180 days Tuesday; dining with teens, overwhelmed!

Hi,

Tuesday the 15th will be our 180 day mark so I would like to get at least 3 or 4 reservations. I don’t know where to begin. My 19 year old has requested sci-fi diner so we’ll have that, at least. I would like to eat somewhere special during our first day at Magic Kingdom, maybe Be Our Guest for breakfast or lunch. I would like to book a special dinner and perhaps, a character meal. Our kids are 19 and 13. We do have park hopper passes so we can come and go but there are so many wonderful options, I can’t decide what to pick. Help!

I’m in a similar spot in the age range of kids, though my 180 mark is further out. Also, one of mine is a vegetarian, so I have to account for that when looking at menus. Amongst those at the top of my list, knowing my kids’ taste and my own, are BOG, Via Napoli at Epcot, one of the Mexico places (probably a La Cantina dinner before Illuminations), Tiffin’s, 50s PT. I’m undecided on the character meals. Once I do the reveal of the trip, I’ll sit down with the kids and gauge their interest and what characters they care about. They might think it’s too “babyish”, or they might want to do all of them. Also, I’m a fan of buffets. Gives lots of choices. I’m definitely going to hit Crystal Palace

Those are great recommendations. Thanks! My family (including the firstborn 3 year old) ate at the 50’s café and it was one of the highlights of our trip. I like the idea about eating before Illuminations. I wasn’t going to make reservations at Epcot because in 2014 we were there and really enjoyed getting small bites to eat from different countries. Incidentally, the fish and chips was excellent. I am from south Louisiana and have grown up eating fish and was surprised at how good that meal was in Epcot.

My kids are 13 and 15 and their favorite restaurants are Sci-Fi in HS, Via Napoli for pizza in Epcot, Garden Grill at Epcot for pre-rope drop breakfast (gets you on Soarin right away so no need for a FPP for Soarin), Yak & Yeti or Tusker House in AK (Tusker is great at 10:30ish so you can eat breakfast and lunch for the price of breakfast. Also we make it a Rivers of Light package so get great seats to the show as well), and BOG in MK (dinner food is better to me, but breakfast and lunch are fine too). They enjoy Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch in MK as well. Happy planning!

My DD is 16, and we have Via Napoli booked (though we’ll be in Epcot during F&W so will perhaps not use it), Sci Fi, and she loves the Mad Hatter and Alice so we have 1900 PF booked as well. She started out lackluster about dining reservations, but as we get closer to the trip she’s getting more excited- even for CRT which quite frankly was my choice. :blush: She also is getting amped up for BOG after picking out her cupcake for dessert. I say all this to say, don’t necessarily rule out character meals since they’re teenagers. My DD loves the excuse to “lapse” back into being a kid and enjoying the magic while we’re there. (And as a mom, I’m SO grateful for that!)

We’ve also been to 50’s which she loved- we just didn’t book it this time so we could try Sci Fi and Mama Melroses. In November we’re looking forward to trying Beaches N Cream as well, and Trattoria Al Forno’s Bon Voyage breakfast. She wouldn’t want ALL character meals, but she’s happy I booked a couple of them each trip.

With teenagers, some of them anyways, it’s tough. They know everything and they’re in a hurry to be adults, so they rebel against things they see as kiddish. What I aim for with mine is to A) make them actively involved in planning to stoke the excitement, and B) make the effort to point out all the ways in which grown ups have fun. Plant that seed that a person’s never too old to surrender to suspending disbelief and getting in the spirit. It’s good for the soul and keeps one feeling young

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@chrisdan, two of my kids are vegetarians. Almost every sit down restaurant has vegi options at WDW. At Magic Kingdom, we’re all fans of Skippers Canteen, and Columbia Harbour House. The Lighthouse sandwich is one of my fav vegi options…in fact one of my fav sandwich options on property. My oldest is 23. His last character meal was when he was 17. His sister was only 7 at the time, and wanted nothing more than to see the princesses at the castle. CRT was amazing! My 17 yr old was flirted with by every princess that came by our table. We were all laughing. I’m quite sure he enjoyed it more than my 7 yr old. lol.
Happy to suggest other vegi friendly places if you need more help. Enjoy!

Thanks. I think I will definitely add Garden Grill for breakfast. I love the River of Lights idea. And, I have read that people love Liberty Tree Tavern.

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Thanks. I have already enlisted my 19 year old to help pick places. And even at 19, she loves Stitch so we’ll have to possibly book O’hana.

Disneydaddio, our family is definitely not vegan. I think that is another member. But, I LOVE the princess flirting thing. I can only imagine my 13 year old son getting to meet all of those beautiful princesses.

One of my best friends, who loves Disney and happens to be vegetarian (since the 80s, for both) always says that going to Disney properties (both DW and DL) was always one of her favorite as a kid, because they always had vegetarian options that was more than Mac n Cheese. Even the kebab food stands has vegetarian kebabs. I am sure other places have more options than others, but Disney tend to be pretty friendly for vegetarians.

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I would definitely recommend 'Ohana for dinner! Great food, good for all ages. If you are at MK, you can take the Monorail over for dinner and then back to MK or stay at 'Ohana for the fireworks. It’s fun to see a different view when you watch from the restaurant or the beach. They play the music for the fireworks inside the restaurant, but if you don’t have a window seat, it can be hard to see. You can also watch from the beach outside after your meal.

The Happily Ever After dinner at 1900 Park Fare is really fun. The wicked Step-mother and one of the step-sisters are there, and they are very fun to interact with.

Definitely try to get a QS reservation for Be Our Guest for lunch or bkfst. When you go, request the West Wing.

How about Whispering Canyon? If your kids have a sense of humor, they may like the antics of the serving staff there. If they are pretty sensitive, then maybe not.

Good Luck!

'Ohana was one of our favorites and was great for dinner, but note that Stitch and other characters are only present for breakfast.

asallen224, I just changed our Ohana reservation from breakfast to dinner. So excited.

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