Places to eat with a 2 year old?

[Cinbride]

Need some ideas. We are going in Feb. Looking to do a few character meals and go a few places that our 2 year old DD would enjoy. Thanks

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Well, I don't know you two year old, only you do, eh?

Character meals will be ok if the child isn't frightened of characters. Also, children who enjoy the characters are often so excited they don't eat at those meals.

I'd say choose the character meal based on those characters that you think your child would most enjoy.

As for other places, all restaurants in WDW are child friendly (with the exception of Victoria and Albert's which now has an age limit) so choose based on the food you think you would most enjoy.

There are menus available at All Ears, I know. I don't know if they have them here.

Have a look at the menus and go from there.

 

[koolaidmoms]

Buffets, such as CP for Pooh Characters, 1900 Park Fare for misc. characters (breakfast) and CM for Mickey and crew and Askerhaus for princesses are usually big hits with kids. Places with quite a bit going on will also entertain them like the Wave or Teppan Edo are also good.

My 6 and 9 year old still love them all and they have been going since they were 18 mo. old!

 

[PrincessNP]

Just a thought....but our 2 yr old is afraid of characters in costumes, like Pooh Bear and even Mickey and Minnie even though on TV they are her favorite. However, the face characters like Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins she loved. 1900 Park Fare has those 2 characters so it may be a good option for you.

 

[rs505]

Assuming your 2 yr old won't be frightened, I'd recommend Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's.

Also, if they recognize the princesses, then I'd also recommend Akershus in Epcot.

 

[MusicMouse]

Don't forget Donald's Safari Breakfast in the Animal Kingdom. I'm taking my 2 year old there at the beginning of February.

 

[Mrs D]

Buffets are the best value as your 2 yr old is not charged for a plate of their own. Many character meals are buffets...so win-win. My 14 month old enjoyed seeing the characters but didn't want them too close. She liked to wave at them, maybe slap them five, but I had to be between for any pictures and she sure didn't want any to try to hug her. SO use that as a guide as you start out.

When we took out first family trip to WDW last Sept. Our favorite meal was the Biergarten in Germany of Epcot. Both kids (DS3 and DD 14mo) loved the music and the food. They both ate more there than the entire trip - and they've never had 'German' food per say. But sausages were hot dogs, who doesn't like potatoes (and there are like 15 potato dishes) and there was mac & cheese. Oh, plus chocolate cake!

Have a magical trip!

 

[Cinbride]

she is not afraid, but may take a little bit to warm up to them. I will check out the menus. Still trying to watch what we spend but want to do a couple character meals. thanks

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

When my son turned 2 we took him to the following restaurants...CP, Hollywood and vine (he loved this one b/c of the song/dance ever 20 mins and great character interaction), CRT, Tusker House, Chef Mickey, 1900 Park Fare (he did not like the Mad Hatter)breakfast and dinner (he enjoyed the interaction with Cinderella b/c she danced with him and laughed at the step sitters joking around with him), and a few TS (Narcoossee's...he did well here b/c he loved watching the boats and the fireworks while we were eating, Chef De France, Grand Floridian Cafe and a few others). I think young children enjoy the character meals the most. Hope this helps

 

[Darcy03231]

Coral Reef in Epcot is a good one for small children, especially if you get seat next to the aquarium. My niece was so facinated with the sealife and divers she really didn't want to eat!

 

[Golden Rose]

I'll second Coral Reef in Epcot. At age 2, DS was fine with the characters from a distance, but when non-face characters actually came up to the table to interact with us, he completely freaked out. These were characters he loved on TV, but adult sized, he didn't want them near him. On the other hand, he absolutely loved the Coral Reef, watching the fish, sharks, and turtles. It remains his favorite restaurant and he always gets excited when we go there.

 

[Big Kid]

Our then 18-month-old really enjoyed every character meal that we had on our last trip, and showed no fear of any characters. Crystal Palace was great because of the location in the center of the Magic Kingdom, but I read that it will be closed for several weeks in January and February. :-(

Garden Grill in Epcot was also a lot of fun. It seemed to have a high character to table ratio when we went, and we like the family style serving versus taking turns standing in line at the buffet.

If you have a sunny day at AK, Flame Tree Barbeque can't be beat with great ribs and the outdoor dining pavilions with a view of the lake and Everest.

 

[DreaminDisney]

DD loved crystal palace. She was 2 her first visit and she's 9 now and still loves it

 

[Greenfield1984]

We have a trip coming up this October and we were thinking about this very same thing. We wanted to do some character breakfasts. So to determine which ones to choose we just popped in disney movies each morning and over time my daughter would start asking for specific ones. She likes princess and, as she calls him, "the pooh". So we will be doing Akershus (for the princess) and crystal palace (for the pooh).

 

[n2mm]

My granddaughters want nothing to do with characters. They are 2yo and 4yo. They are not afraid of anything, but the first time they saw "big" head characters, OMG. Because of this we don't dine at the character buffets. We have done the princess things like 1900 and Norway. They will wave to the characters, they just don't want to be in the same room with them. Their now 15 yo brothers loved them at their age. Not sure what the problem is. If your child has never been around the Disney characters, it's best to have a backup plan.

 

[jana616]

We just returned from our first family trip with our 4 and 2 year olds. My 2 year old really liked Hollywood and Vine (it felt geared toward younger kids, they sing and dance every 20 minutes, and the characters were great with interacting with him), and dinner at Ohana (not a character meal, but they do tons of fun stuff-hula dancing, limbo). Other favorites of our group were Ohana breakfast and Donald's Safari Breakfast at AK. He wasn't afraid of the characters, so he enjoyed all of the character meals (we had 5).

One thing to consider if you aren't on the DDP, is that breakfasts are much cheaper than other meals. So I would recommend Donald's breakfast at AK, Ohana's breakfast at the Poly, and H&V breakfast at DHS as they are cheaper and all really fun (plus they are all buffets/family style so your DD can eat as much as she wants for free).