ADR's...I need all the help I can get-first trip with triplets!

[tripletsmama]

We are working hard to plan our first trip! Myself, my mother, my husband, and our 2 year old triplet daughters are headed to the Grand Floridian December 1-9. I am told that I need to have dining reservations in place. I have a TON of questions. If anyone was willing to help it would be greatly appreciated!

1. Can we make ADR's now or is there some specific amount of time before the trip when we can make them?

2. What is acceptable with 2 year olds? They sit in high chairs and remain relatively quiet, but 2 year old triplets are energetic!

3. Any suggestions? What restaurants are best geared for children?

Thanks!

 

[LBelle]

First off.....TRIPLETS???!!! 2 YEAR OLD triplets??!! 2 year old triplets in DISNEY??!! WOW....you GO girlfriend!!!!! Also, LOVE all 3 of your daughter's names!!

Here are a few suggestions for kid friendly dining options:

Crystal Palace - MK (Pooh and friends)
Hollywood & Vine - MGM (character meal again, for wee ones, just don't know WHO the characters are at this place!)
Whispering Canyon Cafe - Wild. Lodge
Restrauntasaurus - AK (ONLY meal with Donald Duck!!) Breakfast only
Because you have girls maybe do 1 of the 'Princess' char. meals! I can't help you on that one either because, (sob)...I have 3 BOYS!!!!! Just Kidding!!!

I know there are ALOT more but it's past 2am now and I'm getting 'brain freeze'

Wait,...one more: Garden Grill - Epcot (Fut. World) - Pretty sure you get 'Farmer' Mickey, Chip and Dale and Pluto!

 

[alicenwonder99]

2 year old triplets!!

When my children were young, I always "worried" they would be disturbing guests at the restaurants, so I always chose restaurants that were loud so no one would notice my kids...lol.

Crystal Palace at MK is a must. Your girls will love that.
Biergarten in Germany at Epcot is fun. We haven't been there in years, and we're going again on our next trip.

HTH

Mary

 

[Hopefully]

ADR's can now be made at 180 days in advance, so you are well into your window of opportunity. You want to make the most popular reservations ASAP. Take a look at the menus at allearsnet.com to see which restaurant menus appeal to you. My suggestion is to map out where you will be each day, and then decide on restaurants in the park or nearby resort. It is best to not be crisscrossing the World just to get to an ADR. With 2 yo triplets, you will probably spend a lot of time in the MK.
Since you are in Walt Disney World, everywhere is kid friendly. You will find children in all Disney restaurants, although some are definitley more kid friendly than others. If you are worried, you will want to avoid the "Signature Restaurants", as these are more adult oriented than other restaurants.
'OHana at the Poly is very kid friendly and the adults will enjoy the food. It is a short monorail ride away from the GF and will be easy for you to get to.
The character meal at 1900 Park Faire in the GF gets great reviews and it is a character meal.
I am sure others will have more ideas.
Good luck with your planning!

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I do love the Grand Floridian Cafe, that is always bustling and so bright.
Three girls...wow.. I have 3 daughters, but I spread them out a bit. You will be busy and have two other sets of hands to help but to see WDW through their eyes will be so magical....

 

[mom2triplets]

When i took mine at 2 1/2 we ate at Brown derby, they didn't seem to mind that. only one like the character meals, ate at Cyrstal palace and Chef Mickeys, the other 2 didn't care for the character interactions. they all loved the hoop de doo, whispering canyon and breafast at the castle. they are still talking about these places ( almost 2 years later) and have requested to go again when we return the end of September.

 

[lovmy2girls]

Wow! and I thought I had it bad. Good luck, and may the Force be with you!

Seriously, there are lots of neat places to eat with kids. The character meals are what stand out in my mind as fun. There is nothing like eating in the castle with the Princesses. Chef Mickeys was tons o fun. Great family type atmosphere. Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends was family fun. Donalds in the AK too.

Being 2 year old, they won't be able to ride much. I hope you have a great trip. Your lucky to have a mom along to help out.

 

[tripletsmama]

LBelle...thanks, I love their names too!

Thanks for all the good wishes on handing 2 y.o. triplets. I figure if God wanted me to have all 3 of my kids at once then so be it! He wouldn't give me anything I couldn't handle.

I am thinking we will steer clear of the signature restaurants. Although one blessing of having triplets is that all my kids have built-in entertainment. Their favorite pastime at restaurants is singing. I personally think it's absolutely adorable when the 3 of them sing, but fellow diners sometimes disagree. They have very soft little girl voices but sometimes I do have to make them stop. Hopefully there are great menus to color at the Disney restaurants that will keep them entertained. Does anyone bring coloring books or other activities for restaurants?

