3 year old to 2 Credit Restaurants

[syng0]

Hi all, we're headed to the world this coming January and I'm considering the Deluxe Dining Plan to try some 2 credit restaurants. However, I'm not sure if they are restaurants with mostly adults and I would hate to bring a 3 year old and feel out of place. Should I go to 2 credit restaurants with a 3 year old ? I'm thinking of trying Narcosee's and California Grill. Thanks for your input!

 

[M5ward]

I know that a lot of people take young children to the signature restaurants. For me, it would depend on the child..some can sit quietly for two hours or more and some can't. You also have to consider how tired the child is and what time the reservation is scheduled.For example, we could never (and would never) take our two year old grandson or our three year old (almost four) granddaughter to a meal of that length. It's not fair to the other diners, and it's not fair to the child. However, when our twelve year old grandson and nine year old granddaughter were toddlers, they would have been well behaved at a lengthy meal with a coloring book and crayons to occupy them.
I guess if the child acts up during the meal, one parent could always take the child out..of course, that ruins the meal for at least one, maybe both, parents. Nothing ruins a meal for other diners like a screaming, cranky kid..or kids who are allowed to run around restaurants because parents either can't or don't want to bother to discipline them (way too many parents think that being at Disney is a license to forget discipline, good manners, and courtesy).
Like I said, I think it depends on the child.

 

[garanorymom]

My three year old will be dining at both those restaurants in December.

 

[webray]

Children are welcome at both those restaurants, but, like the above poster said, it all depends on the time of meal, behavior of child, etc.

We have taken our grand daughter (when she was in the 2year range) to signature restaurants. Keep in mind, she is very well behaved and is used to sitting still for 2-3 hours, the length of a signature meal. Of course, our son and his wife know that if she isn't in the mood, one of them will leave the restaurant with her and we will have their food packed up and they can eat it cold later.

3 grand daughters later, same rule still applies. We all enjoy great food, but will never disturb adult diners with an unruley child.

 

[Pumbaa_]

we dined at a few signatures last month.

There was a lovely family at narcoossee across from me. There was 3 little ones. The parents took 2 of them out for a walk in between courses but they were so good at the table

at FF, there was a family with 2 little girls that actually did a coouple laps running away from their parents around our table. not a magical experience for anyone

if your little ones can sit at a table for 3 courses, about 2 hours, then please don't do the dxdp. not fair to you, your kids, or the other diners

 

[tnd]

I think it really depends on the kids. My son (now 4) has been to both the restaurants you mention, plus Jiko and Citrico's and has been fine. We always take a few small cars for him to play with quietly at the table. However, we dine out a lot, so he is very used to behaving in restaurants. I think Disney is probably the best place to take young kids to nicer meals because they won't be the only ones, and the staff is quite good at dealing with them. At California Grill for example, they bring Goldfish crackers for the kids to snack on.

But here's my caveat, if your kid is acting up for any reason, you have to be willing to box your food up and leave. We've never had to do that at Disney, but we've done it at restaurants at home. No one should have to put up with that (including the parents!).

 

[syng0]

Thanks all for your advises. I think we'll skip 2 credit restaurants this time then..I don't think he can really sit still for 2 hours. He won't be running around the restaurant but sometimes he will start singing loudly to entertain himself during meals and I would hate for that to spoil dining experience for others. I guess we'll try again when he's old enough to sit through a meal. Thanks again !

 

[DisneyFamily123]

We figured 90 minutes once seated, 2 hours max. Are you counting wait time to be seated?

We are looking at California Grill, Narcoosees, Citrocos, and Jiko.

Thanks.....

 

[daisyduck123]

We figured 90 minutes once seated, 2 hours max. Are you counting wait time to be seated?

We are looking at California Grill, Narcoosees, Citrocos, and Jiko.

Thanks.....

Our meals at the Yachtsman (can't speak fo rthe ones above) always take two hours once we're seated.

 

[rlovew]

We figured 90 minutes once seated, 2 hours max. Are you counting wait time to be seated?

We are looking at California Grill, Narcoosees, Citrocos, and Jiko.

Thanks.....

It depends on a few factors but our dinner for 2 at the California Grill with 3 course took about 2.5 hours, our dinner at Artist Point for 4 with 3 courses took about 2 hours- here we ordered are appetizers and entrees together while at CG we did not. Those are the only ones I have dined at so far.

Rebecca

 

[Mich123]

We went to CA Grill with our entire family, my parents, brothers, sister in laws, my husband and children ages 11, 8, 5 and 3 and the kids did really well. Of the signature restaurants I've been to, so far CA Grill is the most kid friendly. We went late, so the kids could see Wishes from the rooftop, which turned out to be a great mid dinner diversion. It's also nice that the Wishes music plays in the dining room.

