Dining Reservations with children? Yikes, what do I pick?

[princessmorgan]

My family is leaving for Disney in a week! I still am second guessing my reservations. Can someone help? I have three young daughters and sitting down for meals is not a strong point for them. We have Free Dining though. These are my dining reservations:

Hoop De Doo
Ohanas (Dinner)
Le Cellier (Lunch)
1900 Park Faire breakfast
Fantasmic Dinner Package at Mama Melrose
Chef Mickeys

I need to drop one. Which would you drop? We've never tried Ohanas, Le Cellier, 1900 Park Faire, Hoop De Doo, or seen Fantasmic. We have done Chef Mickeys and that's the girls' favorite. I'm a little worried about Hoop De Doo, Ohanas and Le Cellier just because of the length of the meal. We recently went to a Teppan Edo type restaurant with my parents and it was awful. They did not appreciate the cooking in front of them, the fire, or the noise from the banging of the utensils. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

I will give you my first thoughts on your list. Not judging, just my gut reaction:

Hoop De Doo- long show for little ones, especially at bedtime

Ohanas (Dinner) - loved breakfast with characters- not sure meat skewers appeal to 1 and 2 yo's, I like the food!

Le Cellier (Lunch)- yum! but dark cave like room- tables very close together- can be a long wait even with adr. I would still keep this one though.

1900 Park Faire breakfast PERFECT! Typical buffet food but the smiles of the kids faces will distract you from the average food.

Fantasmic Dinner Package at Mama Melrose fantasmic is late in the evening- my little ones would never make it. Plus- it is scary in parts. I would not take 3 young children. food at MM is good.

Chef Mickeys PERFECT! Typical buffet food but the smiles of the kids faces will distract you from the average food.

I can't tell you what to drop, and I am in no way criticizing your choices. Just thinking out loud and hoping that it might help you in some way.

Have a great trip!

 

[princessmorgan]

Thanks for your thoughts! It helps to hear other opinions. The Ohana and Le Cellier are more for me and DH I've heard so many good things, that I just had to try it for myself. But I also don't want other people to have a bad experience because of my children. I picked early lunch and dinner times, so hopefully they shouldn't be too tired. Fantasmic I wasn't going to do, but my friend just got back and has 2 children the same ages as my older ones and said they loved it!

 

[Pugrpooh]

We went to HDDR when DD was 4. She loved it! She actually clapped her hands at one point and yelled "More, more!" Last Tuesday night we were at 'Ohana and I thought it was very good. DD, now 7, needed me to get up with her for the hula dancing lessons but she loved it and ate a lot of food. I thought all the food was very good except the pork, which had a good flavor but was a bit dry.

Chef Mickey's breakfast was one of the meals she requested and we had a good time there. We did dinner there a couple of years ago but I didn't care for it. Crystal Palace is my favorite buffet.

We haven't done the other restaurants, but I think these three are good choices.

 

[djp0630]

They all look good. We took my young kids to 'Ohana, 1900 Park Fare & Chef Mickey's and we enjoyed all of them. Le Cellier gets great reviews, as does Hoop Dee Doo Review. So I guess I am leaning towards the Fantasmic package. Not sure how young your kids are, but that might be the one to drop. We skipped Fantasmic while we were there as it was too late and possibly scary for my kids. I've also heard even with the Fantasmic package, you still have to line up an hour beforehand to get good seats. But isn't that 2TS?? So if you drop that one, you would need to find another TS.

 

[alabamadaisy]

We returned Sunday from 7 nights at Disney. Ohana's for dinner was our favorite meal. The food (except the pork) was very good and my children loved the noodles, along with bites of everything else. It was also relaxing to sit and be served (but our service was fast, so not much down time for the kids).

To me, the buffets were hard with the kids. I would start by going to get their food. Then while I was cutting things up, etc. my hubby would get his food. Sometimes by the time he got back and it was my turn, my children would be ready for more. When we added autograph books and a camera to the mix for the character meals, it was a very hectic meal! The two buffets you picked are fun ones though, just for the characters (we ate at both last year). Just something to consider.

I might drop the Fantasmic package since you can still see Fanstasmic without it.

 

[princessmorgan]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I think I'm leaning to dropping Fantasmic. If we decide we want to go, we can just see how the line is! Thanks!