Originally Posted By sdlovesmickey I am going to WDW in July for 10 nights with my daughter (she is 6) and have booked almost all the character meals for us during our stay. I made advanced dining reservations for almost every day of our trip because I know how long you can end up waiting if you don't have one, but I haven't eaten at any of these places so I am not sure if I am picking the right places. I have only been to WDW once and it was about 10 years ago so I am clueless. I purchased the dining plan so the money is not an issue because it will already be paid for. I have reservations at Le Chef de France, Narcoose's, Boma's, Hollywood and Vine for the Fantasmic seating package, and Le Celliers. Do you recommend these since I have a young child with me or do you think I should try something else? I tried to pick places from each park since so we could eat at them on days we would be visiting them. We are staying at the Poly so have a few reservations at the Grand. I am worried that the Le Chef and Boma's might not be a good choice for us. Any suggestions/comments are welcome to help me decide. Thanks!
Originally Posted By seafairy We are going in July too. I haven't been to the places you listed but have done the Princess breakfast at Akershues.loved it! the charactors spent time with my kids gave autograghs and posed for pictures.last august we did Cinderella's castle for breakfast.It was very pretty inside.They gave my 7 year old a sword.Sleeping Beauty hugged my son and said he reminded her of prince philip.we loved the picture package we got with it.1 8x10 2 5x7's and 4 wallets.we will be trying boma too in July.Ihope you have a wonderful time! Seafairy
Originally Posted By sdlovesmickey I have been to Ariel's Grotto in DL, but that is the only character dining we have done. My daughter is all about the characters; especially princesses! We have Cinderella's Table booked as well as 1900 Park Fare, Ohana, Akershus, and Liberty Tavern. It is so nice when the characters can talk! I remember my daughter asking Aurora where Prince Phillip was and she said that he was hunting. My daughter is so excited about eating in Cinderella's castle. Have you heard anything about Boma's? Is it in Animal Kingdom or is it outside the park at the Lodge? If so how far away is the lodge from the park? I can't wait to leave for the parks I am still such a kid when it comes to Disney. It is my happy place. Hope you have a wonderful time too Seafairy!!
Originally Posted By junglejoy Boma's is wonderful! It was one of my favorite meals. It's in the AKL which is a bus ride away from AK. There are no characters, it's a buffet and the food is delish. It was my kids least favorite because the food was a little unfamiliar. The tricky thing is after dinner getting back to your resort. Luckily we were staying at the Contemporary so we just took a bus to MK and then walked to the CR. One of my kids' favorite places was the Sci-Fi Drive-in at MGM. They loved sitting in the cars watching the "movie" while eating. As far as character meals, our favorite was Chef Mickey at the Contemporary Resort. The buffet was huge, the food very good and the characters were GREAT!!! We also did the Crystal Palace in the MK. It was Pooh Bear characters. This place was okay but not managed well at all. They were always out of food and the lines were horrendous! What should have been an hour meal took us almost two hours because we spent so much time waiting in line and then waiting in line again to see if the stuff we wanted had been replenished. The food was okay. So if you're not a Pooh Bear fan, don't waste your precious time. Another character meal we went to was Hollwood andn Vine (I'm pretty sure that's what it's called). The food was a little better here but once again, managed horribly. More long waits, characters skipping tables - but the wait service was fanatastic! This was a must for us because Little Eisteins and Jojo were there - one of our kids' favorites. So I would do this again based on the characters present, but if you don't like the characters, once again, don't waste your time. We weren't able to get reservations for either of the princess meals but we've done several at DLR so we felt that was okay. I've heard great things about them. I just asked my kids what their favorite places we ate were and they said Chef Mickeys, Tepenyaki (they loved watching our food being prepared), Ohana (also a favorite of mine - incredible view of the castle, we were there late evening and saw the fireworks too - loved the food!). My kids are DD10, DS8 and DD4.
Originally Posted By smedley Boma is in AKL, which is a short ride from the park itself. We ate there and loved it, they have a good selection of foods, both the exotic and less exotic, I'm sure you'll be fine there, they had a reasonable selection of child friendly items too.
Originally Posted By sdlovesmickey Thanks for all the info guys. I forgot to mention before that we have ADR at Chef Mickey's on our first night. I thought that would be a good way to get us in the Disney mood before we visited the parks. Boma's sounds great, but my daughter is somewhat of a picky eater and with the bus ride I think we may have to skip it and go somewhere else. Haven't made up my mind yet. I have lunch reservations at Rainforest Cafe at AKL that day, any other suggestions on where to eat for dinner? Would like to use one of our table service dining credits that night. I also still want to know what people think about Narcoose's and Le Chef de France. I have read some nasty reviews for the service at Le Chef and haven't decided if its the one for us Thanks all!
Originally Posted By seafairy the coral reef is a good one in Epcot. I have only been to DW twice,but we went there in June 2005 and we are going back there this July. We really liked it. It has a aquairum in it. We saw a huge sea turtle and there were divers in there too.It was neat to watch the fish tour server was excellent. She answered all our questions and told us about the different fish.and now it is only 1 table service it used to be 2.Also the Merrarkesh was good. It reminded me of Aladdin. There were belly dancers and after one of them did her dance she got 2 young guys to join her,very funny. again servers were excellent.My son was 6 at the time and very tired that day,it was our 5th day in the parks,and they bent over backwards to make him happy. I was very impressed.We are going to try breakfast at Ohana with Lilo and stich this year. Seafairy
Originally Posted By junglejoy I didn't want to mention Coral Reef but now that it has been brought up I will. It was the one of the worst dining expereiences we have ever had! The service was beyond horrible, the food was so-so (but if you had to for it - sooooo not worth the price). Overall the expericencw was horrendous. The aquarium was cool and interesting, but you can see it without paying the premium for the food or the humiliation of the service.
