Character dining with kids

[maya213]

I'm planning our next trip, DD1 will be 4 yo et DD2 will be 21 months. What are your ''MUST DO'' restaurants with kids of their age? It can be with ou without character

Actually on our list : Crystal palace (lunch) - be our guest (lunch)

 

[Disney Mom 7272]

I think Chef Mickey is a good one to get the main characters. We have only eaten there for breakfast! My kids enjoyed Tusker house breakfast. The characters play instruments and walk around the restaurants with the kids!
I really enjoy Be our guest. We go for dinner because you get to meet the Beast!

 

[JessicaW1234]

I think Chef Mickey is a good one to get the main characters. We have only eaten there for breakfast! My kids enjoyed Tusker house breakfast. The characters play instruments and walk around the restaurants with the kids!
I really enjoy Be our guest. We go for dinner because you get to meet the Beast!

I agree with Chef Mickeys! If your DD are really into the princesses, you could consider Cinderella's royal table. My DD really loved Aurora when she was 4, so we went to the my perfectly princess tea at the Grand Floridian & she loved it.
We also went to Crystal palace when DD & DS were 4, they loved it.

 

[KT0191]

Tusker House for breakfast is our personal favorite. My son absolutely loves it. The food has always been great and that's one place we do every trip.
If your kids are into Disney Jr, Hollywood and Vine at DHS has Sofia, Doc, Jake and Handy Manny during breakfast. My son loved that too when he was still in the Disney Jr phase.

 

[maramarrie]

Our favorites were Crystal Palace and Hollywood & Vine (Dis. Jr.) when our kids were that age.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I have a 2.5yo and 1yo. My oldest is younger than yours but maybe this will still be helpful. We recently went and it was my 2.5yo's 2nd WDW trip and she has also been to Disneyland. It was our 1yo's first trip.

Right now we mostly do character dining for ADRs with our kids.

-Crystal Palace early lunch (11:30) - I think the Pooh characters are always so great with the little kids. My DD adores Pooh & the gang so it is a winner for us. The little character parade is fun and actually the food was decent when we went a couple weeks ago! I was pleasantly surprised. Hadn't been there in years.

-Akershus or CRT - I actually prefer the Akershus princess experience as a whole but your 4yo might be enamored with eating in the castle at CRT! I think everyone needs to do CRT at some point, but I like Akershus more. DD LOVED the little princess parade at Akershus - Cinderella grabbed her hand and led the parade with her and she thought it was the coolest thing. We did CRT on DD's first trip and Akershus on the 2nd. We plan to do Akershus again on our next trip (she'll be 3) then CRT again when she's 4.5ish. Note: we did an 11am lunch at Akershus which was actually the last breakfast seating! This was awesome for my kids because they like eggs/potatoes/bacon/fruit better than what would have been offered there for lunch. Worth noting since many of the places switch to lunch food at 11, but not Akershus. They switch at noon. We don't like to do TS early in the morning so it was a huge perk to get breakfast food at what we consider WDW lunch time!

-BOG lunch is a great idea because it'll be quicker than a sit down dinner and you'll still get to enjoy the atmosphere. Since we mostly like character TS now, we like the QS lunch option, although you don't get to see the Beast (my DD does not care about the Beast unless Belle is in the vicinity, and if we met him I think she would just ask where Belle is )

-We were supposed to eat at San Angel Inn this time before Irma cut our trip short. We rode the Gran Fiesta Tour ride in Mexico and DD kept saying "I want to eat there!" and pointing at the tables as we floated by. We didn't get to use our ADR because we had to hit the road early, but I think it's great for kids because it's loud. We are there many times pre-kids. Downside is that tables are close together and it's dark, but it's such a neat atmosphere. I thought my DD would have liked eating there and she pointed it out to me, not knowing we were supposed to. I was right!

I don't love anything that has the classic characters unfortunately. We have had the most amazing classic character interactions at H&V dinner, but the food is awful IMO. Chef Mickey's is so fun - seeing the monorail go through is fun for the kids, but again I don't love the food.

Times like these I really miss the Liberty Tree character meal. It was my family's go-to growing up and I wish I could share it with my kids. We had so many memorable experiences there.

Have an awesome trip!!

 

[Nancyg56]

WHen my DGD was four we took her on her first visit to DIsney. My DD asked that we book Chef Mickey for her "introduction" to Disney, and we had a blast! We have been going to CM for our first dinner for years now, every time we bring someone new to WDW.

For your little ones, I think I would start there and they can meet the "Classics"

I also like Crystal Palace in the Mk or Garden Grill in Epcot. These restaurants are a lot of fun, and offer a wonderful character interaction. WInnie the Pooh and friends are at CP , and THe Chipmunks make the rounds in GG.

For a Princess experience I would consider Akershus for breakfast. The meal is good and the character interaction is as well. I think the Princess Parade there trumps the interaction at CRT in the MK.

I agree with @MickeyWaffles. I loved the character meal at Liberty Tree Tavern.

WIth children there is a lot to be said for AYCTE dining choices over buffet, so we like to choose a few meals where the food is brought to the table. Garden Grill and Akershus have that convenience, althought the buffet section is back in Akershus, so some of your food you wil need to choose away from your table.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

My votes would be for CRT, Bon Voyage breakfast, and Garden Grill. We had the best character experience at Garden Grill with 3 of the 4 characters coming around twice (the other once). Pluto got on the floor and played with my not quite 2 year old for around 10 mins. Bon Voyage was a fun breakfast with great food, interactive characters, and a parade around the restaurant. We went to CRT for dinner and the food was the best we had during our 12 nights and overall a very magical evening.

We also went to CP and TH. They were both nice too, but it was stressful trying to get food from the buffet while not missing any characters.

 

[DrunkJam]

My favourite character meal was Tusker House Breakfast
My son's favourite was 1900 PF Breakfast
My daughter has never been but is looking forward to have breakfast with Belle (Akershus) and Dinner at CRT