Disney recommendations

[glenthebattleostrich]

Hi, we are off to Disneyland Florida next April and are coming up to our advanced dining reservations time.

We want to do the usual biggies if we can but was wondering if anyone else had any recommendations. We have the dining plan.

The ones we are hoping to book are:

Be our guest
Cinderella's table
Mickey's backyard BBQ
Rainforest cafe
Akershus
50s diner

What are your must do eateries with a 7 year old?

Rainforest cafe is apparently not worth it, and Akershus and CRT are very similar RE: Characters so you might not want to double up (CRT is a 2 table service credit on the dining plan restaurant). Liberty Tree Tavern is apparently very good! As is the breakfast with Arial and Eric and Rapunzel and Flyn (Trattoria Al Forno).

Also apparently good are Garden Grill (epcot) for dinner/lunch and Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace (for breakfast).

If you haven't have a read/watch at the Disney Food Blog blog or Youtube Channel. I am making all my plans based on their reviews and features (as well as looking at menus and stuff). I'm sure plenty of other people will be along with personal experience, so do feel free to completely ignore my second hand info but yeh...I've done a lot of research haha

We'll be there in April too. We have Ohana for breakfast on our list along with Tusker's House (breakfast) Sci-Fi Theatre (lunch). I've heard Yak & Yeti is good but I think we'll do quick serve rather than sit-down meal.
We don't have the dining plan as it isn't worth it for us.

we're planning the end of April 2019 and so far definites for us are:

Liberty Tree Tavern
Cinderella's Royal Table
Garden Grill
Chef Mickey's
Jungle Skipper Canteen
Be Our Guest (lunch is apparently the best meal?)
Hoop-dee-doo Musical Revue (better than BBQ from what I've heard)
Trail's End Restaurant

Plus more TBC lol we're there for 2 weeks and will have the deluxe DDP

Where are you staying stuck? We are at port Orleans French Quarter going the week after Easter.

I have yak and yeti on my quick service list.

Thanks loops. I'll have a look at those. I think I'm happy to skip Cinderella table and go for akershus.

Trattoria el forno breakfast sounds good.to.

I was thinking of seeing if I could book a rivers of light package at tusker house.

Thanks for the recommendations, will have a look at the menus.

Tusker house for breakfast is a must for us.

Also Crystal Palace (either breakfast or lunch)
1900 Park Fare also good for breakfast (haven't done dinner).

We love Chef Mickeys too.

As you can see, we tend to do all the character meals - saves queuing in the parks!

Non-character meals we have enjoyed are: yak n yeti (sit down), rainforest café (it's a reasonable experience, not the best food we've had, but perfectly edible) and also the dinosaur one at Disney Springs.

The sci fi diner was an interesting experience - great milkshakes.

I've found the experiences at Akershus and Cinderellas table to be very different. There is some overlap with the princesses, but he setting and food are very different. Double check which you would prefer. There is no luxury at Akershus, whereas eating in the castle is quite something. Cinderella is the one we have done more, probably due to food preferences (although the food there isn't the best we've had at Disney)

Olivia's at Old Key West has some amazing food, but it's a bit out of the way if you're not stating there. The food court at Art of Animation is really good (we like visiting there for the scenery around the different areas )

@glenthebattleostrich at all star movies. We won't be in the room much so opted for a cheaper hotel. Also, my son and I have stayed there a couple of times before so he's very comfortable there. It means he can go to the restaurant etc without me being overly worried. This will be his first trip where we're not racing.

We did be our guest on our last trip but only ordered dessert as I knew he wouldn't eat any of the meals. They were good but it was definitely a 'one and done' place for us.

We got the photo package on our last trip too and it was well worth it. It was the first year that the race photographers were employed by Disney which is why I got it. In the 5 days we were there they took over 200 photos (most were during the races). The park pictures they took were really cool along with pictures and video that were taken during some rides. We'll definitely do it again even if we're not racing.

I should add, definitely check the menus before you book.

A lot of restaurants are also doing pre-ordering. We made use of this at BOG and it saved a bunch of time. They used our magic bands to find us and deliver the food.