Originally Posted By Labuda I dined at Coral Reef in October and enjoyed it quite a bit. Good food, good service, and a good view of the aquarium, PLUS we only saw one sh*rk, so I didn't spend my entire meal scared to death the glass was going to break. (Yes, it's irrational, but that's what phobias are)
Originally Posted By sdlovesmickey Well, I cancelled my ADR at Le Chef and at Narcoose's as well as Boma's and made ADR at Coral Reef and at Restaurantasorus (for a late breakfast) instead. I am still debating the last table service meal I need to reserve. It will be on one of the days I have tagged to visit Downtown Disney and then hang around the hotel and relax so we don't really want to wander to far. I am leaning toward either a quick trip into Magic Kingdom via boat or monorail to eat at Crystal Palace (my daughter was excited about possibility of seeing Piglet as she has never gotten his autograph) or hanging out at our hotel (the Poly) and eating at Kona Cafe. I tried to make reservations at the Grand for their Cafe, but it is closed till October. Cancelling the Narcoose's ADR gave us one more table service credit to use since it cost two of them to eat there. So now the only meal I will wind up paying for on our ten night stay is our breakfast with Cindy. Anymore suggestions are welcome. Any really great counter services we should check out? What is good?
Originally Posted By StitchMom84 Maybe this should be another topic, but I'm hoping that some of you have already commented about which character meals you've attended will come back an comment what time you had them. I have to decide by the end of next month where and what time to try and make our Oct '07 ADR's and I'm trying to figure out the best times...early or late..for the best character interaction. It's all about those characters for my grandaughter. We love that stuff too. Thanks..as always for your help
Originally Posted By sdlovesmickey I think we are doing about all of the character meals. Have the dining plan so might as well as you can use one table credit for most of them. I cancelled our ADR for Chefs and for Boma and went with Coral Reef and Crystal Palace instead. More kid friendly for DD.
Originally Posted By seafairy Stitchmom84,I took my kids to akershues princess breakfast in June 2005, they were 6 and 15 at the time.I am a big disney princess fan.The charactors were great. They all came over to our table and spent time with the kids.DS is very shy and they were very good with him.Last August we went to Cinderella's Royal table. Very pretty inside.we loved the picture package. DS got a sword when we went in and we all got wishing stars.All the charactors came to our table. The Fairy godmother was very nice.Sleeping Beauty hugged DS 7 and told him he reminded her of Prince Philip.Servers were great at both resteraunts.They were both very fun experiences.Seafairy
Originally Posted By frdeb1999 The Ohana Best Friends breakfast at the Poly is wonderful. Even my older kids enjoyed all the characters. It's geared mostly toward Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, Minnie ect.. Food was really good and as much as you wanted while still being a sit down type meal. I'm probably in the minority on this....but was extremely disappointed in Chef Mickeys breakfast. It was a extremely rushed atmosphere and I did'nt think the food was anything great. My sis and her family on the other hand went to the dinner buffet and absolutely loved it. So maybe that is the route to go. Whatever you decide...hope you have a wonderful time!!
Originally Posted By smedley I'm watching this with interest, we're coming out in November and will have my 3.5yr old (at the time) niece with us. We've not done character dining in WDW before so this is all great information for us, as I definitely want to take her to a character meal.
Originally Posted By 1Gee1 <<"I have lunch reservations at Rainforest Cafe at AKL that day, any other suggestions on where to eat for dinner?">> Rainforest Cafe is actually at the entrance to DAK, not at the hotel. DAK doesn't have a lot of eateries if you're looking for table service. I do like to eat at Flame Tree BBQ and Tusker House in that park (both counter service). There is also Pizzafari and Restaurantosaurus (McDonald's) for kid-type foods. In Downtown Disney, there is also a Rainforest Cafe. Planet Hollywood is another fun place to eat in Downtown Disney (table service). We always go to Earl of Sandwich for a delicious quick meal (counter service). I LOVE Le Cellier at Epcot; another option you may want to consider in that park is Biergarten. They have an entertaining show and, although the food is considered German faire, there are many items on their buffet that are standards. If you decide to go there, ask the PS-CM about show times when making your PS. A place that kids enjoy at MGM (in addition to Sci-Fi Dine-In) is 50's Prime Time Cafe. It's like eating in an old sit-com kitchen. A lot of "comfort foods" are on the menu. Have a great trip!
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Rainforest is very good, but becareful, I've seen some little ones freak out when the animation starts.
Originally Posted By junglejoy I have to agree with bobbelee9. We took our kids to rainforest in Chicago and what a waste! They were terrified!!! And when it rained we had to leave -so big bill, had to eat the food at the hotel. Pretty lame... Our kids were 4 and 2 at the time.
Originally Posted By sdlovesmickey We have been to Rainforest twice in DL. We have ADR for dinner there at the one outside Animal Kingdom. My DD is not scared by the noise, but it is really loud. I always save up my points from the my points website for a year before our annual trip to a Disney park then turn them in and get a $25 giftcard to use in Rainforest Cafe, which helps defray the cost. Last summer I had two of them so that was $50 to spend. Enough for our dinner for two and a couple souvenirs. I plan on doing the same thing this year.
