Best place to eat with a 5 year old boy

[Pluto914]

We are coming to Fort Wilderness Camp grounds at the end of August. We are on the dining plan and want to go to some good places for dinner and maybe a breakfast or 2. Any suggestions??? Fun for him and/or really good food.

 

[sarahk0204]

We are coming to Fort Wilderness Camp grounds at the end of August. We are on the dining plan and want to go to some good places for dinner and maybe a breakfast or 2. Any suggestions??? Fun for him and/or really good food.

so do I qualify as an expert?

I actually have girl/boy twins who were 4 on last year's trip and will be 5 for this year's trip. We had the DP, and here is what we liked and/or are trying this year:

CP character lunch with Pooh & friends - fun for the kids and the best meal we ate at WDW
TE dinner - yummy food and convenient location (we stay at the FW cabins)
Mickey's Backyard BBQ - Great fun dancing with the characters and all the Mickey Bars you can eat!

This year we are trying:
Ohana breakfast with Lilo & Stitch
lunch at 50's Prime Time cafe in DHS
lunch at Hollywood & Vine in DHS with Playhouse Disney characters

We also considered SciFi at DHS. I've heard good things about WCC at WL (also convenient for Fort people )

While not on the DP, we paid OOP for Rainforest Cafe in DTD, and we are going to T-Rex this year.

DS was happy with all of our choices. We did a princess meal (Akershus) for DD. DS tolerated it, but only because he knew he was going to see the Power Rangers the next day This year we will be going to DHS for SWW the next day, so hopefully that will make the princesses palatable

 

[auntie]

Cape May has a good breakfast that includes characters. They spend a good deal of time at the table, and it's a little less crazy than some of the other character meals we've been to, with a good selection of food. It's located at the Beach Club. From there you can also walk into Epcot through the World Showcase entrance.

 

[CampingBandit]

I'm about to give you more opinion than you asked for, LOL!

Our kids LOVED the Whispering Canyon Cafe at WL... and I mean LOVED it. We're going back this year too. I highly recommend it for families. Be sure to ask for ketchup and crayons .....but NOT at the same time!

Besides Trails End, our kids liked the Buffet at Tusker House... especially the desert section! We did TE buffet twice, once for lunch and once for breakfast, because they liked it so much. I would NOT recommend the Plaza restaurant at MK, food was below average and service was terrible. If I remember correctly our first night we ate at the Turf Club and my 7yo at the time liked the menu there too.

Pretty much the kids meals are essentially kid friendly with the DP, at all of the table service restaurants, it's the tweeners -10-12 year olds that don't have adult tastes but are forced to order off the adult menu, that might have problems.... my 10 yo at the time lived on salad and dessert the whole week when eating our Table service meals, she just wanted a hot dog or mac n' cheese and there was nothing on the adult menu that appealed to her. You couldn't even order just plain noodles with butter, it had to be one of the menu choices. So that was frustrating for us.

So all you folks with picky eaters, reconsider the dining plan... JMHO....the only times she got what she wanted was the buffets, then she could pick and choose and there were more options for her (read: Mac and Cheese). Counter service is more her game..... I would not choose the DP again, because of my families choosiness. They get this from their Dad.

But the best advice and you may already know this is make your reservations as early as possible (180 days out they take ressies) and be aware that some of the restaurants are not on the dining plan. I had to repick several choices because they weren't included in the dining plan. Ugh.

It literally took me 7 hours one day to determine the restaurants we wanted to eat at (3 picky eaters, including DH), creating an itinerary for where we would be on each day, centering everything that day based on our reservation. It's having to stick to a set itinerary that I didn't like and why I wouldn't recommend the dining plan to anyone.

Then 2 weeks before we left I discovered allears.net where they post the dining menus for every restaurant. I realized 5 of the 7 restaurants I had chosen were not going to work for my picky family!

I had to go back and change the ressies I had made 2 months earlier....this took me another 6 hours to figure out 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices, creating the itinerary. The reservation hostess on the phone is the one who told me to make as list with my top 3 for each day and then call back. Well that took HOURS! I was in a panic! Luckily we were able to get decent reservations, not our first choices, of course, as they were full.

