1st Birthday for Twins

[Marissaq]

I am going to be in Disney for my twin girls 1st birthday. We go every year and we have been to most Disney dining and love it. I am looking for recommendations for breakfast and dinner. We will be in Magic Kingdom for the day and staying at Boardwalk. I don't mind traveling.
Ideally I was looking for a custom cake at one of the meals and to make both dining experience as special as possible.

On my oldest daughters first birthday, I made a few mistakes and was upset. We went to chef Mickeys for breakfast. I did not order a cake. I told them at check in about the 1st birthday. We sat down and the waitress told us to grab our food. We proceeded to get in line. While I was in line, the waitress came over and dropped a cupcake with a candle in it on the table. I understand I didn't pay for anything but I was a little upset bc the candle was melted when we returned to the table. I questioned and was basically told I didn't pay for anything.

Any suggestions for this special day for our family.

 

[paisleys]

Curious as to what you expected? I think when you note a birthday on a reservation you are lucky to get a small free dessert.
We have had birthday cakes at WDW in the past but we arranged for a cake ahead of time, which we paid for.
The cakes we bought through WDW restaurants were pretty plain, I believe others have posted on here that they have ordered more elaborate yet pricy cakes.
We also celebrated our twins’ first birthday at WDW. We ordered a decorated cake at the nearby Publix, which we picked up and had later in our room.

 

[Hopefully]

I agree. What do you expect. First birthdays don’t mean much to the birthday twins - the parents I guess. I wouldn’t do much

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I am going to be in Disney for my twin girls 1st birthday. We go every year and we have been to most Disney dining and love it. I am looking for recommendations for breakfast and dinner. We will be in Magic Kingdom for the day and staying at Boardwalk. I don't mind traveling.
Ideally I was looking for a custom cake at one of the meals and to make both dining experience as special as possible.

On my oldest daughters first birthday, I made a few mistakes and was upset. We went to chef Mickeys for breakfast. I did not order a cake. I told them at check in about the 1st birthday. We sat down and the waitress told us to grab our food. We proceeded to get in line. While I was in line, the waitress came over and dropped a cupcake with a candle in it on the table. I understand I didn't pay for anything but I was a little upset bc the candle was melted when we returned to the table. I questioned and was basically told I didn't pay for anything.

Any suggestions for this special day for our family.

Since you are staying at the Boardwalk, I would consider booking the Bon Voyage breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. You could also walk over to Cape May Cafe from the Boardwalk and then take the MK bus from there. IMHO, I think Bon Voyage would be a little more "special" as it's a plated meal as opposed to a buffet. It also has "face" characters (princesses and princes) as opposed to full-costumed characters, so the characters will actually be able to talk to your twins, possibly wish them Happy Birthday, etc.

Make sure to get birthday buttons for the girls and have their birthdays noted on all reservations. There are no guarantees they will do anything special for them, but alerting them to the celebration obviously ups the chances.

Here is the cake chatter thread on the DIS for info on custom cakes: https://www.disboards.com/threads/official-disney-cake-chatter-part-v.3558085/page-106#post-59758439

I was going to suggest Be Our Guest for the birthday dinner, but they no longer offer custom cakes at any Magic Kingdom restaurants if that's important to you. I believe the restaurants have their own specialty celebration desserts you can order plus a standard Mickey cake - the cake thread would have more info.

If you really want to go to a restaurant for dinner where you can order a custom cake, perhaps consider 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian.

 

[FSU Girl]

Not sure why the negative responses. I think it’s really exciting to be celebrating their first birthday!! And I know restaurants don’t have to do anything for a birthday but your waitress could have waited until you were actually at the table to bring the cupcake. I am not a fan of that restaurant.

Crystal Palace could be fun with the characters or Cinderella’s royal table. If you want to guarantee a cake you can order one through Disney ahead of time. I would do the cake for dinner instead of breakfast. Take them wherever you’d like since they won’t remember and it’ll be a fun memory for you. Dinner at one of the Epcot resorts would be nice since you’re staying over there and could watch the Epcot fireworks from the boardwalk. They have a great ice cream place over there too, ample hills creamery.

Have a great trip!

 

[unrequited23]

and have their birthdays noted on all reservations. There are no guarantees they will do anything special for them, but alerting them to the celebration obviously ups the chances.

How exactly do you have the birthdays noted on the reservation? I made all of my ADRs in the app. Do I need to call and have that added? My son will be turning 7 while we are at Disney.

