Help with plans for spring break!

[crisi]

As for kids in the nicer restaurants, you and your friend know your kids. Our girls have been to has been to California Grill, BOG, Narcoosees, Citricos, Artist Point and Flying Fish, some of them a few times (CG is DH's favorite). Our ODD, now 6, was fine at all of them since we first took her to CG at 3 - she loves food and they still bring kids menus and crayons, so she actually stayed in her seat, ate, and did great. Our YDD was more of a challenge at 21 months on this last trip, because she didn't want a high chair and didn't really stay in her seat. That said, our last time at CG she stayed on a chair most of the time, eating, sat in my lap some of the time, and lay down to have a cry for a few minutes by the window behind my seat. But with the ambient noise you really couldn't hear her and she was fine soon after, and she wasn't in anyone's way. At Flying Fish she was in a booth next to me, and DH and I took turns taking her outside for walks after she was done eating. Again, moderately annoying for us, but she did not disturb the other guests at all. And your kids are older, so if they would be interested, it might be nice to expose them to some better and different food, especially if you're using DP credits. It really depends on your kids and whether they'd enjoy it and whether you'd enjoy it with them along even if they didn't enjoy it, if that makes sense. WDW is one of the few places you can go to nice restaurants with good food and bring kids and not have other patrons or staff give you the sideeye about it, and that's one of the reasons we like going.

We've been doing nice restaurants with our kids since they were little - it was my youngest who was the sixteen year old at Jiko, and Jiko is the only one at Disney were we felt that our kids didn't belong. It wasn't that they weren't well behaved (this was back when they were probably six and seven), but that they were some of the only kids in the restaurant. We also had a server that didn't enjoy serving kids (one of the very few bad servers we've had at Disney). We didn't go back with them until they were both tweens - and this last trip - just a year ago - we noticed that Jiko was still mostly adults with very few families. That's different than what we've had at California Grill (lots of families) or Narcooses (fewer with small kids than CG, but still comfortable) or the old Flying Fish (haven't been to the new one - its much more adult in its decor though). Some people are sort of oblivious to "we have the only kids in this restaurant" but I get an uncomfortable feeling when that's the case.

So while I agree its about the kids, its also about you and how you feel about the kid ratio.

 

[kboo]

We've been doing nice restaurants with our kids since they were little - it was my youngest who was the sixteen year old at Jiko, and Jiko is the only one at Disney were we felt that our kids didn't belong. It wasn't that they weren't well behaved (this was back when they were probably six and seven), but that they were some of the only kids in the restaurant. We also had a server that didn't enjoy serving kids (one of the very few bad servers we've had at Disney). We didn't go back with them until they were both tweens - and this last trip - just a year ago - we noticed that Jiko was still mostly adults with very few families. That's different than what we've had at California Grill (lots of families) or Narcooses (fewer with small kids than CG, but still comfortable) or the old Flying Fish (haven't been to the new one - its much more adult in its decor though). Some people are sort of oblivious to "we have the only kids in this restaurant" but I get an uncomfortable feeling when that's the case.

So while I agree its about the kids, its also about you and how you feel about the kid ratio.

Agreed. We had been to Jiko BC (before children) and never noticed the presence or absence of kids one way or the other. I wonder if it's because Sanaa and Boma tend to draw most of the kids? I will admit that if I'm not staying at AKL, now that I have kids, we would probably take them to Sanaa or Boma if I were making the trek with kids. And the other signatures we've named are generally easier to get to from a park (monorail, walk from WS), so I wonder if there's a slight self-selection going on there.

That said, OP is staying at AKV, with at least one adult in the group a self-professed foodie. If I were staying at AKV, I would at least try Jiko, kids or not. (On our first GF stay, we tried every restaurant there at least once, except V&A - which we made it to last month. Citrico's seemed similar - our kids were the only ones, but it didn't affect our experience. All of that said, we also haven't gone back to Citrico's, even though we had a perfectly fine time there, so I get it. Poor Citrico's - it's like the overlooked middle child between V&A and Narcoosee's.)

