Sit-down Dining Recs!

With kids their ages. I suggest Chef Mickey’s. It’s very popular with young kids and thus as noisy as you’d expect.

The food is pretty standard character meal buffet, but there’s reportedly great character interaction from Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald. Pluto? You’re practically twins. 😉

If character meals don’t fit your budget or eating habits, Whispering Canyon might suit better, particularly if you enjoy the joking around from servers and silly fun like the “ketchup from everywhere” bit.

We’re foodies and think WC’s breakfast among the best on property.

Our favorite that appeals to all ages is the Pooh and Friends character buffet at Crystal Palace. Much more lowkey than Chef M’s. Great way to start our MK day. And, sometimes you may find Mary Poppins outside nearby meeting and greeting.

There ya go for starters. Hope you find some must-return-every-trip ones as we have.

My family has been enjoying Biergarten lately. There's something for everyone at the buffet, and my son (3) enjoys the musicians and dancing around on the dance floor. I agree with @HerDotness about Whispering Canyon and Crystal Palace too. If you want something that's not all-you-care-to-eat, Beaches and Cream can be fun. Yes, the food is on the basic side, but the sundaes are what you're there for.

Beaches and Cream—great suggestion. But very hard to get an ADR unless you try for an uncommon time or go for it immediately your ADR window opens. That’s partially because there’s a floor show (of sorts)—watching other people order The Kitchen Sink and mostly fail miserably to finish it. (I know—cheap amusement. Still fun…heh)

Hint: Try a day at or near the end of your stay. Lots of people start with Day 1, then 2, etc. You may snag that B&C ADR by being the smart person who heads for Day 6, 7… That’s how we once got an extremely high-demand ADR that we didn’t expect to get at all.

Or, you can eat elsewhere and simply stop by B&C’s outside window where various cones, cups, shakes and the Mini Mickey Sink Sundae (The Kitchen Sink wannabe) can be ordered. Yumlicious ice cream whatever you get.

That's good advice for the ADRs. If ADRs don't work out, I've found that walk-ups for lunch or an early dinner are pretty doable too via MDE. You just have to be close enough to the restaurant to join the waitlist, so it's a better option for an EPCOT day if you're close enough to International Gateway.

Just thought of another TS that could be more appealing to your 8-year-old if Chef Mickey’s might be too little-kid: 50s Prime Time in DHS.

What kid won’t enjoy watching Mom or Dad’s reaction when their table manners are corrected by “Cousin Irene”, the server?

“Elbows off the table and sit up straight!”

“Quit pushing your food around like you don’t know what a fork’s for.”

“Do you want to go to your room without dessert?”

Like Whispering Canyon, it’s lighthearted fun.

And, the tableside tvs with clips from classic tv shows—The Brady Bunch, Leave It To Beaver and more—add to the experience.

Prices are mid-range Disney for homestyle comfort food, plenty tasty and plenty of it.

Definitely one to consider, IMO, as getting an ADR isn’t usually difficult.

I gotta second Beaches-N-Cream. We try and go there every trip. As for a character breakfast My grandkids love Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Epcot. All the Disney Princesses. It can be a bit of a dash to get there. There is the ever popular 'Ohana at Poly. We went for the character breakfast and it was a blast. Really chaotic (What would you expect with Stitch in charge). Our grandkids really loved it. Staff did an amazing job.

We have 2 other musts we try and do every trip. SCi-Fi diner in HS. This may be a bit much for the 5 year old and Rain Forest Cafe at AK. THe kids and now grandkids love the Rain Forest Cafe. I know it is not Disney, but it is great. We like the one at AK because it is the perfect getaway from the heat. If you are not at a park the one at Disney Springs is ok as well. The grandkids loved it much better than T-Rex at DS.

The 50's Prime Time was really fun, but really scared my youngest when she was little. The staff toned it down for her and it was fine.

You are a SSR owner so stay at home and go to the Turf Club and the Turf Club Lounge. Both very underrated and never very crowded.

Topolino's character breakfast has both terrific food and really fun character interactions. I find it less chaotic than some of the other character meals and really like that it's not a buffet.

On our last trip, we did 4 TS restaurants. They were Yak & Yeti, Hoop Dee Doo Revue, Whispering Canyon, and Story Book Dining with Snow White.

We enjoyed Hoop Dee Doo Revue so much, we’re planning to go there every trip if we can. When at AK, we will make reservations for Yak & Yeti. The other 2 were fun but wouldnt make a special trip just to go to them.

During our last stay at Boulder Ridge we ate at Whispering Canyon for the first time in a long time and we ordered off the menu instead of doing the family style thing and the food was excellent.

Had the brisket nachos for brunch this past trip. Had them a day or 2 after getting the ahi tuna nachos from Yak & Yeti, so it’s probably unfair to rate them. Will say they were really good.

Have only stayed at AKV and BRV, but there’s something about BRV that just feels like “home”. Would have gotten resale points but I was overruled by the rest of the family lol.