We were only dissappointed with the Plaza Restaurant. It took our waitress 45 minutes and three requests to get our bill and then another 20 minutes to settle it, all the while she argued with me because we chose not to order our desert included with the plan. This was during dinner. So 2 hours spent on dinner that consisted of sandwhiches and fries. We wanted to be on the rides, not waiting for our bill. She questioned why we wouldn't take them "to go". AND PUT THEM WHERE??? Just bring me my bill!!! Sorry, end rant.

I Would have liked to try more Epcot restaurants but they were full.

We liked choosing resort restaurants, as it gave us a chance to explore resorts we had never been to before.

Okay, I'm done....

Good luck!

 

[mkrober]

We love Crystal Palace, Trails' end, & Chef Mickey's- and our kids (7 & 8) want to go to these every time we are there. They also love Germany at Epcot. Have fun!

 

[team bradfield]

sci fi drive theater is a must do.

coral reef at epcot, with the aquarium and build your own sundae is a great treat! plus the food is awesome.

 

[Pluto914]

All of these places sound great. Thanks

 

[Skyw]

My son liked eating at the cabin the best!!!! Can you believe that? He didn't really eat anywhere else. He didn't care for the food. And guess what???? Many of the kids menus at WDW are very similar. This year we are going to try Whispering canyon, T-Rex and the German place......hope it goes well.

 

[auntie]

I think Disney should offer a character meal geared a little more toward the boys. The little girls have all the princess type meals in the MK, in Epcot and so on. I thought I had read a while back they were thinking of doing a Toy Story type character meal..with Buzz and Woody. I think that would be great for the boys. Doesn't look like we'll see it anytime soon.

 

[Skyw]

Auntie- I agree with you. I haven't bothered taking DS to character meals because he really doesn't care that much for the mouse. But he loves the newer stuff like toy story, monsters Inc. I wish they would do a meal more for the boys.

 

[team bradfield]

and always remember, its Disney. We were at the Brown Derby one night and DD#2 decided to go picky on us, she wanted buttered spagetti noodles. CM told her no problem and the evening was saved...CM later told DW that they always find a way to make magic at mealtime...

 

[sarahk0204]

not 180 days. This is a recent change, though.

 

[disneydawgs]

We liked Whispering Canyon Cafe and Ohans. Plenty of games to keep the kids busy. If you go to Ohans make sure you sit by the fire pit. I mis-spelled Ohans. Its at the poly.

 

[mrtroutjedi]

We did breakfast with Goofy at the caribbean beach resort ( I think?) At 10:30 am and it was great not crowded it one point it was us and one other family and the char. kept coming by so often the kids could not eat we had to ask them to stop so the kids would eat. IT was great... It closed at 11:00 am for breakfast but they did not rush us at all. We will go back and do that again.

 

[KristinU]

I think Disney should offer a character meal geared a little more toward the boys. The little girls have all the princess type meals in the MK, in Epcot and so on. I thought I had read a while back they were thinking of doing a Toy Story type character meal..with Buzz and Woody. I think that would be great for the boys. Doesn't look like we'll see it anytime soon.

DITTO, DITTO, DITTO!!! I couldn't agree more! Plus, not all girls are into froo-froo princess stuff...I know I wasn't as a kid.

Our kids LOVED the Whispering Canyon Cafe at WL... and I mean LOVED it. We're going back this year too. I highly recommend it for families. Be sure to ask for ketchup and crayons .....but NOT at the same time!

Ditto this too - We rode our bikes over to WL for breakfast at WC on our last day, it was a blast! DS had walked away from us and was lost in the restaurant for a minute or two while we were waiting to be seated, so I was chewing him out as we were being seated - the server gave me a hard time for "mouthing off to him" LOL! Totally broke the tension and made for a super fun meal (and she kept reminding me to stop being sassy - DS thought it was hilarious, as did my mom!)

 

[Irish Twins]

Last year my girls were 4 & 5 and LOVED the HDDR. They kept asking to go again so this May we are going back on the first night!

Fun for the kids and the adults!