Dining with Young Kiddos

[MeeskaMooska0714]

We are planning a trip for January, and I'm looking for recommendations on best places to eat (snack/QS/TS/character) with a 1 year old and almost 3 year old. They aren't super picky, and they tend to be pretty good at sit down restaurants. I was hoping to score BOG lunch, but no availability. I have Via Napoli and Liberty Tree Tavern booked at the moment. What are your favorites?? This is our first time going with kids, so TYIA for your help!

 

[Schneewittchen]

I've been taking my kids to WDW since they were that young.

For character dining, Crystal Palace with Pooh and Friends is probably the best for that age group. My son was 15 months the first time we went, I'd never seen him so happy before. Of course Chef Mickey's or 'Ohana breakfast would work too. And if they like princeses, Akershus.

For snacks, my kids are usually good sharing a Dole whip from Aloha Isle (or Pineapple Lanai). Or churros from Pecos Bill's or La Cantina de San Angel. Any kind of ice cream or frozen drink makes them happiest.

For quick service, Tangierine Cafe, Boulagerie Patisserie les Halles, Pinocchio Village Haus, Pecos Bill's and Columbia Harbour House have stuff the kids like.

For table service, they like San Angel Inn, Liberty Tree Tavern, Yak and Yeti, and the Plaza Restaurant.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

I've been taking my kids to WDW since they were that young.

For character dining, Crystal Palace with Pooh and Friends is probably the best for that age group. My son was 15 months the first time we went, I'd never seen him so happy before. Of course Chef Mickey's or 'Ohana breakfast would work too. And if they like princeses, Akershus.

For snacks, my kids are usually good sharing a Dole whip from Aloha Isle (or Pineapple Lanai). Or churros from Pecos Bill's or La Cantina de San Angel. Any kind of ice cream or frozen drink makes them happiest.

For quick service, Tangierine Cafe, Boulagerie Patisserie les Halles, Pinocchio Village Haus, Pecos Bill's and Columbia Harbour House have stuff the kids like.

For table service, they like San Angel Inn, Liberty Tree Tavern, Yak and Yeti, and the Plaza Restaurant.

Thank you! Dole whips are on the list (even though we eat them at home all the time)...nothing like having an authentic one in Magic Kingdom!!

 

[Princess_Beatrice]

I would focus of breakfast and lunch sit downs. I had brought my son when he was 11 months, we had booked 8 days worth of dinner reservations. It interfered with bed time and ended up being a tremendous pain.

Places like Ohana, Crystal Palace and BOG were probably the most entertaining for him. Personally, I would skip Liberty Tree. The theming isn't too interesting for the kids and the food is low quality.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

I would focus of breakfast and lunch sit downs. I had brought my son when he was 11 months, we had booked 8 days worth of dinner reservations. It interfered with bed time and ended up being a tremendous pain.

Places like Ohana, Crystal Palace and BOG were probably the most entertaining for him. Personally, I would skip Liberty Tree. The theming isn't too interesting for the kids and the food is low quality.

Thank you! Any suggestions for a fun last night dinner in/near Magic Kingdom? O'hana doesn't have availability as of right now. We would like to end our trip in Magic Kingdom. Thanks!!

 

[oliviosis]

I think you have some good suggestions. We skipped most table service with my littles. We did do Raglan Road at Disney Springs and that was a hit with the whole group. The kids loved it! We also did the Disney Jr. Play and Dine character breakfast and the boys had a great time! The food was standard breakfast buffet food, not the best or worst I've had.
I also wanted to add, keep looking at BOG for lunch, you'll see things open up as people move their schedules around. Also Touring Plans, if you subscribe, offers a "Disney World Dining Reservation Finder" that I used on a recent trip and got BOG for the day/time I wanted within 30 days of our trip.

 

[nickys]

I think you have some good suggestions. We skipped most table service with my littles. We did do Raglan Road at Disney Springs and that was a hit with the whole group. The kids loved it! We also did the Disney Jr. Play and Dine character breakfast and the boys had a great time! The food was standard breakfast buffet food, not the best or worst I've had.
I also wanted to add, keep looking at BOG for lunch, you'll see things open up as people move their schedules around. Also Touring Plans, if you subscribe, offers a "Disney World Dining Reservation Finder" that I used on a recent trip and got BOG for the day/time I wanted within 30 days of our trip.

