Restaurants for large families

[Titaniummom]

Hi there!
We have a large family, 2 adults and 6 kids. When we go Kids will be 14, 11, 10, 9, 4, 3. What are the restaurants that would be good to accomodate us all without much hassle and would be fun for their ages? I have read a lot and am just at a loss. My disney experiences in the past were either by myself with my parents or just one sibling and parents. And we would only go for the day as we lived in Florida. Coming from Texas and it having been 16 years I don't even know what to do! hahahaha. I"m so lost as to how to plan. I don't even know what hotels can keep us...everything keeps coming up that our family size is too big when I try to check ressies. UGH. Anyways, any input from other large families would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you soooo very much!
~Heather

 

[angelmav]

We are in the same boat, with 5 kids ourselves. What I do is price with half the family, breaking down equally adult/child on 1 ressie so I can get a total price or price it twice. Easiest thing to do is two rooms which will require seperate reservations but you can request adjoining rooms. We stayed at shades of Green last time but are debating between POP and POFQ this time, have to call and see what Military discounts are being offered. ADR's you can make for everybody. We like family style or buffet restaurants since there is something for everybody, places to keep in mind, Chef Mickey's (character), Ohana (activities), Liberty Tree Tavern, Crystal Palace, (character) Biergarten (entertainment), SCI-Fi(Atmosphere), 50's Prime Time (Interaction). Anyway, hope this gives you some ideas!

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

We have had many meals at table service restaurants with large groups of friends -- much larger than your family of 8! While there may be a few restaurants where this is a challenge, for the most part you will find your group easily accommodated. There are large round tables in many locations, as well as smaller tables that the servers will push together for you.

I would recommend that you try to make ADRs well in advance. If you try to book closer to your trip dates, you may find that there are only split reservations (two tables) left for your size party.

Our family of 5 traveld with my brothers family of 3 on a couple of trips. I know we didn't book 180 days out, probably more like 60 days. We were flexible with our desired locations and it all worked out.

Have a great trip!

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I definitely agree with the previous poster and would attempt to set up my ADR's for this larger group..

I know Spoodles can accommodate large groups and I think the Galley can as well.. all of the restaurants I think can if they know you are coming type of thing..

Look at the menus here: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/disneydining.cfm#dd

 

[laughinplace199]

We travelled with another family in April, which made us a party of 10. We made ADR's for Spoodles, Brown Derby, 50's Prime Time, and Chef Mickey's with no problems. We were all seated together at one table at each of these places.

We also had ADR's for 8 of us for CRT, but we had to split into 2 groups of 4. Not a big deal and they seated us right next to each other.

Have fun!

 

[Belle5]

Family of eight here! Most places have seating for eight as long as you make your ADRs well in advance. Our favorites are Teppan Edo (the table/grill seats exactly eight--at least it used to before the remodel), LTT for lunch. If your kids have never been to WDW they will need a character meal (my kids don't care for them--except the little guy). Chef Mickey's is probably the most popular. I prefer LTT for dinner because it's well controlled and quiet with characters and served family style so mom isn't running six miles to fill four kids plates...Other families enjoy WCC at WL. We did the first time but not on subsequent visits. It gets wild in there... (funny the first time--obnoxious, IMHO, after that)

Hotels: two rooms guaranteed connecting at any WDW resort will do. You can't make those ressies on-line. You have to speak to the Walt Disney Travel Co. at 1-(407) W- Disney. If money is not much of an object then you might want to rent a timeshare on WDW property. For me, I am not cooking on vacation--I get enough of that at home! We have also stayed off property many times and that can be good, too, if you do your homework. We stayed at a Residence Inn once that accomodated eight and served a hot breakfast. We have been 20+ and are now pretty spoiled by staying on-site, but when we were WDW newbies and stayed off-property the kids didn't know the difference (now they do).

In the past Disney Dining would often tell us they could not give us a table that seated eight but could give us two tables that seat four each. They would try and put the tables together when we arrived but could not guarantee that we would not be separated. That worked great until the DDP became so popular. Last year, we were often not seated together during a fifteen day stay! Previous years they always seated us together. This year I tried to only take tables that would accommodate eight--even if that meant dining at 5:00 or 9:00 pm. I really want to be seated together! The sooner you make ADR's the more likely you will be to land those tables of 8!

You will have a great time! Happy planning and let me know if you need any other info.!