Planning ADRs for First Timers/Kids

[PlutoTheDog89]

Just got back from our Easter trip and already eyeing Halloween.

My cousin is bringing her little ones (2 & 4 at time of trip) for Halloween. They're going Oct. 28-Nov. 2. I pushed for them to do this so that they get Food & Wine, MNSSHP and can see some Christmas decorations before they leave.

Being the resident planner, they're counting on me. I know what restaurants my family loves, but now I need to tailor the plans for kiddies. They are fellow food snobs. My cousin's husband's family owns a pizzeria and they're constantly eating around NYC.... so I need to find the best of both worlds: good food and a fun atmosphere.

Here's what I've got so far (dates can change):

October 28th:
Check in to Polynesian. Quick breakfast at Capt. Cook's..
Head to Magic Kingdom for the day; Finish with dinner at 'Ohana.

October 29th:
Slow morning. Maybe Kona breakfast. My cousin's hubby is a HUGE breakfast guy and would totally enjoy it.

Pool and relaxing most of the day, unless they wanna do parks. We're gonna aim for MNSSHP, so I think it's best to have the kids relax.

Be Our Guest Dinner, then MNSSHP at night.

October 30th:

Breakfast at Cape May Cafe. IMO this is the best breakfast (outside Tusker House). My only problem here is that it can be annoying to go to another resort like this. We'd have to monorail to TTC, change to go to EPCOT, then walk through EPCOT... or bus to DHS, then boat to BC. Could be annoying with little ones.

EPCOT for Food & wine during the day. Ride Frozen Ever After, Spaceship Earth, Character Meet etc.

Here's where I'm drawing a blank. I'm thinking of getting an ADR for my cousin and her husband to do a nice dinner. My parents will watch the kids and we can maybe do that. I've never planned for kids, so this is getting a little tough. Usually we'd do Narcoossee's and a few other of our go-tos. I'm not sure they'd like Chef Mickey's. The food quality is too poor... however, I feel like you can't miss that opportunity.

The kids are crazy about Anna, Elsa and Moana (right now). BBB is definitely in the works. Maybe book something at CRT that night? We've never done CRT, so maybe this is an opportunity for us to experience it as well.

 

[Daniela Rose]

We'll be going in September with our 2 and 4 year olds. We're food snobs, live in NY. The restaurant adrs we made are almost all geared towards the kids. Think characters. I'm not expecting quality food, but we're going for the experience and kids.

With that said, we have booked
Akershus
Crt
Chef Mickey breakfast
Bon voyage breakfast at trattoria
1900 Park fare dinner
Crystal palace breakfast
Tusker house
Be our guest
San Angel inn

Homecomin...that ones for us lol but with the kids

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

We'll be going in September with our 2 and 4 year olds. We're food snobs, live in NY. The restaurant adrs we made are almost all geared towards the kids. Think characters. I'm not expecting quality food, but we're going for the experience and kids.

Good point. My cousin did say she wants to give her girls the best possible trip.

 

[Lisa F]

I don't think you'll see any xmas stuff departing on Nov 2nd. There is a MNSSHP on Nov 1, I can't imagine they'd have any xmas stuff up as early as Nov 2.

that said I'd also worry about getting BoG for dinner so early in your trip. It sounds like it is still booking up at 180+ several days. If you also want to do CRT (which is pretty much a must with 2 little girls!) maybe do that earlier before the party and then BoG later in the trip to give you more flexibility on timing.

Also if your cousin's husband is a big breakfast guy I highly recommend doing character breakfasts rather than dinners. I'm a bit of a foodie myself and I can just never get excited about the food at buffet dinners, but I do enjoy the buffet and family style character breakfasts.

I really enjoyed crystal palace breakfast, not just for character interactions (I LOVE TIGGER!) but also for the food.

My son won't touch a princess thing with a 10 foot pole but if he did, Akershus would be on the short list (for other meals than breakfast) as well as the new Trattoria breakfast, which has gotten great reviews for the food too.

I personally think chef mickey's sounds like my worst nightmare. The noise, chaos, food being flung everywhere by dirty napkins being spun and reports of more poor manners at the buffet than pretty much anywhere else have kept me away. My now 8 year old son has never been and doesn't feel deprived. I have found you can put together the same characters by going to other meals and the 2 and 4 year old will not care if they are all together or not. I don't feel like this is a must do at all and have lived my whole Disney life perfectly happily never going there. But if I did, it would be for breakfast.

H&V was my one dinner buffet due to characters in costume and while the food was "just okay" (nothing bad, nothing great) it was also the best character interaction we had and a truly special "holiday" experience at both Halloween and christmas. So I would consider that even though it is pricey but I can't get excited about the food. But I would not call it "poor" either. Maybe brown derby with F! package would be a good grownup night out though... the show might be a little intense for the little ones.

