Restaurant Suggestions for 2 and 4 year old little girls?

[Mom22girls56]

Me and my husband are taking our girls to WDW Jan. 31st-Feb. 7th 2010. I've done alot of research and pre-planned just about everything. I've read lots of forums on restaurants and looked at thousands of pictures of the yummy food! This is the list of places I have chosen to eat at, I would just like to know if there's any on my list that you would NOT eat at, and replace with something better. Please let me know your opinions, thankx!

Dinner at Coral Reef
Lunch at Crystal Palace
Breakfast at Chef Mickey's
Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Far
Lunch at Playhouse Disney's Play n' dine at Hollywood and Vine
Dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
Breakfast at Ohana's

[Cafeen]

We did Chef Mickey Breakfast and Hollywood and Vine lunch on our last trip in Sept.

Chef Mickey - Gets mixed reviews food and service wise, we had a good day though and the food and service were both good. The characters were also great (though Mickey seemed a bit rushed as always). I would do this one again if I can get the ressie next trip.

Hollywood and Vine - Gets unfavorable reviews with a few good ones thrown in. For us, it was ok. The food wasnt' bad, but wasn't great either. The service was pretty good (not great, but far from bad) as well. Emily (2 1/2) loved the characters as well. They even sing songs and dance every so often, which gets the kids involved into the theme fairly well. Of course, she may have been baised, as she's a huge Playhouse Disney (especially Little Einstiens) fan. Personally, I probably wouldn't go back here, unless "forced" to by the little one, but not because of a bad experience, just because there's so much more to do.

We also did a few other locations at different times than you have planned:
CRT - Breakfast - This was ok. It was costly for the experience, but worth experiencing once. Our server was pretty bad and the food wasn't anything special. The princesses were (mostly) good though and the atmosphere was nice. However, I have also heard better comments regarding both Lunch and Dinner, so my experience is most likely not the norm.

1900 Park Fare - Breakfast - (Yes, I did a lot of breakfasts ><). This was the other letdown of the trip. Probably an off day as I've heard a lot of glowing comments about this place (including this meal), so it's not something I would avoid in the future. The food itself was alright, but the service and characters were both good (except Snow White, who was very rushed with us). It could have also been because our princess was acting up, and that could have very well tainted my feeling of the place. I have heard much better about dinner though from every aspect (food, service, characters).

Akershus - Breakfast - We had an excellent breakfast here. Service was great, attentive and knowledgable. The characters were very good (Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel) and the food was great. This would be a definite return next trip. While it wasn't the lunch you are going to, I would suspect that the service and character quality wouldn't change too much, nor would the actual food quality (the offerings do, but that's another story entirely).

Looks like you got yourself a good little plan of where to go. Good luck with the ADRs and /wave if I see you there in Feb (solo tripping 4-11, hopefully..)

[djp0630]

Oh my goodness, they are such a great age for the character meals. We just took DD3 and DS1. Ok, so we ate at:

CRT lunch - awesome! We are going again in May and I asked her who she wanted to eat with again and she said Cinderella in the castle. Such a great experience and love the princesses. We had Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine, Aurora and Belle in her blue dress. The food was pretty good.

Akershush lunch - The cold buffet was great. The princesses were fabulous! My meal was ok, but the desserts were yummy! Again, loved the meals.

Chef Mickey's breakfast & dinner - both food was good. Characters were great! But we had better character interaction at dinner.

Crystal Palace breakfast - yummy. Great characters. Got an 8:00 breakfast and it was awesome!

1900 Park Fare breakfast - good breakfast. Characters are Tigger, Pooh, Mary Poppins, Mad Hatter & Alice. Different characters and the food was good.

We also dinner 'Ohana dinner, Sci-Fi lunch & Teppan Edo. We enjoyed each, but Sci-Fi was our least favorite.

In May we are trying a few new meals. Cape May breakfast (Minnie, Goofy & Donald in beach gear). Cape May dinner which is a clam bake . We are staying at the Beach club.

I definitely recommend doing CRT, Akershus & Crystal Palace at a minimum! We are definitely doing those 3.
Have fun, it's such a great age!