It sounds like everyone is suggesting Crystal Palace so I am thinking that is a definite. I am worried about character meals though. I have no idea how they are going to react to the characters. I figure they will either be terrified or so excited that they won't eat. Is it acceptable to bring a small plastic container to take some food out of the restaurant? I know they would eat as soon as I got them back to the room where it was quiet, but I don't know it that's allowed.

Their favorite characters are Stitch/Lilo, Mickey/Minnie, and Princess Jasmine. Anywhere I can find Lilo and Stitch or Jasmine?

So far the suggestions have been great, keep them coming! Thanks!

 

[5kwallace]

Triplets Mama I know that your family will have a great time. My DS was 2 1/2 on his first trip to WDW. It was magical to see how he reacted to everything. He loved the characters. 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian has a good character breakfast. Since you are staying there, it would be easy to get to. We also enjoy Chef Mickey's Breakfast. It is a lot of fun too. Since your girls are under 3, they eat free at character buffets. One thing that works for is using the counter service restaurants at the hotels and taking the food back to our room to eat. We also eat at Counter service restaurants in the parks. The wait for table service restaurants even with ADRs can be quite long. For table service restaurants we always try to schedule ADR at the earliest times to minimize wait times. There is a lot of things for your family to do. My child rode everything that did not have a height restriction. We are staying at the GF 11/26 - 12/ 2. Maybe I'll see you there. Have a great trip!

 

[WisMom]

I believe you can see Stitch and Lilo at the Polynesian for breakfast at Ohanas. The Poly is also on the monorail so that would be very easy for you.


WisMom

 

[lovmy2girls]

OH, if they like Lilo and STitch, go to the Breakfast there. Very fun times there!

 

[tripletsmama]

Are character breakfasts or dinners better? Do any other moms have opinions? I mean do kids generally do better with characters in the morning before they have had a long day at WDW?

 

[eeyore45]

My opinion, with 2 yr old triplets - avoid the Buffets - its so much work for mom at a buffet!!

Pooh, eeyore etc are at the Magic Kingdom's Crystal Palace, and its a buffet

Lilo and Stitch are at the Polynesian Breakfast and its a family style all you can eat breakfast

by going to allearsnet.com you can check menus at each park - signature restaurants are sit down places, and cs = counter service, think fast food... each park has those also -

Princess Breakfast at Epcot in Norway is Askerhaus, Belle, Snow White, Aurora Jasmine come around, it is also family style brought to you as much as you can eat - because it is Norway themed, the lunch and dinner can be "differnet" food - check allearsnet.

Chef Mickeys at Contemp is a Buffet character meal, and can be quite loud.

Hollywood and Vine at MGM now has a character meal and a buffet - but the characters are from the DisneyChannel preschool crowd - Preschool Disney show at MGM and a cute Ariel show there too...

Good Luck!!

 

[The Sweetness]

I like the idea of doing the character meals that arent buffets, but served family style instead (this way you wont have to get up for plates of fresh/ different foods, they bring it all right to you). I know that the Lilo and Stitch breakfast, LTT in MK, and Garden Grille at EPCOT are served that way. If you girls wont be afraid of the characters. My dd will be 2 when I go to WDW in June, and for the past few months Ive been bringing her to a *character show* at the local mall every week, so that she wont freak when she sees how huge the characters are

 

[BabyMo]

I also love the names!

If your girls love Minnie, then you might want to look into Liberty Tree tavern. It's a character meal served family style, so the food is brought to you- no need to get up. They have Thanksgiving type food- turkey, roast beef, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese. They bring as much of whatever food you need. The service has always been good, and the restaurant can get a little loud, so your girls can sing away.

For characters, they have Minnie, Goofy, Chip, and Dale, and Pluto.

We have been there many times (the in-laws just love it), and the characters come around to every table. They have a good sense of when to ham it up, and when to move on.

Another thing to consider is that because the kids are under three, they will almost always be able to eat for free unless you are ordering kid's meals for them. Not sure about family style though.....probably free too....

 

[Stitch1404]

I definitely recommend the family style meals. If you do a buffet you will be trying to keep track of 3 very excited little girls AND go up and find food they will eat AND try to feed them AND try to eat a little something yourself. Not my idea of fun.

Also, we bring coloring books to restaurants. My kids would sit and color for hours so this works really, really well. There is also just a lot to see in a place like Disney World and the servers are very interactive and friendly. All these facotors help my kids to do okay at WDW restaurants.

I don't know about bringing food out of the restaurants. I would think it would be fine but I would definitely tell the server first. I am sure they would be very understanding as long as they know what is going on. Otherwise it will just look like you are trying to smuggle food out!

Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[byoung]

I think most sit downs are great.

