Best Restaurant for Littles?

[lilmissy7789]

This will be my LOs 1st time ever to disney world She'll be 2.5 when we go! We are so excited!
What are your favorite places to eat with your LOs!
Character meals? Regular dining? We're open to anything!


Thanks Everyone!

 

[Tink_83]

So far we have tried akershus royal banquet hall in Epcot, garden grill, cape May, and chef Mickey. My favorites were akershus (it’s easier to get and less expense then CRT and the princesses are great! - go for breakfast since That is standard menu items), garden grill (this is especially nice if you don’t want to get up to get your food since it’s served family style) and cape May. I did not like chef Mickey. I found it very loud and not worth it... but I know others love it...

 

[sponica]

We did Ohana character breakfast and Garden Grill character breakfast. I intentionally avoided any character breakfasts that were buffets.

I enjoyed Garden Grill much more than Ohana.

My kid is happy at any restaurant so we just ate like we normally do. But she really enjoyed dinner at Raglan Road in Disney springs. She loved the music and the dancers.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Non-buffet character meals (Ohana breakfast, Garden Grill, Cinderella's Royal Table) are my favorite for little ones. Also anything with "entertainment", like Raglan Road, Biergarten, and San Angel Inn (for the atmosphere). Sci Fi, T-Rex, Rainforest Cafe are also neat, but could be scary for some littles.

 

[amberpi]

We've never done a buffet or a character meal with the kids. They love Sanaa because of all the dipping sauces (and meat on a stick) and CG because, again, they immediately had bread and something to dip it in. They loved the fireworks from there too. They enjoyed Marrakesh for the belly dancer and more meat on a stick. They were "meh" Coral Reef (we thought that'd be a knockout); it smelled weird they said. We've been to a lot of places there, but these were the winners, and kinda loser. I think it'd be so hard to do a buffet with small kids from a logistics perspective and the boy is afraid of the "pretty princesses" so we skipped those. I'm sure we'll hit CRT one of these days.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We have a 4 year old and 2.5 year old who have been multiple times. With toddlers, our favorites are:

- Ohana character breakfast (family style)
- Beaches & Cream (cute little retro burger/ice cream shop - my kids got little Mickey sundaes that they thought were so cool.)
- Trattoria al Forno character breakfast (order off menu)
- Akershus character breakfast (small buffet and family style meal)

We have learned that we generally prefer family style character dining rather than buffet - just because it is easier to have the food delivered to us than to take turns making trips to the buffet to get all the food. Of the buffets, our favorites are 1900 Park Fare breakfast and dinner and Crystal Palace.

Eating at Cinderella’s Royal Table in the castle is such a fun experience, but once we tried the princess meal at Akershus, we haven’t gone back to CRT. We love the more laidback feel at Akershus, the little princess parade, etc. We will probably do CRT again when the kids are older, but we really prefer the experience at Akershus and it is a must do for us now.

Have a blast!!!

 

[lilmissy7789]

So far we have tried akershus royal banquet hall in Epcot, garden grill, cape May, and chef Mickey. My favorites were akershus (it’s easier to get and less expense then CRT and the princesses are great! - go for breakfast since That is standard menu items), garden grill (this is especially nice if you don’t want to get up to get your food since it’s served family style) and cape May. I did not like chef Mickey. I found it very loud and not worth it... but I know others love it...

I haven't done Chef Mickey's in many years, but I have other's say the same thing! I'm excited to try something new! Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[lilmissy7789]

We did Ohana character breakfast and Garden Grill character breakfast. I intentionally avoided any character breakfasts that were buffets.

I enjoyed Garden Grill much more than Ohana.

My kid is happy at any restaurant so we just ate like we normally do. But she really enjoyed dinner at Raglan Road in Disney springs. She loved the music and the dancers.

Oh I hope my LO is happy at the restaurants! She has her moments! HAHA Oh Disney Springs... We'll have to look that one up over there! Thanks!!

 

[TreeFalls]

Characters are so much fun with kids! Akershus if great if you have a child who loves princesses, garden grill has a unique setting and fun characters, cape may cafe's breakfast is really delicious (also the restaurant is not too enormous).

We did not love Crystal Palace, it was very crowded, a long walk to the buffet, and we thought it had worse food than the other places. Though my Pooh-loving child thought it was amazing.

It's been awhile since we've been to Tusker House, but I think that one was pretty good, too.

My kids love to eat and are pretty adventurous. Food-wise, I think Boma was their favorite. We love buffets with kids. They could always find something they liked... one meal my oldest ate plate after plate of shrimp, and my youngest ate his weight in blueberries. However, if multiple kids are not old enough to get their own food it's a lot of work to keep getting new plates for them.

 

[lilmissy7789]

Non-buffet character meals (Ohana breakfast, Garden Grill, Cinderella's Royal Table) are my favorite for little ones. Also anything with "entertainment", like Raglan Road, Biergarten, and San Angel Inn (for the atmosphere). Sci Fi, T-Rex, Rainforest Cafe are also neat, but could be scary for some littles.

Thanks! Good suggestions! Yeah, don't want to scare her, which knowing her personality, it would scare her. She hates loud things like thunder! So thanks for reminding me of those places to most likely avoid!

 

[lilmissy7789]

We've never done a buffet or a character meal with the kids. They love Sanaa because of all the dipping sauces (and meat on a stick) and CG because, again, they immediately had bread and something to dip it in. They loved the fireworks from there too. They enjoyed Marrakesh for the belly dancer and more meat on a stick. They were "meh" Coral Reef (we thought that'd be a knockout); it smelled weird they said. We've been to a lot of places there, but these were the winners, and kinda loser. I think it'd be so hard to do a buffet with small kids from a logistics perspective and the boy is afraid of the "pretty princesses" so we skipped those. I'm sure we'll hit CRT one of these days.

