Best Family Restaurant

[kar0066]

My daughter and I are going to Disney in December 2008. I am a single mom going with a 6 year old. We went to Disney in January of this year (first trip for both of us) and fell in love with the whole experience. Our last trip was fast - I decided to go in the beginning of January and three weeks later we were there. I would love to hear about everyone's favorite place to eat that would be fun for a 6 year old. We are not big on breakfast - so I am looking to hear about your favorite place for dinner. Thanks!!

 

[CrazyAboutWDW]

she might enjoy character dining - with a six year old you probabaly want to keep the meal informal

 

[Merilyn]

We love Chef Mickey. It has all the characters and the food is good. We like Garden Grill and the food is very good there. If she likes Pooh, the Crystal Palace is good. On this site, you can find under dining a listing of all the character meals. We have tried most and except for the one in MGM, liked them all. Hope you have another great trip. We leave next week for OKW and are doing many character meals. I will post how they were when we get back.

 

[Mom2Kate-Anna]

We too love the Garden Grill. The Character interaction is wonderful there. I would also recommend 1900 Park Fare (with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine and the step sisters, Crystal Palace (Pooh and Friends) and Ohana.

 

[disnut1149]

Hi
My DGD will be 6 in November and she loves Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace, but the one place she loves and really wanted to go back to is O'hana. She loves the dancing (hula) and doing the limbo. Also, the kids dance in a congo line and get to push coconuts with a broom. It's really fun for her.

 

[WLfan]

We love the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge. The food is good and the entertaining waitstaff is even better.

 

[Rylee]

My daughter and I are going to Disney in December 2008. I am a single mom going with a 6 year old. We went to Disney in January of this year (first trip for both of us) and fell in love with the whole experience. Our last trip was fast - I decided to go in the beginning of January and three weeks later we were there. I would love to hear about everyone's favorite place to eat that would be fun for a 6 year old. We are not big on breakfast - so I am looking to hear about your favorite place for dinner. Thanks!!

I have 5 children and I try to give them a little "taste" of everything... a character meal, great themes, buffet/all you care to eat, fine dining, etc.

Character meals - We do 1 or 2 character meals...
1 with the princesses -
CRT in the Castle @ MK or 1900 Park Fare @ GF.
1 with Mickey or Pooh...
Chef Mickey's @ Contemporary Resort or Crystal Palace @ MK.

Great themes/atmosphere -
Coral Reef @ Epcot... one entire wall is an aquarium - keeps the kids entertained, good food, very relaxing.
Si-Fi Dine-In @ Hollywood Studios... sit in cars at the drive-in movies, kids love it! (Food recieves mixed reviews but my kids request it on every trip.)

Fun -
Ohana @ the Poly
Whispering Canyon @ WL

New/Different Experiences -
Boma @ AKL
Teppan Edo in Japan @ Epcot

Finer dining -
California Grill @ Contemporary Resort... schedule at a later time and view Wishes!

There are many others we enjoy, too. Also, I love to dine at resort restaurants... great way to check-out resorts for our next trip!

 

[dad2t&e]

We enjoy all the meals. But I would have to say that Crystal Palace at MK or Chef Mickeys at the Contemporary is nice and has the characters. The one my DDs loved the best was the breakfast and dinner at O'hanas. They loved the dancing (hula) and doing the limbo. Also, the kids dance in a congo line and get to push coconuts with a broom. It's really alot fun for them.

 

[eeyoregon]

Liberty Tree Tavern at Magic Kingdom = good basic comfort foods served family style and lot's of characters. My boys really enjoyed it as did I.

 

[shaciam630]

Well I can say that my DS is 5 and DD is 12 and the one place they agreed that we have to do again is Sci-fi. We've also got ADR for 50's Prime Time, Whispering Canyon, and Liberty Tree Tavern. Then we have 2 dinners booked for my parents to enjoy that the kids won't mind either which is Concourse Steakhouse and Mama Melrose.

 

[dfan01]

Oct will be our 3rd trip to Disney. The whole family loved these on our last trips. We like to try new ones each time, but it's hard when you love them all.

Ohana's dinner (and firework view)
Chef Mickey's character breakfast
Cape May Cafe character breakfast
Garden Grill - Ice Cream social (this place is really cool the way the floor moves)
Hoop Dee Doo
Whispering Cayon

This year we are trying
Mickeys Backyard BBQ
Sci Fi for dessert
Cape May Cafe clam bake

 

[JodyTG]

Our favorite family restaurant is Biergarten. Our son loved it both times we went when he was 1- and 2-years-old. He loves the music and the show!

We missed going last year but will definitely go again this Christmas. It's become a tradition for us.

 

[septbaby]

Our 6yo LOVES Chef Mickey's. We were there for breakfast and will go back for dinner this year.

We all really liked Coral Reef as well. Your 6yo should like it, but you and Mom will likely appreciate the food and atmosphere of this underwater eatery.

Boma was a family favorite due to the variety and uniqueness of the buffet items.

If you choose a Signature meal we can vouch for Narcoossee's. Our 6yo loved the Electric Water parade going by. I loved Wishes and we all enjoyed the food and service. It's a fancy restaurant that isn't too fancy for kids. We took the boat over from MK; drops you at the dock right outside of Narcoossee's, very easy.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

My top picks -

Crystal Palace
CRT
Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner
Biergarten

 

[Princess Giselle]

My girls really liked 1900 both dinner and the breakfast. Just to go at GF was exciting for the girls. Also I would definately try CRT breakfast or lunch to see the princesses.

 

[TJA]

My twins girls are 5 and we just returned from WDW. Currently, their favorite places for dinners are:

Chef Mickeys at CR ~ our best character meal experience with mickey and friends. Fun to see the monorail pass through as well.

Crystal Palace at MK ~ Pooh characters which my girls still love. Food isn't great, but my girls have an incredible amount of fun there.

CRT at MK ~ expensive, but my girls loved the experience of being inside the Castle with Cinderella for a meal.

Ohana dinner at Poly ~ served family style, we loved the food, time it right so you can see Wishes either from your table or from the beach afterward. They also do fun things for the kids during dinner.

Sci-Fi at Hollywood Studios ~ cool experience eating in a "car," but I wish they'd show other types of movies flicks, though I understand why they show what they show. It's science fiction-type flicks which sort of scare my girls, but the whole experience is very cool and my girls talk about it a lot.

Coral Reef in Epcot ~ very unique restaurant where the entire wall is an acquarium. Last time, we watched a large turtle and a shark swim around for our entire meal.

Liberty Tree in MK for lunch ~ if you want excellent food at a casual place, have lunch at Liberty Tree. Food is outstanding for lunch. Dinner is a character meal served family-style and we didn't enjoy the food as much. We make it a point to have lunch here every trip.

The Boardwalk area has a lot of fun and good places to eat if you happen to venture there. ESPN Club if you like sports, Spoodles is a good restaurant, and Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club is an old-fashioned 50's-type diner that serves really fun ice cream treats.

I notice a lot of people are recommending Whispering Canyon at WL. We just returned from there and while it's an awesome restaurant (and resort!), my 5 year old girls didn't like the antics at WC. It is probably just a combination of their age and personalities, but they said they didn't want to go back LOL! However, we will give it another try in a couple years.....