Which meal to do ADR for toddlers?

[Fall1]

I am waiting to book ADRs for our October trip and I've never traveled with children before so I'm not sure which meal of the day to do an ADR on. Should I mix it up and try bfast, lunch and dinner or try to stick with mainly bfast or mainly lunch? I am curious for others that took very small children, which worked best.

My twins will be 17 months on our trip.

Thanks!

 

[brandylouwho]

I suppose it depends on their normal routines, etc.

For us, we liked breakfast as the kids are early risers and in generally good moods in the morning. Lunch worked well too, as it was nice downtime in AC. Dinners were more challenging as the kids are often tired and getting crabiber by that late in the day, even if they had taken decent naps. Dinners that were early (like 5:00) were OK. We had a 7:00 once & our almost 3 year old fell asleep at the table! (we had fed her earlier).

 

[Mom2JPL]

When we took our 3 kids in Oct they were 12 months, almost 3, and 4. We mixed it up

For breakfast (in AK) we booked first seating so we could be in the park when they opened. Kids were excited because they got to see Mickey and friends and it started off the day great!

At MK we had an adr at Crystal Palace for noonish lunch (we're early risers, so got to the park at rope drop, had fun, and then kids were ready for a break at lunch); after lunch we headed back to the resort for naps.

Same at MGM - adr for noonish lunch at Hollywood & Vine, back to room for naps afterwards. After naps we'd head back to the same park for a cs meal. (We didn't do park hoppers, didn't feel they were necessary with little ones.)

Epcot (was actually our arrival day) - we booked the last seating for lunch at Akershus for the princesses...kids loved it and it got our vacation off to a great start!

Our last evening we booked a dinner in DTD at Wolfgang Pucks (our only non-character adr!) and we all loved that too.

Hope you have a great time!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

We like to mix it up. I'm assuming you are using the DDP. Obviously, you get more for your money to have dinner but they can be REALLY tired by dinner time. My daughter also is completely different in terms of napping/eating schedules in Disney than she is at home. Since this is our 4th trip with her (two to WDW, 1 to Disneyland), we are hoping that we have it down pat since we just made our ADRs for our next trip on Sunday. We mixed it up this year. We also made sure to schedule more breaks and two days just to hang out at the hotel. We did dinner ADRs on those days...hoping that she will be less tired. Here is our schedule...we have done all of them (except for Akershus) before and DD loves them all.
Day1- Boma for Dinner
Day 2- Chef Mickey's for Breakfast, 1900 Park Fare for Dinner
Day 3- Tusker House for Lunch
Day 4- O'Hana for Dinner
Day 5- BBB and CRT for Breakfast
Day 6- Akershus for Breakfast and Le Cellier for Dinner
Day 7, 8, 9- No ADRs...we'll use the Planet Hollywood certificate one of those for lunch.

 

[2tinkerbells]

Last year we had our 18 month old and 4 year old. Here is what we did:
Sun: Chef Mickeys breakfast (9:30)
WCC dinner (6:00)
Mond: Ohana early dinner (4:45)
Tues: Boma dinner(6:00)
Wed: Cinderella late lunch (1:50)
Thur: dinner Biergarten
fri: late breakfast Crystal Palace (10:30)

I liked not being tied down for breakfast so we could get the most rides and attractions done before lunch. Lunch was a good down time and then we would head back out to the parks. We would finish the day with dinner and head to our room. It worked for us, but my kids have always been flexible when it comes to nap time. The 18 month old would usually sleep in the stroller sometime during the day.

 

[danielle782001]

We always do a mix with our small ones... But we always get the early dinner reservation when you are doing a TS... We also try to mix up the type of TS... We try not to do all buffets and characters but always pick places that have food on the menu that they will enjoy and places where it is okay for them to get loud...

We like for small ones:
Whispering Canyon Cafe for breakast or dinner
Sci-Fi for lunch or dinner
Tusker House for breakfast
Garden Grill for lunch
Chef Mickey for breakfast
Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner
Crystal Palace for breakfast or lunch
Rainforest Cafe for lunch
Cape May Cafe for breakfast
Trails End for dinner

Some mornings we like to eat something small in the room instead of rushing out.... Counter-service at the resort is great for that.

Hope I helped.

 

[Cory's Gal]

For our trip with our DS who had just turned 2, we only made 2 ADR's for table service. I didn't want to sit and pay and wait too much with him. We did a 8:15 breakfast one morning at the CP, which was wonderful. We also did a lunch at the 50's PTC which was great. Both places were louder so if he got a little wild or fussy (which he didn't), it was at a louder restaurant. We had good luck with lunches for him too just by buying 2 pieces of bread at the food court for like $0.60 and making peanut butter sandwiches. REALLY cheap and he was happy with his "favorite food". It worked great when the rest of us ate counter service food or just wanted to snack.

