Looking for a "WOW" restaurant for my kiddos

[kristensideaoffun]

My daughter (12) LOVES Lamplighter Lounge. If you go, ask your server to give you the whole “collection” of drink coasters. They’re a great souvenir.

 

[BarlowFamily]

Our family loved the Red Rose Tavern. If you are big Beauty and the Beast fans, you might like it as well. We also really like Ralph Brennan's, I'm not sure that's the level of ambiance you're looking for though. Flo's is also great! We're looking forward to trying Docking Bay 7 (looks cool to us!) and Lamplighter Lounge on our next visit. I know this can be controversial, but Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel allows kids until 8pm. I LOVE that place. Haven't brought our little guy yet, but we will be sure to go early when we do.

 

[DLgal]

Lamplight is a great atmosphere, especially right around sunset. However, service there can be painfully slow. Our last lunch lasted over 2 hours. The 8 year old in our party was getting antsy. That was not the first slow service we have had there.

 

[IsleofDisney]

If they're into Star Wars there's the Docking Bay 7 Food & Cargo restaurant in SWGE. The whole land is an immersive experience including the food offerings. Ordering food is like other counter service you'd find around the parks but the servers are in character. We ate there once during the reservation period in June, and my kids thought the food was good but not great. The food offerings lean more on the healthy side, which I appreciate. I'd go again more for the experience than the actual food.

There's no table service restaurant in SWGE...yet
t.

 

[Lm3js]

BB is cool, but also expensive especially if you have picky eaters. For less expensive fare... I like the food at Red Rose tavern and it has cute theming. I don't know if they still have it (and food isn't especially good), but my kids liked to watch the show at Golden Horseshoe when they ate... chicken nuggets, fries and a show! Sitting outside at Rancho del Zocalo is pretty cool and food is decent. Smoke Jumpers has best burgers in the park and lots of interesting memorabilia around if you are looking at the walls. A big wow is the Crazy Shakes over at Black Tap...my kids would love that wow over the BB. And another overlooked option is sitting upstairs near the back on the patio at Hungry Bear watching the riverboats come by.

 

[hyperminimalism]

Definitely Blue Bayou; however, it is indeed expensive. When are you going, exactly? At some point in November, the Golden Horseshoe will be hosting dueling pianos. They've already got the nice theater set up for it, but we need the entertainment to return. I think that might be super neat to experience once the show is up and running, and the food is pretty typical and inexpensive in comparison to BB. Other than that, maybe like someone else has said, the Lamplight Lounge. Everything else that's really nicely themed is super expensive.

 

[ashejen]

Outdoors downstairs at Lamplight, amid all the sights and sounds of Pixar Pier, is a very cool alternative.

Yes, this was a huge hit for my kiddo (almost 7 at the time) and I last December. Seeing the park light up, watching the Incredicoaster. It was a fantastic experience and the food was very good.

 

[TinkerTay]

It’s too bad Rainforest Cafe is gone, kids usually think that place is pretty cool... but I would have to say that Lamplight would be my other choice, sitting on the water is nice, and kids would probably think all of the Pixar decor is neat. There’s an Apple drink with dry ice and popping pearls that float up and down that is very tasty, and entertaining to watch, haha...

 

[IslaLila]

I still remember going to blue bayou when I was a kid and I’m 41. I LOVED it as a kid and still do. I remember back then we had to run to the restaurant first thing in the morning to get a reservation.

 

[Pickles2000]

For casual options, the food places in Cars Land have a pretty fun atmosphere for kids.

 

[goooof1]

definitely, Blue Bayou !! reserve for 11:30 am lunch, get there 15 minutes early and ask for a waterfront table. (or, if you go at another time, ask for waterfront and wait extra for it..... usually not too long.)
Kids menu available and good prices there.
So YES to BLUE BAYOU...…. it's IN the ride ...… nothing else like it !!

