5th Birthday - Garden Grill & Coral Reef

[Wendi2000]

Hi all! Max's 5th Birthday is October 8th and we have an ADR for dinner at Coral Reef... any experiences with special stuff they do for kid's birthdays there? I know that last year we had dinner at CRT and they surprised us with a birthday cupcake for him at the end of our meal.

I have been reading great reviews on Garden Grill and hadn't really thought about a meal there, but I'm considering adding it for lunch this day as well. Do they do anything special for birthdays? I understand this is a revolving restaurant... I think my son would love that... anyone have photos of the restaurant?

We've never been to either of these restaurants, so I don't know anything about the atmosphere of either... I understand there is a humungous saltwater tank at CR (I'm a little worried that my son will want to be at the tank instead of sitting at the table!!! I hope I can keep him in his seat without too much of a struggle.)

 

[Wendi2000]

Anyone???

 

[beth_cam]

Garden grill was slow enough revolving that my kids (5 and 7)didnt really 'get it' as well they couldnt really tell what they were seeing from their seats and i finally gave in and let them stand at the railing (i'm trying to remember if they were actually walking at the railing to keep with the table) while hubbie and i finnished our meal. We got a birthday cake given to us as our table's desert (so that was it) for my daughter's birthday and a birthday card signed by the characters attending. then when the characters came by and saw the cake they made a special deal. At the garden grill the kids ate more off the adult plate than the kids I dont know if they didnt like the kids food or were just so sick of that kind of stuff.

btw epcot gave us a free double stroller rental when we showed up to purchase it for the day with dd with her bday button on.

The kids were so not impressed with coral reef....i thought they would be and it was our first table service meal so it wasnt like they were tired of restaurants yet. We ended up not caring much for the selections and shared 1 adult and 1 kid meal between the four and left food on plates and hungry. However our problem with most of the restaurants really boils down to how we eat....we eat very simple lightly seasoned foods at home. Eveything always had seasonings or sauces on it....we had to ask 2x at garden grill before we got them to bring the meats out without sauces on them.

 

[beth_cam]

i just wanted to add that i mentioned my dd's birthday when i made adr's, when i checked in and when we we were seated. We did this and CRT and at both places the tables had confetti on it an the servers made a special deal. the cake was a simple small cake (way more than enough for 4 full from the meal people and not exactly portable for not returning to the room for several hours) with mickey on it.

 

[BlindTyldak]

I have a couple of pictures from inside Garden Grille at home, I'll post them after work (midnight Central Time, so look tomorrow ). At Garden Grille ask for an "outer ring" table, your DS will be able to see much better. I saw them bring a birthday cake out to someone there once.

at Coral reef, ask for a tank-side table for the birthday boy, and go prepared with a folded paper in your purse with "It's His Birthday" clearly printed in black marker (or he can do the "It's My Birthday" himself!) so you or he can hold it up to a diver. They'll probably write a message back to him! My neice got a birthday cupcake there, delivered by the waiter.

 

[ainmama2001]

We did Coral Reef with my dd, then not quite three. She loved watching the fish, and the server was very considerate to her. They get coloring menus and crayons. It was a fancy meal, that was really enjoyable for all of us.