Tell me where your kids enjoy eating...

[nnjamison]

My DH and I are taking our DD6 and DD11 on their very FIRST trip to WDW in May. I am trying to formulate a plan...because like many of you I am a planner and LOVE the planning process. Where are some restauarants that children in this age category would love to eat? Any tips or feedback are greatly appreciated!!

THANKS!!!

 

[BEASLYBOO]

My son has always eaten what I eat so we've never really done the kids menus at Disney unless they offered regular food rather than the awful mac/cheese and nuggets. We've done Disney since he was 2.

Tepan Edo, Japanese Hibachi, sit in a group and the meal is prepared in front of you. My son loves rice in any form or style!

50's Prime TIme Cafe, fun experience, remember to eat your green bean or hide them in your pockets.

For a good burger and milkshake, you can't beat the experience of sitting in a car, watching old sci0fy movies at the Sci-Fy!

He loves a good steak, we enjoy Le Cellier (yes, even witht he hype), Yachtmen Steakhouse, The Turf Club.

We enjoy Morrocan even if it is a bit Americanized, he love the beef kabobs and cous-cous. The music and the belly dancera are a hoot! He loves Tangerine Cafe as a QS, he like the chicken Scwarma platter and the meatballs and rice!

For a fun and kinda hokey experience there's the Hoop De DOO review, you have to do it at least once.

The only buffet we do now since he's outgrown character dining is Boma, he loves to ry different things.

When we did do character dining, Tusker House Character breakfast was our favorite.

Rather than kids meal, one of us always shared our meals with him, now at 15 he can polish off a rack of lamb all by himself! Your children could probably share an adult entre, personally I think the DDP is very restrictive for kids! Take a look at the menus on allears.net, there are many great choices along with the cheeseburger and hot dog options. I do love a good hot dog from time to time, try Casey's (MK) Corn Dog Nuggets!

and if they are picky eaters, Disney got it covered, you can find chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, what Disney calls Pizza, all over the place! Speaking of pizza, Via Napoli, new at Epcot has excellent pizza!

Have fun on your trip!

 

[avw1295]

My DD5 loves buffets, but I'm not a fan of a lot of the buffets at WDW. We usually do Biergarten and breakfast at Chef Mickey's. DH and I like both of those also. She loves Teppan Edo and Ohana. They are both a must do every trip.

 

[goofyintoronto]

My 11 yr old also loves Teppan Edo. One of his faves. He also loves Sci-Fi dine in. So do I (both). Atmosphere and entertainment are fun at both places.

50's is a lot of fun as well. My son loved it when the server picked on me. Lol.

He also likes Tusker House (amazing breakfast btw) and Ohana breakfast.

 

[bellamama]

Tusker House--amazing breakfast, excellent atmosphere.

Sci-Fi Drive in. Food isn't anything to rave about, your basic burger menu, but you can't beat the atmosphere. Our kids love sitting in the front seat, with mom & dad having to sit in the back!

My kids also love the San Angel Inn. Really good Mexican food, GREAT margaritas, and a cool indoor-but-feels-outdoor vibe.

 

[ajsrph]

My kids' favorites are Coral Reef, Sci-Fi, San Angel, Cape May breakfast, Biergarten, Crystal Palace lunch or dinner, and T-Rex Cafe (Downtown Disney, not on dining plan).

My boys are 8 and 10 years old.

 

[Jessieknj]

Sci Fi, Chef Mickeys (food just ok but kids love it), Teppen Endo

 

[scootch]

My girls are 9 and just turned 12. The princess breakfast in Epcot is a must for any mom of two girls. We also like Chef Mickey's dinner. For first visits, character meals are a hit especially. My kids also like Hoop De Doo. Very corny, but they enjoy, it is two table credits if you are on the meal plan though. They also love room service pizza, go figure!

 

[troynkasey]

I have girls 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 so take that for what you will...

Sci-Fi is a good TS at DHS. The drive-in movie aspect as well as the unlimited cherry cokes and bottomless milk shakes are big.

Whispering Canyon at WL is fun, can be loud, and the skillet gives you a good selection. Boma is another resort TS selection that is good for a try.

Chef Mickeys is your classic buffet with a good selection as well as the classic characters.

Cosmic Rays at MK is a good CS with a HUGE variety and tons of seating. Crystal Palace is a good option for a TS at MK.

At Epcot, we like Biergarten. If you have to go the CS option, we will hit one of the countries, Electric Umbrella in Future World or Liberty Inn.

At AK, we do Pizzafari or Flame Tree for CS. If we do TS, we'll do Tuskerhouse for breakfast with Donald. I don't believe we've tried anywhere else for a TS at AK.

 

[disfanforlife]

My 11 year old son's favorite restaurant is Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. It is a must do every trip.

 

[Sgt Tibbs]

Some of my children’s favorites are;

California Grill - the view while we dine in great and watching “Wishes” from the roof make this a must every visit.

The Brown Derby - my oldest is a teen and still wants the chicken soup with Mickey pasta when we go there.

Biergarten – Pretzel Bread!

Whispering Canyon – They love the antics of the cast members

Hoop-De-Doo Revue

Chef Mickey’s

Restaurant Marrakesh (Morocco) my son loved the belly dancer

 

[h2odivers]

My DD7 loves Akershus at Epcot. I think it's one of the best deals if your on the DDP. (disney dining plan). They will get to meet at least three Princesses that will come up to your table to say hello and take pictures. If I remember right you also get a picture taken with a princess wen you first walk in. The food is really good for adults, it is a little different for most Americans, and they have a kids menu with the usually kids items on it. Look into and try it. It might become one of your favorites too.
Have Fun!

