My husband and I have been to WDW many many times, so we have our fav restaurants and places to grab a snack. However, we've never gone with our daughter. She is 1 and we will be going to WDW soon. What are the best restaurants for kids her age? Best character experience? Any restaurants you would not suggest?
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Best Restaurants for a Toddler??
- Thread starter ctcdisneymama
- Start date
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
Crystal Palace, hands down due to the wonderful atmosphere and winnie the pooh and friends. I also think Askerhaus Princess dinner is great because the princesses are very non threatening.
Crystal Palace is actually one of our favorites, so that's great to hear!
Queen of the WDW Scene
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I'd say decide what you think is the best and go there.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend a character meal if say your child is scared of the characters.
You know your child best. Plus being 1 she'll likely be eating bits and pieces off your plates so you have to base it off what you anre she would like to eat.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend a character meal if say your child is scared of the characters.
You know your child best. Plus being 1 she'll likely be eating bits and pieces off your plates so you have to base it off what you anre she would like to eat.
HoustonHorn
Premium Member
It's Disney, so virtually anything outside of V&A will have something for kids to eat.
I do want to second the Crystal Palace recommendation - first trip with our daughter was at 23 months. She was pretty scared of the characters until CP. Piglet was AMAZING. Patient, silly, sweet. After that, she was good with all the other characters at various meals.
One piece of advice is to make sure she's seated where she can see them coming. First meal was Disney Jr. at Hollywood & Vine, and she was facing inward. While she loved/loves Doc McStuffins, being surprised by her did not go well for anyone!
I do want to second the Crystal Palace recommendation - first trip with our daughter was at 23 months. She was pretty scared of the characters until CP. Piglet was AMAZING. Patient, silly, sweet. After that, she was good with all the other characters at various meals.
One piece of advice is to make sure she's seated where she can see them coming. First meal was Disney Jr. at Hollywood & Vine, and she was facing inward. While she loved/loves Doc McStuffins, being surprised by her did not go well for anyone!
Queen of the WDW Scene
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
So true because then you can also judge if they should skip your table if the child sees them before they get there and gets scared. The characters do tend to just pop up from behind kids which can be cute or traumatizing!
RememberWhen
Well-Known Member
Buffets are great at that age. Lots of choices, and they eat free. We love Tusker House for Mickey and friends, but our favorite is actually Garden Grill in epcot. By far the best character interactions. It’s smallish and the characters make their way around pretty quickly.
Also, Crystal Palace is always fun.
Also, Crystal Palace is always fun.
Awesome advice, thank you! She is warming up to characters - we had a much better experience with the Easter Bunny than Santa. Good tip to know about facing her at the table so she sees the characters coming!
We've actually never been to Garden Grill! I'll have to put that as a must do - thanks!
Ask for Bob. Great server at Garden Grill.
We took our 2year old grandson to Norway to the Princess Dinner. We pushed him in a stroller from the Beach Club and en route he fell asleep. We then had a sleepy grumpy screaming toddler on our hands. However the staff could not have been nicer. They seated us immediately leaving Belle for later, brought him snacks. He was so bad we thought of just leaving. Nothing worked until Snow White arrived and he was enchanted - all smiles. How the staff interact with small children is important and from the manager to servers the staff were fantastic.
belledream
Well-Known Member
We’re doing Crystal Palace and Garden Grill with our one year old. 
Staying away from rowdier places like Ohana to avoid over-overstimulation.
Staying away from rowdier places like Ohana to avoid over-overstimulation.
WDWDad2907
Member
For a character dining option I'd highly recommend Cape May Cafe at Beach Club (perhaps on an Epcot or "off" day). This is often a lot less crowded than the in-park character dining (or Chef Mickey's ) and we've often had experiences there where each character has stopped by 2 (and sometimes even 3) times. I've found that, depending on the time, many of the in-park character dining can rush people in and out. Cape May definitely isn't pushy, so you can take your time and relax a bit.
And because it's a lot less crowded it might be less hectic for your toddler and you may be able to request a quieter table in a corner somewhere.
I've done a lot of character meals with kids over the past few years and Cape May is one that we've gone back to multiple times.
Enjoy your trip!
) and we've often had experiences there where each character has stopped by 2 (and sometimes even 3) times. I've found that, depending on the time, many of the in-park character dining can rush people in and out. Cape May definitely isn't pushy, so you can take your time and relax a bit.And because it's a lot less crowded it might be less hectic for your toddler and you may be able to request a quieter table in a corner somewhere.
I've done a lot of character meals with kids over the past few years and Cape May is one that we've gone back to multiple times.
Enjoy your trip!
Great! Has anyone done the Rapunzel/Ariel character dining at the Boardwalk?
Epcotfan21
Well-Known Member
Did this in February and it was actually better than I expected. Food was great, character interaction was very well done and the service was really good. We were a table of 12, but they made it work and all of us enjoyed it.
I'll also add that we had our 11 week old with us and the characters did a great job interacting with him and got a kick out of him being there.
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JustAFan
Well-Known Member
These are all character dining and offer plenty of options for kids and picky eaters. The food is also great in my opinion.
- Crystal Palace at MK (Winnie the Pooh and friends)
- Hollywood & Vine at HS (Disney Jr. characters)
- Chef Mickey's at Contemporary (Micky and friends)
Akershus (HS) and Cinderella's Royal Table (MK) are priced higher, but are good options if you like to meet princesses. At Akershus, princesses will come to your table, take pictures, sign autographs, etc. They also parade around the restaurant and kids can join them. Cinderella's Royal Table is cool because you're in the castle. Princesses also come around to your table while you dine.
For quick service (Disney fast food), Cosmic Ray's at MK is fun and affordable. They have burgers and chicken nuggets. You are also serenaded by Sonny Eclipse. You should experience it at least once.
Restaurantosaurus at AK is also a decent quick service option. They have burgers, chicken nuggets, typical toddler food.
Have fun!
- Crystal Palace at MK (Winnie the Pooh and friends)
- Hollywood & Vine at HS (Disney Jr. characters)
- Chef Mickey's at Contemporary (Micky and friends)
Akershus (HS) and Cinderella's Royal Table (MK) are priced higher, but are good options if you like to meet princesses. At Akershus, princesses will come to your table, take pictures, sign autographs, etc. They also parade around the restaurant and kids can join them. Cinderella's Royal Table is cool because you're in the castle. Princesses also come around to your table while you dine.
For quick service (Disney fast food), Cosmic Ray's at MK is fun and affordable. They have burgers and chicken nuggets. You are also serenaded by Sonny Eclipse. You should experience it at least once.
Restaurantosaurus at AK is also a decent quick service option. They have burgers, chicken nuggets, typical toddler food.
Have fun!
We went when my daughter was 1 (almost 2) and when she was 2 (almost 3). We mostly did character meals. The ones she enjoyed were Crystal palace (we did breakfast there twice), garden grill (she loved Chip & Dale and Pluto. Plus farmer Mickey is cute), akershus (did this one twice as well), and CRT. We did ohana for dinner but she slept the entire time and didn’t get to experience the meal - but my husband and I loved that lol.
ETA: we also did Storybook dining at Artist Point. Very fun!
ETA: we also did Storybook dining at Artist Point. Very fun!
so awesome to hear! we've never been to this restaurant but our daughter is obsessed with rapunzel so we thought this would be a must do!