Overwhelmed 1st timer

[Britt7]

I have been pouring over these threads for the past two days, and have been reading and then rereading the dining section of my Birnbaums book--and I still can't make up my mind. We did not do the dining plan - its our first trip and figured we would do more Fast food type places with out DD2. I did make reservations for Chef Mickey for breakfast one day and Akershus for lunch another. Now I am starting to think that 7 days of Fast food is going to get really old and am thinking of doing a few TS meal. Here are some I am considering - if I can even still get ressie- going in January. Any thoughts - keep in mind we will have a 2year old
Ohona - sound cool to me, but what about DD2
Rainforest Cafe
Coral Reef
Maybe even Hoop De Doo if we can get reservation this late
I guess we could just do them all!!

 

[wdwpixie]

My opinions, for what it's worth:
O'Hana's: lots of food, but may be interesting for a 2 y/o as it's pretty festive and busy.
Rainforest Cafe: we ate there on 2 separate trips (it's been awhile), but the food was so-so and these are located in many major towns across the states. There's too much else that special at WDW to waste time there IMHO.
Coral Reef: never been there, but it sounds interesting.
Hoop De Doo: ditto

There some great CS restaurants -- fish & chips in England (Epcot); a great ham and cheese sandwich at the French bakery at the back of France (Epcot); Beaches & Cream for burgers, etc.; and others I can't think of right away. There are a ton of great places to eat at WDW.

Check Deb Wil's site at: www.wdwig.com for Dining/menus if you haven't done so yet! Hopefully you'll get some more opinions!

Have a terrific time!!

 

[jenniferma]

With a toddler I would also recommend Crystal Palace. It has Pooh and Friends and my kids have loved going there each trip. We especially love the breakfast!

have a great trip!
jen

 

[wdwthanksgiving]

don't forget the hotels have good food courts and can be fun to explore without any crowds...also good food is at wolfgang puck express and earl of sandwich - both are at downtown disney and you will also be able to walk around and wander in some of the shops - even get an ice cream for dessert!
have fun - there really is a lot of good food without having the traditional table service!

 

[Pakey]

I think you have to figure out where you are going to be before deciding on any more TS. You have Norway booked and you are looking at Coral Reef. These are both in Epcot. Are you doing more than one day in Epcot. Otherwise you will have two TS on the same day and you might want to spread them out more.

I agree with previous poster regarding Rainforest Cafe. I don't think the food there is much above a lot of the counter service, especially at DTD where you can get Earl of Sandwich or Wolfgangs, both of which are better than Rainforest. At Animal Kingdom, we usually do counter service at Flame Tree Barbeque.

I do not know if you are planning a day at MGM but if you are, that's where I would book a TS meal because the CS food there is not as good as the other parks.

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

My recommendation is not for specific restaurants, but rather how to plan your dining overall so as to not be overwhelmed.

We schedule only one table service meal per day.
We try to not schedule a TS breakfast if we had a late TS dinner the night before.
When we eat CS we try to avoid the same old, same old, i.e. pizza, burgers, fries. As mentioned by a previous poster there are CS options in every park that are different enough to keep the meals special.

Our favorite is Sunshine Seasons (Land, Epcot Future World).

 

[Katy Belle]

Where are you staying? If you are at a Moderate or Deluxe they will have a TS there. You could make a AR for a few evenings if you think you will hang at your resort in the evening.

Also, as a previous poster said, the food courts at the hotels, even Value Resorts, are good! Not just burgers and fries, but real food and real dessert.

Our first trip we only had 2 TS meals in 5 days and were fine with it.

Have a fanastic trip!!!
Katy

 

[wilma-bride]

The only thing I would say is, with a toddler, consider a very early dinner - most places start serving dinner around 4pm. Or a late lunch. Quite often, we book a TS restaurant for a late lunch, have a light breakfast and then a snack later on in the day. If your toddler is anything like mine, they need to eat at regular intervals - and a TS meal provides a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the parks.

 

[tinkandpan]

My personal opinion is to not use the Coral Reef one. There are not a ton of tables by the water and the rest of the restaurant is pretty dark and boring for little ones. My ds flipped out in the darkness when he was that age. I agree- the crystal palace is a good one, another character meal if you are going to be in MGM was the Hollywood and Vine one. IF you want to stay away from characters, O;Hana's is fun (although the food is not that great), we like Kona because it is good food, open, loud with kids, Concourse Steakhouse (monorial goes through) and many of the Countries are fun as well (morocco, germany, japan). Also, for CS in Epcot- the Land has a great paviliion.

 

[disneyjunebug]

My now 4.5 year old was scared of Rainforest Cafe when he was 2, but he is a little timid when he first sees something usually. Too loud, too much going on overwhelmed him.

I would definitley look into Crystal Palace at MK. You can't go wrong with a Pooh Bear and the food is pretty good!