And to be clear, you don't have to pay for a Touring Plans subscription. Scroll down on the page and you can sign up for a free "subscription".

Chef Mickey is near MK and gives them a chance to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy. We found the food OK, we did stick mostly to the carving stations at buffets.

The Backyard Barbeque at FW could be fun.

Does it have to be a TS? I like Columbia Harbour House in Liberty Square. There's an upstairs area that's tends to be fairly quiet.

 

[correcaminos]

Thank you! Any suggestions for a fun last night dinner in/near Magic Kingdom? O'hana doesn't have availability as of right now. We would like to end our trip in Magic Kingdom. Thanks!!

Our favorite in MK is Skipper Canteen. Really flavorful food (even the kids meals - which honestly mostly we find blah) and fun service. You can also check out Grand Floridian Café and Kona Café if you want to try a monorail stop. Consistently good food at those locations.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

I think you have some good suggestions. We skipped most table service with my littles. We did do Raglan Road at Disney Springs and that was a hit with the whole group. The kids loved it! We also did the Disney Jr. Play and Dine character breakfast and the boys had a great time! The food was standard breakfast buffet food, not the best or worst I've had.
I also wanted to add, keep looking at BOG for lunch, you'll see things open up as people move their schedules around. Also Touring Plans, if you subscribe, offers a "Disney World Dining Reservation Finder" that I used on a recent trip and got BOG for the day/time I wanted within 30 days of our trip.

Thank you! I'm not sure if we are going to venture to Disney Springs this trip, but I will keep that in mind. It looks like a fun restaurant!

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

And to be clear, you don't have to pay for a Touring Plans subscription. Scroll down on the page and you can sign up for a free "subscription".

Chef Mickey is near MK and gives them a chance to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy. We found the food OK, we did stick mostly to the carving stations at buffets.

The Backyard Barbeque at FW could be fun.

Does it have to be a TS? I like Columbia Harbour House in Liberty Square. There's an upstairs area that's tends to be fairly quiet.

I totally forgot about the Backyard Barbeque! They would love that! Thanks!

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

Our favorite in MK is Skipper Canteen. Really flavorful food (even the kids meals - which honestly mostly we find blah) and fun service. You can also check out Grand Floridian Café and Kona Café if you want to try a monorail stop. Consistently good food at those locations.

I've thought about Skipper Canteen, but heard mixed reviews. I may have to add that to my list.
I really want to try Kona Cafe and get some Tonga Toast!

 

[correcaminos]

I've thought about Skipper Canteen, but heard mixed reviews. I may have to add that to my list.
I really want to try Kona Cafe and get some Tonga Toast!

I think if you have really picky people it might not be great. The kids meals though actually aren't very bland (woo hoo - watch out if you get BOG they are very bland there) and are really things like grilled steak or fish, mac & cheese, chicken noodle soup or sweet & sour chicken. The latter is likely the most 'exotic' but something we get often enough for kids anyway.

The adult menu is quite varied. I'm pretty sure most could find something good. Though if you are really just a "meat and potatoes" kind of family this might not be for you. Since you said you weren't really picky I thought I'd suggest. It's one we'll definitely go back for and that says something because most of the time we find the food at Disney to be good, but not amazing.

 

[Jedi Stitch]

Character Breakfasts in January you almost can just walk into. Saying that, Go to them. O'hana's at the Poly for Lilo& Stich our Favorite. Crystal Palace at MK for Winnie the Pooh and friends My wife's other favorite. Seasons at the Land Pavilion at Epcott. It is a revolving restaurant, with farmer Disney Characters. Chip and Dale are there and they are one of my Fav with my man Goofy. Holywood and Vine at DHS for Disney Jr Characters. After watching hours of their shows and seeing the characters, I wasn't sure if we or my daughter was more estacic. Tusker House in DAK, Seeing the Mickey Pals in explorer outfits is fun. We were unable to get good times for Sci-Fi Drive in and 50s Dinner at DHS, but I do have them on the next bucket list. Wilderness Lodge was missed and so the Hoop De Ho Review, wispering canyons are fun places.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