 

[DisBuckMan]

1. Quite honestly, it's best to just notify of a special even when you check in at your resort/ADR.
2. Expect NOTHING other than what you specifically pay for. You may get some pixie dust, and you may not. If you pay for what you want, you'll get it.
3. A large portion of people at WDW at any given time are celebrating "something". Disney got overwhelmed with "special occasion" requests, and have subsequently dialed back on celebrations. It just got to be too much. Therefore, see #2.

 

[FSU Girl]

How exactly do you have the birthdays noted on the reservation? I made all of my ADRs in the app. Do I need to call and have that added? My son will be turning 7 while we are at Disney.

You have to call and tell them to make a note on all ADRs that you're celebrating your son's birthday. They don't always do something, but when I've gone for my birthday most places gave me a free little dessert.

 

[Marissaq]

Thank you for the suggestions. I go to Disney every year and yet I did not know until recently that you could even order a cake. I saw this once I happened to come across on this site a few years ago. So I posted this hoping I could get some ideas for our family.

This post was to not complain about my prior experience. I am looking for suggestions on what I can pay for to make this day special. I know that my twins will not remember however we would like to celebrate them.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I’ve never ordered a cake, so I don’t have first hand experience, but from what I’ve read, you can order a fancy cake (I believe this is done most often at resort restaurants), or you can buy a more generic cake at most any TS restaurant from the CM at the podium when you check in.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

The last place I take my kids for their first birthday party is WDW. We plan it at home. We invite everyone and make it a large ordeal. The last expectation of Disney is they will do that work for you.

 

[TwinkleKS]

You can't bring an "outside" cake into a Disney restaurant. If they are paying attention they will stop you.

You CAN order a cake from Disney and arrange to have it at a certain meal. I have done this on a few occasions. We arranged for it on DD's 4th birthday at CRT. They brought out the cake, we sang, etc. We also did it a year or two at Chef Mickey's - this time it was for absolutely no reason other than I decided I wanted to order a custom cake . Now that I'm thinking about it, I may do it again for one of our ADRs ... just because. Go to the link posted above and look through all of the different options, who to contact, get an idea what you might ask for ... it is super easy. There is a cost associated with it, but it really isn't out of line with what I would pay for a custom cake in the city. So nothing too crazy.

I think going to a character meal will give you the best photo opportunities, etc. with the twins. Versus going to a "nice" meal and having a picture of a plate of food. As far as the interaction you will get, it all depends on the amount of pixie dust in the air.

 

[Marissaq]

The last place I take my kids for their first birthday party is WDW. We plan it at home. We invite everyone and make it a large ordeal. The last expectation of Disney is they will do that work for you.

I thought this board was a place for suggestions on planning our trip, which involves a first birthday. I was looking for suggestions on how to plan a special day for my girls. As mentioned above - disney is the place to celebrate many occasions! I don’t understand why you think it is appropriate to tell me to stay home. Maybe we don’t have a big family!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I thought this board was a place for suggestions on planning our trip, which involves a first birthday. I was looking for suggestions on how to plan a special day for my girls. As mentioned above - disney is the place to celebrate many occasions! I don’t understand why you think it is appropriate to tell me to stay home. Maybe we don’t have a big family!

I'm sure it will be super special! Funny story - we celebrated my DS's first birthday at O'hana. He had no clue what was going on and they brought him a cupcake and he kind of just stared at it. We took a picture and, as we were taking it, our server put two bread plates behind his head to make it look like he had Mickey ears. He then puckered up to try to blow out the candle. We have that picture. He doesn't remember a darn thing, but that picture is in his bedroom and he still looks at it and laughs about his 1st birthday dinner. So, your little ones may not remember it, but they will have fantastic pictures to look at when they are older which commemorate their special 1st birthday in WDW!

I hope some of our suggestions were helpful! I'm sure you will create a very special day for your family.

 

[DisneyHardin]

The last place I take my kids for their first birthday party is WDW. We plan it at home. We invite everyone and make it a large ordeal. The last expectation of Disney is they will do that work for you.

If you don't have something positive to say, why bother to respond? The OP didn't ask for Disney to do work for her, she asked about how to go about getting a cake for her kids birthday. She never indicated that she wasn't willing to pay for the cake, she just didn't know how to go about getting it.

That's wonderful that you threw a big bash at home for your child's first birthday, but for this family, a trip to WDW is what they have planned. Why on earth would you try to Mom Shame her for planning a vacation for her family?

 

[Itsnotmykitchen]

Why is the implication that the OP won't also have some kind of birthday celebration when she is home, anyway? My kid's birthday has yet to fall on a weekend so we just have cake on the actual day and then plan a larger party for a weekend that works for everyone. Disney seems like an awesome place to be for the actual birthday.