Help me choose restaurants!

[Anatresia]

Hi! I want to get reservations early for our January trip. This is the first time we're using the dining plan (first time we're staying on property and the first time my children are going- I went to MK one day as an adult while in Orlando, so I'm pretty new to all of this.) My group includes my daughter, who will be turning four while we're there(!) and my other daughter, who will be one. I want to get the most bang-for-our-dining-plan buck and want to do character meals. We will be going to each park once and spend two days in the Magic Kingdom. Where should we use our Table Service Credits?

Any other advice for a newbie regarding restaurants/snacks/dining plan?

Thanks so much! I am researching and just overwhelmed by the information right now, and I know other parents might have a good perspective. I want the children to enjoy their sit down meals, so character meals and fun settings are what I'm looking for. A slow-paced, romantic dinner is NOT what we have in mind this trip!

 

[jandersonlj]

You will love the dining plan and all the restaurants! I will give you a quick overview of some of my favs!

Magic Kingdom - Crystal Palace dinner (buffet with Winnie-the-Pooh characters)

Epcot - Garden Grill (all you can eat with characters) - We never miss this one!!

Akershus breakfast with the princesses - Food was o.k., but with two girls this
one only costs 1 TS credit whereas the castle is 2!

Hollywood Studios - Hollywood and Vine fantasmic package (no characters for dinner but
we don't have to wait in line for fantasmic that night!)

50's PrimeTime - No character but fun atmosphere

Animal Kingdom - Tusker House breakfast with characters - Have only done this one once

Contemporary Resort - Chef Mickey's breakfast buffet with characters - dinner is good
too but we perfer b'fast

Polynesian resort - O'hana's all you can eat dinner - no characters but fun atmosphere
and good food

There are many others, but these are some of my family's favorites! Have fun and enjoy!! Make sure you get your daughter a birthday button while you are there! It will get her a lot of extra attention!! Any guest services will provide at no charge!

 

[squirrel]

If you are going for the Fantasmic DP, try for Mama Melrose over Hollywood & Vine.

I agree with Akershus for princesses. 1900 Park Fare for dinner is also good with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Step-Sisters and Step-Mother.

Garden Grill at Epcot, I've heard it has great character interaction however I don't book it as the food isn't something I would like. I do Le Cellier for lunch now that dinner is 2TS credits. I've taken both my niece's (4-5 yrs old).

Tusker House is one of my favorites.

 

[ncbunnie]

Read everything you can to make the most out of the DP experience. I love the allears.net review boards and usually I agree with most of the reviews!

We went on my daughter's 1st wdw trip in Dec. 2010- she was almost 4 so the same age as your oldest!

Our TS were:
-Play & Dine at Hollywood & Vine (HS)-characters were Oso, Handy Manny & June/Leo from Little Einsteins- this was our first TS meal and we were very pleased. Food was good and a little unusual from standard buffet fare- found plenty to please my vegetarian 3 yo and the character interaction was GREAT! Would have done this one just because of how much my little one loves Oso, but the staff and food were good, too.
-Crystal Palace (MK) - Pooh, Piglet, Tigger & Eeyore- this one was a little over-rated imo. It was a good experience, but even in December was packed and very loud. I'm glad we did it and I would do it again if you have a big WTP fan but it was disappointing for us. We had to wait quite a long time outside even though we were on time for our adr and by the time we finished our meal my daughter was way past her nap time b/c of the long wait outside. I think breakfast might be a better choice.
-Teppan Edo in Japan in Epcot- one of our absolute favorite meals of the entire trip. This place was GREAT. I can't say enough good things about it- my daughter ate everything on her plate, they had no trouble accommodating her veggie choices and the "show" was really fun. She wants to go back to this one next year even over some of the character meals. She enjoyed it so much we even had to have her picture made with the server!
-Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club Resort - characters were Minnie, Goofy, Donald in beach attire. This was another favorite for us. The characters came around twice while we ate, we got an anniversary cupcake, the food was great and it wasn't crowded or loud. Very little wait time and the boat to take us to Epcot was one of my daughter's favorite things. Also, FYI, after we finished we headed down to the "beach" and let my daughter play in the sand for a while- she was the ONLY one there and playing on a "beach" at WDW was a big hit with her.
-Cinderella's Royal Table (MK)- Cinderella, Belle, Ariel and Aurora were here. This was my absolute favorite memory of Disney World. I did set this one up a bit by leaving my daughter a note from "Cinderella" in our room so that when she woke up her Cinderella dress, a snow globe and a special note from C were on the foot of her bed. It was true magic to see her eyes light up when we saw Cinderella and she told my daughter all about choosing the snow globe "with the fairy godmother's help" just for her. Eating in the castle was a great experience and I thought the food was the best we had the whole trip. It really brings a tear to my eye just thinking of how wonderful that experience was- VERY worth using 2 credits for us.

Our favorite snacks were used at the World Showcase in Epcot- you can get such different things there. We even hit the caramel shop in Germany and took some treats home with extra snack credits.

The best QS was definitely the food court at Pop. There were so many choices!

Sorry, I get carried away on the dp. I spent so many hours researching and planning last year!

 

[kbarrett]

Well these are all great... I have to say my daughter was 4 & son was 11/2 & they loved the princesses & castle if you can swing it and even my picky husband enjoyed the food which is saying a lot, we went for breakfast!

