Buffets with small kids

[buzz1fan]

Does anyone else prefer not to go to buffets because they have small kids, and feel it would a pain to get up and get food? I am trying to pick a couple of character meals, and not many places have family style. We have been to Ohana's and I wanted to go back there again, and maybe Chef Mickeys or Tusker House. Are the lines long? We dont go to buffet places at home, so I wasn't sure. My only reason for going to these is for pictures!

 

[GatorLady]

Does anyone else prefer not to go to buffets because they have small kids, and feel it would a pain to get up and get food? I am trying to pick a couple of character meals, and not many places have family style. We have been to Ohana's and I wanted to go back there again, and maybe Chef Mickeys or Tusker House. Are the lines long? We dont go to buffet places at home, so I wasn't sure. My only reason for going to these is for pictures!

One trip we did a character meal almost everyday, and like you said most are buffets. I must admit that by the end of the trip I was tired of them. Not the characters, the buffets. After a long day at the parks I like having the food brought to me and not have to worry about missing the characters while I am standing in line. Just more relaxing in general IMO.

So maybe split it up. A couple of character meals that are buffets and some character meals that aren't. For that type we like 'Ohana's, Garden Grill and Akershus. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[Wendi2000]

Yes, it is a pain with little ones... I'm a single mom, so I have to go through the line to get plates for each of us. My son is old enough to sit at the table by himself while I go up for food, but when he was younger it was so hard to go through the buffets with him - with my purse! - and try to get food for both of us at once so we could sit down and eat... or get a plate, set it on the table and go right back for another one. This would be perfectly fine if there was another adult in my party though. Oh, and I think the variety of a buffet outweighs some of the pitfalls... for me anyway.

 

[disney1990]

Actually, I prefer buffets with small children at Disney. Take a look at the Disney Children's meals. How many times can a child eat a hamburger and macaroni and cheese? Eating at a buffet allows children to eat the same food that the adults eat. My granddaughters love to eat a variety of foods and would be so incredibly bored with the Disney Children's meals. Actually at the places that we ate that were not buffets, we ended up getting an adult meal for the girls to share, just for that reason.

 

[Coconuts]

I TOTALLY agree with you. On our first trip with kids, I made almost all of our character meals buffetts. They were very hectic , and it seemed like we didn't all eat at the same time. I wisely chose most family style meals for the second trip ; DH and I were so much more relaxed at our meals. We loved GG and LTT ; unfortunately LTT won't have characters after January.

 

[wdwrich]

One advantage to buffets with small children is that you can get them their food right away. No waiting/fidgeting before food is served from a kitchen. This really helps at the end of the day when they are getting tired.

 

[Hootch]

As wdwrich notes, the kids can get food quickly. Usually, I stay at the table and my wife takes the kids to get food (after noting whether characters are near) and her food. I et my food when they return.

The ones we generally go to are CM and CP. And at CP I really like the variety of food. Still I wouldn't think of doing a buffet every day. Everyone needs a little variety in their dining experience.

 

[MickeyNicki]

In 06 we did Chef Mickeys with a 3 and 10 year old and it was too difficult for us...but we did the Princess breakfast and that was so much easier for us.

In January the kids will be 6 and almost 13 so we are going to try it again, CP and TH breakfast and Ohana and Princess breakfast.....hopefully they will be better at the buffet thing this time

 

[ExtinctDino]

The benefit of buffets with young kids is that many of them are picky eaters, and there are lots of choices on a buffet. Also, many young kids don't like sitting still at ta table for an hour or more, and at a buffet they won't attract attention by getting up a lot. Everyone else is doing it too.

 

[Tricia1972]

We like buffets with kids. They just work well for our group - because there is no wait and we control the pace of the meal.

We work it:

DH sits with kids while I go fill up two plates for the kids
I sit down with plates, and cut up food, etc for the kids while DH goes to get his food
DH comes back, I go up and get my food and pick up anything 'extra' that the kids may need.

We sit and eat together for a while. DH will go get either seconds or dessert and then I will do the same when he gets back.

 

[goofygal531]

We work it:

DH sits with kids while I go fill up two plates for the kids
I sit down with plates, and cut up food, etc for the kids while DH goes to get his food
DH comes back, I go up and get my food and pick up anything 'extra' that the kids may need.

We sit and eat together for a while. DH will go get either seconds or dessert and then I will do the same when he gets back.

This is us!!!

It works great unless there's a character coming to our table. Then that throws us off a bit. DS4 needs his autograph book and knows to pose for a picture. One of us needs to occupy the little one while taking DS4's picture.

We're on the DxDDP and I think we're dining at every character meal this trip. It's all about the kids and my kids LOVE to see the characters at meal time. It makes our meal more enjoyable as the kids are so happy, and we like the variety of food for the kids as well.

I would also rather dine with the characters than wait on those long lines in the parks!

Unless your a single parent, I don't see how the buffets would be a problem for a family.

 

[ajschell]

We like buffets with kids. They just work well for our group - because there is no wait and we control the pace of the meal.

We work it:

DH sits with kids while I go fill up two plates for the kids
I sit down with plates, and cut up food, etc for the kids while DH goes to get his food
DH comes back, I go up and get my food and pick up anything 'extra' that the kids may need.

We sit and eat together for a while. DH will go get either seconds or dessert and then I will do the same when he gets back.

We do the same thing. It seems to work out well for us too because this way my food will still be semi-warm when I am ready to finally eat it and the kids are happy because there food is ready and in front of them.... on your own timeline. Its great!!

 

[tinkerbellmichelle]

We don't do buffet restaurants at home; but on vacation we find them quite useful! In Mexico last year, we often opted for the buffet restaurant because we found it easy. One adult would go get the two little ones their food (I'd usually fill up one plate, and then split it for them back at the table), if I could, I'd fill my plate up at the same time, the older child (13 at the time) would go fill his plate whenever he wanted, and then the other adult will go.

I was having a bit of panic about character buffets.... don't want to miss the characters, so we'll just make sure that one adult is at the table with the little ones at all times!!! Should work out just fine!

Sure it is fun to get served... but this way you get a lot of variety!

 

[Mrs D]

We do the "shift serving" for buffets too. Another advantage of buffets, if you little one is under 3 they can eat off your plate! And you can go refill it as many times as you'd like.

I've got to tell you that both my kids ate the best at the Biergarten in Germany out of the entire 6 days at Disney! I didn't expect it, but they both LOVED the food - and the music!