Restaurant strategy for little ones?

[Dallas_Lady]

Those of you who have toddlers and preschoolers (ages 1-5 or so) what is your dining strategy?

Do you plan more sit-down table service meals so you can give yourself and the kids time to relax?

Do you plan more counter-service meals because the kids are too wound up to sit still in a restaurant?

As an adult, I like having a sit-down meal each day so I can relax and unwind. But I am worried that my then-toddlers (2 and 4 probably) will be so wound up that I end up eating burgers and fries from counter service all week. What's been your experience?

 

[AmyBWV99]

We have 2 kids and taken both of them together twice and DS#1 a number of times prior and we usually do 1 sit down per day for us and them. We just stick w/what we do at home and bring a bag of stuff to do at the table, crayons, books, etc. typically the kids are well prepared to sit for the meal and do well. We can't do fast food all the thime either it tears us up.

 

[tjmw2727]

We found that one sit down meal - usualy late lunch worked really well when my kids were toddler/preschool age. We did cold breakfast in the room or something quick from the food court, a healthy mid morning snack on the go and then a late lunch usually at the park and counter serve dinner.

I found by 1 -2ish we were all ready for a nice cool break and the kids were more than willilng to sit and color/play while waiting to eat a nice meal and IMHO lunch usually requires less sitting then a sit down dinner. We also found we could get great choices at a lower cost than with dinner.

Occasinally we would replace mid morning snack with a late sit down character breakfast and then again a counter service dinner.

TJ

 

[rt2dz]

We do TS restaurants because my kids don't like fast food that much. And I can't stand the idea of them, and myself, living off of it for 10 days.

We try for either a late lunch or early dinner. This works well for three reasons. One it is not anywhere near as crowded and waits are therefore less. Two it combines the more expensive meals into one. We can then later grab a snack. Lastly, it seems to be when our kids need the break the most.

We also have crayons and coloring book or some other type of activity with us to help pass the time.

 

[scootch]

I think it all depends on your kid. If you kid does well at restaurants at home, he/she will do fine at disney, but if yours are like mine.... buffets work much better, instant food. I also try to hit lunch early before the crowd(11ish) and keep lots of snacks with me(crackers, dry cereal, juice boxes and such). I had a hard time getting my kids to stop to eat.. we have even gotten take out at Cosmic Rays and ate on the curb waiting for the parade We also do alot of room service pizza.

 

[Perditamarie]

We have had good luck w/a late character breakfast buffet...plenty of stuff for picky eaters, including fruit, they like cruising the buffet line, and they are not tired/crabby. This usually holds us through to an early supper, like fruit and sandwiches by the pool and early-to-bed. Your DD is adorable!

 

[wishtdream]

We eat a sit down meal 365 days a year. Unless it is a holiday we eat that meal between 5:30 and 7pm most days at 6. Lunch is a more mobile meal for us and breakfast is small. My kids are 5 and 9mo. We eat out on a semi-regular basis and try to vacation 2x a year. We have only had to leave a restaurant once due to bad behavior. DD was 16months old (she had a terrible screaming fit right after our waiter took our order)and we had just got back to Miami after a 8 night cruise. We just asked the waiter to have the food packed up to go and took it back to our hotel. When you have kids stuff happens sometimes. Bad stuff happens less when we attempt to stay close to our normal routine. This next trip our ADR's are between 5:30 and 7:30 on the really late one we will probably feed the kids a snack at 5:30 to tide them over.

If you think about your normal routine when making your ADR's, I'm quite sure you will have a great trip.

 

[NHdisneylover]

We found that one sit down meal - usualy late lunch worked really well when my kids were toddler/preschool age. We did cold breakfast in the room or something quick from the food court, a healthy mid morning snack on the go and then a late lunch usually at the park and counter serve dinner.

I found by 1 -2ish we were all ready for a nice cool break and the kids were more than willilng to sit and color/play while waiting to eat a nice meal and IMHO lunch usually requires less sitting then a sit down dinner. We also found we could get great choices at a lower cost than with dinner.

Occasinally we would replace mid morning snack with a late sit down character breakfast and then again a counter service dinner.

TJ

That is exactly how we did it when the kids were little. It worked so well for us.

 

[Tinkermommy]

We do character buffets now. When DS1 is done eating he wants to go! With the character buffets, he's occupied as he loves all the characters.

I get his food and feed him and then go get mine so I have a chance of actually eating warm food!

Have fun!

 

[troynkasey]

Sit down restraunts take a while. Do counter service if they're impatient otherwise try the sitdown. Especially if there's a lot going on.