 

[tanyaewa]

The best WOW factor is eating just at dusk at the Cozy Cone in Radiator Springs just as they turn on the lights to “Sha-Boom”
We often grab dinner at the SmokeJumpers and walk it over to the picnic tables at Cozy cone. My boys think they’ve died and gone to heaven ( and they are 15 and 17 now) to be immersed in Cars Land

 

[Aurora0427]

Our family loved the Red Rose Tavern. If you are big Beauty and the Beast fans, you might like it as well. We also really like Ralph Brennan's, I'm not sure that's the level of ambiance you're looking for though. Flo's is also great! We're looking forward to trying Docking Bay 7 (looks cool to us!) and Lamplighter Lounge on our next visit. I know this can be controversial, but Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel allows kids until 8pm. I LOVE that place. Haven't brought our little guy yet, but we will be sure to go early when we do.

We brought both of our kids to Trader Sam’s twice this last trip. Both times before 8pm. Is it really controversial???? We did sit outside.... inside does feel more like adults only. Can kids even sit inside?

 

[Sun_soakin]

My four kids have gone to all the DL restaurants their whole life and none of them are WOW to them. Don’t worry about them, just book what you like! My kids are happy with any of them, hard to go wrong at DL! When my girls were little they loved princess meals. Everyone still likes character meals b/c they like buffets (some growing teens now) but it’s not really worth the price tag if no one cares for the characters anymore. They like Blue Bayou fine but aren’t crazy about it. Like others have said, it’s kind of dark and romantic/calm for kids

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

When are you going, exactly?

We're going in February! So we have some time to figure it out.

Thanks so much to you all for the great ideas/advice in this thread. We're surprising the kids for Christmas and they love to help plan. Excited to offer them some options and see where we end up!

 

[Chickinvic]

Lamplight is a great atmosphere, especially right around sunset. However, service there can be painfully slow. Our last lunch lasted over 2 hours. The 8 year old in our party was getting antsy. That was not the first slow service we have had there.

That would have been over my limit at that age for sure lol.

 

[DizMe]

Lamplight is a great atmosphere, especially right around sunset. However, service there can be painfully slow. Our last lunch lasted over 2 hours. The 8 year old in our party was getting antsy. That was not the first slow service we have had there.

That would have been over my limit at that age for sure lol.

This is a great point! I would avoid any meal where the service is known for being slow. No one in my family, aside from myself, likes to spend a long time over a meal at Disneyland. The few times we've gone to Cafe Orleans the service was sooooo slow, so we skip that one as a family.

Just thought I'd throw in that I have 5 kids (spread across a number of years with a 17-year gap in between, so basically 2 generations of kids), and all have adored Blue Bayou. It was always our special treat place and we're generally in and out fairly quickly (they sometimes make me feel a little rushed, though). It's too bad they got rid of some of the neat touches for kids, like pirate hat menus and the pirate ship cookie boat dessert, but the atmosphere is really what my kids liked best, including the pirate boats going by, and hey, they do have glow cubes now . My kids love the special treatment you get from nicer restaurants (servers bringing you things, special dishes, things like that) which is a wow factor of its own. Anyway, you'll probably know already whether or not your kids would like the atmosphere so you can decide if that would work for you or if you should go elsewhere.

Side note: one year when I went with my oldest daughter, we ordered a dessert (creme brulee trio) that came with a pirate chest made out of sugar--it had been filled with gold doubloons. That was probably 10 years ago! I recently found it tucked back in my freezer, LOL. I wish they still had neat things like that.

 

[Indiana Scott]

Too bad Rain Forest closed. It was a great spot for kids.

 

[ddwlms]

We ate at Lamplight in June and didn't think the service was slow. The kids ordered drinks that have the dry ice in them and thought that was the coolest thing ever. Ever ever! We really liked the menu selection too and food was good.

 

[Lm3js]

We brought both of our kids to Trader Sam’s twice this last trip. Both times before 8pm. Is it really controversial???? We did sit outside.... inside does feel more like adults only. Can kids even sit inside?

Kids can sit inside just not at the bar. There are always some kids there (sometimes ours) when we go. There are kid drinks (or non-alcoholic anyway) on the menu that we get ours.