My little loves to "Dip" HAHA I'll have to look those places up! She'd be excited about that! Thanks

 

[lilmissy7789]

We have a 4 year old and 2.5 year old who have been multiple times. With toddlers, our favorites are:

- Ohana character breakfast (family style)
- Beaches & Cream (cute little retro burger/ice cream shop - my kids got little Mickey sundaes that they thought were so cool.)
- Trattoria al Forno character breakfast (order off menu)
- Akershus character breakfast (small buffet and family style meal)

We have learned that we generally prefer family style character dining rather than buffet - just because it is easier to have the food delivered to us than to take turns making trips to the buffet to get all the food. Of the buffets, our favorites are 1900 Park Fare breakfast and dinner and Crystal Palace.

Eating at Cinderella’s Royal Table in the castle is such a fun experience, but once we tried the princess meal at Akershus, we haven’t gone back to CRT. We love the more laidback feel at Akershus, the little princess parade, etc. We will probably do CRT again when the kids are older, but we really prefer the experience at Akershus and it is a must do for us now.

Have a blast!!!

I continue to hear great things about Akershus! and I agree that it's easier to have our food brought too us, rather than a buffet type meal!

Thanks!! I'm so excited!!

 

[lilmissy7789]

Characters are so much fun with kids! Akershus if great if you have a child who loves princesses, garden grill has a unique setting and fun characters, cape may cafe's breakfast is really delicious (also the restaurant is not too enormous).

We did not love Crystal Palace, it was very crowded, a long walk to the buffet, and we thought it had worse food than the other places. Though my Pooh-loving child thought it was amazing.

It's been awhile since we've been to Tusker House, but I think that one was pretty good, too.

My kids love to eat and are pretty adventurous. Food-wise, I think Boma was their favorite. We love buffets with kids. They could always find something they liked... one meal my oldest ate plate after plate of shrimp, and my youngest ate his weight in blueberries. However, if multiple kids are not old enough to get their own food it's a lot of work to keep getting new plates for them.

Oh my little LOVES Pooh bear, too! But she's a VERY Picky eater. I do want to stay away from large crowds so thanks for the heads up about CP!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

At that age my kids loved Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, Tusker House and Akershus. Character meals were huge hits.

 

[KrazeeK120]

When my son was 18 months, we did lunches at Garden Grille and Tusker House. When he was almost 3, we did breakfasts at Tusker House and Crystal Palace and dinner at Kona Cafe. We really enjoyed all of the meals. My son loves meeting characters. The food was fine everywhere. My son loves going out to eat (we go out at least once a week at home). He would have been happy anywhere and is a terrific eater, but the look on his face when meeting the characters was priceless!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I forgot that we did GG when DD was 2. Almost 11 years ago. We really enjoyed our meal there. The characters come around a lot and it's family style.

 

[thingwithwings]

When OS was 2, our big meals for him were at 1900 Park Fare (for the Cinderella dinner... which was actually for me technically, but he liked it) and T-Rex at Disney Springs.

Besides the characters, I loved that 1900 Park Fare had such a wide array of foods at their buffet, so it wasn't a problem finding something OS would eat (he is veeeery picky). Depending on how picky your LO is, a buffet might be a great option so that you can customize her meal more effectively.

T-Rex was... okay. OS was really tired and fell asleep halfway through his meal, and then my FIL's bench broke :x The food was... honestly, nothing to write home about? Except the appletini, I'd drink a thousand of those again. That said, the atmosphere was pretty cool, but like PP said, it was REALLY loud (there's an "asteroid strike" every so often throughout the meal, when it gets all noisy all around the restaurant. Worth it for the appletini, though).

 

[moose81]

This really depends on your kid and how good they are in restaurants. We took my oldest when she was 2.5. She was a restaurant pro so we didn't have to worry about wait times, buffet vs served, etc. She loved the character meals that we did (Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace, plus BOG dinner where she met Beast). However, she was also great at understated restaurants such as the Wave or Kona Cafe which gave us a chance to unwind.

We went back when she was 4 and my youngest was a baby, and we ended up doing more quick service restaurants b/c the baby wasn't happy if we sat too long in one spot. He is still the same way now at age 2. He simply can't sit for 1+ hrs happily in a restaurant the way my oldest did at that age. We are returning in a couple months when he will be 2.5 and I am planning mostly buffets and quick service. I do know that he loves characters though so I hope we can do at least one character buffet.

 

[TwinkleKS]

I would do character meals and then unless your child has huge issues sitting during meals I would pick TS meals that look good to you. Disney is one place where children are welcome at any restaurant. I've taken mine from a very young age to just about every place at WDW (with the exception of V&A, where they aren't welcome). Book at dinner at Narcoossee's where you can watch the light parade and fireworks if your child stays up later. Every place has a kids menu, they vary, but a lot of them also have some fine print that says french fries are available as a side, etc.

 

[StarSeven7]

Oh my little LOVES Pooh bear, too! But she's a VERY Picky eater. I do want to stay away from large crowds so thanks for the heads up about CP!

We just ate a late breakfast (ADR time was 10:35am I think) at Crystal Palace in January and we loved it! It wasn't crowded at all, but maybe because of the later time and my picky eaters found plenty to eat! It's just your standard breakfast buffet food - Mickey waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc. (Plus extras, but that's about all my kids will eat!) I wouldn't discount CP if your little one loves Pooh! And it's the only place you can meet Eeyore and Piglet!