 

[chris7]

We cannot eat out every meal on a trip. Can't afford it and would not want to even if we could. I do not know where you are staying so I don't know if a kitchen or even a minifridge is an option. We eat breakfast in our condo, cereal, toast, yogurt... We pack a lunch to bring to the parks and also a lot of snacks. Our kids tend to graze throughout the day so we just pull out things as needed. We then feel good about eating dinner out. Plus, with little kids dining out is often not really a treat depending on how they are doing and what time of day it is.

 

[Britt7]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We are staying at Pop Century for those who asked. I requested a mini fridge so I was already planning to do a lite breakfast in the room (cereal bar, juice, etc.) or just hit the food court at Pop. DD2 is not a big breafast eater. I think I might look at Chrystal Palace. I did not really consider it since DD does not really know who Pooh is. Also like the idea of a early dinner. Thanks again.

 

[goodferry]

I have a different take on the Rainforest Cafe. My kids love it, and Animal Kingdom is soooo tiring, it's nice to sit down in the middle of the day for a while, just a thought.
I second Crystal Palace, Liberty Tree Tavern is fun too, 'Ohana is wonderful, how about the character meal in MGM, is it Hollywood and Vine, I would consider that also

 

[lpizzuro123]

I would also recommend Crystal Palace. We have done lunch there quite a few times and we just love it. If you are not going till January and your DD is not that familar with the Pooh characters why don't you consider watching a few DVD's to get her familar with the characters. Only other thing I would recommend is that all the characters are very large. I know when my niece brought her 2 year old down for months before they kept stressing that Mickey is big. he kept saying no, Mickey is small. Kids think they are the size they are on TV. Just get her used the fact that they are big.

Have a wonderful time.

Linda

 

[jenniferma]

Linda is right-- we used the Sing A long video-- Disneyland Fun to get our kids used to the idea of the characters in the parks. It worked really well. The tape is a bit dated-- I think it was from the 1990s or late 1980s- but they rereleased it on DVD.
have a great trip!
jen

 

[Hootch]

Rainforest Cafe may not be right for a 2 year old depending on how sensitive your daughter is to darkness and loud sounds. Every so often there is a storm that comes through. the lights go down, there is thunder and the animals go wild. The first time I took my daughter she was three. We had a good seat nest to some of the animals. She wouldn't go near the elephant at first. In the end of the meal sh was fine though.

To echo what has been posted already, CRystal Palace is great, as is Liberty Tree Tavern. Hollywood and Vine does have the Playhouse Disney characters for a breakfast buffet.

 

[Britt7]

Any thoughts on Sci fi dinner theater in MGM. Sounds fun, but how is the seating. Looks like the "cars" only seat two to a seat. We will need all three of us right together or DD2 will "need" to hop for one to another - as usual.

 

[GoingtoDisney]

I would definitely recommend Crystal Palace. Good buffet for both kids and adults and great character interaction for your dd. Ohana for breakfast too.

 

[burberryplaid]

I was just going to say, if you really want to stick to counter service, you can definitely do it and not get bored with your food. You just have to pick some of the spots with different selections. For example, Sunshine Seasons in the Land pavillion is awesome! They have a HUGE selection, and it isn't just burgers and chicken fingers. They have stir fry, sandwiches, rotisserie chicken, pork chops.. I could eat there every day if I had to! I haven't tried Tangerine Cafe at Epcot, but lots of people love it and it's something unique. I also like Columbia Harbor House at the MK and I'm excited to try Pecos Bill's as well.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

Any thoughts on Sci fi dinner theater in MGM. Sounds fun, but how is the seating. Looks like the "cars" only seat two to a seat. We will need all three of us right together or DD2 will "need" to hop for one to another - as usual.

You might have trouble having all three in one seat and it is quite dark in there. I agree H&V character meal would be a good option at MGM. You can ask for a later lunch seating (no characters at dinner) and grab counter service for dinner at POP.

My DS was afraid at the Rainforest too. It is LOUD and we found the service to be very slow. If you think the noise will be a problem, Yak and Yeti and Tusker House (character breakfast) will be opening soon.

I think Coral Reef is a good choice - lunch is less crowded (and less expensive) than dinner. I would recommend telling the CM at check in that you will wait for a table by the tank. That is what really makes the experience there; especially with a young child. Love Chef Mickey's too!

I am not a big fan anymore of 'Ohana and found service slow there too. I agree with the others on Crystal Palace being a great MK choice.

We have never been to HDDR so I can't offer an opinion. The reason we haven't been there is because it took us close to 2 hours by bus and we were too late!

The best piece of advice I can give is that if you don't have a car and will be relying on WDW transportation, you might want to pick the TS that are most convenient to where you will be. Traveling a far distance with a 2yr old on the buses just to try a restaurant is more of a chore than you might imagine.

If you willing to be flexible with your dining times, hopefully you can still get reservations, but like the others said, there are enough CS choices so you won't get tired of the food.

BTW, love the idea of getting the Disney sing-a-longs. We did that before our trip and the kids loved them. It put us all in the mood.

Good luck and have a wonderful time!