[jenniferyawn]

Don't know if you noticed that Akershus is Norwegian food for lunch and dinner. The character breakfast is great, but I've heard the lunch and dinner might not have a lot of food choices for kids. Still, the characters and atmosphere will be awesome!

I've also heard that Coral Reef sometimes is a long wait. Had a couple of friends go with young kids who wound up being unhappy there. An alternative to that might be Garden Grill in Epcot's The Land. It's a great meal with super food for kids and comfort food for grownups served family style. It's a character meal for dinner and the restaurant revolves (very slowly so don't worry). It's a great meal and a great time!

They're gonna LOVE Crystal Palace!!!

Sounds like you've done a great job planning! Hope y'all have a magical time!!!!

[graceesmom]

The only one I might reconsider based on the personalities of your little girls is 1900 Park Fare. We took our almost 3 year old daughter (at the time) in April and she did not care for the step-sisters. She wasn't quite old enough to get their humor. She just kept asking why the princesses were being mean.

We loved Chef Mickey's for Dinner, Askerhus for lunch and dinner (on separate trips); We did Ohana for dinner without characters and really enjoyed that. DD loved the hula dancing and limbo, shaking the maracas and getting lots of leis.

[aheape1979]

Our girls are the same age and we just were there in September. I'm going to comment about each in purple as they go.

Originally Posted by Mom22girls56

Me and my husband are taking our girls to WDW Jan. 31st-Feb. 7th 2010. I've done alot of research and pre-planned just about everything. I've read lots of forums on restaurants and looked at thousands of pictures of the yummy food! This is the list of places I have chosen to eat at, I would just like to know if there's any on my list that you would NOT eat at, and replace with something better. Please let me know your opinions, thankx!

Dinner at Coral Reef Enjoyed it; weren't near the aquarium, though. It was packed the night we were there!
.Lunch at Crystal Palace We did breakfast here. Great character interaction and views of the palace!
Breakfast at Chef Mickey's We've done breakfast and dinner in the last 2 years. Great character interaction. The food was typical buffet food, but not bad.
Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Far Hilarious characters! We did this one last year, and my then 17 month old was scared of the stepsisters. Our older daughter LOVED it!!!!!Lunch at Playhouse Disney's Play n' dine at Hollywood and Vine We didn't do this one because of the bad reviews
Dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall GREAT food and princess interaction! We had 8 am ressies, so we got to go in EPCOT before it opened!
Breakfast at Ohana's LOVED Lilo and Stitch! Great food! Get extra pineapple bread!

Have a WONDERFUL trip!

[Magic3forme]

Chef Mickeys ( any meal) I am not a breakfast person, so we always do dinner.

Crystal Palace we always do dinner

Akerhus, have done both breakfast and dinner.

Loved Cinderellas Royal Table.

[Graciesmom77]

I think Crystal Palace is closed during your trip. We are going down on Jan. 3 and thats the first day its closed for refurbishment and I don't think it re opens until late feb. I can't be sure of the exact date though. Have a great trip. Your girls are going to have SOOOO much fun!

[Heidijs]

We're going about the same time you are with our 4 yo DD. Skipping the CRT so we can do two other character meals instead as it sounds like you get more character interactions at other places more than this one and my DD isn't THAT into the princesses so we'll go elsewhere.

Sounds like the Hoop Dee Doo Revue is excellent but it's 2 points but it's a 2 hour show and all the drinks you can handle! I think we're going to try that one. Sounds like the food is right up our alley vs the CRT.

[Heidijs]

Originally Posted by Graciesmom77

I think Crystal Palace is closed during your trip. We are going down on Jan. 3 and thats the first day its closed for refurbishment and I don't think it re opens until late feb. I can't be sure of the exact date though. Have a great trip. Your girls are going to have SOOOO much fun!

It is closed, but I read that the Liberty Tavern is taking over the character meal until it opens so you just book there instead I guess...

[Missytara]

Add Garden Grill in Epcot - one of my co-workers took his 3 and 5 year old granddaughters and they loved it!

[scot@dvcstore]

Both my girls always loved the Rain Forest Cafe. Lots of visual stimulation and noise. Have a great trip.