Eating At all the places with an infant

[Karau614]

We just got back from our first Disney trip and took our 9 month old daughter and I made a list of where we ate in case anyone with small children had any questions.

We had a few signature meals and would encourage those with small children not to avoid them. It was a great trip and I am glad we planned well. Our best meal was probably the California Grill brunch or Tiffins and we would say the most disappointing was Jiko. It wasn't bad but we would try it again with different entree selections. We did do the deluxe dining plan for the first part of our split stay if anyone has questions on that.


On deluxe dining plan

Homecomin Dinner

Akershus Breakfast

La Hacienda De San Angel Dinner

Tusker House Lunch

Tiffins Dinner

Ohana Breakfast

Jiko Dinner


Not using dining plan

Boma Breakfast

Dluxe Burger Dinner

California Grill Brunch

Be Our Guest Lunch

Ohana Dinner

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I think it really depends on the infant. Some are better at these kind of things than others.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Glad everything went well for you. You do have to know your kid and plan accordingly

 

[OasterP]

I'm glad you had such a good time! And I'm glad it went well with your daughter.
There will always be some people who don't think children belong at signatures (or in restaurants at all in some cases), but I just think you need to know your kid and also have common courtesy.

For instance, I wouldn't plan a very late dinner with my kids because I know it won't go well. Others have kids that do great late at night. Really it's just common sense and courtesy. If someone takes their children (any age) to a restaurant and they are acting up and disrupting other diners - then in my opinion they should remove them, at least temporarily. But that's just my opinion - I don't like disrupting others. And for the record I think that goes for all diners - not just children.

It sounds like your daughter did well, and I'm so glad you didn't avoid eating at all those places out of fear.

 

[Hopefully]

I couldn't agree more, it is totally dependent on the child. Some, like the OP's, will be fine. Some will not.
The OP's advice does not universally apply to all infants.

 

[Thing 1]

We were there last week and did a lot of signatures. We saw a ton of babies and children in the restaurants. Most of he babies were doing well... preschoolers, not so much. Most places were allowing parents to bring strollers in. I had one baby I could take to any restaurant.... one I could not. By the time they were preschool age, both were fine because we taught them how to behave in nicer places. Reality this trip was the parents fussing at the children was much worse that the kids behavior. I heard so many parent loudly bribe their kids with dessert and candy after dinner. Most of these kids did not eat their dinner and they did get that dessert. We saw kids much latter in restaurants this year too. There were several families coming in California Grill when we were leaving well after 10:00PM.

 

[Nancyg56]

When my DGD was young she was a nightowl. Her Mom and Dad had been taking her to dinner since she was an infant, so she was used to being in restaurants. We kept her schedule and booked later dinners anywhere we wanted to eat. Had we tried to book PPO breakfasts at that age, she would have been miserable. I agree that you have to know your kids, and you need to be sure that you are making plans that they can manage.

My coworker took her three Little hooligans on a weeklong trip using the DxDDP. Those children had not even had dinner out at Friendly's because they had no manners, and all meals were booked to accomodate her husband's tastes. She said they were "rambunctious", which means they were not well mannered or disciplined. I cannot imagine being in their vicinity during their meals.

 

[GillianP1301]

I think like most things, kids don't know any better until they are taught so exposing them to restaurant dining at a young age is a great way for them to learn and grow to be an older kid (and eventually adult) who do well with restaurant dining, assuming the parents teach them accordingly. I think the key is being prepared to shut the whole thing down if your young child starts acting out. When my son was 2/3ish and with plenty of restaurant experience, he had a major tantrum in a restaurant and threw his plate of food. My husband immediately removed him from the restaurant while I stayed back to help clean up, pay and get our meals to go. We made it pretty clear his actions were not acceptable and we've honestly never really had an issue since and he's now 9. Sure we have had to do some reminding on manners and proper behaviour, but nothing crazy. We dine at signatures at Disney and he's now a pro. At Yachtsman last year he ordered his steak and the server couldn't believe he was only 8, said he sounded more like an 18 year old.

Of course there will always be exceptions and if a child has any type of medical/behavioural issues then what I describe isn't going to work. You definitely have to know your child and their limits.

I will also add that I think a huge key to meltdown free dining at Disney (or anywhere really) is not altering a child's eating pattern/schedule very much. If you have a kid that always eats at 8/12/5 every day, suddenly skipping an early meal and getting a late morning meal, skipping lunch and then getting an 8pm dinner is likely not going to go over well.

Sounds like the OP is having a similar experience to what I've had with my son and definitely setting him up for lots of years of great dining ahead.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I will also add that I think a huge key to meltdown free dining at Disney (or anywhere really) is not altering a child's eating pattern/schedule very much. If you have a kid that always eats at 8/12/5 every day, suddenly skipping an early meal and getting a late morning meal, skipping lunch and then getting an 8pm dinner is likely not going to go over well.

YES YES YES. This times a million. We took our 18 month old 2 weeks ago and it was honestly the best vacation ever. We had an amazingly wonderful time. We take him out to eat a lot at home, so he's used to restaurants (and he loves to eat too!). We tried to keep mealtimes close to home. There was one day our meal schedule was off because we did EMM, but I made sure to have some extra snacks on hand that day so he didn't get too hungry.

Side note, we also kept bedtime the same as at home. It meant early nights, but I'll trade nighttime entertainment for a happy, well rested toddler!!

 

[GillianP1301]

YES YES YES. This times a million. We took our 18 month old 2 weeks ago and it was honestly the best vacation ever. We had an amazingly wonderful time. We take him out to eat a lot at home, so he's used to restaurants (and he loves to eat too!). We tried to keep mealtimes close to home. There was one day our meal schedule was off because we did EMM, but I made sure to have some extra snacks on hand that day so he didn't get too hungry.

Side note, we also kept bedtime the same as at home. It meant early nights, but I'll trade nighttime entertainment for a happy, well rested toddler!!

ITA with the bedtime routine as well. And you're right, it does mean sacrificing some evening entertainment, but it works especially with young kids. We first went to WDW when my DS was 4 and that year we did only 1 later night for Wishes. As he gets older, he's able to handle more later nights. He's 9 this year and we're now able to do 3 or 4 late nights in our 9 night stay.

 

[1st*toright]

ITA with the bedtime routine as well. And you're right, it does mean sacrificing some evening entertainment, but it works especially with young kids. We first went to WDW when my DS was 4 and that year we did only 1 later night for Wishes. As he gets older, he's able to handle more later nights. He's 9 this year and we're now able to do 3 or 4 late nights in our 9 night stay.

Yep - I can't even imagine what our trip would be like if our 4 year old didn't get to bed pretty close to her normal time. We are going to split up a few days so that one parent can get her to bed while the other does a nighttime entertainment with our teenager. So at least I will get to see something in the evening. Thinking about maybe doing HEA on our last night with everyone - depending on how the little one is holding up. Hanging in the room with a sleeping kiddo sounds better than navigating a huge crowd with a preschooler in melt-down mode, even if it means missing the fireworks!