First time to Disney...need dining suggestions!

[Rach2109]

I'm going to Disney with my 5 year old daughter and 2 other adults (4 people total). I only went once when I was 8 and don't remember a whole lot of where we ate at the parks...plus that was 22 years ago! I'm going to be getting the dining plan when we go so I'm looking for suggestions for a place to eat at each of the parks...we will be there in September and I only have the next month to plan meals before my 180 day mark comes up! we will have 6 nights at the AoA and 5 days in the parks (no hopper option). Other than doing a princess meal I have no clue what places are good and what my 5 year old would enjoy. Suggestions/help appreciated!!!

 

[smrand]

If you daughter likes Disney Jr. then breakfast at Hollywood and Vine in DHS is fun. My daughter is almost 5 and loved being with Jake, Handy Manny, June (from the Little Einsteins) and Agent Oso. The adults also liked the breakfast buffet. They do a lot of interactive things with the kids. She also loved dinner at Be Our Guest. She was so excited to get to dance with the Beast. The breakfast in Norway with the princesses is nice and you can get into Epcot early if you have an early reservation. The food was good there too. We had the DxDP and opted for several signature meals- I highly recommend Artist Point at Wilderness Lodge. We also enjoyed the Luau at the Polynesian and breakfast at 'Ohana with Mickey, Lilo, Stitch, and Pluto. We had dinner atTutto Italia in Epcot and it was excellent as well. Those are the places we definitely would go back to. If you have plenty of meal credits then eating at Cinderella's castle is truly an amazing experience. We went for breakfast and the food was some of the best breakfast food we ate. Enjoy your trip!!! I think that 5 is just a perfect age to take your daughter. She will enjoy it and remember it!

 

[TinkandGoofy'sMom]

I would definitely schedule a character meal or two for your child to enjoy the characters without having to wait in line at the parks. allears.net has all the menus so you can see what is offered at each restaurant. If you know what park you'll be in each day, I would make my reservations based on that since you don't have the hopper. I would pick something in the park, or at one of the resorts close by, then you can always come back to the park. Our family favourites include Via Napoli, Teppan Edo, Cape May Café, Boma, Le Cellier, 'Ohana, and 50's Prime Time.

 

[Eureka]

The first time we went as a family, my boys were 5 and 7 and we did several character meals...Crystal Palace, Hollywood and Vine and Chef Mickey's. The food was the best at CP we thought. Anyway, the idea of buffets was good because the kids could eat whatever they wanted and we also avoided spending our entire vacation standing in lines to meet characters since they were at the meals (even though we did some of that too). They also enjoyed the Plaza in Magic Kingdom at that age (and even now at 10 and 12 we are eating there this summer) because of the sandwiches and ice cream. Look at menus online to see what your daughter likes before you make reservations. We tend to do table service because it's a good break, but that first trip we did end up canceling some and doing counter service, like Pizzafari. And just a note, please consider a stroller for your daughter. Even though my younger son was well out of a stroller at age 5 1/2, the walking was too much for him and by the first night he was a meltdown-y mess. The next morning we rented a stroller and the rest of the vacation was fantastic.

 

[disnmooner2013]

Below I am giving two choices in order of my rankings for table service and counter service in the parks, since I am not sure how many days you are doing at each park. I am also listing table service restaurants at resorts in order of my rankings to try. I have also listed at the bottom of my post a link to the menus to Disney World restaurants so you can view them all. The 5 choices I put in my overall top choices would be my MUST DOs for your group.

Magic Kingdom:
(table service) - 1. Crystal Palace for breakfast. Make ADR for a time before the park opens. You will be able to get pictures of the castle without people's heads in the photo. Crystal Palace has good food and great character interaction. They also every 20 minutes do a show around the restaurant and include the kids. This is my number 4 overall choice.
2. Plaza 2nd best table service restaurant in MK. However, I would go to Kona (listed below as my number 2 choice for resort restaurants) at the Polynesian over the Plaza for much better food and value on the dining plan.
(counter service) - 1. Columbia Harbour House - It has good seafood selections. If your daughter likes seafood this counter service is the best counter service for seafood.
2. Be Our Guest lunch is counter service.

