Help with one (or two) last ADR!

[DrummerAlly]

Hi Everyone,

My husband and I had a trip booked for July and then found out that I would be too pregnant to go (and here I thought pregnancy was a binary state)! With the announcement of free dining we decided to bite the bullet and book a quick trip to WDW in late November/early December with baby in order to not waste our plane tickets. If baby decides to come on her due date, she'll be 12 weeks old. We are going for four days, three nights and we have two days of park tickets. We figure it will be a very slow, relaxing, picture taking type vacation.

For our first day, we are planning on relaxing at our resort (CSR) and going to DTD. I booked the rainforest cafe but my husband was really disappointed with that ("we're going to Disney with free dining... to go to the rainforest cafe?!?"). I was disappointed too - especially when I read that its under refurbishment.

Can anyone suggest a good infant-friendly replacement? T-Rex is booked solid and many of the other DTD restaurants appear to be less than infant friendly. My original thought was to try hard to eat at DTD so we can minimize bus trips. We are booked at Kona Cafe & Coral Reef later in the trip. We're really excited for Kona Cafe but are thinking of changing to a different Epcot restaurant, in case you have suggestions for that as well.

I'd also love your advice for first time parents going to WDW with a 3 month old!

 

[WDWmazprty]

Well, there are a lot you could consider infant friendly. If you want a peaceful, calmer place because of your infant, I would say somewhere like Kouzzinas or Grand Floridian Cafe or somewhere like that since there will most likely be less children in those spots. However, because you have an infant and would like to be where other children are, I would try to do one of the buffets maybe, like Crystal Palace, Ohana, Chef Mickey, etc.

 

[dreamfinder]

Are you looking for lunch or dinner? That changes your options a bit as some resort restaurants are breakfast/dinner only. You may actually find that doing T-Rex/Rainforest Cafe would have been a bad thing. If any of the loud noises scare your baby, that could easily ruin your meal.

 

[OswaldTheRabbit]

My opinion is at 3 months old they are super portable and still sleeping a ton so any place is infant friendly. This is a time that You can still eat out unlike the terrible 2s when they decide to fling a plate across the restaurant . I agree that quiter is better. I bet the baby will sleep in the carrier the whole time.

As far as Epcot, we personally really dislike Coral Reef because of a bad experience. I am not sure if it is better now but the experience was SO bad we will not go back.... Perhaps ever. They are all good in Epcot. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them!

As far as the first time parent thing.... By 12 weeks you will have your routine down. Just try and go with the flow and that will take all the stress out. Know that sometimes the baby will be fussy and sometimes sleep the whole time. I think being flexible will make it an enjoyable pic and you will have great pics of the baby at Disney! So fun!

 

[DrummerAlly]

Thank You! I'm thinking of Wolfgang Puck... does anyone have any thoughts there? For Epcot, I'm thinking of switching to either of the restaurants in Italy or Restaurant Marrakesh. We had a great meal at Marrakesh a few years ago but thinking of trying some place new. We're looking for dinner reservations by the way.

I'm glad to hear quieter will probably be better... my biggest fear is being in a quiet restaurant with an unconsolable screaming baby.

 

[NewfieFan]

My babies liked lots of noise and commotion... they slept best when they were out on the beat and there was lots going on. Of course, every child is different but don't assume just because you have a baby you need to be in a quiet restaurant. As someone else mentioned babies are quite portable at that age and sleep a lot. 3 months is a great age to take a baby to Disney, IMO. I'd suggest Raglan Road for DTD... but it's certainly not quiet! Who knows, the Irish dancers just might lull your baby to sleep!?! And the other bonus to a noisy restaurant is no one will notice if you baby starts to fuss. Let 'em scream it out!

As for advice, bring your own stroller or rent from one of the stroller rental companies (Disney's are no good for a baby that age) and I'd suggest a wrap/sling/carrier as well. You will have to park the stroller quite a bit and even small babies get heavy after you carry them for so long! You shouldn't have to worry about it being too hot but a beach towel works as a great sun shade for a stroller. And it has many uses for your day in the park - bonus!

 

[GeekDad]

Raglan road is awesome and one I highly recommend. Lunch is quiet but dinner gets the Irish dancers and singers so it my or may not be infant friendly. One of my wife's coworkers has recommend the QS side of Wolfgang pucks which we plan on trying during our next trip.

 

[crispy]

You could take the boat from Downtown Disney to POR and eat at Boatwright's. It should be a fairly quiet and relaxing place to eat.

