California Grill Brunch with Kids?

[vallygirl0221]

We are doing a whirlwind trip to Disney to surprise my parents at for their anniversary and will have my nephews 2 and 5 with us I will have a bag of activities for them, and they are both used to eating in restaurants but how not kid friendly is it really? Has anyone done it with kids? That is where we are surprising them at (they already had reservations) so I can't do it at Ohana or somewhere else that might be more kid friendly without a lot of tap dancing, I was just wondering if anyone could offer any tips or advice from having done it.

 

[NotBaroque]

It's kid-friendly in the sense that the children will be welcomed just as graciously as the adults. It's not kid-friendly in the sense that it is definitely a meal that's mostly geared to adults, and they aren't likely to find any particularly compelling entertainment outside the activities you are bringing.

However, you say they are used to eating in restaurants, and while adult-oriented, it isn't stuffy. You will likely see other kids & families. I think you will be just fine.

 

[CinderellaDream]

We ate at CG twice with our daughters who were 7 and 4 at the time and I felt comfortable with them there and saw some other kids as well. Our ADRs were early though, around 5 or 5:30. YMMV later in the evening.

 

[Hopefully]

We ate at CG twice with our daughters who were 7 and 4 at the time and I felt comfortable with them there and saw some other kids as well. Our ADRs were early though, around 5 or 5:30. YMMV later in the evening.

That is an early dinner, not brunch.

Brunch is definitely adult oriented and expensive. If they are good, no problem.

 

[Dean Marino]

GO FOR IT! We hit the Grill REGULARLY..... Dinner, and Brunch. 12 years.

WDW is the absolute PERFECT place to bring children into the fine dining world. Now, as I had to do 35 years ago with MY children?
Yes, you might have to trade off with dear wife, and temporarily remove a mis-behaving child from others, in order to respect those folks....
But the CA Grill is WELL versed with children . Go get that Brunch .

Now - US? We're 65. We LOVE seeing children having a GREAT time at WDW . You see, ours are all grown .

 

[Lisa F]

as the mother to a kid who requests CA Grill for every trip, I would probably not bring him to a brunch (and he is 9 now and can sit still longer than at 2 and 5). It seems like brunch is a long, leisurely meal. That's a long time to keep a couple of little kids busy. There are some great detailed reviews of it on the web... it is too expensive for me to have my attention split between the brunch and the needs of the children. Dinner is great because we like to go at 5 when they first open and the meal is relatively quick at that time (not rushed but not drawn out either).

it's not that the kids won't be welcomed (if well behaved) but it just may not be a great choice for a family meal including kids so little.

 

[anita46]

We do CA grill brunch each time we are at WDW.

There are always kids present and they have all been well-behaved to date.

When our kids were young I learned to never take them to a non-character brunch mostly because I would have felt cheated....to me a non-character brunch means I can read the whole NYT and finish the crossword too....I mean hours spent grazing,reading,chatting. The kids were ready to throw themselves off the roof....lol.

Any chance that your parents are looking at brunch like that? If so it could be hard on the kids.

Its an expensive brunch to hit and run...but if its your only chance to share a meal with the folks you must go for it! Have fun.

 

[vallygirl0221]

We do CA grill brunch each time we are at WDW.

There are always kids present and they have all been well-behaved to date.

When our kids were young I learned to never take them to a non-character brunch mostly because I would have felt cheated....to me a non-character brunch means I can read the whole NYT and finish the crossword too....I mean hours spent grazing,reading,chatting. The kids were ready to throw themselves off the roof....lol.

Any chance that your parents are looking at brunch like that? If so it could be hard on the kids.

Its an expensive brunch to hit and run...but if its your only chance to share a meal with the folks you must go for it! Have fun.

I don't think they have any expectation at all, I mentioned the brunch and my mom got super excited over the idea of bloody marys and a really cool view of the castle. I have set up an alert for Ohana but since it is a party of 8 and it would involve my Aunt having to convince my parents to not go to the reservation that they already had I am not holding my breath at the moment. I mean the nice thing is that we will outnumber the kids 3 to 1 so If someone needs to take them back or to go watch the monorail it shouldn't be too bad.

I am just kind of playing it by ear because we came up with this idea of surprising them 2 days ago and got everything booked and I just think they would get suspicious if my aunt insists they change it for something too kid focused...

 

[anita46]

I don't think they have any expectation at all, I mentioned the brunch and my mom got super excited over the idea of bloody marys and a really cool view of the castle. I have set up an alert for Ohana but since it is a party of 8 and it would involve my Aunt having to convince my parents to not go to the reservation that they already had I am not holding my breath at the moment. I mean the nice thing is that we will outnumber the kids 3 to 1 so If someone needs to take them back or to go watch the monorail it shouldn't be too bad.

I am just kind of playing it by ear because we came up with this idea of surprising them 2 days ago and got everything booked and I just think they would get suspicious if my aunt insists they change it for something too kid focused...

I know you will enjoy CA much more than OHana...so I'm hoping for your sake the reservation doesn't come through...you will love the CA brunch. Keep the reservation!

FYI: If you know any of your parents favorite songs drop the titles with the bass player before you're seated. They can play almost anything and they're very good!

 

[vallygirl0221]

So thank you for everyone's advice I talked to my aunt AKA secret helper and she is going to convince them to go to Boma instead and I was able to get a reservation for 8. I agree that CG Brunch would be better without the kids so we will save it for another trip.