Dining reservations with a toddler

[tom1944]

Making plans for a 7-day trip and I wonder if I am overdoing the number of reservations for Character meals.

We are going at the end of August. I figured lunch gets us out of the heat for a little while.

This will be the first trip for a 4-year-old so characters are a big deal, but I worry I might be scheduling too many.

Day 1 arrival- nothing scheduled we will head to Disney Springs for dinner. We are staying at BLT and will have a rental car.

Day 2 Hollywood Studios
Breakfast at Hollywood and Vine
Dinner at Ohana

Day 3 Magic Kingdom Day
Lunch at Be Our Guest

Day 4 free day
Breakfast Chef Mickey's
Dinner Hoop Dee Doo Revue

Day 5 Animal Kingdom
Lunch Tusker House

Day 6
Epcot
Lunch Garden Grill

Day 7
Departure
Breakfast at Disney Springs

If we do any park hoping it will be to Magic Kingdom
Other meals will be at quick service restaurants or at the kitchen in our room.

Is this overdoing it?

 

[ShannyMcB]

Depends on your kid really. Will they be into sitting down to eat all these meals or will they be itching to get back to the parks? Also are they in to all the characters or are there only a couple they really must see? How are they with noise, chef mickeys is fun but LOUD.

Are you planning on doing meet and greets in the parks as well? That may be a bit much.

One unexpected issue we ran into was the idea of characters being in multiple places. Will your child be questioning how the same characters were at all these meals and the parks? Might not be an issue with one so young but they can be quite savvy and observant....generally at the worst times. It's funny to look back on but tricky to handle in the moment.

 

[Dakota731]

We did all those same character meals with our two (then aged 5 and 2) our last trip, and they had a great time. It was a nice rest from the parks and it kept their attention long enough to actually sit and eat. Enjoy these times since they outgrow this stage before you know it!

 

[Aimeedyan]

I wouldn't hesitate to do that many - 4 is a great age for character meals IMO. I much prefer Topolino's over all the other character meals but think if you're staying at BLT, you should do Chef Mickey's at least once.

Worst case scenario - it doesn't go well, and you cancel them day of.

 

[Marthasor]

I wouldn't hesitate to do that many - 4 is a great age for character meals IMO. I much prefer Topolino's over all the other character meals but think if you're staying at BLT, you should do Chef Mickey's at least once.

Worst case scenario - it doesn't go well, and you cancel them day of.

I agree with this - I would, at least, sub one of these out for Topolino's (I would probably take Garden Grill out and put Topolinos for your departure day when you actually have a shot at getting the reservation). The restaurant and resort are gorgeous, the characters are amazing, it is served at your table (no getting up and down for a buffet which can get tough when you have younger children in tow) and the food is actually good. My biggest issue with characters meals is that the food just isn't very good (except for Topolinos) and you pay a premium to eat there. As PP noted, if it gets too much, just cancel them.

 

[tom1944]

I agree with this - I would, at least, sub one of these out for Topolino's (I would probably take Garden Grill out and put Topolinos for your departure day when you actually have a shot at getting the reservation). The restaurant and resort are gorgeous, the characters are amazing, it is served at your table (no getting up and down for a buffet which can get tough when you have younger children in tow) and the food is actually good. My biggest issue with characters meals is that the food just isn't very good (except for Topolinos) and you pay a premium to eat there. As PP noted, if it gets too much, just cancel them.

I can try to get a reservation for either our Epcot day or our departure day

Thanks

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I think it sounds like fun! Just wanted to note that while Beast does walk around in Be Our Guest, he's not visiting every table and taking pictures like a typical character meal.

 

[tom1944]

I think it sounds like fun! Just wanted to note that while Beast does walk around in Be Our Guest, he's not visiting every table and taking pictures like a typical character meal.

Yes I am aware. My daughter selected this restaurant. I am the grandfather so while I am paying I am deferring as much as I can.

This is only one trip so we can try other restaurants when we go again.

 

[Marthasor]

Yes I am aware. My daughter selected this restaurant. I am the grandfather so while I am paying I am deferring as much as I can.

This is only one trip so we can try other restaurants when we go again.

I think Be Our Guest will be a good respite from the other character meals. It's a seated meal in a beautiful restaurant and isn't terribly loud - but still has the wow factor of eating in a castle with the Beast making brief appearances. It's hopefully something that will appeal to a family traveling with multiple generations.

