takemetothemouse

married, mom of 2 (DD 4/16 & DS 5/19)
Joined
Dec 14, 2018
Scary title, am I right? 🤣 We’ll be making the trip next September with some great friends. Between both families we will have 3 girls (4, 4 & 3) and a boy (18 months). In the past we’ve done Cinderella’s Royal Table, & Be Our Guest this past January and personally I thought CRT was nice but over priced and BOG was a complete waste of money. This time I am considering Akershus, Tusker House, Trattoria al Forno, & H&V for our character meals. What are some good restaurants that aren’t character dining, maybe a little cheaper on the wallet. I don’t even mind to do more QS so I don’t have to do so many reservations because with that many kids, I’m nervous about making too many & missing them..
 
We do Via Napoli & Sci-Fi & Tony’s Town Sq. All are loud & busy so it drowns out any unbecoming toddler behavior lol!
 
Satuli's Canteen is fantastic. I had three kids in there all 6 and under at a large round table that was pretty enclosed. Great food too, thought it was better than Tusker House (and I loved Tusker House). And it's quick service.

BOG for lunch is great in my opinion. Still quick service. Not worth it for dinner.

Skipper's Canteen is fun too.
 
I love BOG lunch....you can pre order online. It's quick service but they bring your order to your table. We were there in July, I did BOG lunch withy DS10 and DD20 months, but also took my niece and nephew 2 & 3 with us. I took the four of them to MK for the day by myself. I found it super easy, plus they were all enthralled with the Beast's castle of course! Have a great trip
 
It is a character meal, but I found the family-style aspect of Garden Grill very easy to manage with younger kids. All the food is brought to your table, no juggling multiple plates from a buffet. We also choose CS with mobile order to make things easier. Once we get the order ready message we find a table, one person gets the food, the other wrangles the kids.
 
Chef Mickey's was great with young kids. It's a buffet so you will have to get up and do the plate juggle, but with multiple adults that's a lot more manageable. It's a loud, fun atmosphere where little kid behavior it totally welcome and expected, and they dance to get kids into the excitement of the characters. My kids also loved riding the monorail there—they thought it was an extra ride!

The only downside is that it can be very, very loud, so any kids who are sensitive to noise or overstimulation might not do well there.

I also second Garden Grill. The food was great, and it was nice to have a sitdown meal where we didn't have to leave one person to get all the food. It's a quieter atmosphere though, so if you're self-conscious about toddler noise, it might not be a good fit.
 
Ohana at Polynesian is all you care to eat family style, breakfast with characters. The characters are Lolo and Stitch with Mickey. No need to keep getting up for food.

I'll "third" Garden Grill, Chip n Dale and Farmer Mickey. Good served family style.

Crystal Palace is a buffet but has Winnie the Pooh characters and they do a "Friendship Parade".

For a quick service, there is the Pizzarifari (spelling?) Family Dining. it is served family style. It is offered in Animal Kingdom from 5 to 7 pm. No characters, but a place to sit and eat in air conditioning. Food is all you can eat. Salad, pasta and pizza. Reservations are required, but is qs.
 


We finally tried Garden Grill Breakfast and loved it. Great experience all around. My grandson loves the Plaza Restaurant, specifically the mickeylodeon! It’s reasonable.
 
I am piling on the Garden Grill train. For kids in particular, this is one wonderful dining experience. The characters are fun and food is brought to you.

Akershus breakfast is a bit pricy but the food is primariarly family style as well, and very good. The character interaction is also very nice.

We like Flame Tree in DAK. There is plenty of seating and the portions are generous. We usually split a few meals between our family, so the cost is not exhorbitant.

In DHS e usually go to Backlot express for lunch. Again, the portions are generous and there is plenty of seating so you are not struggling to find a table.

If you want character dining I suggest Minnie's Seasonal DIne in DHS as well. I think it is less chaotic than eithe TH or CM.

For a traditional meal that is delicious and is reasonable I like Tratorria al Forno. The food is good and the service is stellar. The portions are generous. I thnk it is a good value for families.

In DS I think Homecomin is a good value as well. The dining setup is family friendly and the prices are reasonable for Disney.
 
Our favorite character meals are Cape May for breakfast -- you see a lot of the main characters, they have great food (buffet) and it's a good price. You just have to figure out how to get over there (suggest driving or using a Minnie Van/Lyft). Garden Grill is another favorite. They bring the food to your table (which is great when you have littles), and since there are less tables than most places, you end up seeing the characters more than once and you can really take your time with them.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top