Hidden Pages, exclude and children, unpublished and login

I just upgraded from WP 2.3.2 to 2.6 and now can no longer exclude pages like I want from the menu. In 2.3.2 I had a single parent page of all my hidden pages, and then used the exclude feature of wp_list_pages. Unfortunately in 2.6 this now only excludes the parent and not the children.

So I went searching for an answer and found that someone said you could just leave the pages as unpublished and they would not show up in the menu, but be accessible via direct link. This almost works, but if not logged in the direct link takes you to a blank page (has the header/footer/sidebar, but no content).

I’m using a modified default wordpress theme from 2.3.2. Is there a better way than having to specifically exclude each and every page you add after it has been added?

Thanks!
Nathan