Character Breakfasts in January you almost can just walk into. Saying that, Go to them. O'hana's at the Poly for Lilo& Stich our Favorite. Crystal Palace at MK for Winnie the Pooh and friends My wife's other favorite. Seasons at the Land Pavilion at Epcott. It is a revolving restaurant, with farmer Disney Characters. Chip and Dale are there and they are one of my Fav with my man Goofy. Holywood and Vine at DHS for Disney Jr Characters. After watching hours of their shows and seeing the characters, I wasn't sure if we or my daughter was more estacic. Tusker House in DAK, Seeing the Mickey Pals in explorer outfits is fun. We were unable to get good times for Sci-Fi Drive in and 50s Dinner at DHS, but I do have them on the next bucket list. Wilderness Lodge was missed and so the Hoop De Ho Review, wispering canyons are fun places.

Thank you!! Great suggestions.

 

[Frogglet]

Our almost 3 year old loved! Akershus (sp?) She got way more into the princesses than we thought she would be. I felt awful because I didn't bring a autograph book for her because she was not interested in the other characters so she improvised with napkins it was the cutest thing ever. And we all loved the food.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Some rules of thumb DH and I found were helpful when booking ADRs with youngesters: (1) make sure the kids will be happy and alert, and not overtired -- meaning, restrict ADRs to earlier in the day, or make sure the kids get a nap in the afternoon for dinner ADRs, and don't make the dinner ADRs too late; and (2) be aware of the kids' attention spans -- character meals can be great fun for them, but they can also take twice as long as a non-character meal (three times as long at Crystal Palace!).

That being said, restaurants we loved with young children are: (1) Akershus (Epcot, princess character breakfast/lunch/dinner); (2) Biergarten (Epcot, lunch/dinner buffet with live entertainment, plus it's nice and loud in case the kiddos get fussy); (3) 'Ohana (Polyesian Resort, character meal with typical menu for breakfast, character-free family-style Polynesian feast with live music at dinner); and (4) Liberty Tree Tavern (as OP already reserved). Another I'd recommend (not based on personal experience, but on others' reviews) would be Tusker House at AK (character buffet with safari-garbed Mickey, Donald and friends). Crystal Palace has the Winnie-the-Pooh characters, which are certainly the most approachable for young kids, but I hesitate to recommend it only because service and character rotation there (for us, anyway) was appallingly slow. (By the time we left, we'd been there for something like two hours and the characters still hadn't all made it to our table.)

 

[jaklgreen]

Really any place at WDW is great for kids. We eat our "big" meal early, around 4pm. When the kids were little we did plenty of buffets but also places like LeCelier, Chefs de France, Ohana. We like Disney for the wide variety of foods and tried to eat something new each time. Eat wherever sounds good to you. My girls still love Biergarten and Teppan Edo.

 

[Pixieish]

We've taken our 2 sons to Disney 3 times and they're both UBER picky (they're both on the autism spectrum), as is hubby (he has the taste buds of a 12-year-old, and that's being generous). The buffets - no matter what meal - have been amazing for us! Not only do they ensure that everyone gets something they like, but my boys have actually tried new foods because of them!

 

[Tinkerbell 2000]

I was hoping to score BOG lunch, but no availability.

Keep checking for a BOG reservation. We have scored some amazing reservations in the week leading up to our trip.

 

[disneygirl76]

We are planning a trip for January, and I'm looking for recommendations on best places to eat (snack/QS/TS/character) with a 1 year old and almost 3 year old. They aren't super picky, and they tend to be pretty good at sit down restaurants. I was hoping to score BOG lunch, but no availability. I have Via Napoli and Liberty Tree Tavern booked at the moment. What are your favorites?? This is our first time going with kids, so TYIA for your help!

My son has been going since his 1st birthday and we have dined everywhere we want to eat and always found something for him to enjoy off the menu. He is good at restaurants and we have never had an issue. We did tend to pick locations for things for him to do like Coral Reef and character meals. We did Via Napoli and Chefs de France as well. He was great at all of them and loved the food. The cast members are always great and bringing his food first and a little dessert for him to keep him entertained. I love dining with my son at Disney. The experiences are all so special!