So overwhelmed with our choices!!!

[nursetinagb]

We are planning our first family trip to Disney in December and are trying to research the best places to eat with our boys (they'll be 6,4,2). We know we want to do Chef Mickey's but really not too sure of anything else. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[WEDWDW]

WELCOME TO THE DIS!

There are over TWO HUNDRED places to eat at WDW!

Here is a great place to begin "researching".
http://allears.net/din/dining.htm

 

[LittleLady]

There are many places. Some suggestions would be:
Crystal Pallace - Magic Kingdom (Pooh Characters)

The Tusker House - Animal Kingdom (Mickey and Friends)

'Ohanas - Polynesian Breakfast (Lilo and Stitch Character Breakfast) Dinner - no characters but they have coconut races and hula hoop contests for the kids.

 

[3mickeys&me]

Chef Mickey is awesome and their Charactor Breakfast is GREAT! Espesially for the ages of your kids.
Like the other poster said there are over 200 places to choose from. When we went for our first family trip our kids were 2 and 4. Here is the restaurants we went to. We did Chef Mickey for the Charactor Breakfast, Tony's Italian Restuarant, Mama Melrose, Sci Fi Diner, Cinderellas Royal Table, Columbia Harbor House, Peco Bills, Sci Fi Diner.
Good Luck

 

[pauly's girl]

I think the Safari breakfast would be a lot of fun for your little ones. For dinner The charachter meal at the garden gril with chip and dale is fun! Dinner show I would suggest mickey's backyard BBQ for the boys!! Good luck planning and have a great vaca!

 

[Nadjalu]

With boys you definitely want to do Whispering Canyon at Wilderness Lodge.

It is a nice comfortable quick boat ride over from MK. There they have an all you can eat bbq skillet with pork, brisket, ribs and chicken that is served with baked beans, corn on the cob, coleslaw and cornbread. Served family style. They do have other things, check out their menu on all ears.

But the servers do antics and are very loud and funny. Asking for ketchup makes the server scream from your table side for everyone to run ketchup to your table. The kids scramble around and bring it to you...very fun for them. There are gags for drinking too much, asking for straws and plain ole' western hoopla to keep everyone entertained.

It really is a good place to eat too.

 

[Rylee]

Some places my family enjoys...

In or near the Magic Kingdom -

Crystal Palace - Pooh & friends character buffet meal in MK.
Kona @ the Poly.
'Ohana @ the Poly, breakfast with Lilo & Stitch.
Chef Mickey's @ the Contemporary.

In or near Epcot -

Coral Reef in Epcot - one entire wall is an aquarium.
Le Cellier in Canada.
Teppan Edo in Japan... My boys (ages 8 & 11) favorite restaurant at WDW, but not sure how convenient it would be with a baby.

In or near Hollywood Studios -

Si-Fi Dine-In in DHS. Sit in cars at the drive-in movies.
Cape May @ the Beach Club. Character at breakfast, seafood for dinner... a nice boat ride from the Studios and a great way to check out some other resorts.

Animal Kingdom -

Yak & Yeti in AK.
Boma @ Animal Kingdom Lodge. Buffet and, again, a great way to check out the resort.
The character breakfast, (the restaurant location has changed since the last time we ate there.)

Downtown Disney -
We're trying T-Rex (for the boys) on our next trip.

 

[badblackpug]

Wat kind of eaters are your kids? Mine will eat anything, so we don't really have to deal with the "picky" factor. Some of our favorites are:

Ohana dinner
Chef Mickey's
Crystal Palace
Sanaa
Tusker House Safari Breakfast
50's Prime Time Cafe
Sci Fi Dine In Lunch
Yachtsman's Steak House
Le Cellier
Hoop De Doo Review

 

[PrincessInOz]

I took my son to Chef Mickey the first time we were at the World in 2005. He was 5 then. We had a BALL! We saw Mickey (at the entrance), Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale.

It was fun to walk into the Contemporary and see the Monorail go round.

We're doing Cape May and Tusker House breakfast this time round. Tusker House - because it would be fun to see Donald in safari clothes and then hit AK early'ish.

Cape May - because we are staying in the Epcot location and we thought it would be fun to see Mickey in beach clothes.

Both Cape May and TH have pretty good reviews for breakfast.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We've been traveling to Disney with our kids since they were 2, 4 and 5. For boys your age I would suggest:

Ohana (Breakfast and Dinner are great)
Whispering Canyon
Crystal Palace (Breakfast)
Sci-Fi
Coral Reef

 

[Vickis3js]

When we went the first time my kids were a little older then yours but I went out and bought a planning book and read it with the kids. I let them pick some of the places that they thought were cool.

