Dining with small children

[JEL394]

We are taking our first family trip to Disney in September for about 3.5 days. We have two boys, 4 and turning 3 on the trip, as well as our will-be 6 month old baby girl. The boys are restless and energetic, as well as picky eaters, so we are looking for the restaurants that will hold their attention and mostly serve chicken nuggets, fries, fruit and pizza The purpose of this trip is completely focused on enjoying all the little-boy stuff, since our girl will not know what's going on yet, and DH and I have no need to ride Space Mountain or whatever at the expense of time away from what the boys can enjoy.

That said, I've booked Chef Mickey's on MK day and Donald's Tusker House on AK day for Breakfast (really want to do Crystal Palace, but it seems to not open until 8:05 so we'd then miss EMH at MK, right?). But I am not able to get into T-Rex in DTD at ALL for the dates we'll be in town, I was surprised...it will be free dining period, but T-Rex doesn't accept the dining plan, so I can't figure out why that's booked up but the others are not? The boys love dinosaurs, so this would be a HUGE hit I'm thinking, and I would love to take my son for his 3rd birthday dinner.

The day that we do HS, I am trying to determine a good TS restaurant for dinner...I imagine we will leave sometime in the afternoon to go back to the resort (haven't booked anything yet) and let the boys swim (trying to avoid needing park-hoppers), so any suggestions on where to book for dinner that evening? Somewhere DTD? I'm pretty lost when it comes to how long it takes to get places, and what's pretty kid-friendly. We don't need exotic or fancy food, just majorly kid-friendly and fun! Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Amy&Dan]

T Rex has very few reservations through Disney Dining, however you can call them directly and get a reservation very easily. Here is their website with the phone number:
http://www.trexcafe.com/Main/Findus.html

As for DHS, we really enjoy Sci Fi. You get to sit in a car in what looks like a drive in movie and they play very corny sci fi flicks on a big movie screen from the 50's. Some children might find them a bit scary, but most do not. I eat there most every trip and most of the little kids are enthralled by the movie clips. At lunch its just basic burgers, sandwiches, fries, onion rings and milk shakes. Its reasonable by Disney ts standards.

Good luck with TRex, you should have no problem getting a reservation by calling them, they just only release a small portion of their reservation slots to be booked through Disney.

I'll also add that at Epcot, Coral Reef with the big tank might be fun for them.

Just remember all Disney restaurants are frequented by families and its part of the experience to hear little kids, see them and most of them have some sort of theme or characters to keep the kids happy and entertained.

 

[Pakey]

We took our restless 3 year old grandson last year. He enjoyed all of the character meals and was fine at Sci Fi. He was not the least bit entertained at Coral Reef.

Have you looked at the Hoop de Doo dinner show? Whispering Canyon is also another good dinner choice although I'm not thrilled with the food there.

 

[JimmyV]

As far as T-Rex goes, it should be noted for those with very young children that this restaurant may not be the best choice if your child spooks easily or doesn't like loud noises or the dark. The dinosaurs in there are huge and realistic. This isn't "Dragon Tales" or "Barney". These are life-sized, life-like replicas that make a lot of noise with teeth bared. And the meteor shower show is also loud and dark. I'm not saying that it is house of horrors. But I have seen more than my share of parents ushering crying children out of the restaurant due to panic attacks. Some 3 year olds are afraid of Pooh and Mickey. One can only imagine how they would react to a snarling T-Rex.

 

[scot@dvcstore]

If your looking for something outside the parks, my girls always loved Rain Forrest Cafe now and when they were younger. All the noise and activity kept them busy and occupied.

 

[JJNikaPiot]

Garden Grill is also a good choice for dinner on an EPCOT nite.

 

[jle323]

I'll be watching this thread too. My boys are 2 and 5. Never even thought about TRex, but I bet they'd love it.

 

[chasemac]

My kids really enjoyed 'Ohana. While not on the menu, you can order chicken nuggets there, just be sure to put your order in as soon as you sit down, so they will have it about the time all of your main course items come out. Also, ask to sit in the main room. We also enjoyed Whispering Canyon. It was very loud and a lot of fun. My younger kids (6 and 3) had a great time "delivering" ketchup to other tables. Also, we were strictly eating on the DxDP, so did not get to eat at TRex, but did ask the staff if we could take a look inside. We took our DS, who is 3 in and looked at lots of the dinosaurs. If you go through the gift shop, there is a little sand pit/play area. He played in there for about 10 minutes. This was a good way to experience TRex without actually eating there.

