parents don't actually need to choose between lemonade in an overpriced cup or limiting the kids to milk/juice/water. They just need to make exactly what they want clear when they order.
 
While I agree with others that there were other ways for you to handle the situation I think it’s totally shady for the server to be up selling to the kids. To me that’s definitely a foul on her part. I was a server in my younger days and trained to upsell but I wouldn’t do it to kids.
 
That’s a smart waiter lol

Tbh I’ve never experienced this in the parks. Then again I don’t have kids
 
I’ve been pushing my kids (4 and 8) to order for hemselves in restaurants. We talk in advance about what they’re choosing, but I like them to tell the server what they’d like rather than talk through me.


We were at the Bon Voyage breakfast the other day and had a server completely take advantage of the situation. My 4yo ordered, and then my 8yo dd asked for lemonade, and the server asked if she wanted it in the Ariel cup. Well of course she did! And then asked if she wanted the Ariel glow straw. Well of course she did!


Then the server goes back to my 4yo and asks him if he wants the Pasquale glow straw. Basically, she just sells them $16 worth of garbage with no mention of the cost, and no glance in the parents’ direction.


Now I know that some of you will say that I should have stepped in with a firm “no thank you”, but I felt like i was put in a bad spot. One, if I’m teaching the kids to speak for themselves, I don’t want to step all over that, and two, I honestly didn’t want to risk the meltdown of telling tired, hungry children that they couldn’t have what the server just offered up. Honestly i was a little stunned by the whole thing, so I let it slide. I even thought “well maybe she is gifting these items to them since she approached it the way she did”, but no, there was the $16 in additional cup charges, that I then had to carry around

You can't eat and have your cake too! If you want your kids to order for themselves you have to accept the consequences. If you want control, step in and say something. You can't blame CMs for doing their job. Four year and eight year old children may need some parental help understanding and accepting choices--that's your job.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top