Family Friendly Dining @ WDW Parks, Resorts, and Disney Springs

We haven’t kids but have seen how many families with very young kids love Chef Mickey’s on the CR Concourse. It’s not quite as earsplittingly loud as the enclosed room character meals can be because CM opens onto the Concourse. All those excited squeals are lessened somewhat by that format. The food is pretty standard character meal buffet so nothing spectacular, but your kids sure won’t care.

Once your kids are a few years older, Whispering Canyon and its jokes might be fun for everyone. We thought it too silly for the longest time but finally tried breakfast there. The “just us folks havin’ some fun” atmosphere turned out to be great fun. It became a must-do as a result.

Honestly, some people make fun of them, but TRex and Rainforest cafe are so fun for kids. We had friends with young children in town and took them to TRex and they were entertained by the sights and things the whole time. I didn't think the food was bad either- lots of options at both places. They are priced better than character dining.

I have a 4 year old daughter and these restaurants were great for us!

Quick service

Casey's Corner. Go grab some mini corndogs and go have your self a picnic of the HUB grass with a Castle view! It's usually pretty spacious and children can move around!

Columbia Harbour House. Not your typical quick service food. However, go upstairs with a window seat so your kids (and yourself) can people watch as people walk through MK!

Table Service

Garden Grill. It is Character Dining so that alone will be fun for children but the fact that the restaurant is constantly rotating can keep kids entrained as well!

Via Napoli. It's Pizza! Who doesn't love pizza?! It's also fun to watch them prepare and cook the pizza's in the massive pizza ovens!

Hope that helps!

We loved Round Up Rodeo for a themed experience that was cheaper than a character meal. Great food quality and service too. This is the most “fun for the whole family place” for us that’s not a character meal (and we love those too).

Other kid friendly Table Service experiences we’ve had - Whispering Canyon, Steakhouse 71 - lunch, Geyser Point, Boma

Favorite park quick services for a family break- Pecos Bills (huge, darker, sensory break, decent food), ABC Commissary (lots of comfortable seating, high quality food, refillable soft drinks)

We have a 4 year old and 2 year old and something that’s always a bit hard to navigate is that if your kids really love the characters the way mine do, it’s hard to find one that has the sensational six. For example, Chef Mickeys and Toppolinos have both Mickey and Minnie but the rest really only have one or the other. Chef Mickeys stresses me out for a host of reasons and Toppolinos isn’t the best option when you still have a kid who is free under 3 because they can’t just eat off a buffet, you gotta buy “entrees.”

So if you are wanting to do character meals, and they love both Mickey and Minnie, plan for at least two. Our favorite option with Mickey is by far Tusker House at Animal Kingdom. Snag that latest breakfast time slot when lunch is also being put out and you are getting great bang for your buck. The food is great and the kids will love the safari gear and the Jambo dance parties.

For a “Minnie Meal” as we like to call it, we always do Cape May Cafe for breakfast. Minnie is your hostess here for her beach party, the breakfast food is good, and so fun for the kids with great staff and interactions, especially if you catch it on the tail end when the place is closing down for the morning. Do some Epcot rides first and then walk over to catch a later time slot.

Depending on where you like to stay, I always feel that DVC deluxe resorts have amazing options for kids too, for example, the Mara at AKL always has so much variety and space and Mickey cartoons on.

Interestingly, my girls have asked to go to Yak and Yeti table service the last 2 trips. That is one of the places they enjoy. It’s good food and the price is decent. They also love eating at Chefs de France. My oldest loves the hamburger there. We also do Akershus every trip now for breakfast. You meet 5 princesses and have a great breakfast. My girls love the waffles.

Steakhouse 71 was amazing with my kids and (while pricey) was a little less expensive than some of the other steakhouse options.

My kids got a steak that was pretty good and a sundae for like $15 ... They also have some large "horseshoe" shaped booths that are great for people up to like 8 people maybe?