Any must visits for family with small children?

[Zeebs]

We are visiting in May with our family who will be 5, 3 (boys) and 1 girl.

We are staying off site so we will be eating at offsite restaurants and at the house.

I have already booked a breakfast for Crystal Palace (birthday celebration for Ariana) and a dinner at Chef Mickeys because we enjoyed it last time.

I am also going to book the Fantasmic package and currently am leaning towards the Brown Derby as I like the look of the menu.

As for the rest I thought about another 4 places.

So I am up for suggestions on your favourite places if you have small children.

last time we also did Coral Reef and California Grill (adults only) both of which we really liked but thought we should maybe try somewhere different.

Kirsten

 

[Zeebs]

sorry I have put this in the wrong place and not sure how to move it.

sorry

 

[gobraves39560]

My children really enjoyed the Garden Grill.. great charactar interaction, and Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge. That was a very fun place to eat! Also, we are doing the Fantasmic Package for the 1st time but are doing Mama Melrose b/c we do the dining plan and its a 1 credit restaurant for us.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

My kids are similar ages. Aside from character meals . . . Biergarten is a lot of fun in the World Showcase. My kids loved it last year and we are returning in March. Coral reef and Sanaa were also hits - Coral Reef due to the giant tank and Sanaa because you can see awesome animals both from the restaurant and the viewing deck. AK closes early so it is a nice choice for dinner after a day at the park. Our kids also enjoyed lunch at Sci Fi. It's a bit dark, but they liked the movie clips - especially the Tom and Jerry clip (my girls are fans of Tom and Jerry). The food is good and inexpensive if you are paying OOP (you can easily spend under $15 per adult entree). We are trying Ohana in March - we hear that it is a lot of fun with the kids, but we haven't been there yet.

 

[heather13]

We loved Flame Tree Grill at AK - good food and there were loads of birds for the kids to watch. At MK, I was disappointed in Pinnochio's Pizza place. It overlooks the Small World ride which I thought would be a plus (and the kids enjoyed looking for a while) but they got bored pretty soon. I have two girls though - maybe the boys would enjoy it more? Tomorrowland Terrace had some mechanical aliens playing music on a stage a la Chuckie Cheese. The 5yo loved it - the 2yo was a bit nervous.

 

[suz_cute]

Looks like you already have some great choices! We just returned last week with my 13 month old son. We did Crystal Palace (twice due to xtra table service at the end of the week and a lucky cancellation), Brown Derby, Tusker House for breakfast (AMAZING), and a couple meals without our son while he was with grandma and grandpap. I highly recommend the breakfast at Tusker House if you are able to score an ADR. They do an awesome photo op before breakfast, have great food, and Mickey and friends will be in their safari clothes!! My son LOVED it!!
Hope this helps you out a bit, and have an amazing trip!!!

 

[dixonsontour]

Maybe sci fi at HS. My dd loved sitting in the car - has been age 3 and 4. not sure if would work with a baby though - think highchair would be next to the car.

My Dd also loved coral reef sitting next to the tank.

 

[jandm]

We are visiting in May with our family who will be 5, 3 (boys) and 1 girl.

We are staying off site so we will be eating at offsite restaurants and at the house.

I have already booked a breakfast for Crystal Palace (birthday celebration for Ariana) and a dinner at Chef Mickeys because we enjoyed it last time.

I am also going to book the Fantasmic package and currently am leaning towards the Brown Derby as I like the look of the menu.

As for the rest I thought about another 4 places.

So I am up for suggestions on your favourite places if you have small children.

last time we also did Coral Reef and California Grill (adults only) both of which we really liked but thought we should maybe try somewhere different.

Kirsten

We are taking our trip in May as well. We have 3 kids and booked our meals -here are some that I thought would be fun for the kids: 50's Prime Time Cafe, 'Ohana breakfast with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey & Pluto, Breakfast at Cinderella's castle & Teppan Edo at Epcot.

 

[katie111]

We jsut got back with my DD8, and DS's 7 and 3. Their favorite restaurants were the Cape May breakfast, Ohana dinner, and Sci-fi. They didn't like Garden Grill as they didn't really have anything that they liked to eat. They also didn't really like the dinner food at Chef Mickey's (nor did we). The Cape May dinner was really good, but it doesn't have characters. My kids liked the food there though.

 

[DisneyFamily123]

We enjoyed Brown Derby on the Fantasmic Package so much we went back again on the same trip. Our server was a little rushed but he was trying to make sure everyone got out on time to get to Fantasmic... he didn't rush us... but he seemed very busy...

We were on the dining plan, but from our visit, I understand that the Fantasmic Package at Brown Derby includes appetizers (whether on the dining plan or not). We were on the deluxe dining plan so appetizers always included... Brown Derby is closer (less walking time) to Fantasmic than Mama Melrose too...

Our favorites (not in any order) for DS5 are....
Crystal Palace (who doesn't love pooh, tigger, eeyore, and piglet?)
Garden Grill (chip and dale are great!)
Coral Reef (request table next to aquarium window)
Biergarten (kids dance by the band)
SciFi Diner (dark in here)

In Hollywood Studios, I very much suggest Hollywood and Vine's character breakfast... lunch has characters too but I didn't care for the lunch or dinner food). Right now, it's Handy Manny, Oso, and some Little Einsteins (June and Leo?). What I like is they play Disney Playhouse music and the CMs and characters dance with the children in the restaurant. Much more fun than the usual table greetings at character meals. Breakfast food was pretty good too!

 

[ktlm]

My DD's (4) favorite, other than the Princess meals at CRT and Akershus, is Biergarten. (Note, that means she ranks it above all other characters meals that don't have Princesses, which is a big deal for her). My friend's under 5 son absolutely loved Biergarten too. There is a German band and a dance floor where the kids can get out and dance during the show.

 

[minnie4me]

If your kids are into Disney preschool shows there is a restaurant at DHS that does at least a character lunch buffet...we were there a few years ago and it had 2 Little Einsteins and JoJo/Goliath (I know those 2 have been changed). Kids could get up and dance with the characters once in awhile, it was cute....hope it is still there (might have been at Hollywood & Vine ?)