Epcot:
(table service) - 1. Askershus Princess Storybook Meal. Since you are planning a princess meal this is the one with the most princesses, best interaction with them, and in my opinion the best food of any of the princess meals. SINCE IT SEEMS YOUR DAUGHTER IS A BIG PRINCESS FAN THIS IS MY NUMBER 1 OVERALL CHOICE.
2. Via Napoli has the only good pizza in my opinion in the parks.
(counter service) - 1. Tangierine Cafe (Morocco) I love their lamb dishes.
2. Sunshine Seasons has the best variety of counter service in any of the parks.

Hollywood Studios:
(table service) - 1. Mama Melroses has good standard Italian fare.
2. 50's Prime Time Cafe has good food and usually very good antics.
(counter service) - 1. Backlot Express
2. Starring Rolls Cafe

Animal Kingdom:
(table service) - 1. Yak & Yetti Restaurant there fried wonton desert is delicious.
2. Rainforest Cafe has lots of animals and a show every 20 minutes (if loud noises do not scare your daughter this is a good choice).
(counter service) - 1. Flame Tree Barbecue good barbecue food.
2. Yak & Yetti counter service

Resorts (all table service choices):
1. Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge has very good food and only restaurant you can view real animals while eating. Go during lunch or around 5 PM for dinner to better insure the you get a window table. Also, make sure to go while it is light outside. This is my number 2 overall choice.
2. Kona Cafe at Polynesian Resort has a great breakfast and dinner menu. It also has a good lunch menu. I would try to go for at least breakfast here. This is the BEST BREAKFAST period on Disney property. If you can also swing it go for dinner or lunch as well. This restaurant is very convenient as it is on the monorail line and very close to MK. It is also a monorail trip from Epcot. This is my number 3 overall choice.
3. Beaches and Cream at Beach Club has excellent ice cream choices and good burgers. This might be a better option than the restaurants at Hollywood Studios especially if your daughter is an ice cream lover. This is my number 5 overall choice.
4. Landscape of Flavors food court at AOA. I have heard all good reviews about it.

http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/menus/wdw/menus.shtml

 

[Aliceacc]

For a princess meal:
either Aukerhaus in Epcot (5 princesses come to your table for photos and autographs. We did a late breakfast-- more of a brunch-- so the food choices would all be familiar.)

or 1900 Park Fare dinner (in the Grand Floridian, on the monorail loop, close to the Magic Kingdom.) Cinderella and the prince, along with the stepsisters and stepmom. It's a buffet, and the stepsisters are a total hoot!!!

Another close-to-the-MK but not actually in the park choice: Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto come by for photos and autographs. It's a buffet.

 

[CapnJacksGirl]

Our must-do meals at each park are:

MK - Crystal Palace breakfast.....we always get an ADR as close to 8 am (on a non-EMH day) as possible so we can get into the park early and get great pics in front of the castle! CP breakfast is probably the one TS meal we would do, even if we didn't do the DDP. We love everything about it.....food, service, atmosphere, everything!!

AK - Tusker House breakfast.....again, we get an 8 am-ish ADR and enjoy a virtually empty AK. We have found Photopass photographers to be kind of scarce before opening on our last couple of trips but other guests were kind enough to take our photo in front of the Tree of Life. TH breakfast is sooooo good and the characters in their safari garb are adorable!! Make sure you ask someone to use your camera and get a photo for you outside the restaurant with Donald so you don't have to pay the ridiculous price they want for the photo (unless you're doing Photopass+, then you're set!) Oh, and our absolute favorite server/CM at all of Disney works at TH. Ask for Neil when you check in......he's a.ma.zing!!