My kids LOVED Ohana for breakfast adn dinner. They had a blast playing the games and dancing at dinner.

Chef Mickeys was fun as well they are requesting it again this Dec.

Crystal Palace they enjoyed as well.

1900 PF for breakfast was awesome. Pooh and Tiger were there as well as Alice, Mad Hatter, and Mary poppins. All the characters were amazing and it was probably our best character meal yet.

My DS is 8 and is asking to go to Sci Fi and Tusker house in Dec.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Where are you staying and what parks are you visiting? IMO, the best way to decide is to pick a restaurant in or near the park you are visiting on a given day to minimize travel times, especially with multiple stroller-age kids! For example, if you know you are visiting MK on Monday, then you may enjoy a restaurant in MK or on the monorail on Monday. If you're visiting AK, plan on a meal in AK or AKL. This is very challenging to do, especially the first time. Also, what will your schedule be? Are you better off planning Table Service breakfasts so everyone is fresh off a night's rest, and then grab CS lunches and dinners depending on where you happen to be, or will you be able to rally the troops to make it to a stress-free dinner?

I recommend purchasing a relatively inexpensive subscription to www.tourguidemike.com. If you go the the Theme Park Strategies board, you will see that TGM is a sponsor and if you click on the link at the top, you can get a discounted membership. Mike gives lots of invaluable tips on how to plan your vacation, best days of the week to visit each park, how to minimize the impact of crowds, and I think it would be very helpful to you. I didn't find TGM until my 4th family trip and my family all agrees it was our best planned trip ever, and we wish we had used Mike sooner.


Specifically about the restaurants, some that were especially magical to my kids when they were little (and some still today) are:

Chef Mickey's
'Ohana
Hoop Dee Doo Revue
CRT
Crystal Palace (best character interaction ever)

Have fun planning, and have a magical vacation!

 

[Get me to Disney!]

I agree - welcome to Dis Boards - Although it was not my first trip to Disney last September, it was my first trip using the DDP and let me tell you - these boards saved my life. You will find wonderful tips and tricks and learn sooo much from just reading through old posts. That as well as getting the Birnbaum's book from the library - I still find that a useful tool - especially if you aren't on the computer a lot. Good luck!!

 

[Planogirl]

If your kids like the Pooh characters, I recommend the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. It's a pretty well-located restaurant with decent food.

I would suggest not going to too many character meals though. These can really take a lot of time and if you get the Fab Five and the Pooh characters out of the way, you've covered most of the characters little kids like.

As for other places, it depends a lot on what your family likes to eat, where you're staying and where you plan to spend your time and so on. Chef Mickey's is very convenient from the monorail resorts and the Magic Kingdom.

 

[mjp12831]

And if so, which one? If you are Deluxe DDP, I'd recommend some 2 TS meals we did last year:
Yachtsman (kids get to paint on white chocolate puzzle for dessert)
Mickey's Backyard BBQ - kids had lots of fun at this one last year
Spirit of Aloha show (Poly) - kids and adults enjoyed the show and food was excellent.

I wasnt big on CRT (even with 3 girls it ws just so so experience for Breakfast imo)

 

[BebopBaloo]

Welcome! Go Pack!

With ages, 6,4,2 you're going to have a blast no matter where you go! Our favorite character meal was The Crystal Palace and we like to get a reservation for before the park opens. This way, you can stroll down Main St, with only a few others and get some great pics of the castle and decorations w/out the crowd. We have always had great service, great food, and great character interaction at CP.

Have fun planning!

 

[nursetinagb]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I've been researching so much and everything sounds good! Will check out all the recommendations!! The boys are hit or miss on being fussy or not - I'm sure they'll be distracted by the sights and sounds around them anyway.

We're leaning towards the deluxe dining - hoping they'll offer the free dining plan again!!

 

[WEDWDW]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I've been researching so much and everything sounds good! Will check out all the recommendations!! The boys are hit or miss on being fussy or not - I'm sure they'll be distracted by the sights and sounds around them anyway.

We're leaning towards the deluxe dining - hoping they'll offer the free dining plan again!!

I just wanted to say that you may not want 3 Full Service meals a day,especially on a first trip.

Full Service meals are very time consuming and will take away a lot of potential Park "touring" time.

Also it is WAY too much food per day,IMHO.