Where to eat w/ young children???

[ms.ojo]

Ok, I have many of the posts on this site re: dining and found lots of great menus....but I've also seen lots of the same questions asked and no direct answers In one thread a person must have asked 4 times what # to call for PS's at the Universal restaurants, how far in advance they could be made...and at what restaurants. Finally, a new thread w/ a sticky so it stays at the top was added that began w/ that info'n.

This person also asked about char meals....and I have yet to find anything on that myself. Other than 1 person writing how poor her char breakfast was and couldn't believe it cost $80. Is there a link someplace that talks about all this stuff???? Most of the links I've tried to access in other msgs here are no longer active.

We are first time visitors to US/IOA (planing for this Dec) and I can't believe how difficult it is to find info'n. Hope someone can help me out.

Oh, and while I've found lots of menus....I've mostly seen poor reviews on eating. Warnings about don't eat in the parks...Only Cityside. But we have young children...there must be someplace decent to eat lunch/dinner in the parks. ??? Cityside just seems so "adult".

Well, hope to hear from you all!!! Thank you very much!!!

 

[Eclpz314]

There are lots of places in both parks that you will find "kid friendly" foods. One of my teen sons would live on chicken fingers and fries rather than try something new! A lot of places list peanut butter/jelly on menus too. We're going back for our 3rd visit and top of the list of places to go back to in US is Louis' Pizza. It's a counter service but full menu including spaghetti, lasagna, etc. and my kids loved the bottles of choc. milk there. There's another identical (can't prove it by my kids though!) one in IOA, same fare but different name. There's also a place over by the Jurassic area (name?) that is a walkthru line and you choose different parts of your dinner...great roasted corn on cob. Most places have a menu hung somewhere so you can see what's offered and prices before you go in. There are not a lot of the places like at WDW where you have to have reservations ahead of time. Citywalk has several restaurants that are "must do". Margaritaville has stiltwalkers roaming through who hand out balloons to the kids. And the volcano erupts every hour.....gotta see it at least once! Very, very kid-friendly. Nascar Cafe is set up like a pit area of a race. Our waiter took our order in "car talk" and the menu listings are in racing terms. Try the ribs there---can't wait! Hardrock Cafe---kids have always like their food. NBA---great smoothies that everyone around us were drinking. We found the food at all of these places to be acceptable to all of us. You can get priority seating at most City Walk restaurants by showing your room key if you're staying onsite. Have a great time! and believe me, with all the snackstands set up throughout the parks, you'll want for nothing!

 

[ms.ojo]

Thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!! You've made me feel much more comfortable. It's just so many people had bad things to say about the park food (I'm not expecting gourment, just a decent burger or salad and fries) But I was starting to get really worried we'd have to leave each day to go into Citywalk. We're there for 2 nights so will have to try Margharitaville and one of your other suggestions.

So, since I'm staying on site I don't have to make a reservation?? I just go to the rest and shop my key?? We'd probably be eating early, around 5:30. Not too busy?

 

[goofy!]

If you are staying onsite and planning to eat around 5:30, you shouldn't have too many problems getting a seat by showing your room key. But beware, if the parks close at 6 or earlier in December, there will be a rush for the restaurants. Also, if it is particularly busy, you can just stop at the concierge desk in your hotel lobby or the reservation carts right inside the entrance to the parks that morning and they can make your reservations for you.

Leaving the parks for Citywalk is not as big a deal as it may seem. Think of the parks as a big V with Citywalk being the bottom of the V, IOA the left leg and Studios the right leg. It takes about 5 minutes (give or take a few minutes) to walk across Citywalk to get from one park to the other. So, all the Citywalk restaurants are located within a 5-15 minute stroll from the entrance of each park. You can easily leave the park and saunter over to a restaurant to eat and then return to a park. It is all within walking distance of each other. It is not like WDW where going from one park to another might involve over an hour on the transportation system.

Children's fare. The parks are a family destination, so the restaurants, even the Citywalk ones are comfortable for children. The only exception is later at night when Citywalk's clubs are open. The eating establishments within the parks run the gamut, some with better children's menus than others, but they all have something for kids. Food ranges from Park Type mediocre to fabulous. Richters has great burgers. Mel's diner has ok burgers, but the 50's type setting is fun - my kids have seen enough Happy Days reruns that they think it is "cool" to eat there. Finding a decent salad may be more of a challenge within the parks, but Circus McGurkis has a decent chicken Caesar if you are looking for fast cafeteria type food. And there are several great sit-down places within the parks to eat. Finnegans and Mythos both come to mind. And both are very kid friendly. As I said before, Universal is a family destination, so kids are pretty much welcome everywhere.

As Eclpz324 said, the restaurants in Citywalk are all fun for kids. At Nascar, my kids got a kick out of the wheels of the big (real) race car hanging from the ceiling turning in sync with the race clips being shown on the screens around the restaurant. Their favorite though is Margaritaville - with the stiltwalkers with intricate balloon hats, the boisterous singing along to 'Cheeseburger in Paradise' and the erupting volcano. And while more sedate, they also love Pastamore.