DHS - Sci-Fi Dine-In.....Sci-fi used to get a lot of bad reviews here on the DIS, but we tried it for the atmosphere and loved it. It's no Victoria & Albert's but for a good burger and milkshake, it's great! The atmosphere is so cool, and speaking of cool, there's no better way to take a break and cool off on a hot September day. We usually get an early afternoon ADR (2-ish) and come out ready to tackle the park again.

EPCOT - tougher to pin down a favorite here since there's so many choices! For a 5 year old girl, I don't think you could beat Akershus' princess meal. According to my BFF's 5 year old daughter, it's sooooo much better than the castle. She said the princesses were much cooler there! As for us (we have boys), we used to make sure we hit Le Cellier, but since it's a signature and requires 2 credits, we're off that bandwagon. The boys love Teppan Edo and the entertainment at Biergarten is a lot of fun. We tried Garden Grill for the first time on our last trip and loved it. The characters made it around to us at least twice (Chip made it 3 times), the family style service was a nice change, and the food was really good. My DSs loved that some of the food was grown onsite. They were sure they had seen the exact fish vegetables we were served that night when we were on Living with the Land that morning - LOL!

As for outside the parks, we love breakfast at 'Ohana. Stitch is such a card! Good luck planning your ADRs! I'm sure you'll love it, wherever you end up!!

 

[Space Mountain Kid]

I would recomend some of the character buffets for your child like Chef Mickeys, 1900 Park Fair, Crystal Palace. But other resteraunts i would recomend would be O'hanas (Our favorite), Teppan edo, Biergarten, and Liberty Tree Tavern.

 

[DEA]

I'm going to echo some previous posters' picks:

1. Akershus for the Princess Storybook Breakfast. Our DDs love it, and an early reservation gets you into Epcot before rope drop, which can be good if you're trying to ride Soarin' (grab Soarin' FastPasses as soon as they open, hopefully beating some of the rope-drop crowd). The Princess interaction, price, and food quality I think all win over CRT.

2. Crystal Palace for Breakfast at MK. Again, an ADR before the park opens lets you get some great pictures in the park on Main Street and of the castle before the crowds hit. You get the Winnie-the-Pooh characters, which were a surprise hit for my daughters.

3. Tusker House Breakfast or Lunch in the Animal Kingdom. I think this is the best way to see Donald, Daisy, Mickey, and Goofy. Minnie is absent, but Daisy is harder to find at the other character meet-and-greets around WDW where Minnie is available. I like the lunch better than the breakfast, but the breakfast is still very good.

4. Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge-Kidani Village. Animals outside the windows makes this a great choice for any animal-loving folks in your party, and the food quality makes it an even better choice for those who just want a good meal. As a PP said, going when there's light outside makes for a better viewing experience.

5. Flying Fish at the Boardwalk. If you want to get a fancy-ish meal in, I think this is the place to do it, especially with kids along. The food is incredible, as is the service, and the Boardwalk is right there in case any 5 year-olds in your party need to take a walk around in the middle of dinner. Mine definitely appreciated the option.

6. Disney Hollywood Studios does not have a lot of food about which I get excited. I like Fairfax Fare, but my kids mostly end up eating a lot of fruit, and maybe a pretzel, from Anaheim Produce.

7. If you go to Downtown Disney, Wolfgang Puck Express puts out a great amount of food for Quick-Service credits. Earl of Sandwich is also very good.

8. In Epcot, Sunshine Seasons is an amazing CS location. Lots of variety, good quality, and good tasting stuff. Tangierine Café in the Morocco Pavilion is also a favorite of mine. Teppan Edo can be fun if you like that style of cooking (chef prepares the food in front of you on a hot grill, and does some tricks along the way).

 

[Brook1099]

@ Animal Kingdom we love Tusker House breakfast for a table service, and Flame Tree for a quick service restaraunt.

Magic Kingdom I would try to get Be Our Guest. Or Cinderellas Castle. would be a must do at least once. Cosmic Rays is our favorite quick service.