Also, try and go off peak eating times so you don't have to wait in line or wait for a seat.

 

[TDISFAMILY]

I would try to do 1 sit down a day to give yourself a break, the buffet TS are a good idea because they don't have to wait on the food to come. Even better would be a character TS that is family style (they bring the food to you rather than going to get it yourself at a buffet) like at the Garden Grill and the characters keep the kids entertained.

 

[crisi]

Mom eating nothing but counterservice makes for a crabby mom in our house.

We do one sitdown meal a day. We plan ours for either a very late (post nap) lunch or an early dinner. My kids have never really "napped" at Disney, but we always have some mid-day downtime. They've always been better behaved at Disney restaurants than "out" because they are tired by the time we are eating.

Hints:

Make sure they never get really hungry, hungry kids are cranky kids. That may mean snacking them with something right before dinner.

Know the menu before you even sit down.

Tell the hostess and then the waiter that you want the meal to move quickly because of the kids - order dessert when you order dinner.

Have one parent walk the kids outside while you wait for the food if they are too antsy to play with crayons or whatever you have.

(I hate buffets with little kids - obviously other people's milage varies - I have to juggle kid plates in addition to my own plate at a buffet - and therefore I don't get a break - or get to eat adequately because they are "all done" just about the time the first forkfull goes into my mouth. Once kids are old enough to handle their own plates, that changes again).

 

[nessz79]

We don't do more than 1 TS meal per day. Sometimes we'll do all CS, especially if we anticipate they will be tired that day. When my youngest son (3.5) is overtired, he acts super hyper and gets out of control.

There are lots of CS meals that can be relaxing if you go at the right time and know the right places.

Character meals are fun for buffets, but this can add to the stimulation...so I wouldn't do this when they are ready for nap or bed time.

 

[_queenie_]

We've always done sit-down meals.

Luckily our kids have been foodies and wonderful in restaurants since they were infants which is great because, as DH says, "We don't go on vacation to eat crap!" We try to take the kids, now 17, 13 and almost 4 to a nice restuarant at least once a week and have done so forever which I think has really helped them learn how to behave not only out to eat but in school, etc. If it's in your budget I reccomend everyone taking their kids out frequently before your trip to prepare them if they aren't used to being in a sit-down setting, even a basic chain if you don't plan on going to sigs (or to see if you think they can handle sigs).

 

[Msslaydbug]

Our kids are used to eating out so I don't even think they blink when we do a TS meal at Disney. Most of the time they keep themselves entertained with the crayons and coloring sheet.

 

[labdogs42]

I didn't read the other posts yet, but my strategy is to do one TS a day for a little break from the hectic pace of the parks. I try to stick to the TS that are buffets or family style (my FAVORITES) because you get food FAST and they keep it coming! Of course, since most of those places have characters, too, that helps, but getting food on to the table and into their little bellies quickly is the key for me.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

labdogs42, I love your Digiscrap Layouts! I am a bit of a novice at it.

 

[Colinsmom]

I love having one family-style table service meal per day because we all get to sit and relax, but the food comes quickly (and we don't have to run back and forth to the buffet, standing in line and filling plates).

And I agree with sticking to your kids' normal schedule. For us, a late lunch is a disastrous idea because our kids are early risers, and they are starving for a good meal by 12pm or so. They can't make it to 1pm on snacks, and the little one is too close to naptime by 1-2pm. We found it better to be at the parks at rope-drop and plan on lunch around 11:30-12pm (with snacks available in the morning as needed). Then we went straight from lunch back to the hotel for a nap, and headed back to the parks around dinnertime.

For us, it worked best to have lunch as our table service meal. The kids just seemed to have a better appetite, and were more ready to sit down for a rest (vs. being antsy). At dinner time, they preferred to eat lighter and keep on moving, so those were our CS meals. On the days when we had CS for lunch and TS for dinner, the meals (and days in general) just didn't go as well for us.

 

[labdogs42]

labdogs42, I love your Digiscrap Layouts! I am a bit of a novice at it.

Thanks, I'm kind of a newbie at it, too. Join us over on the Scrapbooking board for more inspiration!! See you there!

 

[NMMickeymom]

We typically do one TS meal a day. When it's hot, it is so nice to have a cool place to relax and have someone "take care" of you. I would agree with the other posters to pack some sort of entertainment for the little ones. We have a small bag just for restaurant table entertainment. Magnetic tic-tac-toe, a card game, and the miniature play-dough packs work great.