1st timer needs help deciding!

[taraandmike]

Hi everyone!
I am new to DIS and have found so much good information on these boards! I am overwhelmed with all the great reviews and questions on this board. We are a family of 5 (me, DH, DD1, DS, and DD2) and have never been to Disney and have a Disney cruise planned in February. I am planning to surprise my kids with a Disney World trip for 3-4 days after the cruise.

My question to everyone is since we have never been to Disney can you please help me decide what restaurants we can not miss, easy to find etc... We will probably not be on the dining plan with the changes for 2008 so with that we will probably be staying at Shades of Green since my husband is in the military.

Also the first day we would be there is my DD 17th birthday so where would be the best place to eat to celebrate?

 

[Melisa1]

Shades of Green is a great place to stay! We stay every time we visit and absolutely love it!
Does your daughter like Italian food? If so, there is a really good Italian restaurant in Shades of Green. It is called Manginos ( may have spelled it wrong)
50's Prime Time Cafe or Sci-Fi at MGM might be fun places to take your daughter.
Have a great trip!

 

[Gary M]

http://www.allearsnet.com/din/dining.htm

The above should give you an idea about the menus at WDW.

 

[GofFreak]

Don't forget the Birthday Button. (Ask for it from Guest Services)

Make it an extra special day

 

[Disney Ron]

We are going in December, my DSS (18) asked to go to Biergarten and DSD (20) asked for Rainforest. These are the places children that age in our family like.

I think HDDR would be a fun setting for a birthday too!

Mrs. Disney Ron

 

[amygirl27]

I second the vote for 50's Prime Time Cafe. It is really fun for the kids.

At MK our children's favorites are Crystal Palace and Liberty Tree. Neither have "great" food but both are okay and both are favorites of the kids. Chef Mickey's at Contemporary falls on this list as well.

At Epcot we go for the adult food. Le Cellier has exceptionally good food. Coral Reef is another fav - the food isn't as good but it is okay and the atmosphere is nice.

Animal Kingdom - we never eat here. The Rainforest Cafe is great but we have one here in Kansas City that we can go to whenever we want so we skip it on vacation.

Have fun. What a great surprise!

 

[dmiller882]

First of all enjoy your trip. I would get a Disney World Guide book to help you plan your days. You can checkout Disney's website for different restaurants.
They may say The Cinderella"s Table is for girls but the food is great and you can not beat the views from the castle. It is one of the hardest to get a reservation for so you need to call early 90 days out.

You may want to get a park hopper pass to checkout all the top attractions at the parks. Next time if you can stay at least 7 days to really take it in.

 

[AnninIowa]

Definitely buy the "Unofficial Guide" book - it's packed with absolutely everything you could ever want to know!! Have a wonderful trip!!

 

[ms_mckenna]

First off to Dis.
Second here is the KOTS thread ... other people surprising their kids with Disney vacations! http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1312518

What kinds of foods do you guys typically eat and enjoy?
As far as our favorites I would say our favorites
Non character:
Spoodles (Italian)
Coral Reef

Character:
Ohana breakfast with Stitch
Crystal Palace
Cinderellas Royal Table for breakfast is by far our favorite though :

On the bday celebration I would do Coral Reef if your family would like the menu. That is what we did for DD's 14th bday this past trip. We also arranged for the divers to come and hold up a sign for her (free service).

I think that CRT would be another good one for a bday celebration.

 

[EpcotLove]

Oh my goodness, there are SO many choices... here are some ones, that I personally think you should NOT MISS! (I have a family of 5 very different eaters too)

Garden Grill (great family restaurant at Epcot, it has a revolving seating area, it is SO cool, you will meet Chip n Dale, Pluto, and Mickey here for sure)

Artist Point (at the Wilderness Lodge, it is very quiet and makes for a romantic meal, if you can leave the kids)

Jiko (Animal Kingdom Lodge)

50's Primetime Cafe (GREAT family restaurant at MGM studios..... the waiters and waitresses put on a role of a Mom or Pop, or Cousin Pip type... it can be hysterical, the food is delicious).

Cinderellas Royal Table (why? because you have to do it once... it's beautiful upstairs in the castle and you will see characters, but not as many at night. This is would be a great meal for the daughter's birthday)

California Grill (it has an amazing few of the magic kingdom, it's at the top of the Contemporary hotel)

 

[taraandmike]

I want to thank everyone for the great suggestions! Also thank you to Gary for the great link to the menus another thing I was not aware of. I guess you do learn something new every day on this board!

50's Primetime diner sounds like fun, I think my kids will get a kick out of this place.

My kids are not very picky eaters and are usually willing to try new things there ages are DD1 (16) will be 17 on the trip, DS (14) and DD2 (12) they are not to much into the characters but I think being there will be exciting enough to get into the moment.

Ms Mckenna I love the picture of your DD with the diver surprising her for her birthday..My DD's name is also Shelby so this was so perfect to see. I am still reading through the great link you posted about surprising the kids.

Thank you everyone for your great suggestions.

I figure we cannot be that close to Disney without stopping. I wish we could stay for longer but we are taking the kids out of school for our trip but they will be so exicted when we go there instead of the Airport.