Disney Dining plan and restaurants you must go to?

Me, my husband and son are going in June with my sisters family. In total we have 3 kids under the age of 4. We are doing the dining plan and were just wondering which table service restaurants are a must. Which would you recommend not taking children to as well.

Re: Disney Dining plan and restaurants you must go to?

I would to a character breakfast every morning - brunch, so Crystal Palace
and you MUST go to Canada in Epcot for Dinner. It is outstanding and the only 5 star resturant at Disney. It is better than Victoria and Alberts.

Re: Disney Dining plan and restaurants you must go to?

With that many little kids, I;d say to not miss Chef Mickeys at the contemporary. Its decent food, but you've got all the classic disney characters and its a lot of fun. DH and I went by ourselves and loved it.

We also liked Ohana a lot as well .

Re: Disney Dining plan and restaurants you must go to?

There have been a couple of posts on dining with kids over on parenting with some awesome suggestions.

Which plan are you on? The basic dining or the deluxe? If you have the basic you won't be able to do character breakfasts each day b.c that will be your table service meal for the day and not a good way to make a good use of the meal plan.

You will want to make your ADRs at the first chance you get b.c the more popular restaurants fill quickly (and you can't do walk ins really anymore - occasionally you can but it is rare and you will probably only get a very late time if one is available at all). I believe they are in a 90+10 system now - so you can start making your ressies at the 90 mark from your check in date - then if you are staying on property you can book the rest of your days up to 10 days after arrival (so if you are staying 11 nights you would have to wait an extra day to book that last day).

If you have girls you will want to check out:
Princess meals - B or L at cinderella's table at MK - this is VERY hard to get - dinner is easier but is only the Fairy godmother. This is 2 Table service credits though so just keep that in mind.

Aksershus in Norway has princess meals - B,L, and D.

Character meals that are popular -
Crystal Palace - is Winnie the pooh and friends and is nice - we saw Matt Lauer there with his family and Nanny back in Oct. They have B, L and D.

Chef Mickey's is great - Mickey and friends - they do B and D and during some more busy times they add in a lunch.

If your kids like playhouse disney - there is a little einstein's meal over at Hollywood studios.

There are other character meals but those are the most popular. There is a good one at the grand floridian but the dinner is cinderella and friends - and it includes the wicked stepmother and stepsisters who really play up their roles so if your children scare easily it might not be the best choice.

Basically any of the 1 TS places are VERY child friendly - so are some of the 2 TS credit places but they are more adult. I don't know what the PP was saying about Le Cellier - it is just a regular restaurant in EPCOT - much like Outback from the two times we ate there - unless the PP was referring to another place. V&A is a fabulous place but is adult only and the only 5 star restaurant on property. For other adult meals check out - California Grill, Jiko, Citricos etc.

But family meals - here are a bunch:
Sci fi drive in - you eat in cars like in a drive in with a huge movie screen which can be a lot of fun

San Angel inn - mexico - the restaurant runs next to the mexico ride - it is designed like an open air market with a mayan temple in the background.

Marrakesh - has music and belly dancer and she encourages the kids to get up and dance with her

Japan has a habachi place which can be fun if you are okay with them cooking on the grill at your table

Coral Reef - in living with the seas at EPCOT has huge fish tanks along one wall where you can watch the fish swim around

Ohana (polynesian) is family style - lots of fun - they have kids doing coconut races around the dining room and they teach hula dancing to the kids too. (Ohana also has a character breakfast with Lilo and Stitch - there are no characters at dinner other than the activities described above and they don't serve lunch).

Luau (2 credits) is a dinner show for families - which a luau show while you eat

Rainforest cafe - not sure if it is on the dining plan this year or not - they are 2 locations - AK and DTD.

New place - TREX restaurant - dinosaur restaurant which is supposed to be fun if the kids don't scare easily - it is at DTD. Not sure if it is on the dining plan though

Garden Grill has a character meal with Mickey I believe - it is in living with the land at EPCOT

Boma is a great buffet at the AK lodge - the food is really good and you can walk around the hotel and look at the animals after you eat. They have a lot of interesting foods and they have plan stuff if the kids aren't adventurous.

That is what I can think of off the top of my head if you give me some more time I can think of some other locations.

Check out:

allearsnet.com This is a great site and if you go to dining there is a great section where they list EVERY single menu on WDW property from counter service to table services - to some carts too. That is a great place to go b.c you can see current menus for all the places to figure out where you think you will want to go and what the kids or you will be happy eating. It also gives you a chance to see prices to see if you are making good use of the dining plan.

There are also tons of reviews of restaurants from other diners at this place:

Disboards it is a posting board for disney - and they have great info for things like resorts, rehabs, restaurants, transportation etc.

Also check out:

mousesavers.com This site lists all codes, tips to save money etc including if you plan to rent a car all the codes that are available and how to get the best deals.

Re: Disney Dining plan and restaurants you must go to?

Dh and I just got back. we LOVED Ohana (in the polynesian) and Boma (in the Animal Kingdom Lodge). we also loved the Hoop De Musical Revue and we also ate at Wolfgang Puck in Downtown Disney on the dining plan.

you can really save some serious money with dining plan if you eat at the right restaurants. the ones that are only about $20 pp...not saving too much. but places like Wolfgang's and Ohana we made out well.

Coral Reef would be another one.

With kids, I would recommend a character breakfast. We did the one at the Cape May resort. Chef Mickey's at the Comtemporary is supposed to be great. Crystal Palace (Pooh characters) in the Magic KIngdom is also nice.

Re: Disney Dining plan and restaurants you must go to?

Christine - I need you to book my trip...LOL

Re: Disney Dining plan and restaurants you must go to?

the steak house in the yacht club resort was awesome!!!!!!

Re: Disney Dining plan and restaurants you must go to?

Ohana is always our #1 must do. There is other food in disney that we enjoy more (like cali grill) but the atmoshphere and tasty food feels so disney to us. we go every summer, and that is always our first dinner!

Re: Disney Dining plan and restaurants you must go to?