How do you do it? Buffet with 2 year old!

[twinmomto3boys]

Our 2 year old is a handful in restaurants. We also have 6 year old twins. We are probably not going to do a character meal for our upcoming trip because my husband and I never get a chance to eat much. Last year we spent the whole time filling up our kids' plates and taking pictures. It was an expensive meal for hot dogs and pizza for the kids!

I was just wondering how everyone else does it?

 

[crisi]

Don't do buffets.

My kids were 2 and 3 for our last visit.

We had our character meal at the Poly, which is served "family style." Its still all you can eat, someone just bring big skillets of eggs, waffles, bacon, etc. to your table.

There are several other "non-buffet" character meals. I believe the Garden Grill in Epcot is another - if you are more interested in Lunch or Dinner (Poly only does breakfast as a character meal).

 

[mami2emily]

My almost 2-year old really enjoys food, so he's generally very well-behaved at restaurants. And buffets are easier because you can sit down and have food right away.

Some of the things that work for us: Enforcing the sitting in a high-chair rule. I always try to bring a small notebook and crayons for my son. This entertains him while I'm getting our food, or if it's not a buffet-restaurant, it helps him pass the time until we get some food. Earlier t his year we went on a cruise and I bought him one of those travel-sized fishing games...he loves this. Ever since he was 15-months old he mastered the art of catching the fishes with the magnetic fishing line and this usually entertains him for a good chunk of time. Places like Target and Wal*Mart carry it. Another portable game that both my son and my 4-year old daughter enjoy are the Brain Quest flash cards. My son just likes turning the pages and my daughter enjoys figuring out the correct answers. Can't stress enough the importance of small, portable toys that will keep their attention. There are travel-size etch-a-sketches and magna doodle boards...my son also loves these and will happily play for a good 20 minutes with one of these.

At buffets DH sits down with our 2 kids initially while I go get their plates. I try to put a variety of things on their plate so I'm not having to get up and get something else for them. By the time I'm halfway through my meal, the kids either want some more of their favorite, or they're ready for some fruit or dessert. Usually DH and I can eat our meal in peace while the kids eat theirs. Then again, our kids really enjoy going to restaurants so maybe they're weird. LOL! My 4-year old is the pickiest eater at home (and I'm a pretty good cook)...but she NEVER has a problem at restaurants.

Good luck.

 

[josierac]

I also agree with going to character meals that are served family style. They are still all you can eat if that is important to you.

Ohana at the Polyensian for breakfast
Liberty Tree Tavern at the MK for dinner

are just 2 that offer this.

 

[Muffy]

Family style meals will be easier with a 2 y/o.

 

[eeyore0062]

Why bother with a buffet when there are so many other options?

Try:
Breakfast:
Cinderella's
'Ohana
Akersaus (Storybook Princess Breakfast)
Tony's (if it is still open when you go)

Lunch:
Garden Grille
Tony's (if it is still open when you go)

Dinner:
Garden Grille
Liberty Tree Tavern

We have found that the calmest is at Garden Grille. The characters are great. The room is not condusive to kids running around, you can see the ride from the 1st tier of seats, the dining room slowly revolves while you eat, the service is good, as is the food. Everyone should be able to enjoy their meal, and get their money's worth. Lunch is relatively cheaper, and the only thing you don't get is salad! A good respite for midday heat, or showere!

 

[travelitis]

We do family style or pre-plated character meals. We avoided buffets when we had a 2 yo in the party. Our list of character meals for this trip is:

CRT
Tony's
SBP
LTT
GG

We're going to try to get into Donald's Breakfastosaurus, but our back-up is Boma.

 

[cinmell]

In September my daughter was 22 months old and we did quite a few character buffets. She had to stay in a highchair as opposed to a booster seat. And we never ever go to a restaurant without bringing crayons, coloring books, stickers and fruit snacks. As long as we have those things, she is fine to bring to a restaurant.

 

[cinder1]

What exactly does your 2 yro do? I have 3 kids (7, 5 and 2.5 yrs). Last time we were at WDW, my youngest was 21 mths. We ate at Chef Mickeys and 1900 Park Fare and loved it. My youngest hasn't sat in a high chair since he was 11 mths old and he is a wild little thing (all of mine have been--maybe that's why we are used to it). We just get all the kids food first. Usually my DH gets 1 or 2 of the kids plates and I get the other(s), then we get our own. With the characters, no one really wants to go too far away from the table and the restaurants are really busy and full of other kids who aren't sitting exactly still so it never seemed too horrible to us. Now at O'Hanas for dinner (no characters), my youngest was soooo all over the place that I felt bad for those around us. He wasn't big enough to participate in the games, but he wanted to. I thought he was horrible, but after dinner an elderly lady at the next table told me that our son was so entertaining for her and her DH during dinner! That made me feel better. His antics are always funny to others.

To give you an example of his antics--we had to move our dining room chairs upstairs when he was about 15 mths old because he was getting up on the table and unscrewing the light bulbs from the chandelier! He is very curious about everything. So my point is IF there is a buffet you are dying to try, do it, but go into it with a great attitude. Otherwise, do other character meals that are not buffets.

 

[twinmomto3boys]

Thanks for all of the replies! We have actually done all of the little toys, gimmicks, treats, etc.... We always took silly putty for our twins when they were little and they were very good in restaurants. But with this one, he has this knowing look on his face like, thanks for the gadgets but I'm onto this little tactic. He will act amused for about 2 minutes and he's ready for something else. I guess that means he's pretty smart! Anyway he's a real character. Gotta love him.

We thought we were real pros at this parenting thing with raising twins and all, but every kid is different and you just never know what's going to happen next! Keeps life interesting!

We might try Garden Grill this time (thanks for the great info) but we are definitely going to the MVMCP. Hopefully we will see some characters there!

 

[LKS]

I wasn't so much worried about my kids behaving (we also have 3, so are outnumbered), but I personally hate schlepping everyone's food. Hey, I'm on vacation too! We do family-style restaurants though (even though we still have to serve their plates! LOL). Our favorite character meal was Liberty Tree Tavern.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

One thing that I did with my DS when he was little and we did buffets was to get two plates when I got his food. I would fill one plate with a little bit of lots of different choices of foods he liked and then just put one or two things on his plate he was eating off of at a time. That way if he got tired of one thing, I could just put something else on his plate without having to get back up. Also we found the sundie bars are great to keep little ones busy for a long time. Fill a bowl with tiny candies or sprinkles and they will eat forever. Hollywood and Vine has a nice one.

jordan's mom