I am a new Mom - Need help!

[SecretPoohLove]

I have been to the World a gazillion times with adults only. We have a boy - 5 months old who we be just shy of a year when we go in November, and we will have a 10 and 13 year old as well. I could really use some advice for TS meals/times to make all three happy and not annoy other diners with a 1 year old. He is really well behaved when I go out now, but who knows in 6 months?! We are going "home" to the BLT for the first time as well if location matters.... Thanks!

 

[Evan&Kimberly]

Oh my so much to choose from!!!!! and far as your baby being good now when you guys go out, if you keep doing what you’re doing he will behave just as good when he is a year old!! Nothing bothers me more than misbehaved children and parents not doing a thing about it, well that’s my tid bit, but you guys have so many great places 2 choose from. Here are my suggestions


1. T- Rex DTD
2. Ohana
3. Sci-Fi
4. Coral Reef
5. Tusker House
6. Teppan Edo
7. Whispering Canyon
8. Chef Mickey’s (b)
9. Rain Forest Cafe
10. Crystal Palace the baby will love it!

 

[HunnyJar]

My family went to WDW in February with our 1 year old daughter and 14 year old son.. The restaurant we had the most fun during were Biergarten, Garden Grill, 'Ohana (for both breakfast and dinner) and 1900 Park Fare (breakfast). Biergarten was great because my daughter was watching the band and clapping to the music. The character meals are also nice because you have a chance to eat while your child watches the characters in the restaurant. My son still loves all the characters so even though he is 14 he had a blast. One nice thing about 'Ohana (again for both meals) and Garden Grill is that it they are served family style, so you will not have to have to get up and walk around. Your server will bring all you care to eat and drink, while you just sit and enjoy.

We also enjoyed T-Rex, but I do want to mention that it quite loud inside. My daughter was fine with it but I would imagine that some children might not like it. But the dinosaurs are very cool!

 

[Zeebs]

As close to your normal eating time as possible, if mine got too tired at that age it all just turned pear shaped at dinner time.

If at all possible, let them out to crawl, cruise, toddle around before the meal so they aren't going straight from sitting in a stroller to sitting in a high chair after being in the stroller for most of the afternoon. We were early for our meal at Chef Mickeys and Seth had a ball just crawling around the lobby near the shop and the monorail.

With regards to character meals, my first loved the characters at that age my second DID NOT so I would book a few character meals for a couple of days into your trip. This was you can see how bubs handles the characters in the parks. If they react well then keep the reservations, if not you can cancel or be prepared to deal with a screaming fit every time a character comes near the table.

Have a great time.
Kirsten

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

I have been to the World a gazillion times with adults only. We have a boy - 5 months old who we be just shy of a year when we go in November, and we will have a 10 and 13 year old as well. I could really use some advice for TS meals/times to make all three happy and not annoy other diners with a 1 year old. He is really well behaved when I go out now, but who knows in 6 months?! We are going "home" to the BLT for the first time as well if location matters.... Thanks!

Other posters have said Rainforest Cafe which i TOTALLY agree with for my children, they LOVED it. But, my cousin who is same age as my youngest daughter (at the time about 20 mths), was terrified of the rain storms and hated it. My kids loved Chef Mickeys (see signature for ages) and Crystal Palace.

 

[badblackpug]

Me too! Me too! Except for the new mom thing. I have a 5m old who will be 11m when we go. I also have a 2y, 9y,9y, and 12y!

Here is our strategy. For meals in which we want the babies to participate we eat about their regular dinner time (about 6ish) We choose more "kid friendly" (translate: loud) places. I suggest: Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, Ohana, HDDR, Biergarten, Tusker House, 50's PTC. If we want to have a more "adult" meal we choose a later reservation time (near their bedtime around 7-8) and feed them ahead of time and they generally fall asleep and sleep in the stroller through the meal. Mind you, my kids are good sleepers. The older kids are not an issue. If we eat late they snack, and they better behave in a restaurant!

 

[ahutton]

At less than a year old my kids generally did not care where we ate, as long as it was around their normal meal time and there was food. At 1 they were usually fine with characters - it was arond 2 they didn't like them.

Where we did have trouble was loud places, like Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex. The hard thing about that is you can't escape the noise and activity and still eat your meal. If the kids aren't reacting well to characters you can tell the character or handler to let that one be while they visit others at the table. If it surrounds you and is audio-animatronic you can't do that. My DS is now 5 and he just now likes going to RFC. I spent a couple meals holding him while trying to eat, and him refusing to eat because the animals and atmosphere were overwhelming.

My kids LOVED Sci-Fi on the last trip though, were not afraid of the movie clips at all. It is dark though, so if you are having darkness fears think about bringing along a light up toy.