I like the new FF decor much better. Our kids were virtually the only ones there - I think a few came in after us. They definitely seated us appropriately - closer to the door, restrooms and open kitchen, in a booth near a window. It worked for us. Later kids were not seated near us, so there was no "kid ghetto," and the overall experience was terrific.

 

[mustinjourney]

Yeah, we did rope drop one day - funny, but we did not notice that many "extra" people when we had our early CP breakfast. Our photographer was pretty good about it - not an ENTIRELY empty Main St. but it was pretty good. Maybe because it was mid-late August, and we were there right before 8? I did notice that we didn't have to give anyone our names for reservations at the entrance to MK! That stinks about the monorail ride though. We were very lucky we had no monorail issues last time we were at VGF.

you probably got there before the larger crowds. Our breakfast was at 8:15 am and we probably didn't get to the tapstiles until around 8:10, so I was hurrying the two kids and GPs along as fast as I could b/c I didn't want to risk losing my reservation (I'm never sure how strict they are about you showing up on time). Not to mention, I had a full morning planned out so there was no time to waste!

Drives my DW crazy. She likes to stop and smell the roses. Make the journey part of the trip. All that stuff.

I'm all about getting from A to B as fast as possible and THEN enjoy the vacation. Needless to say, road trips are always interesting with us.

 

[mustinjourney]

Our ODD, now 6, was fine at all of them since we first took her to CG at 3 - she loves food and they still bring kids menus and crayons, so she actually stayed in her seat, ate, and did great. Our YDD was more of a challenge at 21 months on this last trip, because she didn't want a high chair and didn't really stay in her seat. That said, our last time at CG she stayed on a chair most of the time, eating, sat in my lap some of the time, and lay down to have a cry for a few minutes by the window behind my seat. But with the ambient noise you really couldn't hear her and she was fine soon after, and she wasn't in anyone's way. At Flying Fish she was in a booth next to me, and DH and I took turns taking her outside for walks after she was done eating. Again, moderately annoying for us, but she did not disturb the other guests at all. And your kids are older, so if they would be interested, it might be nice to expose them to some better and different food, especially if you're using DP credits. It really depends on your kids and whether they'd enjoy it and whether you'd enjoy it with them along even if they didn't enjoy it, if that makes sense. WDW is one of the few places you can go to nice restaurants with good food and bring kids and not have other patrons or staff give you the sideeye about it, and that's one of the reasons we like going.

we're in a very similar boat. For our last trip in Jan/Feb, our almost 4 year old did great. Our 18 month old only made it through two meals without losing her mind...and those were both PPO breakfast (Tusker house and CRT). My wife and I took turns with who left the table early (usually right before dessert). This included Via Napoli, Mama Melrose, Yak and Yeti, Akershus, Grand Floridian Cafe, Kona Grill, and BOG. Some of it was my fault for scheduling dinners for 7:00 pm or later...but she even lost it during the two lunches and a breakfast. I think it was more just having to sit still for 40+ minutes...that seemed to be her breaking point.

We're going again after T-day in a couple months, so I'm hoping she's grown out of that fussy phase now that she'll be 28 months old. The oldest was always pretty good at restaurants...I've also paired down the table service restaurants and most ressies are around 5-6 pm. I'm also going to force her to take naps in the afternoon. I messed up and allowed the GPs to hang out with her at the resort, assuming they'd put her down for a nap...but of course they just played with her and kept her up.

 

[crisi]

That said, OP is staying at AKV, with at least one adult in the group a self-professed foodie. If I were staying at AKV, I would at least try Jiko, kids or not. (On our first GF stay, we tried every restaurant there at least once, except V&A - which we made it to last month. Citrico's seemed similar - our kids were the only ones, but it didn't affect our experience. All of that said, we also haven't gone back to Citrico's, even though we had a perfectly fine time there, so I get it. Poor Citrico's - it's like the overlooked middle child between V&A and Narcoosee's.)

I think I'd probably do an adults night out - and switch kids - one night one couple heads out while everyone else goes to Saana, the next the other couple goes out while everyone else heads to Boma. But then, over time I've grown fonder of a three hour meal and a bottle of wine - which really is cruel to kids until your kids are adults - or the type of kids who reach adulthood early. (My daughter at fourteen, my son - still not yet at nineteen).