Garden Grill is nice in the land, it's very classic disney with basic food... again I'd do breakfast and not later meals (just me, can't get excited about that menu either no matter what they change it to). Skipper's Canteen was great in the MK and they have basic mac and cheese and plain grilled steak now for kiddos.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

I don't think you'll see any xmas stuff departing on Nov 2nd. There is a MNSSHP on Nov 1, I can't imagine they'd have any xmas stuff up as early as Nov 2.

that said I'd also worry about getting BoG for dinner so early in your trip. It sounds like it is still booking up at 180+ several days. If you also want to do CRT (which is pretty much a must with 2 little girls!) maybe do that earlier before the party and then BoG later in the trip to give you more flexibility on timing.

Also if your cousin's husband is a big breakfast guy I highly recommend doing character breakfasts rather than dinners. I'm a bit of a foodie myself and I can just never get excited about the food at buffet dinners, but I do enjoy the buffet and family style character breakfasts.

I really enjoyed crystal palace breakfast, not just for character interactions (I LOVE TIGGER!) but also for the food.

My son won't touch a princess thing with a 10 foot pole but if he did, Akershus would be on the short list (for other meals than breakfast) as well as the new Trattoria breakfast, which has gotten great reviews for the food too.

I personally think chef mickey's sounds like my worst nightmare. The noise, chaos, food being flung everywhere by dirty napkins being spun and reports of more poor manners at the buffet than pretty much anywhere else have kept me away. My now 8 year old son has never been and doesn't feel deprived. I have found you can put together the same characters by going to other meals and the 2 and 4 year old will not care if they are all together or not. I don't feel like this is a must do at all and have lived my whole Disney life perfectly happily never going there. But if I did, it would be for breakfast.

H&V was my one dinner buffet due to characters in costume and while the food was "just okay" (nothing bad, nothing great) it was also the best character interaction we had and a truly special "holiday" experience at both Halloween and christmas. So I would consider that even though it is pricey but I can't get excited about the food. But I would not call it "poor" either. Maybe brown derby with F! package would be a good grownup night out though... the show might be a little intense for the little ones.

Garden Grill is nice in the land, it's very classic disney with basic food... again I'd do breakfast and not later meals (just me, can't get excited about that menu either no matter what they change it to). Skipper's Canteen was great in the MK and they have basic mac and cheese and plain grilled steak now for kiddos.

Agree with Crystal Palace - it's delicious... however, I don't think the girls know Pooh and Tigger. I was surprised to see that they didn't know the 7 dwarfs, either.

I hear ya on BOG. I'll save that till later. I think Cape May would be good because it's a good version of Chef Mickey's. Sure, Mickey isn't there (I don't think?) but it has good food and is a nice character meal. Tusker House is an option but the 4yo doesn't like animals, so AK would be a waste. Okay - I'm thinking for dinner BOG, Ohana, CRT; breakfast: Cape May Cafe, maybe Kona at some point.

 

[kboo]

I have foodie kids and we live in NYC. The CRT dinner was actually decent food. Akershus also is not bad. Chef Mickey's was just bad food, however. I might give it another chance but only if I were staying at CR/BLT.

As for Cape May breakfast, would it be any faster/worth it to take the monorail to MK and then grab an MK-BC bus?

Here are some other good places for foodies - we have taken our ODD when she was almost 3-4, and YDD as a 4mo old infant, not sure how it would be with a 2yo but we will be attempting some of these with our 2yo this august:

California Grill
Artist's Point
Narcoossee's or Citricos
Kona Cafe dinner
Spice Road table

1900 Park Fare has a very good character breakfast and dinner - good food and good characters

 

[kboo]

BOG dinner and Skipper's Canteen were good, too.

 

[Irish_Mike]

For the adults, I would suggest checking out some of the new restaurants at Disney Springs. Quite a few of them have garnered good reviews, and it'll allow you to grab a drink at one of the bars before or after and just enjoy the nightlife. Homecomin' and Morimoto Asia are the first two that jump to mind, though STK is also available (though pricier)

For the kids and the whole family...

1900 Park Fair for dinner allows them to usually meet Cinderella, Charming, and the evil stepmother/daughters. The food isn't my absolute favorite in terms of Disney buffets, but it's easy to get to and I've always enjoyed the character interaction.

Whispering Canyon Cafe isn't a character venue, but it's good food (I recommend the Banana Bread french toast) in a fun atmosphere - throwing straws, every ketchup bottle in the restaurant, etc. It was a nice way to kick off our vacation when we went last time.

 

[michelepa]

None of us liked our dinner at O'Hana last month. the food is not good except the bread pudding dessert and it cost $230 for the 4 of us. Do not understand why people like this meal

Also MNSSHP technically starts at 4:00 and with such young kids they probably want to get started around then with gettig their bands, maps ad goodie bags. So, I would plan dinner at BOG for another night. BOG dinner is worth it!

Except for a BOG dinner i would not make any other dinner reservations since the 2 and 4 year old will be off schedule and parents will need to go with the flow to have a pleasant trip.

As far as character meals keep in mind that you are not going for a fabulous meal food is ok but not great at any of these places.

I would check with your sister about what characters they like other than those you mentioned -since they are not at meals -and pick a restaurant based on that. Again they are so young i would also check to make sure they like meeting characters before making any reservations for character meals. Many times we've seen angry parents complaining they'd spent all this money only to have their kids refuse or cry when character came close.