 

[Mommy2JulietJocelyn]

we went in sept 2006 - DD2 1/2, DD 15months
we did breakfast at CP, chef Mickeys, dinner at WCC, Boma, Concourse steakhouse, Akershuas - lunch(sp), CRT
we are going this sept and so far have picked out - breakfast CP, H&V (playhouse disney), chef Mickeys, dinner, O'hanas, WCC, and lunch at garden grill or coral reef

 

[slduck]

We are planning early CS lunches and early dinners with my 2 yo. When we went with my 3 yo, this worked better. Long afternoon breaks with pool and play time helped! We have done Chef Mickey's for breakfast and dinner. both were greast. I usually go for louder meals. We are doing Akershus, Chef Mickeys, 1900 Park Fare, Ragland Road, WCC, Le Cellier, and hollywood and vine. The louder meals and buffets seem to be easier with small children.IMHO
One trick that I have read is to ask for the check and clear the bill early in the meal. That way you aren't waiting for the check with a grumpy child.

 

[SalandJeff]

On our 1st trip with dd, she was 31 months. We worked around her schedule for everything. We would plan what park on what day, but generally would get up, eat breakfast in the room (we are dvc members...a food court would work just as well) and kind of get ready to go at a leisurely pace. She would be so tired from the day, that she wasn't jumping out of bed as early as she would at home.

What worked for us with the ADR's we made was to do a very early dinner type meal. DD is not a big eater anyway. So breakfast and snacks or a light lunch were fine for her. Then we would get an early ADR, at around 4. For dh & myself, it was early to eat, but we would not eat much at lunch either. Then if we got hungry in the evening, we would have a snack or dessert.

You have to try to follow their routine as much as you can (or you'll be looking at lots of meltdowns). Have fun!

 

[ljcrochet]

I took my girls to disney the first time when they were 17 1/2 months old. We did a mixture of breakfast and dinners. (We did Donalds buffet in Animal kingdom and Cinderella's royal table in magic kingdom for breakfast) Whispering Cayon and boma for late dinners.
I think the trip was harder on us then the girls since they got to sleep in the stroller. We learned not to bother going back to the room figuring they would nap, since that never happened.

 

[danielle782001]

I took my girls to disney the first time when they were 17 1/2 months old. We did a mixture of breakfast and dinners. (We did Donalds buffet in Animal kingdom and Cinderella's royal table in magic kingdom for breakfast) Whispering Cayon and boma for late dinners.
I think the trip was harder on us then the girls since they got to sleep in the stroller. We learned not to bother going back to the room figuring they would nap, since that never happened.

I agree... We went back to the room every afternoon on our first trip with the boys... The baby was 14 months at the time and was used to an hour and a half nap... We attempted every day for five days to get him to nap with no success... We did not try at all when we brought him back the following year....

We also have found that they stay up way past their bedtime when we go to Disney... These are both 7:30 bed time kids... And they were staying up well past 10 each night and waking up usual time in the morning (around 7 AM)... They are just so excited to be in Disney, that sleep is not a as important...

They also got hungry at the usual times...

So, we now make reservations for 8 AM breakfast (because there is no way they will sleep in, even if we really want to), 12 PM lunch, and our usual 5 PM dinner... Based on our experience, I think it is important to stick to your eating schedule that you follow at home because they will get crazy if they don't eat and you end up buying more junk snacks because they cannot wait to eat.

My advise... Keep your eating schedule and ditch the nap/sleep schedule

 

[Zeebs]

What is the earliest you can make an ADR for an evening meal? Cullen's meal time is around 5pm but I don't want to make an ADR for 5 and then by the time you get seated, order and get your food it is well after and he is cranky and you end up rushing through your meal so not to disturb other peoples dinner. Seth isn't on solids yet but I suspect we will follow the same routine as with Cullen so he will be on the same time frame when we get to WDW.

Kirsten

 

[GoinToDisney]

We do the Hollywood and Vine lunch and then Chef Mickey for dinner. Crystal Palace, we will do either lunch or dinner. We like to share a breakfast platter at the hotel and have some of our own cereal for breakfast.

 

[danielle782001]

What is the earliest you can make an ADR for an evening meal? Cullen's meal time is around 5pm but I don't want to make an ADR for 5 and then by the time you get seated, order and get your food it is well after and he is cranky and you end up rushing through your meal so not to disturb other peoples dinner. Seth isn't on solids yet but I suspect we will follow the same routine as with Cullen so he will be on the same time frame when we get to WDW.

Kirsten

It depends...

For example, Liberty Tree Tavern starts dinner at 4PM, Crystal Palace is 3PM, Chef Mickey is 5PM, Trails End is 4:30, Cape May is 5:30, and places like Whispering Canyon and Sci-Fi takes reservations all afternoon and evening (menus change but there is open times straight through)... Remember if you go to a buffet and get the earliest reservation (such as Chef Mickey at 5:00), you should be eating right away... If you don't get the first reservation, you may have to wait 10-15 minutes before you get seated even with a reservation... Bottom-line, make your reservations ASAP...

By the way, you can see all the times for open and close if you do the dining search... Above each menu is the operating times.