 

[JEL394]

T Rex has very few reservations through Disney Dining, however you can call them directly and get a reservation very easily. Here is their website with the phone number:

As for DHS, we really enjoy Sci Fi. You get to sit in a car in what looks like a drive in movie and they play very corny sci fi flicks on a big movie screen from the 50's. Some children might find them a bit scary, but most do not. I eat there most every trip and most of the little kids are enthralled by the movie clips. At lunch its just basic burgers, sandwiches, fries, onion rings and milk shakes. Its reasonable by Disney ts standards.

Good luck with TRex, you should have no problem getting a reservation by calling them, they just only release a small portion of their reservation slots to be booked through Disney.

I'll also add that at Epcot, Coral Reef with the big tank might be fun for them.

Just remember all Disney restaurants are frequented by families and its part of the experience to hear little kids, see them and most of them have some sort of theme or characters to keep the kids happy and entertained.

THANK YOU for the suggestion to call T-Rex directly, just made our reservation! YAY! My boys are going to love this.

 

[JEL394]

As far as T-Rex goes, it should be noted for those with very young children that this restaurant may not be the best choice if your child spooks easily or doesn't like loud noises or the dark. The dinosaurs in there are huge and realistic. This isn't "Dragon Tales" or "Barney". These are life-sized, life-like replicas that make a lot of noise with teeth bared. And the meteor shower show is also loud and dark. I'm not saying that it is house of horrors. But I have seen more than my share of parents ushering crying children out of the restaurant due to panic attacks. Some 3 year olds are afraid of Pooh and Mickey. One can only imagine how they would react to a snarling T-Rex.

Thanks for the heads up...our boys are very brave, but I am curious to see how they will react to various experiences at Disney (just seems like a lot of rides/attractions could go either way with the preschooler crowd!).

 

[PoohGal05]

Thanks for the heads up...our boys are very brave, but I am curious to see how they will react to various experiences at Disney (just seems like a lot of rides/attractions could go either way with the preschooler crowd!).

How about looking online and finding pictures and showing your children the pictures of the restaurant? Perhaps 'prepping' for the visit to this restaurant might make them less afraid. If you have a history museum in your area, how about taking them for a visit and seeing how big the dinosaurs are.

 

[JimmyV]

How about looking online and finding pictures and showing your children the pictures of the restaurant?

What's funny is that when you go to the website, the first thing you see is the head of a T-Rex with teeth bared popping out of the side of the frame, with a loud roar! Again, many, many kids love dinosaurs and would love this place. Still, other kids frighten easily and this place would make them pee their pants. Only you know what your children can handle.

 

[spcol03]

we are planning on going to T-Rex for our departure day with our 3 yo son. He's generally good with loud noises so hopefully the dinosaurs won't scare him as his last impression of Disney!

 

[Amy&Dan]

THANK YOU for the suggestion to call T-Rex directly, just made our reservation! YAY! My boys are going to love this.

I am so glad it worked out!

As for the fright factor, you can check in and then walk around a bit with your boys to see how they like the inside of the restaurant. We did this at RFC years ago when my dd was much younger to make sure she'd be fine.

You just never know with kids but at least you can see what its like before you sit down.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[troynkasey]

We found that character meals are always a good bet to keep them occupied. Sometimes too occupied because all they're concerned about is the characters and where they are at.

I'll give a big thumbs up to Sci-Fi at DHS because of the big movie screen and the fact you can "ride" in a car when you eat. Very neat thing.

Garden Grill also gets a thumbs up from me for Epcot. Good food. You can get chicken legs for the boys and it should be a close similarity to nuggets.

At AK, we hit Pizzafari for lunch. It's always very cool in there, food is adequate and out girls always enjoy it. It's a CS meal, but one we try on occasion or when we have a TS to use.

Our girls also enjoy Rainforest Cafe. A lot of things are going on, things are loud in there so you don't have to worry about annoying someone around you with a chatty child, and there are plenty of food options they should enjoy.

One Character meal you might want to look into is Chef Mickey. They have all the traditional kids offereings...cheese pizza, mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, etc.

 

[JEL394]

How about looking online and finding pictures and showing your children the pictures of the restaurant? Perhaps 'prepping' for the visit to this restaurant might make them less afraid. If you have a history museum in your area, how about taking them for a visit and seeing how big the dinosaurs are.

Well my little one (the one turning 3 on our last day in Disney) did see the T-Rex website pulled up and immediately said "RAWRRRRRR!! Dinosaurs, mommy!!" when he saw it. They do not know we are going to Disney yet We have been to Fernbank with the huge dinosaurs and they were fine! Great suggestions, thank you!