I would note that the two times we've been to CA Grill there's been a bit of a wait and that when we were there with the little ones, my brother, sister-in-law and the 5 and 3 year old took off after the kids were finished with dessert. The CM will serve the kids at whatever speed you ask them to, so if the kids are hungry, they can be served all of their courses first which also means that they will be finished well in advance of the adults.

On our last visit to the World, our kids were older, but there were LOTS of smaller children in the dining room. I think it's worth a try! And I agree with the PP who mentioned that you can always get your meal to go if there's a meltdown...at least it will be absolutely delicious food in a box.

 

[Mich123]

We figured 90 minutes once seated, 2 hours max. Are you counting wait time to be seated?

At CA Grill we waited at least 40 minutes and our meal was at least two hours. We ordered everything...apps, salads, entrees, dessert and coffee...DD10 was almost asleep by the end of the meal (the chairs are comfortable!). If you need the meal to go quickly, you should mention it to the CM ahead of time and be prepared to order right away. You might also consider getting dessert to go.

 

[Colleen27]

We figured 90 minutes once seated, 2 hours max. Are you counting wait time to be seated?

We are looking at California Grill, Narcoosees, Citrocos, and Jiko.

Thanks.....

We haven't tried Jiko or Citricos yet so I can't speak to those specifically, but we didn't have a wait to be seated for any of the signatures except California Grill, which was about 20min (for a fireworks time reservation). Once seated, most of our signature dinners took between 1.5 and 2 hours for 3 full courses. Yachtsman took a little longer; Narcoosees was the shortest.

 

[Colleen27]

We will be doing those two, along with Artist Point, Jiko, and maybe Flying Fish with a toddler on our next trip. DD1 is good in restaurants and enjoys going out, and we're experts at teaching restaurant behaviour since she's baby #3. We'll be eating early, coming prepared with Bendaroos and a small snack to hold her over until the food arrives, and willing to take her out if needed (though we haven't had to do that in the real world yet). I'm confident that she'll do just fine.

We did Narcoosees, Artist Point, California Grill, and Yachtsman on our last trip, and there were families with children of all ages at all of them. Yachtsman seemed to have fewer small children than the others, but that might have been a function of time because we had a later reservation there than at Artist Point. California Grill and Narcoosees were both full of families even later in the evening, I assume because of the fireworks views.

 

[jenjersnap]

Yep, we come prepared with the distractions as the PP mentions.

We've taken an under 3 to almost every signature with a kid's menu (we never seem to make room in the schedule for Artist Point and Flying Fish is a favorite date night destination so those are the exceptions) and it's been fine at every one. I think GC and Narcoossee's are the most child-friendly of them all. We've also gotten expert servers most of the time who ask whether we want to dawdle between courses or not (We usually do not, if given the choice).

 

[cbg1027]

It's Disney - children are the norm rather than the exception!
The only place I wouldnt take a child is V&A...and you're not allowed to bring kids under 10 there anyways.
There are always lots of kids when I go to Cali Grill.
On a recent trip to Citricos, there was a large party seated next to me. The adults were at one table and the kids were at another. When the food came out, I saw the waiter actually cut some of the smaller kids food for them!

 

[DisneyFamily123]

Thank you for sharing so much information. Are signature restaurants whisper quiet? I'm not worried about a long meal at a busy restaurant... unless it is a very quiet, romantic type atmosphere.

California Grill and Narcoosees don't seem like they are whisper quiet places. Not sure about Citricos or Jiko - they seem to be quieter places..

I don't worry about my son running around at a dinner restaurant, he's more likely to just get tired/cranky... or fall asleep at the meal (happened once before!)

I think there should be a lot of tolerance of talkative, restless children by other patrons at restaurants in Disney. I can see getting upset if children are running around the restaurant and if my child was screaming, I'd leave the restaurant and come back when settled. But, if I wanted a quiet, romantic dinner -- I'd schedule a later dinner around 8pm or go to Victoria and Alberts without children.

Last year, my son was 3 and he sat very long at Tutto Italia - a couple hours - and some other restaurants but either the restaurant had entertainment or we were (large group of 11 diners) entertaining to keep him from being bored. Tutto Italia was a "fancy" restaurant but noisy enough that noisy children would not be noticed. Other restaurants had Teppan Edo were fun, and I walked my son outside near the end of the meal to listen to the drums playing.

 

[daisyduck123]

Thank you for sharing so much information. Are signature restaurants whisper quiet? I'm not worried about a long meal at a busy restaurant... unless it is a very quiet, romantic type atmosphere.

I think the only signature dining we've done is The Yachtsman & it was definitely quiet.

We have eaten at all the dinner shows & they are not quiet.