Epcot restaraunt we have enjoyed Tutto, Le Cellier and Biergarten, but when our dd was little we did Askerhus and we loved it. ( Because we go during Food And Wine Festival every year, we never really have experienced many restaraunts.

DHS we like SCi fi. good appetizers, burgers, fries and shakes. Is on the dark side and could be scary for some little ones. Quick Service would have to be Toy Story Pizza Planet for the kids. Andwe never miss a morning @ Starring Rolls for super yummy cupcakes, bagels or pastries.


Resort restaraunts we love Boma, Cape May Cafe( breakfast and dinner) Ohana's, Olivia's and ESPN.

DTD Ragland Road and TREX is a must do for my kids every trip. The Earl of Sandwich and Wolfgang Puck Express for a quick service meal.

Signature restaraunts, Yachtsmen, Narcosses( especially during WIshes), Artist Point and JIKO.

The Luau and the Hoop de du my kids also love.

Overall we have never had a bad meal anywhere, except Hollywood and Vine, and that was a very long time ago.

 

[kimber11]

Hi There,

We just did our first trip ever in January with our 4 year old boy/girl twins and 7 year old daughter. We had the meal plan too. We LOVED the Be Our Guest restaurant in Magic Kingdom, it was our favourite out of all of the restaurants. We also enjoyed Akershus with all of the Princesses in Norway at Epcot. I would also say that Breakfast at Chef Mickeys is a must, you just take the monorail there from Magic Kingdom. Very easy to get to. My kids like Disney Junior shows and enjoyed Hollywood and Vine lunch in Hollywood Studios. The food at 1900 Park Fare wasn't the greatest for supper but the kids really enjoyed watching Cinderella and Prince Charming dance and even had the chance to dance with the Prince themselves. We did that instead of using two table service meals at Cinderellas Royal Court, since a lot of the reviews said it wasn't really worth it. Chefs de Frances was neat too b/c we got to see the animatronic Remy from Ratatoille. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[Rach2109]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm looking at doing Akershus for a late breakfast/early lunch when we go to Epcot, Be Our Guest for dinner when we go to Magic Kingdom then either sci-fi or 50's Prime Time when we go to Hollywood Studios. Which one of those would you recommend? Not sure what to do the day we go to Animal Kingdom....Any suggestions for a table service meal there? Also considering Chef Mickey's for our last full day.

What do you think of what we have planned so far?

 

[kimber11]

For Animal Kingdom we really enjoyed Rainforest Cafe. Both the kids and adults loved the food. Out of all of the restaurants it probably had the best lunch or dinner food. The kids and adults both really enjoyed the atmosphere and pretend animals in the restaurant.

 

[TRANSPOS]

If you like a little more daring or exotic, go to Boma at Animal Kingdom lodge. African open village style buffet. Very flavorful. If kids are picky they have pasta, mac and cheese, fries and (per my son) the best meatballs in the world.

 

[TRANSPOS]

Ohana for dinner. Time it to finish at the time of the MK fireworks. They pipe the music in and you can watch the fireworks from the dining room in distance.

 

[shell8558]

Ohanas , crystal palace breakfast , coral reef, akershus, whispering canyon , mama melrose VIP package. ( allows you a special pass to see fantastic )

 

[fuzzlekins]

My daughter is 5 and we just recently got back. Character meals, character meals, character meals! They love 'em. Our fave was Chef Mickey's at the CR. CRT and Akershus both have the princesses but Akershus is only 1 dining credit instead of 2 and the food is no better at CRT. Just something to think about. My DD also loved Biergarten @ Epcot, 50s Prime Time Cafe @ HS, and BOG @ MK (dinner) . We all loved them actually. We liked Tusker House at AK (character lunch; they also do breakfast). For CS, we like Pizzafari there, as well as Flame Tree Barbecue (very popular). Sunshine Seasons is the best CS food we've had and it's at Epcot. Rose & Crown @ Epcot is very good and you may get a good view of Illuminations if you make your ADR for around 7:30.

Have fun!