Dining for a 2 and 8 year old.

[alilprincessmom99]

So, we are taking a trip at the end of May. So far we have ressies for Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, and Coral Reef (I think that's the name of it!). Does anyone have any suggestions for another dining experience that a 2 year old and an 8 year old would enjoy? Any suggestions you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

[hooberry]

:mickey:I'm guessing from your intercot name, you must have a girl. MY 3 yr old loved princess breakfast in norway so much we are doing it again this year. Each princess came to the table and talked to her and even played with the little polly pocket princess dolls she had. Sleeping beauty even pretended to be frightened by the Malificent doll on the table and kissed all over her prince Phillip doll :mickey:priceless:mickey: Also the dinner in Morocco was great, my little one was thrilled to get to dance with the bellydancer and she was the only kid that was out there dancing while the music was playing. She got a huge round of applause and giggles:D

[MickeyandTink]

I'll second Hooberry about Akershus in Norway. We haven't done the breakfast, but we did the dinner last year with DD (then 6) and she loved it. We thought the food was some of the best and there were numerous princessed for autographs and photos. We are doing it again this September and taking DS2 along as well this time.

We also did 1900 Park Fare and Ohana's last year and DD and DW enjoyed that as well.

When we go back this September, DD will be 7 and DS will be turning 3 while we are there, so our kids are pretty close in age to yours. In addition to Akershus, we are doing Chef Mickey's, Garden Grill, Sci-Fi, Whispering Canyon and Crystal Palace.

Enjoy your trip!:thumbsup:

[katzctkpt]

I would vote for 1900 Park Fare. We have 2 dd and ds and they loved this character dinner. I wasn't to sure about our ds and the characters but, he was cool with it. Cinderella gave him a peck on the cheek which left an imprint from the lipstick. He gushed :blush: a little when we laughed at him.:D

[Tigerinvestigator]

Garden Grill! Great food, great atmosphere, revolving restaurant with views of Living with the Land boatride, and the best one on one time with Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale!:thumbsup:

[Mickey91]

Liberty Tree Tavern
Ohanas
Garden Grill
50's Prime Time Cafe
Cosmic Rays (a CS but lots of fun)

[elmjimmlm]

Even if you have kids another is Ohana breakfast with Stitch...I think that every kids loves the movie...:stitch:

[TheMartellFamily]

O'hana's is one that would appeal to everyone. Another one that might be good is possibly the character breakfast or lunch at Hollywood and Vine in DHS then the dinner is a buffet with out characters. There is so many to choose from that all are OK. The good thing is each restaurant will have something that will appeal to everyone.

[JerseyDad]

.....1900 Park Fare is great for little ones (and me too!). The character breakfast has always been a good experience for us and our friends...and the characters have ALWAYS been more than accomodating for photo opps' and giving some big hugs to children. :thumbsup:

[Kairi_7378]

Perhaps O'hana or Whispering Canyon Cafe or Marakesh? If you want another charcter meal, Asherkus is probably a good bet, but you do have 2 of those planned already.

[momof3+twins]

I asked my 5, 8, and 10 year old sons and the each picked one.
They are :
Garden Grill
Chef Mickey's
Planet Hollywood
and Mom chose Crystal Palace for the twins (ds and dd -2)

In the past we have enjoyed Sci Fi many times. I don't care what people say about the food it isn't that bad. And I am there just for the experience anyway.
We also liked 50's Prime time BUT it freaked the kids out a bit when the server yelled at mom for not finishing her green beans. So, keep that in mind.
But, I think you chose excellent places to eat!

[alilprincessmom99]

Thank you all for all of your replies thus far. I am leaning towards Garden Grill. I forgot to mention the 8 year old is a girl and the 2 year old a boy. Like I said we already have Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, Coral Reef, and I just found out today that we have something with the Playhouse Disney characters. I am not sure we really need another character meal, but I guess if we do another one, we will do Garden Grill. However, if we decide not to do another character meal, can you all recommend some non character meals that would appeal to the little ones? Thanks again for all of your suggestions so far.

[cal5755]

Your 8 year old DD will enjoy mom and dad get scolded at 50's primetime cafe as well as scifi.... both are in DHS.

DTD Planet Hollywood has lots of neat stuff to look at but it is very noisy. We love it though.

MK Liberty Tree Tavern has yummy lunch and is non character dining.

Enjoy whatever you decide.

[RockinRollerMom]

My DD8 thinks that buffets are the way to go. (She has been to disney 3 times, 2x on the meal plan) The selections for kids at some restaurants can be very slim. So if you go to a non buffet check out the menus online before going to make sure there is something that they will like. (Even though my DD likes mac n cheese and hot dogs after 3 or 4 days it gets pretty old even for her.) She loves the buffets because she can pick off of the kids section or off of the adults section. A great non character one is Cape May's clambake buffet. Don't let the clambake part scare you away. They have tons of other choices besides seafood. My DD loves it so much here she wants to eat there twice during our next trip.

[wdw_bound]

I agree with the Buffet suggestion - not only from a selection standpoint, but also because there are times when a kids meal is not quite enough for DD9 (and there are times when she is stuffed after only a bite).

We went last December with DD9 and DS2. Another perk with buffets and family style TS is that DS ate for free, where as at regular restaurants (ie Coral Reef), he was OOP as he didn't qualify for DDP.

We enjoyed CP, PSB, Biergarten, WCC (skillet for me and the kids, chicken for DH). Ohana was good, but they have recently changed their menu. We've eaten at Coral Reef when DS was 20 mos, and he got really antsy towards the end of the meal as the service was a bit slow and the tank couldn't hold his interest for that long. Trails End Buffeteria at FW was a neat suprise for us - food was very yummy, staff was extra friendly, price was reasonable. Probably not the best use of DDP credits, but still one I'd recommend, especially if you could make it work with the Campfire sing-along. A great evening for getting the calm back in your vacation!

[Jared]

Considering you already have two character meals planned, I'd stay away from another and try a more traditional restaurant. Liberty Tree Tavern offers a delicious lunch with hearty colonial American fare.

If you're looking for dinner, a buffet is always a good idea with young kids because there are a lot of choices. I particularly like Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club because it has an extensive children's section and a wonderful dessert bar, plus a great selection of seafood and landlubber options.

'Ohana for dinner is one of my favorite restaurants and Disney, and it has tons of fun entertainment for youngsters.

:tasty: