must dos with baby

[iwasdaisy]

My DH and I will be taking our 16 month old DS for the first time the second week of June 2010....I know I'm planning early, but I just can't wait anymore! What are some suggestions for must do dining with him? Last time I was at Disney it was just DH and I and dining was different then with just the two of us.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

The character meals work the best with young kinds from my experience with my 5. I started taking them from very young to.

 

[deedeetoo]

I would suggest character breakfasts.

WDW has a lot over stimulation and I found that when my kids were that young they usually were in meltdown by dinner time. After a couple very bad experiences (i.e. dh eating his dinner while I went outside with DD, and then switching so I could eat my dinner) we stopped doing TS dinners until the kids got older.

 

[CubanaMama]

I can relate to your excitement...my DD will be turning 1yr during our trip and I've been planning like a crazy woman for a few months now : )
We decided to schedule our ADRs (breakfast & dinner) around the times she is used to having her meals at home so we can keep some kind of consistency even though we’ll be on vacation. We will have a character breakfast for each morning of our trip (that way it will limit the lines we stand in to see certain characters in the parks!) and they are usually buffet styles so I can easily give DD some pieces of my eggs, pancakes, fruit to eat for breakfast. The breakfasts we’re doing are Chef Mickey’s, Crystal Palace, Cape May, Tusker House & Ohana. Right now, she loves watching Disney Playhouse shows in the mornings so that’s why we decided to stick with the classic characters and no Princesses yet .
I would recommend scheduling a time to go back to the resort mid-day so your little one can take a good nap…a great way to prevent melt-downs later in the day!

 

[TakeMe2Disney]

My son loved Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey. He also enjoyed the Playhouse Disney Play 'n Dine at HS, although we weren't super impressed. This time we're also going to try Tusker House for breakfast at AK. Anything with characters or a show kept our little one happy!

 

[hellokittiemama]

My DH and I will be taking our 16 month old DS for the first time the second week of June 2010....I know I'm planning early, but I just can't wait anymore! What are some suggestions for must do dining with him? Last time I was at Disney it was just DH and I and dining was different then with just the two of us.

Maybe a First Haircut for the baby at the barber/haircut place on Main Street? I know they do special ears for that and everything!!!

 

[weschmom]

Wow...that's young!

I would definitely stick with character meals - -and buffets are great b/c you are in control of when you get the food, etc. I would recommend:

--Crystal Palace (try for a less busy time)
--Play N Dine at Hollywood N Vine (has Playhouse Disney characters that your child will probably know, and they play the theme songs -- my kids LOVED this meal!) -- I've read that the breakfast is FAR better than the other meals here -- we loved the breakfast and you get a LOT of character time
--Chef Mickey's is another one that is probably great (we're going in Sept)

Good luck!

 

[MomWith2Cinderellas]

Our girls love Crystal Palace! The is good and we found the character interaction to be great! We also enjoyed Cape May Character Breakfast.

 

[candielips]

We just returned w/ our DD for her 1st trip & she is almost 2. We really mixed up the TS dining, doing some character meals, but also a few sit downs at restaurants we love.
She was pretty good but at times got fussy. My advice:
1) Do meals around their normal eating times or very early. We always tried to have dinner around 5.
2) I found she got fussiest when we had to wait to be seated, sometimes as long as 45 mins. Maybe have 1 parent take him on a nearby ride or attraction.
3) Plan your sit down meals around his nap time. We had 1 meal she slept right through, although it was CP, which we had booked for her and def nto for us.
4) Bring some of his fav snacks, colouring books & crayons, stickers, and small toys.

Yes dinners will not be the same, but there is no reason you can't all find a happy medium to enjoy your meals.

Good luck & enjoy.

 

[Thumper & Bambi]

We did Play N Dine for lunch and our two year old loved it. The characters got the kids up and danced and he had such a good time. The food was very good, too.

Crystal Palace is a must if he loves Pooh!

We have done Chef Mickey for breakfast and had a blast! Food is pretty typical breakfast, I didn't think it was anything special, but the characters were!

For one that young, those are my suggestions!