David

Two adults, a 10 year old boy and 6 year old girl staying at the Carribean (wrong spelling) Beach. Looking for recommendations on the following:

1. Fireworks viewing: Is it better from a restaurant or at Magic Kingdom or Epcot? Which restaurant?

2. Character meals: Is a dinner meal preferred over a breakfast meal? Where are the Chef Mickey and Pooh & Friends dinners located?

3. Restaurants: What recommendations do you have for dining with kids? How does the priority seating work?

Thank you very much in advance!

David

ilisa

Regarding restaurants, Chef Mickey's is located at the Contemporary, and Pooh and Friends is located at Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. We have done both as breakfasts and enjoyed them very much. King Stefan's in Cinderella's castle is the most popular character meal, especially among girls. Soudstage Restaurant at MGM also has a decent character meal. The way priority seating works is that you make a "reservation" for a certain time. You are not guaranteed a table at that exact time, but will be seated in a matter of minutes, ahead of the walk-ins. I highly recommend priority seating, especially if you are visiting at a busy times. You can make priority seating arrangements 30 days in advance; King Stefan's recommends 60 days. The kids also might like Sci-Fi Dine In Theater at MGM. You sit in convertibles, and watch clips of really cheesy sci-fi movies while eating. The food is not the best, but it's an interesting experience. At Magic Kingdom, Tony's Town Square Restaurant (Italian) is pretty good. It's also Lady and the Tramp themed. Regarding fireworks, Illuminations at Epcot is amazing. The best way to see it, I think, is to stake out a spot on the lagoon. For the fireworks at Magic Kingdom, the view from the California Grill at the Contemporary is amazing, but I don't know how the kids would like the restaurant. Rather, I have found that you can view the fireworks very well from in front of the castle. We have never had a problem staking out spots for that. I've stayed at Caribbean Beach twice and enjoyed. I hope you do, as well. We just returned from a great trip, so please fee free to email me with any questions. Ilisa

ilisa

Regarding restaurants, Chef Mickey's is located at the Contemporary, and Pooh and Friends is located at Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. We have done both as breakfasts and enjoyed them very much. King Stefan's in Cinderella's castle is the most popular character meal, especially among girls. Soudstage Restaurant at MGM also has a decent character meal. The way priority seating works is that you make a "reservation" for a certain time. You are not guaranteed a table at that exact time, but will be seated in a matter of minutes, ahead of the walk-ins. I highly recommend priority seating, especially if you are visiting at a busy times. You can make priority seating arrangements 30 days in advance; King Stefan's recommends 60 days. The kids also might like Sci-Fi Dine In Theater at MGM. You sit in convertibles, and watch clips of really cheesy sci-fi movies while eating. The food is not the best, but it's an interesting experience. At Magic Kingdom, Tony's Town Square Restaurant (Italian) is pretty good. It's also Lady and the Tramp themed. Regarding fireworks, Illuminations at Epcot is amazing. The best way to see it, I think, is to stake out a spot on the lagoon. For the fireworks at Magic Kingdom, the view from the California Grill at the Contemporary is amazing, but I don't know how the kids would like the restaurant. Rather, I have found that you can view the fireworks very well from in front of the castle. We have never had a problem staking out spots for that. I've stayed at Caribbean Beach twice and enjoyed. I hope you do, as well. We just returned from a great trip, so please fee free to email me with any questions. Ilisa

Julie

I think one of the best spots to view Epcot's Illuminations fireworks is in Mexico -- but the wait begins hours before the show. The same goes for the restaurant in Canada -- hard to come by.

I've done Chef Mickey's for dinner (supper) and it was great -- the food was good and there were lots of desserts

Julie

Oops - forgot -- check out Deb Wills site -- wdwig.com for great info

Joy in Virginia

I agree with Julie - Deb Wills site will give you lots of tips & trip reports, she updates it almost every week. I have done the Pooh & friends dinner at the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom, we were there at an uncrowded time (Sept) & just walked in at park closing without priority seating. It was fun, 5 yo enjoyed it, variety of generally above-average food. We have never done priority seating in all the years I have been to WDW. instead we try to hit any restaurants we want to do before or after peak lunch & dinner hours. Kids would also enjoy Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom or Downtown Disney Marketplace. They don't take reservations but you can put your name on list, host gives you a time to return for seating, & you can go see animals at AK or shop if at Downtown Disney.
BEST fireworks viewing I have done - rode Test Track at Epcot & our car shot outside just as Illuminations fireworks were going off! Unplanned & terrific!

Scott

Hello David,

One of the best dining experiences my family and I have ever had was the Hoop-de-do dinner show at Fort Wilderness. We've seen it at least three times. The all you can eat fried chicken and barbeque ribs is great (but be sure to save room for strawberry short cake for desert). The show is highly entertaining for the whole family. Birnbaum's recommends that reservations be made up to two years in advance. I've been lucky before and obtained reservations a month or two before we arrived.

Try to time your reservation (I believe it's the second seating around 7:00 or 7:30PM) so that upon completion of dinner you can hop on the horse drawn wagon outside the theater for a ride. This will likely be the last wagon ride of the night. They will take you to a good spot near the lake for a view of the nightly light show on the lake behind the Wilderness Lodge and then a clear view of the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom. My kids had a great time.

For those of you staying at the Wilderness lodge, request a room on the seventh floor overlooking the forest on the Magic Kingdom side of the hotel. You will probably have great view of the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom nightly, right from your balcony!!

Jan

For a fun free fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom, go to the Grand Floridian and walk out to the boat dock. You have a wonderful view Cinderella's Castle. The boat parade with lights and music (can't remember the name) also can be seen from here usually a little before or after the fireworks. We generally do this on a day that we don't go to the parks and include dinner at one of the restaurants in the GF, even the cafeteria is fun if you're on a budget. We always buy the Park Hopper passes that let you keep the unused days forever and don't like to spend a whole day unless we have dawn to dark available! I don't know if you have the kind of park pass that includes unlimited entry the whole time of your stay. If you do, you may as well go into the MK and watch from in there. The fireworks are very high and there is no problem seeing as long as you aren't standing under a tree. In the past, the Epcot fireworks have been quite close to the water so you had a very hard time seeing anything if you weren't right on the water. I think that they've solved that problem however in their latest version of them. Someone else may know.

We love the Caribbean Beach. Our kids liked the food court there just fine. Not gourmet food but as good as anything you'll get in a mall food court. Port Orleans, Dixie Landing, and Coronado Springs also have food courts. Wilderness Lodge has a great little cafeteria and you can take the food out by the lake for a picnic. We think Coronado Springs has the best food but it's a bit more expensive. I don't recommend the full service restaurants at any of the above. There are a number of independent restaurants such as Rainforest Cafe, Flying Fish, and Narcoosees that have better food for close to the same cost.

I think all of the Disney resorts have some kind of a character breakfast. I seem to remember Mary Poppins at the Grand Floridian and the Wilderness Lodge has someone too, maybe Pocahontas? This would be another fun thing to do on a day you aren't going to the parks.

Have lots of fun, I wish we were going with you! Don't forget to take time to enjoy all the CB has to offer, nice beach, great pool, walks around the lake, lazing in the hammocks -- enjoy!

Jan