 

[bartleyosu]

Breakfast at Crystal Palace-MK with Pooh and friends- the best and if you get early time before park opens, you can go into a near empty park-priceless. My boys are teenagers and still love this. food is great.

best 1 credit meal- Coral Seas at Epcot with aquarium- no characters but we love it

Really like clam bake buffet dinner at Cape May if you like seafood- no characters

Definately do Fantasmic package if you are going to do to avoid wait, love Mama Melroses and included appetizers!

If kids- Germany buffet at Epcot is good, when little my kids loved dancing the hokey pokey and the chicken dance, stay for show if here, very nice inside.

best counter service

Epcot- sunshine grill, or any country, esp. JApan and Germany
MK- Cosmos- has a lizard singer
AK- flametree or pizzaroni

 

[CoachKristy]

The Fantasmic show will not be happening January 5-26 of 2012 so if you are going during these dates do not plan meals around the Fantasmic packages.

We are also going in January for the marathon. I've had a really hard time narrowing down where we are going to eat. This will be the first Disney experience for 3 of my 4 kids so we wanted to do lots of character meals too. Here is a list of what we know for sure are doing for character meals:
Akershus - breakfast
1900 Park Fare - dinner
Chef Mickey's - breakfast
'Ohana - breakfast

We lived in Germany for three years so we have to eat at the Biergarten in EPCOT. We also have reservations for the following that I'm not sure we will keep.

Hollywood and Vine breakfast
50's Prime Time lunch
Crystal Palace breakfast
CRT lunch
'Ohana dinner (heard this was good for viewing Wishes outside of the park)

 

[daaasmith]

Everyone has different faves, but here are ours!

Magic Kingdom: Crystal Palace (Winnie the Pooh crew)

Epcot: Garden Grill (Chip and Dale, Mickey, Pluto)
Les Chefs de France (we schedule to see Remy)
Le Cellier (lunch since 1ts credit)
Akershus (lots of princesses-our princess has outgrown this, but we
did enjoy it!)

Animal Kingdom: Tusker House breakfast (Donald, Minnie, Goofy)

We do not have a fave at Hollywood. Have tried a few, but not overly impressed with any. We do not have ressies for our September trip there.

Resorts: O'Hana-both breakfast with Lilo and Stitch, and dinner with entertainment and interaction with kids(Grand Flor)
Cape May Cafe Clambake (Beach Club)
Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge)
Whispering Canyon Cafe (Fort Wilderness-fun antics)


We also enjoy doing the Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian Tea Room-that might be a fun thing to do with your little princesses.

If you can make time for it, there is a campfire, sing- along, roasting marshmallows, and outdoor movie with appearance of Chip and Dale every night at Wilderness campground. It is free and fun. You can purchase a bag of marshmallows and 2 sticks for a few bucks. They play a different movie nightly.

Have a great trip!

 

[333disneymom]

We have travelled with two little ones too. But, just a thought - you may want to consider some meals that are not character meals, as they can be a little louder and some children do not actually like the characters in person. Ours did and hopefully yours will too. But, just in case, you might want to mix it up a little.

Here are some restaurants my two little girls love....

Epcot: You can't go wrong with either the Princess Meal in Norway or the Mickey & Friends meal at Garden Grill. It really depends on what else you have planned. If I had to choose one for little girls, I would choose Norway. First, you get a picture included in your price of the dinner with a princess, (usually Belle), which is nice to have. The buffet appetizer has lots of choices. The actual dinner entree might be more hit or miss. I enjoy the chicken, but my husband struggles with finding an option he likes. Check out the menus on Dis to see what they offer before you decide. The children's meals are more traditional and shouldn't be a problem for most little ones. What's nice is that at both the Garden Grill and the Norway dinner, food is brought to you. With 2 little ones, if you choose a buffet every meal, you will probably tire out quickly and find that you can't really enjoy your meal as much, IMO.

Magic Kingdom: Cinderella's Castle cost 2 meal credits, which is why we usually rule this one out. We'd rather have 2 meals. Crystal Palace is not one of our favorites, but it does offer good food and Tigger, Pooh and friends, and the little ones usually love it. You also might want to go to Chef Mickey's - a short monorail ride from the park on your MK day. We love Chef Mickey's for dinner and do it each year.

As for sit-down dinners at HS and AK, I can't help you there, as we have never done any at those parts. Good luck with your plans.

 

[dizgirl86]

I completely agree about Garden Grill! The character interaction is great (you really get to spend some one-on-one time with each character) and the food is pretty yummy too.

Crystal Palace is also a great one for characters (I have the funniest pictures of my mom with Eeyore). It's also really neat to see the big, windowed building when you enter the park and be able to say "that's where we're having lunch/dinner today!"

One tip about the dining plan (if you haven't already found this one), we frequently use our snack credits for breakfast (one of my favorite uses is the cinnamon roll at MK... plus it's big enough to share!). It's a great way to make the most of your dining credits

Also... someone mentioned the Afternoon tea at GF, which really is a great experience but unfortunately isn't on the dining plan so you'd have to pay out of pocket for it.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the dining plan, feel free to PM me! I've gone on multiple trips on the dining plan and the deluxe plan and I'm a compulsive planner so I know the plans like the back of my hand at this point