 

[h2odivers]

We are going to try it for the first time this trip but have heard its a good time with good food for the entire family. I'll let everyone know about it when we return.
Have Fun!

 

[lemondog]

My kids are 7 and 10. Their only absolute MUST do is breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Although they pretty much love any character meal. Some of our favorite places to eat...

Ohana (dinner)
Boma (dinner)
Biergarten
1900 Park Fare (breakfast)
Tusker House (breakfast)

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I have two DDs - 12 and 8. They both love 50s Prime Tme and Boma. DD8 has loved Crystal Palace since she was 2 years old, and we still eat breakfast there every trip. She will always love seeing Pooh. DD12 likes Stitch and enjoyed the O'Hana breakfast.

DD8 loved Akershus breakfast when she was 5 or 6 - she said it was her "bestest day ever!"

Next trip, we are adding California Grill (DD12 loves sushi) and Tusker House breakfast (just for fun). We are also adding Hoop De Doo - DD12 has seen it, but DD8 hasn't. I think they are at a good age to appreciate the humor.

A tip since this is your first visit - try to schedule breakfasts in the parks (Crystal Palace, Akershus, Tusker House) at the earliest time (usually 8:05) on a day that the parks do not have early extra magic hours. The parks will open at 9:00, but you will be allowed in before 8:00 and can take pictures of your family in front of the castle or in a very empty Epcot or AK with no/few other families around. We usually plan Crystal Palace for 8:05 and finish in time for rope drop.

 

[c&m]

When my DDs were younger, they loved: Teppan Edo, Crystal Palace, 'Ohana, Cinderella's Royal Table, Sci-Fi Dine-In, and Boma.

They're older now, in the tweenie and teen stages. Guess what??? They still request the same restaurants, with the exception of CRT (they have since outgrown the "princess" thing). I'm so glad though we did CRT that one time when they were 6 and 9 - good memories, for sure. With the other restaurants, they love each for that special something that each has. They've become part of our WDW tradition.

Happy planning!!!

 

[amym2]

I agree that if your DDs like princesses, now is the time to do CRT or Akershus! We did CRT for breakfast a couple of years ago and loved it.

Our kids (DS9 and DD7) absolutely love Boma and 'Ohana (we did dinner at both). Whispering Canyon for dinner is a favorite also. And even though they didn't want to do a character meal, we did Cape May for breakfast and they are both asking to go back. 50s PT is lots of fun and the kids enjoyed Chef Mickey's also.

We try to do the character meals for dinner instead of breakfast because we like to linger at the meals but don't want to miss the best time to ride the rides. If we do a breakfast, we usually do it on our departure day.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Our girls are 2 and 5 and they've eaten at Chef Mickey's (b & d), Crystal Palace (b x2), CRT (l & d), 'Ohana (b & d), Tusker House (b), Boma (d), 1900 pf (b x2), Akershus (l & d), Rose & Crown (d), Whispering Canyon (b), Mama Melrose (d), Hollywood & Vine (b), Le Cellier (l), and California Grill (d).

Boma and Tusker House were the only ones the girls really disliked. Surprisingly, DD5's fave WDW meal of all time is California Grill, but with the exception of the all around awful experience at Tusker and the horrible food at Chef Mickey's for dinner- our kids have enjoyed all of the character meals. I think they were a little too young to really appreciate the activities at WCC and 'Ohana dinner- although we were also seated off to the side at 'Ohana and some of our party wasn't into the WCC antics to begin with.

We've eaten at Marrakesh (YUCK), Coral Reef, 50s Prime Time, Brown Derby, Les Chefs de France, Liberty Tree Tavern and Biergarten without the kids. Marrakesh, Coral Reef and LTT probably won't be anything we take the kids to any time soon. As you can tell, we did not like Marrakesh (and we're not picky eaters), Coral Reef was not impressive and we have better local aquarium restaurants, and LTT wasn't even worth it to me back when there were characters.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We took our nieces when they were 6 and 12...they loved the character breakfasts, not only did they have a great time but we got in the parks early and the girls love breakfast food so they ate alot.

What they didnt like was 1900 PF dinner, while they loved the characters they hated the food (as did the adults)

They did enjoy a counter service breakfast or two. They didnt like the CS chicken nuggets from Cosmic Rays or the pizza from Coral Reef (it was a pita shell gross!). Fruit cups from the parks were a big hit with them too.

We had a nice dinner at Fultons and my oldest loved the mac and cheese. Did lunch at Toy Story Pizza Planet and I was able to get a pizza with no sauce for the little one....she doesnt care for a lot of red sauce.

Overall the girls found something to eat no matter where we went...and of course the cupcakes were a huge hit!

 

[MichiganKris]

My daughter (11 now, 8 last time we went) asked to go to Biergarten, Ohana for dinner, Boma (dinner) and Whispering Canyon. Since we booked the trip late, we are going to Biergarten, Prime Time and Kona Cafe for dinners (I wanted the Kona Cafe). I couldn't get reservations at her other requests, but will keep trying. Boma surprised me, but she had a great time trying all the food, and liked having the chicken nuggets and pizza available if she didn't like the African food on the buffet.