Coral Reef - EPCOT - for kids

[pooh2001]

Is Coral Reef for kids ?
We are big aquarium fans.

Great menu for adults - is it OK for kids ?

Better seats if we eat lunch early ?

How is a window seat ?
Do they have booths ?

 

[3littleHalls]

My kids love Coral Reef. They have the glowing cubes in the drink, have a coloring booklet and a list of fish, turtles, etc. I have one that is too picky to like much, but she will eat there. It depends when and what time you go, we usually have an ADR and that helps when you have to wait with kids. Even with the ADR we have had to wait sometimes 20 mins. The food there is yummy! WHen we were there in the spring we had 3 adults and 3 kids(5, 2, and 8mos) and we were seated in a booth. I think larger parties are seated in booths, but that is more of an observation/opinion not an "in the know" thing. When we have been there before and a smaller group sat at a table.

 

[DISNEY4FUN]

My family eats there often. My nine year old didn't like the selection on the kids menu so we asked the waitor for other choices. He gave a few other choices for kids and my son chose a small steak. He now loves the restaurant because he can get a steak there. So even if the menu doesn't look appealing you could ask what else they have. Also check www.allearsnet.com. This site will have the entire menu.

 

[skiptomypooh]

Me Too! My DSs, 5.5 and 2, love Coral Reef. The food is great and it is great entertainment for the littles. The kids love to see the fish and identify what they can. We actually hit a rare night once and Mickey was diving. The server said that he does this for special functions and he was practicing that night. I can't imagine diving when you can't see anything (in the Mickey head)!

Anyway, IMHO, I actually like sitting farther up, because you can see more of the tank. The back row is the booths and the server told us last time that they do try to save them for larger parties (we were one with 10 people last time).

That said, some people love to sit right up front. I'm sure there's something fun about being so close to the fish. My son just wanted to get up the time we sat close so he could walk around and follow whatever fish he was interested in. Of course, that stopped when the dessert came, which was very soon, thank Heavens!

 

[lyncruiser]

It was our 9-year-old boys' favorite restaurant when we were at WDW last month. They loved watching the fish, finding the sharks and stingrays, etc. They're still talking about it. We had a table for 4 right next to the tank. It was great!

Also, we went for lunch and thought the food was very good. The chocolate wave was the best dessert we had all week.
Lunch was not crowded as everyone seemed to be saving their TS meals for dinner. (Also, it may be 2 TS credits. I'm not sure).

We've also gone several times for Food and Wine Pairings at Coral Reef during the F&W Festivals. The food has always been delicious at these events as well.

Highly recommended! Plus, it's the only way to see the aquarium while the Living Seas exhibit is under renovation.

 

[cara loves the poly]

I'm sorry, I have to Disagree. We could not get a seat by the aquarium and my children did not like anything. We felt it was overpriced and went back to our resort hungry and irritated. The food in our opinion sub-par. My husband has been all over the world, he doesn't have a problem paying for a great meal, this wasn't. The portions were small and the price outrageous. If you had a seat by the aquarium that might make a difference. There are only a handful. We ate dinner, maybe lunch is different.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

We were there 2 weeks ago and I was upset on the way they do the seating. I made ADR's for noon since it was the first ADR for lunch so we could get a seat by the aquarium. I know not guaranteed. ( I have a very rambuctious 2 year old, thought it being in her face, might keep her interest). We got there at 11:45 and all the seats in front of the aquarium were gone.

Then the hostess goes on to tell us, we couldn't have a table in front of the aquarium anyhow since we are a party of 5 and it seats 4. I ask, you can't put a highchair on the end of the table. No she says firecode. (I just don't understand Disney and their firecode rules, some retaurants, you can put highchairs in the aisles, some not. I can't understand their rules) We should have been told this when making the ADR's because if I knew we had no chance for a seat next to the aquarium, we wouldn't have eaten there.

The service was very slow. Over 1 1/2 hours for lunch, seemed like an eternity with a bored 2 year old. The food was very good for the adults, lobster tail, but the waiter told us they were taking it off the menu.