I would totally recommend Boma the all you can eat buffet at Animal Kingdom lodge. It's African themed, however they do steak and chips and more mundane food as well as African style food. You don't have to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge to eat there and the Lodge itself is well worth a visit just for the amazing architecture and the animals. Best to book in advance as it's very popular.
I wouldn't do the Rainforest Café, food is very average and overpriced, you can get a free flavour of it by visiting the giftshop outside the restaurant. Liberty Tree Tavern is good for characters and if there's a birthday the staff come along in costume and sing Yankee Doodle to you.
Chef Mickey has a good selection of food, Garden Grill is OK, though not my favourite.

pavlova I'm not sure how recently you attended but as far as I'm aware Liberty Tree aren't doing characters anymore, but the food still looks good! It's sort of "Thanksgiving" served family style for dinner which appeals to our group (6 very hungry adult disnerds)

You should book a couple of be our guest. Lunch and dinner both really good quality. The beast is only there at night but the setting is good.

Cinderella 2 credits but worth doing. Especially if your wee one is into princesses.

Yak and yeti is nice.

You should add chef Mickey to your list.

You do get river of lights package with rusher house.

We were in Florida in August and our top dining experiences were:
Be Our Guest (Magic Kingdom)
Ohana (dinner) (Polynesian hotel)
Teppan Edo (Epcot)
Rainforest Cafe (Disney Springs)
Chef Mickey (Contemporary hotel)
Cafe May (character breakfast) (Beach Club hotel)
Beaches and Cream (Beach Club hotel)
50's Prime Time Cafe (Hollywood Studios)
Yak & Yeti (sit down - dinner)
I'm soooo jealous! You'll have an amazing time!

Oh and Hollywood & Vine buffet in Hollywood Studios (dinner) which was a character experience

Ohana and Teppan Edo gets our vote too - best food of the trip for us.

Also please don't call it Disneyland, use its proper name, there's only one Disney World

Liberty Tree Tavern does not have characters anymore. The food was nice enough but the air con was seriously fierce and it ended up ruining our meal there - I was literally shivering at the table. The DC's kept going outside in between courses to get warm! It wouldn't be a must for me tbh.
I'd also read on here that the Rainforest Cafe food wasn't great, but we went anyway for the themed experience and we were actually really glad we did. It has the usual selection of burgers/steaks/ribs etc, but it also had a lot of other 'special' dishes like risotto and stir fry's and great fish dishes. It was one of our favourite meals in the end.
Teppan Edo, as I mentioned upthread, was actually brilliant. They cook the food at your table and put on a show for you (making a 'volcano' out of the onion rings and such) and the food was really delicious and the DC's loved it as much as I did.
Oh, now I'm jealous and hungry

Brilliant thanks and sorry for the misname, trying to write with the 7 year old bouncing on me. I swear she's worse than a toddler 😁

T Rex theme is great for a 7 year old.

T. rex has fantastic theming. I loved Prime Time, the kids not so much. Bog was ok but is a good use of QS credit. We're going back to Beaches but imo it's not worth a TS credit. Crystal Palace is good for characters apparently.

We go back at half term and have booked teppan edo, Cali grill for brunch, Crystal Palace, T. rex, beaches and Hollywood brown derby for fantasmic. If you're on the deluxe then you could look to do some more signature dining - you be eating a lot of food 😄

Dibb forum is great for this
We took 8 year olds and did not do any of those restaurants so I can't advise. In the evenings we were tired a day ended up cancelling a few reservations in favour of one's nearer our hotel (Disney beach club).
Crystal Palace is good for breakfast.
Obviously all restaurants are child friendly

Yes garden grill is very good!

Boathouse in Disney springs and yacht club at beach club were our favorite. Both 2 x ts. We had deluxe dining plan

See, we thought the Boathouse was hugely disappointing and not worth two dining credits, which was a shame as I'd really been looking forward to it. Don't get me wrong, it was perfectly nice, it's just we were expecting something a bit more special for two credits worth. We thought some of the other restaurants (Teppan Edo, Ohana) were much better and they were only one credit.
I also didn't think it was particularly child friendly, as apart from the boats on the walls the DC were quite unimpressed. Each to their own I guess!

We had amazing food at the Rainforest Cafe at the Animal Kingdom, but it was so noisy in there.

If you have a child with autism or who is sensitive to noise I would avoid it.