 

[The Incredible Schmulk]

From Downtown Disney, I'm with the poster above in suggesting that you utilize the boats and head to a resort. Boatwright's is a great suggestion, and definitely a bit of a "hidden gem", in as much as any Disney restaurant can be considered such. You can also hop a boat to Olivia's at Old Key West. It's a relaxing atmosphere, very laid back, and I imagine it would be quite infant friendly.

There's also the Turf Club, at Saratoga Springs. It's a short boat ride from Downtown Disney, and it gets fairly good reviews on these boards. I've never been, though, so I can't personally vouch for its quality.

You suggested Wolfgang Puck's, and that's also probably a decent choice, although I believe it gets a bit loud in there. I guess that all depends on the kind of atmosphere you think is okay or even best for your baby, when the time comes.

As for Coral Reef, I've never had a bad meal there, but I have had a couple less-than-stellar experiences thanks to other guests and their inability to keep their children in their seats. The closer you are to the aquarium glass, the more you have to deal with this. I would keep that in mind if you decide to keep that reservation. It's very loud, very crowded and often a bit unruly. The servers do their best to keep up with everything and everyone and do yeoman's work just by keeping their cool, but I wouldn't count on a quick meal, either. The food, though, is generally good, especially if you stick with the seafood options.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Have you called TRex? They only release a small number of their ADR slots on the Disney website, yet they usually have plenty of openings if you call. I just called them yesterday to book an ADR for our November trip and was told they had tons of slots. The night for which I booked is booked solid on the Disney website, but I had my pick of times when calling.

Personally, when my girls were infants- I preferred a loud restaurant. The girls were usually well behaved, but it was always much more obvious that they were having fussy times if we were in a more quiet place. Plus, since we never kept a quiet house- I think the noise of more busy restaurants was more soothing to them.

 

[DizneyPryncess]

I wouldn't change Kona Cafe - it's so good there. It's also fine for an infant - it's casual, and the staff has always been super friendly to us. If you need to add something on for Epcot, consider Garden Grill. I've always been seated in the booths, and they're each kind of private. You could put a sleeping baby in a car seat right in the booth while you eat. We booked this when our DD was 4 months old (we didn't end up taking the trip though.) The CM who took the ADR said "ooo good, chip & dale love visiting babies!". So if your little one is awake, this will be a treat!

 

[DrummerAlly]

Thank you so much for all of the ideas! It never occurred to me to check the locations accessible from DTD boats.

 

[tracyandalex]

I agree that a noisier place might be better than a quiet place that way if the baby is fussy no one will really notice. Suggestions - Boatwright's, Raglan Road, O'hana, Garden Grill, Via Napoli (took DD when she was 5 months and it was definitely loud enough to cover her), Restraunt Marrakesh, Chef Mickey's, 1900 Park Fare, Whispering Canyon, Biergarten

 

[jlsHouston]

I would do one meal with characters for the photo opportunity! But of course until this upcoming trip we never did a TS meal without characters so you could say we really like character dining

 

[sgtmgd]

Have you called TRex? They only release a small number of their ADR slots on the Disney website, yet they usually have plenty of openings if you call. I just called them yesterday to book an ADR for our November trip and was told they had tons of slots. The night for which I booked is booked solid on the Disney website, but I had my pick of times when calling.

Personally, when my girls were infants- I preferred a loud restaurant. The girls were usually well behaved, but it was always much more obvious that they were having fussy times if we were in a more quiet place. Plus, since we never kept a quiet house- I think the noise of more busy restaurants was more soothing to them.

Call Trex.....also you can walk up ...get a pager and stroll DTD..just be back as not to miss the page

 

[celticfan]

I had always heard good things about Wolfgang's at DTD but we tried it about a month ago and it was awful. Not just not as good as we hoped but really awful!!!! Food and service were terrible.

We did have good luck at Paradiso 37 in DTD, food was great, service was excellent and they have a nice deck you could sit out on that overlooks the lake. It might be a little loud inside but is was very relaxing on the deck.

 

[bethymouse]

I don't think you can go wrong w/ any of those mentioned. All good choices! Enjoy!

 

[DrummerAlly]

Thanks everyone for all of your ideas! We decided to dump Coral Reef for Garden Grill (despite the somewhat mixed reviews)... hopefully we'll get some good pictures. We also decided to take the boat from DTD to Port Orleans, stroll around that resort, and try eating at Boatwrights. That will make this a trip with three new restaurants for us to try which should be neat.

 

[c-one]

Garden Grill and Boatwrights are both great options. I don't think you'll be disappointed.