Family of 7, what are your thoughts on our dining selections?

[aaronlisar]

Hi all, we are heading down to the world the first week of December and get to make our ADR's next week. Travelers include me and my wife, our three kids (DS5, DS2 & DD1) and my parents. Everyone but the youngest two have been to Disney before but it has been a really long time for my parents. Anyway, below are our choices for TS, tell me what you think.

Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review
Coral Reef
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Kona Kafe
Sci Fi Dine In
Liberty Tree Tavern

 

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

I love your last 4 choices, but have concerns that the first 2 wouldn't work for my house. So I'll share my thoughts Do with it what you wish because you know your family

HoopDeeDoo can be quite long for a 5 year old, but the 1 and 2 year olds really worry me. Do they sit well for long times? Because it is a show it can be harder to just leave if they get cranky. And then you are stuck in the lobby waiting for the rest of the party. Hard choice here.

Coral Reef we did with a party of 7. It was a VERY long wait for a table (over 1 hour) They were trying to get us one table together (which was nice) but we had an infant and a low blood sugar child who were both beyond cranky by the time we got seated. It truly ruined the whole meal. Offering to be split up would have helped but they never told us why we were waiting for so long. We would not go here again with a large group. It was truly awful for us. (Combine that with slow table service and even the great food did not make it a good experience.)

 

[Tam1067]

We love Coral Reef and Kona.

If any of the kids in your party are likely to get scared of the dark and the movies being shown at Sci-Fi, you might want to reconsider that one and try something like 50s Prime Time (our personal favorite).

We also are not big fans of Whispering Canyon, but others love it, so I don't want to knock it too much here. If you're staying at the Wilderness Lodge, it's certainly worth a meal. I probably would not take a special trip over there just for that restaurant though.

 

[aaronlisar]

I love your last 4 choices, but have concerns that the first 2 wouldn't work for my house. So I'll share my thoughts Do with it what you wish because you know your family

HoopDeeDoo can be quite long for a 5 year old, but the 1 and 2 year olds really worry me. Do they sit well for long times? Because it is a show it can be harder to just leave if they get cranky. And then you are stuck in the lobby waiting for the rest of the party. Hard choice here.

Coral Reef we did with a party of 7. It was a VERY long wait for a table (over 1 hour) They were trying to get us one table together (which was nice) but we had an infant and a low blood sugar child who were both beyond cranky by the time we got seated. It truly ruined the whole meal. Offering to be split up would have helped but they never told us why we were waiting for so long. We would not go here again with a large group. It was truly awful for us. (Combine that with slow table service and even the great food did not make it a good experience.)

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely rethink HoopDeeDoo. My 5 year old would be fine but my 2yr old might be hanging from the rafters after a while. We really liked Coral Reef last time we went but then again it was only three of us back in 05.

 

[aaronlisar]

We love Coral Reef and Kona.

If any of the kids in your party are likely to get scared of the dark and the movies being shown at Sci-Fi, you might want to reconsider that one and try something like 50s Prime Time (our personal favorite).

We also are not big fans of Whispering Canyon, but others love it, so I don't want to knock it too much here. If you're staying at the Wilderness Lodge, it's certainly worth a meal. I probably would not take a special trip over there just for that restaurant though.

My kids scare me... They are not scared of anything...

We loved Whispering Canyon last time and made it a must for us for this time as well. Our 5 year old was only just over 2 when we went last time and he still talks about the restaurant where he got to yell "Wheres the ketchup!"

 

[trspohr]

Our family, absolutely loved the WC. We went on our Pre-Christmas trip last year and had such a great time. I had the Peel and Eat Shrimp and my DH had the Skillet. The kids all had milkshakes and they were to die for! The Pony races and Ketchup calling were a blast! We also ate ate the Coral Reef that trip as well. It was good, but it was a slow meal, and with little ones, I'm not sure it would go over well. Our daughter was 2 1/2 and the only reason we made it through was we had an early ADR, 4:30 and she had fallen asleep just before we sat down and didn't wake up until 30 minutes before we were finished. LTT was a good time as far as characters go, but food was so, so IMHO. Have fun, no matter what you decide!

 

[Lucky'sMom]

My kids have been to HDDR 3 times and have been as young as 3 when they went. We've had no problems, they all love it and keep wanting to go back. We have an ADR again for June! So...it really depends on your kids. I say try it!

 

[texasmom]

I like your choices.

My kids were three and six when we took them to HDR. They loved it. My sone (3) was taken on stage to be a "Texas Ranger" during one act of the show. They took him from our table when I was in the restroom. My mom was there with him and he went with out a problem which surprised me. They took a picture of him on stage with his costume on and gave it to us. It was too cute.

Have fun.

 

[aaronlisar]

Well, I just called and got all of our reservations except for Hoop Dee Doo Review... I'll have to figure something else out in place of that now.