Character meals. The Spiderman breakfast is the main character meal that Universal offers. I believe that some of the hotel restaurants sometimes have characters in them, but it is not a organized character meal like Spiderman. BTW, although the food was typical buffet breakfast food, my kids had the best time at the Spiderman breakfast.

Hope this helps answer some of your questions.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Our kids favorite places last year were: Margarittaville, Hard Rock Cafe, The Kitchen at HRH and Finnegan's. They also really liked the Cat in the Hat Character breakfast.

 

[ms.ojo]

This is SO helpful. It's hard when you've never been. I appreciate knowing that it will be so easy to park hop and get to the other restaurants. I had no idea. I'm really starting to look forward to this leg of our trip!

One last question...where IS the spiderman bfast? Is the Cat in the Hat a diff't char bfast or do they appear together??? How far in advance do I make reservations for this???

Thanks again.
Janet

 

[Bill Lumbergh]

Sorry, when I first read the title of this thread, I thought it said, "Where to eat young children."

I think all the places mentioned so far are good. I think Mythos has a good kid's menu. I've been known to eat the leftovers from kids at the same table. Plus, kids can look at the neat carvings around Mythos.

 

[ralfrick]

The character breakfast is at Confiscos in IOA, but not every morning. It can be tricky to find stuff on the official site. I think it's under hot deals or news, something like that.

Cheers.

 

[3Mousketeers]

Ok, I have many of the posts on this site re: dining and found lots of great menus....but I've also seen lots of the same questions asked and no direct answers In one thread a person must have asked 4 times what # to call for PS's at the Universal restaurants, how far in advance they could be made...and at what restaurants. Finally, a new thread w/ a sticky so it stays at the top was added that began w/ that info'n.

This person also asked about char meals....and I have yet to find anything on that myself. Other than 1 person writing how poor her char breakfast was and couldn't believe it cost $80. Is there a link someplace that talks about all this stuff???? Most of the links I've tried to access in other msgs here are no longer active.

We are first time visitors to US/IOA (planing for this Dec) and I can't believe how difficult it is to find info'n. Hope someone can help me out.

Oh, and while I've found lots of menus....I've mostly seen poor reviews on eating. Warnings about don't eat in the parks...Only Cityside. But we have young children...there must be someplace decent to eat lunch/dinner in the parks. ??? Cityside just seems so "adult".

Well, hope to hear from you all!!! Thank you very much!!!

I don't think Citywalk is really "adult" until later in the evening. We plan to check it out at night with the kids so we'll let you know our thoughts. We're not doing any character meals this time. Our last couple Disney trips we scheduled ourselves silly so we're trying to be more relaxed. When you stay onsite my understanding is that your room key gets you first available seating at the full-service restaurants (kinda seems like Disney priority seatings to me). The only reservations we made were for the kids to go to the Mariner's Club while we have a nice meal at Tchoup Choup (made reservations through opentable.com). Hope this helps!

 

[Bill Lumbergh]

The character breakfast is at Confiscos in IOA, but not every morning. It can be tricky to find stuff on the official site. I think it's under hot deals or news, something like that.

Cheers.

Here is information on the character breakfast: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=843374

 

[Figment22]

Sorry, when I first read the title of this thread, I thought it said, "Where to eat young children."

I think all the places mentioned so far are good. I think Mythos has a good kid's menu. I've been known to eat the leftovers from kids at the same table. Plus, kids can look at the neat carvings around Mythos.

I completely agree with you about Mythos. My kids are older now (15 & 12) but they have LOVED eating at Mythos since IOA opened in 1999. While my oldest has obviously graduated to the adult menu, my younger son still loves to get the "One Fish, Two Fish" ravioli, available with either tomato sauce, alfredo sauce or butter. Mythos is magnificent to look at and in December it's decked out for Christmas with a gingerbread Dr. Seuss village that was really something.

For the adults, Mythos' salads are terrific although my personal favorite would be the risotto of the day. If you haven't seen them already:
Mythos Menu
Mythos Kids Menu

My kids also love eating at Thunder Falls Terrace at IOA. You can sit near the windows and watch the boats from Jurassic Park River Adventure splash down again, and again, and again....

Also good at IOA is the Enchanted Oak. Kids can spend a LONG time looking up and finding all the animals carved into the tree. It's awesome.

At the Studios we usually eat at Finnegan's or Lombard's (full service) or grab a pizza at Louie's. The food at IOA is MUCH better than the food at the Studios, IMO.

All of the restaurants have something for the kids whether they're at the parks or at City Walk so RELAX! You and the little ones will enjoy Universal Orlando.

 

[ms.ojo]

Great info'n and links!!

I'll bump this up in case anyone else has something to add......

 

[ralfrick]

Their web site no longer shows it as being certain days, so I'm guessing it's daily during the summer. May call tomorrow to book it if such is the case.

Cheers.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

During my last trip to US, I noticed that they had opened a Nathans in the Amity area (near the Jaws attraction). I did not stop to eat there, but I know DH is a big fan of Nathans hot dogs and we will likely stop there on our visit next month.

 

[ms.ojo]

Never heard of Nathans..

 

[ralfrick]

Just booked Confiscos, looks to be daily for the time being.

Cheers.