In park restaurants for 16 year old girls

[Wendy from Neverland]

Are there any restaurants in the park that are a must do? I have 16-year-old twins and I prefer to stay budget friendly if possible, however, it is a restaurant that’s a must do please let me know

 

[sheba201]

Maybe I am an outlier but even at 16 Cafe Orleans was a *must* do for me. Its a great way to decompress in the park. (I always go for the pommes frites, the three cheese monte cristo and maybe some beignets)

 

[DisGirl1700]

I second Cafe Orleans! My daughter is 15 and this is where she always wants to go. She goes for the regular Montecristo and the pommes fries as well. We're planning another trip Thanksgiving week and she wanted me to make reservations for this restaurant!

 

[lalasmama]

Is there any room for a bit of a splurge? We love Blue Bayou for lunch. It appears to always be night inside, and you can watch the Pirates boats going by. Its a great "learning experience" for teens venturing into restaurant-ing on their own. I mean, my 14 year old knows how to order at McDonald's, and goes there with friends all the time. But the give and take of finer dining is a bit different than "Number 5 with a coke, please." Blue Bayou works well for this, in my opinion. There's no one that will be aghast at missteps. The meals may sound a little different, but its all pretty tame... And its just an amazing place to eat at least once.

 

[DLfan4]

Blue Bayou is a must for a first-time visit.

 

[Eve & Wall-e]

My vote is for Blue Bayou as well. Ask for a waterside table. The theming here is amazing here! This is an expensive restaurant, though.

Another option is Carnation Cafe. It's a great casual restaurant on Main Street. More budget friendly. Good food. There are indoor and outdoor tables. Ask for an outdoor table if it's not too hot out.

 

[avalon451]

My 16 y.o. went to Blue Bayou for their one "fancy" splurge on her band trip, with 3 of her friends. (I was chaperoning but did the Hungry Bear F! deal with some other kids). She absolutely loved it.

To get waterside without a lot of waiting, and save a little bit of money by going for lunch rather than dinner, you might try doing the early lunch trick. If your trip isn't for awhile yet and you can book it 60 days out, make reservations for the first seating, at 11:30. Check in 10 minutes early and ask politely for waterside. They pretty much seat you there anyway on first seating, but it's nice to ask. Then you get to watch all the PotC boats float by.

Enjoy!

 

[smartlabelprint]

The only restaurant that would fit your description in the parks is blue bayou.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I think "must do" is a relative term. Are your girls big POTC fans? Then, yes, BB is a must do. But we recently took a teenage girl to the parks who was a very big "Cars" fan. So her must do restaurant was Flo's. She loved sitting in the room with the view of RSR and listening to the music! And ice cream at Ghirardelli's afterward made her day. So, if your girls have a favorite character or favorite movie, that might redefine "must do" restaurant in a different way.

 

[rentayenta]

My girls now 21 and 19 insists on Plaza Inn. I'm sure its part nostalgia and part their fried chicken and desserts. They also really enjoy Carnation Cafe.

 

[ktlm]

I would say unless they get really excited about the characters, there is not a must do- unless you are doing a dining reservation to get into a reserved section for evening entertainment. For us (DD is 12), Minnie's Breakfast at the Plaza Inn is still a must do because there is a good variety of Characters there (They vary, but we almost always see Minnie, Pooh, Tigger, Fairy Godmother, Hook, Max and at least a couple of others). We love Café Orleans, and for us it is a must do for the food-- but I would not call it a must do restaurant for everyone. Blue Bayou the atmosphere is great, but we don't find the food worth the price. We have been there a couple of times and then we dropped it off our list- we are satisfied with just riding POTC through the restaurant. DLR has such good counter service options, that we don't really find the need to do a lot of dining reservations. If you want to look at all the menus for the restaurants, you can find them at the allears website.

If Fantasmic or World of Color are playing during your trip and they are important to see, then a dining package would be considered a must do for us. It makes it so much easier. Really, if you decide to splurge on something and World of Color is back and has a dessert package- that one would probably seem like something special to 16 year old girls. You actually get to watch the show from a table and chairs- and you are served desserts and drinks (non alcoholic for minors). You might not want to spend that much though when it is not even a full meal.

 

[PairOfDice]

We had a fabulous experience recently at Lamplight Lounge so that will be a must do from now on. You can keep it more affordable by sharing meals. My DDs are about that age. We each got a fun drink but we shared the lobster nachos and donuts. It was so good! We find that sharing two meals between the three of us is a good way to go. It's affordable and not overly filling. Gotta save room for those churros.
We also share two orders of poutine at Red Rose Tavern. You could share one or two grey stuff, too.
At Carnation Cafe we shared fried pickles, a cheeseburger, and the sourdough burger. We couldn't finish all of it. We would have been fine with one cheeseburger and fried pickles for the three of us.
We also really love the Cozy Cone for an affordable and fun meal. The mac and cheese cone with a pear of dice is delicious.
I would say the Blue Bayou is a must do if it's not a budget trip. If you're budgeting skip it. There's plenty of more affordable and fun food in the park.
We had a list of food to try including most of the new churros. We ended up sharing quite a few things to try it but not get overly full and uncomfortable.
I hope you have a great trip. Like I said my girls are about that age and we have an absolute blast together in the parks. Our next trip can't come soon enough.

 

[tarheelalum]

I'd go to Cafe Orleans. The atmosphere at Blue Bayou is great, but the food is not so great. And the prices are high.

 

[disland7]

We love cafe Orleans. Now that they do the fantasmic meal at the Blue Bayou, we go there every trip. Blue bayou is a fun place to eat but I have to say we enjoy the food at cafe Orleans (and price) better. If not for fantasmic viewing, my family would always pick cafe Orleans over blue bayou.

If WOC is back, I second the dessert party experience. We have always done the dining packages for WOC and the dessert party is much more fun (albeit a lot more expensive).

 

[azdisneylover]

Are there any restaurants in the park that are a must do? I have 16-year-old twins and I prefer to stay budget friendly if possible, however, it is a restaurant that’s a must do please let me know

We have B/G/G 16 year old triplets and Carnation Cafe is the one place they all agree where they must eat when we go to Disneyland. It doesn't matter time of day, they all have their favorites from the menu.

 

[PHXscuba]

My DD and her best friend requested Carnation Cafe for their 16th birthday lunch in the park. It's really quite reasonable, not much more than a counter service meal. Very classic Disneyland feel.

PHXscuba

 

[BriannaRuth]

My girls are 14 and 18. Blue Bayou has always been hands-down their favorite and their only real must-do. Although last year DD14 added Ghiardelli's to her must-do list!

 

[3monkeys4me]

I'd go to Cafe Orleans. The atmosphere at Blue Bayou is great, but the food is not so great. And the prices are high.

+1. Cafe Orleans has been my favorite for as long as I can remember. Carnation Cafe is a close second. I have done Blue Bayou and I just don't care for it. The atmosphere is amazing, especially at a waterside table but I just don't feel the food is good for what they charge and that ruins my enjoyment of it.