Help- Dining with 8 adults and 6 kids

[mickey85]

My wife and I feel very confident with planning trips for us.

But in October, our family of 8 adults and 6 kids under the age of 9 are going to WDW.

They have never experienced Jiko, California Grill, etc.

Do yall have any recommendations about great places for large groups to eat at WDW?

Thanks

 

[Ldynred812]

We traveled with 6 adults and 6 kids, oldest was 8 yrs old, youngest 2 were 3 yrs old. We booked a lot of buffets. We just felt that it would be better for all if we sat down and then got our food immediately rather than wait to order then wait for food. We also did a few character meals. We had good experiences at the Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, and 8 of us had lunch at the Plaza restaurant. The other 4 did Ohana for breakfast and Chef Mickey for dinner.

Have fun planning!!!

Kecia

 

[Celestia]

We have traveled often with large groups, anywhere from 11-18 people. What I did was planned the trip for my immediate family and then I shared that plan with the other families traveling with us and told them to let me know which meals they wanted to eat with us and if they had any other restaurants they would like to eat at with just their family. 95% of the time they all ended up eating with us, but I like giving that option at the beginning so they all feel they can have a say in their dining but my family still gets to do what we want for our vacation!

As far as places for large groups, we have eaten at lots of the restaurants at WDW and the only place we were separated was at Le Cellier, that was only one time and we ended up letting the teenagers sit together and they thought that was a great fun! Most places are really accomodating if you make your ADRs either towards the beginning or end of the meal times. It means dining at off times, but the trade off is not having to wait for a table and being able to sit together.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We had a group of 11, and were treated well most places. Our server at Crystal Palace was pretty bad, though. And the Garden Grill was a bit cramped. Especially because we were on the top level.


Don't expect to sit together, obviously. We got to be together most of the time, but not always.

 

[sk!mom]

We did a trip with 21.

Great experience at Ohana for dinner. They put us at one big table and the kids loved the activities. It was a great place to eat before heading back to MK for Wishes.

Chef Mickey's was also good. They put us at 2 large round tables side by side.

Donald's Breakfastasaurus at AK was good. They sat us at several small tables in the same area.

12 of us (girls only) did Cinderellas for breakfast. Excellent- 2 tables side by side.

 

[disneyandme]

With young kids, I would recommend trying for 5:30 ADRs. This is when most signature restuarants open for dinner. Things move a lot quicker/smoother the earlier you go with a large group. This should get the kids their meals about 6-6:15. Meals can still last 1 1/2-2 hours which is a long time for kids to sit. I would bring something for them to do for before and after eating. Sometimes too, we order and then take the kids for a walk around the hotel and have someone call when the food arrives. We use coloring books, books, and a little TV that plays movies. We have enjoyed Citricos, Narcossee, Jiko, among others with good success with a larger group (9).

 

[Mommyto1andtwins]

We go with a party of 11-15 and have always eaten at the Signature restaurants. Cali Grill is the only place that will only make our reservations at 5:30. Artist Point will keep us to the earlier side too. And we have always had a table together. Narcoosee's we were able to seat 11 at one table once and the other time it was two tables. Their restaurant doesn't have an easy way to put tables together unless it is on the top level closer to the bar. We have a wonderful time as a big group and we don't usually have problems with servers. It helps that my family has a good sense of humor.

 

[NotUrsula]

My advice would be not to try to do meals together, for the most part. If you are doing it to socialize, there are better options, because kids will tend to get bored and antsy when adults socialize over restaurant meals. (Places like 'Ohana that take kids away from the table for entertainment are a different story, of course.)

One of the best things we have found as an option on these big family occasions is playground time. Let the adults hang out with some drinks and chat while the kids play in the resort playground nearby. No worries about food issues, table manners or boredom.

 

[brymolmom]

Just got back from a big family trip with 10 adults and 5 kids (aged 7 - 10). I will tell you what we experienced. I was the tour guide for everything - booked everything - made all reservations - chose all the restaurants. I have to tell you - it was a lot of pressure. I had a few picky eaters in the bunch. One family had never been before and likely will never go again - so they wanted a lot of park time - so I intentionally stayed away from dinner shows and a lot of out of park meals.

Overall - i will say that the overwhelming favorites were the buffets plus LeCellier. Buffets just make sense because everyone will find something that they enjoy. Our group loved Cape May Clam bake and Donald's breakfast in AK.

I would not recommend signature restaurants with that large a group. I'm sure it can be handled, but it was quite an ordeal for many of our meals - waiting to be seated, figuring out who was on which dining plan card, etc. - so honestly I didn't want to do that at a fancy place.

Most of our restaurants separated us into different tables. We ate at the following:
Tony's
Plaza
Cape May Clam Bake
LeCellier
Garden Grill
Arkershus
Donald's Breakfast
Wolfgang Puck Cafe

We were separated at all but Cape May, Wolfgang Puck and Donalds (2 tables but right next to each other).

If you do plan to eat altogether - just have patience. It takes a lot longer to be seated....a lot longer to figure out and handle the check at the end....and frequently several people loved their meals but at least a couple were disappointed with the meal. Oh well - guess you can't please everyone.

Good Luck.