Best dining for a little dude?

[twinsouvenirs]

We're going for a 3 day pre-cruise stay to the Poly for our son's 3rd bday. He's got two slightly older sisters (4yo) and he gets into whatever they are into, so he gets as excited about Sophia as he does Jake.

Since we'll be staying in a DVC studio, we'll have to eat out mostly which is not our usual MO. Do you have any suggestions for good ADRs?

I was tossing around Mickey's Backyard BBQ, Crystal Palace, the Luau... we just did the Disney Jr Breakfast this Jan so I am thinking we may want to skip that. Cost is somewhat of a factor--the cruise is RIDICULOUSLY expensive!

We have APs so we can get into the parks for meals. And what about Rainforest Cafe or TRex? Honestly, food quality will not make or break us. We're sort of foodies but we're happy to eat gravel if the kids minds are blown. And they are very adventurous eaters but are super happy with mac & cheese/pizza too.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

Character breakfasts are going to be cheaper than lunch/dinner. Crystal Palace is a great one, as is Tusker House.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If you are going to AK, I absolutely recommend Tusker House. Food is good, characters are solid.

Garden Grill is also a proven winner.

Trail's End buffet lacks characters, but is a very fun environment with good food -- and it's less expensive.

 

[SSRFred]

What are his favorite characters? When my youngest son was that age, we celebrated his birthday lunch at Crystal Palace. We ordered a special cake. They put pixie dust all over the table and my son loved it.

 

[Dakota731]

Which characters are at Tusker House?

 

[nco91590]

Cape May breakfast at Beach Club. Food was good and the character interaction was fun.

 

[SanderMC]

Rainforest and or TRex may be a good option or it's possible that it may be too loud. I had heard complaints from parents saying the restaurants were too loud for their kids and therefore it scared them. So during our last trip we opted to skip them. I did take my daughter to the Rainforest in Buffalo, NY in Dec. She is 4. She enjoyed it and wanted to walk around and look at some of the animals but there were some things that did scare her. I should also note that we went for an early dinner so when we walked in there weren't many people in the restaurant. I think that gave her a little more time to get used to the atmosphere.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Which characters are at Tusker House?

TH is Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Daisy in SAFARI HATS.

 

[EllieBride]

We took our b/g twins to T-Rex at age 3. They liked it, but weren't blown away by it. They enjoyed breakfast at Garden Grill at age 3 and again at age 4 (menu is a hit, plus the characters). They also loved Hoop Dee Doo at age 4. They thought the jokes were hilarious - not that they even understood all of them. They just know that the characters are funny. My kids also love Ohana breakfast. At age two, my son LOVED getting smooched on by the princesses, but we haven't done that in a while.

 

[amberpi]

If your kids are pretty open minded, I've been with 2 sets of kids - and their minds were blown about eating off the monorail plates at Toyko Dining. The food is decent, but the kids HAD to have those plates. The 5 year old boy was so into it, back home he used it at any availablity.

 

[littledebbie335]

Crystal Palace breakfast is really good. They do a little friendship parade with all the kids once the characters have come by all the tables, so that might be fun. TRex and Rainforest might be good options too, but if you're worried about the noise being too scary, I would opt for Rainforest since it's a bit quieter. TRex gets dark and noisy to simulate a meteor hitting Earth, so that part might be a little too much, or your DS might be totally into it. A lot of people complain about the food at TRex and Rainforest, but we liked it!

 

[twinsouvenirs]

He was totally cool with Haunted Mansion this past trip (he kept saying "spoooooky ride!" with a delighted smile, so I think he MIGHT like the drama of TRex... We do LOVE Hoop De Doo, and I think the last time we went there was when he was 5 mo old so he certainly does not remember. Great ideas/observations, all! Thank you!

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

I second the above poster's comment on Rainforrest and T-Rex. Both are awesome experiences but just be aware they are loud. If you don't think that will be a problem, I'd go T-Rex.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

If budget is a factor, I would actually avoid the character meals. You will see a TON of characters on the ship, so you really could eat at some fun, decent TS in WDW at a more affordable price if you avoid the character meals.

I would definitely consider TRex and Rainforest Cafe. The food is fine and the atmosphere is fun and something different than you will experience on the cruise. I HIGHLY suggest getting a Landry's Select Card. It's the Landry's restaurant chain's loyalty club. It costs $25 to join, but that $25 is put toward your bill and you get a $25 bonus for your birthday month (you can put your son's birthday month down as the month!). The card also gets you priority seating over people with ADR's, so you don't even have to make a reservation. You can simply walk up to TRex, Rainforest Cafe in AK and DS and Yak & Yeti in AK, show them the card and you will be seated rather quickly (we like Yak&Yeti too, but Rainforest and TRex will have more of a "wow" factor in terms of environment). Consider Trail's End at Ft. W! Ft. W itself is a fun place to go. The food at Trail's End is good and the stables that house all of the WDW horses is right next door. The kids can ride ponies and there is also a playground there. You can monorail to MK and then take a boat to Ft. W. It's fun! For silly antics, consider Whispering Canyon at WL or 50's Prime Time at DHS. If you really want to do a character meal, go for breakfast to save some money. We like 1900 Park Fare because they have a lot of characters and Tusker House for the atmosphere and food.

 

[KT0191]

My 3 year old son LOVED T Rex and Tusker House breakfast.