Dining with almost 3 year olds!

[molly2004]

Veteran Disney Moms! How do you do it?

I'm planning for a trip to WDW for the twins' almost 3rd birthday. We will be on the dining plan so I would like to take in some nice restaurants when we are there. Obviously, not V&As. But would like Le Cellier and FF. For a while now, we have opted not to take them out to restaurants, not knowing what will happen. Since they've turned 2, they are much more patient at the dinner table though tantrums and such still occur.

I don't know what to expect of them at almost 3, which is a year away. How do you keep your little ones occupied during dinner? I know it's too much to ask of a preschooler to stay completely angelic during the whole meal. I just wondered how you managed to increase your chances of having a nice uneventful dinner at a TS with little ones who have been overstimulated all day long. Worse comes to worse, we'll just get the meal to go. Just wondering what you all suggest.

Thanks!

 

[KimR]

Well, it might be a little late for this, but the best advice I can give is to get them accustomed to dining out. We've been taking our kids out to restaurants since they were 2 weeks old and we've never had a problem with them sitting not only through dinner but also through the typical hour waits most restaurants around here have. THere's no place in WDW I'd hesitate to take them with the exception of V&A and that's only because it's inappropriate for children, not because I think they wouldn't behave. I don't know when you are going, but maybe take them out a few times at home to see how they do.

Also, keep in mind that at WDW many of the restaurants have 'entertainment' for the children - the fish at Coral Reef, belly dancers at Morocco, Chefs at Tepannaki, boats at San Angel Inn are a few I can think of. Most of the restuarants provide crayons and pictures to color and many of them even offer desserts that double as activities - for example make-your-own sundaes or puzzles made out of white chocolote that they can put together and then paint! My girls love those.

 

[staci]

I TOTALLY agree with taking them out often to get them use to it. DS has been dining out with us since he was born, and I dont think we have ever had a total meltdown in a restaurant. If I see him getting edgy, we take a 'walk' to the bathroom while we are waiting for the food.

I have my bag always, which has special buzz lightyear crayons, a little pad of paper, a mickey mouse pen, his mcdonalds disneyfigurines, a pez dispenser with a sleeve of candy, a little container of raisins, etc. NONE of these things are allowed out of the bag, and we only use them when we are in restaurants, so they are special (with the exception of the raisins of course!!).

When in disney, we did almost all our nice PS's at lunch, since that is his most reliable time of day, and since we knew he wouldnt be too tired out yet. Try to schedule your ps's around your kids schedules.

 

[Ariel8676]

I also agree with getting them out and getting used to sitting quietly at a restaurant. We have always taken our girls out since they were a few weeks old, and they are very well behaved when we go out.
Another tip which really works for us when we are in Disney.... Get up and go early, stay until lunch, then go back to the hotel... Take a nap, play, swim(if it is warm enough), whatever you want. Kids definitely need some down time. Then make early dinner reservations, go to dinner, then maybe go back to the park after. It really makes a difference..so many people just go nuts and have their children out all day and then don't understand why they get cranky..it is just way to much for a young child to take in all day. Ok now that i wrote a book..lol Good luck

 

[Mom to Jordan]

Same as above but also wanted to add at about two we started "resturant rules". They were short and simple at first. No getting out of the chair and use an inside voice. We added as he got older with things like not saying yuck and up till his present age when he leaned to calculate the tip and at WDW pays with his guest card. We ate out a lot before DS and knew that we did not want that to change so we made darn sure that he developed good resturant manners early on. it really is no so hard. We also had resturant books and toys that only came out at resturants so that made them special and last longer.

Jordans' mom

 

[TerriBelle]

We have done the following sit down with our twin boys -
1) Living Seas - they enjoyed watching the fish
2) Yachtsman
3) Cellier
4) Yacht Club Galley

Buffets have also worked for us -
1) Cape May
2) Chef Mickey
3) Boma

 

[tcolbert]

DS5 still gets antsy when waiting in line or for food. The best thing would to bring things they can play with or munch on. I definitely agree that you should do a few 'test runs' and we often find that he behaves better when we come back in the afternoon for a nap or to relax a while before we go back out. You might enjoy doing the Character Breakfasts as it's first thing in the morning and there are lots of other children present.