 

[Eeyore2003]

I would certainly keep things as simple as I could, you can do allot of nice meals right on the monorail system. Traveling time would be kept to a minimum

Breakfast at Ohana's at the Polynesian (on monorail) with Lilo and Stitch

Breakfast or dinner at Chef Mickey at the Contemporary for Mickey and Minnie

as for Princess Jasmine, I'm thinking we did see her at the castle when we ate there the last time, but I would ask maybe as a separate question in a thread to be sure. This would be the most convenient place to see her, there is also Akershus (any meal) at Epcot, we've definitely seen her there.

For convenience, you have 1900 Park Fair right at the Grand Floridian
Breakfast-Mary Poppins, Pooh, Tigger or Eeyore, Alice and Wonderland and Mad Hatter
Dinner-Cinderella, Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother, and the two mice, Suzy and Perla

If you would like a wonderful place for a nice sit down meal for you adults which is still family oriented and casual, I would recommend the Grand Floridian Cafe, excellent food and service but more casual than the signature restaurants. Very convenient with no travel time. (DH and myself think it's one of Disney's little hidden secrets, we eat here on each trip)

Besides GFC for non-character, if the kids do end up having problems with characters, I would not hesitate in taking them to Kona Cafe at the Polynesian or even Concourse Steakhouse at the Contemporary both on the monorail or even Tony's at MK. Also, if you have to change your schedule that week when you are there, these 4 might also have availability on short notice.

Crystal Palace, at MK, also on monorail, for Pooh characters.

Loud non character, but nice and close by....

Ohana's at the Polynesian (dinner), also on the monorail, has family style all you can eat dining with broom/coconut races for the kids and hoola hooping

Whispering Canyon, just a boat ride away, at the Wilderness Lodge would be LOTS of fun for you guys

At the parks--
EPCOT-I agree with the Biergarten at Germany, buffet, polka music and a little dance floor for the kids (or anyone I guess)!!!

MGM-Hollywood and Vine, as mentioned, is also a character meal now

AK-We have just always eaten at the Counter Service here, I think they're pretty good, which would be easy for you too

 

[tripletsmama]

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions!! Everyone here is so great and so helpful, I think this trip would have been a disaster if I hadn't found the DIS.

We have 8 nights, here's what we have so far...

Day 1: 1900 Park Fare dinner (we will be arriving this day so I want to keep dinner at the hotel to keep things simple.)

Day 2: Drive In Cafe (or something like that, it's in MGM)

Day 3: Liberty Tree Tavern dinner

Day 4: Kona Cafe Dinner

Day 5: Crystal Palace dinner

Day 6: Whispering Canyon dinner

Day 7: Chef Mickey's breakfast, ??? for dinner

Day 8: ???

Day 9: ???

I totally agree with all the people who said buffets might not be a good idea. However, then I looked at the menus at allearsnet and I saw that most of the character meals are buffets. I think the character meals are going to be wonderful so I still want to try them. I tried to space the character meals out every other day. We will have 3 adults and 3 children so hopefully each adult can just take one girl and we should be good.

These are the meals that I think sound neat but I haven't found a place for yet:

Little Einsteins
'Ohana
Princess Storybook
Grand Floridian Cafe

Does my schedule look good? Is it too much? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[ekball]

Hi there,

You're making progress....yay!

I do not have triplets, but am planning a WDW vacation with 2 kiddos under 3 in late Sept., so I can relate to really having to think things through with your ADR's (not that everyone doesn't ). First of all, I'll just pass along a few things I really thought about when making my choices:
Disclaimer: these may be obvious, but I'm just passing this along in the event that it may help...
1. Location - how close, or far, was the restaurant to my hotel, or park choice for the day. I really tried to keep my choices close to "home base" for us, so we weren't travelling all over the World (pun intended) to get to and from our meals. The few times we are eating far(ther) from our resort are on our "open" (no park) days - so we aren't rushing from park to resort to dinner, etc.
2. The obvious one - time. I made ADR's for as early as I possibly could. There were a few rest. I wanted, but couldn't get because they couldn't get me in early enough.

We are also doing a couple of buffets - they may be crazy, but I plan to just leave the kids at the table w/ DH while I go load up a plate, then let him do the same. Kids will be free, and will have plenty of choices to choose from. Including some healthier choices which is important to me (no, I'm not one of "those moms", but my kids enjoy their fruits and veggies so I'd like to offer at least one good meal/day where there are plenty of good choices to make -there will be plenty of chicken strips and fries during the week!).

For your ADR's - the only thing that jumped out at me is the Sci-Fi Drive-in (or something like that). Ask around the boards....I haven't eaten there but I feel like I read that they show movies that may be a little scary for the little ones???? Just check it out.

Good luck! I hope you have a wonderful time!!