A Toddler’s Guide to Disney Restaurants: Our Top Tips and Product Recommendations for a Stress Free Meal
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For some families with little ones, the process of sitting down to a meal in a restaurant can be overwhelming for any number of reasons. Restaurants are often loud, busy and can be overstimulating. If you have a picky eater (like I do) then there’s the added pressure of finding something on the menu that they will actually eat. Combine that with the additional time it takes to eat at a sit down restaurant and you have all the makings for one unhappy toddler.
While on your Disney vacation, is it likely that your family will eat out more often than normal. Some hotel room types offer a full kitchen that will enable you to prepare a meal, but most do not. In this post, I’ll share with you some of our top Disney restaurant tips and the products we’ve found to help your family achieve a stress free meal.
Make a Reservation
While there can be a certain degree of flexibility and spontaneity in your dining plans, in our experience, table service (sit down) restaurants do require some level of planning. Unless we have a special character breakfast planned that requires a reservation, most of the time, we would choose a quick service restaurant or grab and go option from our hotel for breakfast and lunch. This enabled us to get a faster start in the mornings, and allowed us to be more flexible during the day. For dinner, we would often choose a sit down restaurant.
Most table-service restaurants in the Disney theme parks and hotels allow for reservations. Guests with a valid Walt Disney World hotel reservation can start booking dining reservations up to 60 days before arrival. Please note, when making a reservation, include all members of your travel party, regardless of their age. If you need to modify or cancel a dining reservation, review the restaurant’s policy beforehand. Some Disney restaurants do not allow for modifications, and many will charge a fee if you cancel within a certain timeframe or do not show up. To avoid unwanted fees, familiarize yourself with their policies before committing to a reservation.
Key Benefits:
Guaranteed table during your reservation time - some restaurants do not accept walk-ins
Reduced wait time upon check in for a table to be ready
Plan your meal for a time that works best with your schedule. Try to avoid key times like when kids would typically be napping or in bed for the night
Allows for opportunity to make special requests - while not a guarantee, Disney Cast Members will do their best to accommodate requests
Review the Menu
I highly recommend viewing the menu prior to making any reservations in order to ensure that everyone in your travel party will be able to find something they’d like to eat. This is something that I do for the kids whenever possible. It won’t prevent the occasional curveball that toddlers are known to throw when they decide not to like any food on a particular day, but so long as I see at least a few possible options, we’ll typically be okay.
Download the My Disney Experience App
Free to download, this App is critical to a successful Disney trip and at least one member of your travel party should have it on their phone. It’s where reservations for your Disney hotel, dining, and theme parks are managed. Purchase Lightning Lanes, mobile checkout for merchandise and mobile order food all in one place. For the purpose of this post, we’ll focus on the information the app can provide in regards to Disney restaurants and reservations.
The My Disney Experience App will allow you to search by your party size on the dates you’d like to find a restaurant and make a reservation. Narrow your search down by location, type of dining experience, cuisine, and price. From the list of available restaurants, select one to get even more information on the current estimated wait time, average price per person, and view the menu. This is also where you can go to make a reservation.
Items to Consider Bringing:
My husband and I have found a number of things that have helped us when bringing our little ones out to dinner. While not a need, these are definitely things you may want to consider bringing for your toddlers as well.
Booster seat: My younger son is not a huge fan of high chairs. In order to make him more comfortable, we started bringing our own booster seat with us that he likes better. We have two different styles; one that is collapsable and a little more portable from Bright Starts. And the other secures to the table and folds into its own carrying bag.
Leak Proof Cup: Most restaurants provide kid’s drinks in a simple plastic cup with a straw lid. My toddlers always seem to knock them over despite our best efforts. We like bringing their own leak-proof cups, like this one from Simple Modern or this one from Munchkin that we transfer their drinks into.
Disposable Platemats: I like to use these for a few reasons. For my 4 ½ year old, we often bring toys for him like Play-Doh to help keep him entertained while we’re at the restaurant. This placemat provides a clean surface for him to play with his toys on. For my almost 2 year old son, he can still make a bit of a mess when eating and these provide a clean surface for him to eat off of and helps keep his area less messy too. I found this pack of 40 for $13.
Snacks and Snack Cup: While waiting for either your table or your meal to be ready, come prepared with some of your little one’s favorite snacks to help prevent meltdowns made worse by hunger. I love using these stackable snack cups for my 4 ½ year old and these cups from Munchkin for my younger son.
Silicone Straps for Toys and Cups: As soon as we get my younger son situated in his seat, we secure his cup and a few toys using silicone straps. He can and will throw everything and it makes life so much easier to prevent that by using these straps.
Toys and Games: Help keep little ones entertained by bringing a few toys and games for them to play with while waiting for their food, or waiting for everyone else to finish eating. I typically bring a small bag that I fill with a few toys like this magnetic travel puzzle, or these travel size, mini Magna Tiles. Consider other options like a few of the 1 ounce Play-Doh containers and some tools, or Melissa & Doug Reusable Water Activity Books.
Final Thoughts
There are so many great restaurants to try in the Disney theme parks, hotels, Disney Springs or other surrounding areas; there is something for everyone. A certain degree of planning ahead for your sit down meals will pay off in the long run. Make a reservation for a time that will work best at a restaurant you know ahead of time everyone will like by reviewing the menu. Download the My Disney Experience App to help plan and manage your dining experiences throughout your trip. Stay two steps ahead of tired and hungry toddlers by bringing things like toys to keep them entertained and spill proof cups for their drinks and snacks to reduce messes. I hope you found this post informative, and be sure to check out all of our Restaurant Guides, such as the time we took our toddlers to have lunch with dinosaurs at T-Rex in Disney Springs.