[talyea]

I know by posting this here I willl get several post of wisdom. We have been to DW several times. The girls (7 & 8) are above princess meals. We are having Breakfast with Chef Mickey, but that is all we have planned so far. There is another family traveling with us who have two girls also (8 & 13) and our oldest daughter's biological mom will be coming also (has not seen my daughter since she was 2 wks old!!!). I am not sure about what she prefers to eat so we are trying to stick to general American type food locations. We were trying to decide on another possible character dinner for the whole gang. In addition we have purchased the dining plan. However, the challenge is that my children do not always want the same thing presented on the children's menu. I also do not usually plan sit down dinners for our previous trips because we never have an exact plan to where we will be each day. We generally just do a counter service for this meal.

What other dining locations either in the parks or resorts would you recommend? Also, they do not have to have the character, we were just exploring that option.

[timkelmom]

I think you would all enjoy Liberty Tree Tavern in Magic Kingdom. It is a character meal with Minnie, Goofy, Chip, Dale, and Pluto. It has food similar to Thanksgiving type foods. It is all you care to eat and quite good.

[tiggerlover1971]

A list of character meals

Epcot has garden grill in the land its mickey and friends
norway princess breakfast
Magic kingdom - Crystal palace Winnie the pooh and friends
LTT at dinner is Character with Mickey and friends
CRT - princess
AK had the one at Tusker house
MGM has one thats too young for your kids

Resorts
Contemporary - Chef Mickeys
Ohana's breakfast with lilo and stitch ( I personally love this one )
Cape maye in Beach club breakfast Mickey and gang
1900 park fair is princess themed
I might have missed any but this should help

If your looking for a non character meal Le Cellier is great ...
Also DTD Rainforest cafe would be a great one to bring the kids

[Daisee]

Since you have a range of people in your party, I would suggest a buffet. Possibly Crystal Palace. At CP, you will find Winnie t Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, etc.

[Willbegone]

There are lots of great places to choose from! Here are some that you may want to check out on allearsnet.com:

Sci-Fi (Studios) The food is good, not great but the atmosphere is AWESOME! I think the girls would like it.

Le Cellier (Epcot) The food here is AWESOME! This is a VERY hard ADR to get lately so call at the 90 day mark for sure!

Crystal Palace or Liberty Tree Tavern (MK) Both have very good food and face it who doesn't love Pooh and Friends or Mickey and Friends?

There are 2 new options at AK that may be worth trying out. The new Tusker house buffetts (only breakfast has characters) or Yak & Yeti.

We also love 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian and O'Hana at the Polynesian.

Just a few suggestions to get you started!

[keljen]

Liberty Tree Tavern is a great place for a character meal and the food is very good also

[emamasa]

OHANA!! it'd be lots of fun for your group and is yummy!!

often overlooked is maya grill (at coronado springs) - it was very good!

another vote for lecellier - just awesome!

marrakesh in epcot can often be a walk-up dining spot (no adr's needed), and is very good!

have fun!!!

wolfgang puck express was fabulous - we did the one attached to the cafe - wow - great use of a counter service!!

[LynnA]

If your girls aren't fond of the children's menu,(my dd isn't either)try to book some buffets. This way they can choose what they want to eat and aren't limited to the children's menu. We did Hollywood & Vine at Disney Studios this time. We also did Crystal Palace, Liberty Tree Tavern, and Ohana. On a previous trip we did Chef Mickey's. My friend ate at the Cape May buffet, she and her husband love it. Oh and we did 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. I hope this helps.

[JustaT]

Hoopty Doo Review over at Ft. Wilderness was a blast and the food wasn't too shabby either. We loved it.

By the way, I think it is pretty great that you are meeting up with your daughters biological mother. That's an entirely different thread.

[talyea]

We tried to get reservations with the Hoop Dee Doo - did not have anything except for the latest show and group was not up to that. We did it on our last trip and I also thought others would agree. Guess it is easier with smaller group.

I see lots of votes for LeCellier and the Liberty Tree - will make calls today to see if we can get ADR.

Thanks for all the advice.

[nitaworm]

Definately Ohana's for breakfast or dinner. We all had a ball there! and the food is fab!

[jaljayjar]

One of our favorites was whispering canyon...it is a fun and light-hearted atmosphere and great food.