First of all, I would suggest that you get out a notebook and write down where you will be during each day of your trip. Each day should have a page of it's own. Each day should be broken down in four parts.....Breakfast, Lunch, Snack and Dinner.
Since we have kids, we usually just stick to one park per day and we eat dinner in the "park of the day".
Once you get your days written out, go to
www.allearsnet.com and click on Dining. Scroll down a bit and you'll see Menus. Click there and you will have a list of each and every Disney restaurant. You can view the menus (and the prices) for each restaurant.
To get the most bang for your buck, I would suggest you use your table service credits at dinner time and your counter service meals for your lunches. We aren't breakfast eaters so, if we do decide to eat breakfast, we will pay for those out of pocket and save our dining credits for lunch and dinner.
Now that you have your days written out and the menus in front of you, write down where you think you will be eating your meals for each day. Go ahead and write down what you think each of you will order. Don't forget to make a note of the prices too.
For snacks, I would recommend that you budget $4.00 per person on the meal plan. Most places will accept the
Disney Dining Plan for any item $4.00 and under.
Once you have all of your days mapped out, total up each day separately. Then add each of your days to get a grand total. Don't forget to add in tax. The total you tip is up to you.
After you have all of your totals, you will be able to determine whether or not the Disney Dining Plan is right for your family. Keep in mind that some of your choices may change but this will give you an idea of what you would spend.
We have found that, with the Disney Dining Plan, we are more apt to try new restaurants and order different food variations. We were also able to eat at more character meals than when we were visiting without the Dining Plan.
Now, on to your question about which restaurants are kid friendly. You will find that most Disney restaurants are very kid friendly. There are very few that are not.....Victoria and Alberts, Artists Point, etc.
Our favorite Epcot restaurants are Coral Reef, Garden Grill and LeCellier. Coral Reef is located in the Living Seas and one entire wall of the restaurant is a glass aquarium. Lots of different, sharks and rays will swim by during your meal. Kids love that.
Garden Grill is a character meal located inside The Land pavilion. Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale visit with you during your meal. They are all dressed up in their farming clothes. The meal is served family style meaning they will bring the entire meal to your table and you serve yourself. The servers are more than happy to replinish any item you need.
LeCellier is located in Canada. We have found everything on the menu to be excellent. The restaurant looks like a wine cellar and it was kid friendly too.
Our favorite Magic Kingdom restaurants just happen to be two of the character meal restaurants. Crystal Palace is a huge buffet. I am pretty picky about buffets but this one is very well staffed and clean. The characters are Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and Pooh. Sometimes, the characters will have an impromptu parade where they lead the kids around the restaurant dancing to a lively song.
The other is Liberty Tree Tavern. The characters are dressed in revolutionary period clothing and are Minnie, Chip, Dale and Goofy. There is a lot of character interaction with the kids. The meal is another family style meal and is like a Thanksgiving meal....turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, etc.
The only character meal at MGM Studios is Hollywood and Vine but we have never eaten there. The characters are from Playhouse Disney and my son thinks they are too kiddish.
We like to eat at the Sci-Fi when we are at MGM Studios (which will become Disney Hollywood Studios in 2008). The restaurants looks like a drive in theater and you will be seated in cars. Old black and white movie reels are shown during the meal. The food here is pretty good but the atmosphere is what the restaurant is really all about.
We haven't eat at the new Yak & Yeti at the Animal Kingdom nor have we eaten at the new character buffet. Usually, we head over to the Rainforest Cafe on our Animal Kingdom day. Keep in mind though that the Rainforest Cafe is not on the
DDP. The food is quite good and the atmosphere is so fun for the kids.
I hope that I was able to help you in your decision making process.
