I thought of this thread Saturday night. We attended a good friends wedding and their very small reception was held at Ruth’s Chris steakhouse. Their big gimmick is that they bake butter onto the plates before adding your steak and the plates are billed as being 600 degrees.
Of the 10 people attending 3 touched the plates to “see if it was really that hot” so I’m no longer blaming the toddler for doing the same 
Really? That place was a screaming zoo, I can’t imagine anyone taking a child in there.
I tend to mostly go to House of Blues Atlantic City in the offseason, it’s never that terribly crazy. Haven’t been there since the kid was born though.
Ah. I had never been there before, but this one was packed and very noisy. On a Thursday night, before tourist season has really started. I shudder to think what it is like on a weekend in the summer!
Atlantic City offseason, being that it’s on the Jersey coast in winter, is ACTUALLY an off season. 
Disney only has “slightly less crowded because some kids are in school” season.
Sigh, it didn’t used to be that way. Used to be we’d see an obvious difference in traffic, more out of state plates, things like that. But apparently more folks are taking kids out of school, or Disney has become more of a destination for non-parents. “Summer hours” seem to start earlier every year. Just makes it harder to try to figure out how to get around on the freeways! 
wow, I remember when I was young, and waited tables, we were nowhere that foolish. hell, I cringed when parents asked for crackers for their 18 month old. 75% of the time the kid didn’t eat the crackers, they would just crush them and distribute them liberally about their general area. If you wanted a good tip, you learned kids quick. rules were: lots of napkins, always take straws, cups with spill resistant lids, plenty of ketchup.