 

[Narcoossee11]

The good and bad about meals ...
GREAT ,, mom gets to sit down and relax. Wait staff does the 'work'. Parents enjoy experience.
BAD ........ Takes time away from parks

I think one a day is perfect.

 

[unrequited23]

I would consider skipping Tusker House and Garden Grill just due to the character repeats and the cost. If you weren't staying at BLT I would advise cutting Chef Mickey and keeping Garden Grill. (I love a family style meal with kids--so easy, not constantly running to the buffet.) You can always make the reservations then pivot if you realize it's too much for your travel group. One trip we cancelled our Crystal Palace late breakfast for later in the week in order to justify booking a dessert party that night.

 

[tom1944]

The good and bad about meals ...
GREAT ,, mom gets to sit down and relax. Wait staff does the 'work'. Parents enjoy experience.
BAD ........ Takes time away from parks

I think one a day is perfect.

We are going to try to navigate the parks with the understanding that we will be making a yearly trip so we can just enjoy everything at our pace.

 

[tom1944]

I would consider skipping Tusker House and Garden Grill just due to the character repeats and the cost. If you weren't staying at BLT I would advise cutting Chef Mickey and keeping Garden Grill. (I love a family style meal with kids--so easy, not constantly running to the buffet.) You can always make the reservations then pivot if you realize it's too much for your travel group. One trip we cancelled our Crystal Palace late breakfast for later in the week in order to justify booking a dessert party that night.

Thanks. This is definitely something to consider.

I am going to recommend we switch from Tusker House to Sanaa. That gives an opportunity to also check out the resort.

We can do Tusker House on another trip.
This gave me an idea that we should split these meals between park restaurants and resort restaurants.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

I don’t think you have too many character meals. But I don’t know that I would do two TS in one day. So I may drop Hoop de Doo and Ohana. Both are great but my family wasn’t terribly keen on so much food every day, especially in the heat.

The good thing is, as someone mentioned earlier, you can always drop a res 2 hours in advance. I’d rather have them and drop them as I want to, rather than not have them at all, especially if they’ve been requested by someone.

You’re a nice grandpa

 

[tom1944]

I don’t think you have too many character meals. But I don’t know that I would do two TS in one day. So I may drop Hoop de Doo and Ohana. Both are great but my family wasn’t terribly keen on so much food every day, especially in the heat.

The good thing is, as someone mentioned earlier, you can always drop a res 2 hours in advance. I’d rather have them and drop them as I want to, rather than not have them at all, especially if they’ve been requested by someone.

You’re a nice grandpa

This makes perfect sense. I was not aware I could drop my reservations so close. To be honest my wife will have trouble with having sit down dinners so often but she will not want to miss being there.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

This makes perfect sense. I was not aware I could drop my reservations so close. To be honest my wife will have trouble with having sit down dinners so often but she will not want to miss being there.

The two hours before cancellation policy is fairly new. It used to be cancellation the day before for most restaurants.
To be sure, you should double check for the restaurants you have booked. But the cancel-penalty-free-up-to-2-hours-before policy should apply to most. This is the terms for Be Our Guest. Some restaurants like Monsieur Paul, V&A, etc will differ policy wise.

(Unrelated but if your party likes princesses, they should be returning to Cinderella’s Royal Table soon. Not sure I would classify BOG as character dining, although the atmosphere is cool.)

Have a fabulous trip!

 

[CarolynFH]

This makes perfect sense. I was not aware I could drop my reservations so close. To be honest my wife will have trouble with having sit down dinners so often but she will not want to miss being there.

Check the cancellation policy for Hoop Dee Doo. Since it’s prepaid, I think you have to cancel farther in advance to get your money back. Can’t remember whether 48 hours or longer. ‘Ohana should be the same as other restaurants i.e. 2 hours before, but check the confirmation to be sure.

And if you’re going to drop one of them and want my input, I’d keep HDD and drop ‘Ohana. HDD is just too much great fun for everyone. You can do characters at ‘Ohana on the next trip.

 

[brinkley07]

We loved doing character meals at that age vs waiting in line for characters. It was also a nice relief for everyone to get out of the heat.

 

[gharter]

That seems an aggressive number of long meals with a child that age. But, you know what your child can and cannot tolerate.

 

[Anna131517]

We used to do a ton of character meals like that and loved it. Until our third child was born - she is afraid of characters and spent all the character meals hiding under the table clinging to my leg for dear life. So I say it looks great but caution that you just don’t know with kids. If the first one doesn’t go well you may have to replace those with QS meals.