going on Wednesday

[paulvshaw]

Hi Folks

We are going to DLP for our first disney experience on Wednesday - We are staying at the Newport Bay and our party will consist of mum, dad and 2 boys (7 & 5).
My wife thinks we should start making our restaurant reservations now. We have already booked to see the wild west show but as we are there for 6 days I was hoping that some of you guys could recommend some family restaurants where the kids will feel at ease whilst mum and dad can still enjoy some nice food.

If anyone has any tips or suggestions to make our trip extra special, please feel free to tell me.

Thanks

Paul.

[greyk]

Walt's on Main Street is good and I think offers a child's menu. The restaurant next to Pirates is also highly rated.

Most of the other restaurants in the park are about what you would expect from a theme park - we often go to the diner in the Hotel New York rather than eat in the park and there is usually no problem getting a table.

Karen

[Uk-Kid]

The Diner in the Hotel New York is great and you could also check out cafe Mickey (at the entrance to Disney Village) for character breakfasts and dinners, these are really great we have done several. The rain Forest Cafe (thought I have never eaten there) looks really nice too. When your walking through the Disney Village just check out some of the restaurants menu's and the queues. They can be extremly big when the parks close so your best going before park closing time.

You'll love the Wild West show, I didn't find the food to be great (but I'm a fussy eater) but the show was fantastic and you get a free cowboy hat lol!

[Debbie2]

A great one is the Plaza Gardens - (in Disneyland Park,top of Main Street as you walk up from entrance on the right behind the main attraction waiting times board - looks a bit like Crystal Palace WDW or glass house if you haven't been to WDW).

It offers a fantastic buffet - as much as you can eat with a special childrens section too with dessets to die for!! It makes a great change from all the fast food available at most other food outlets there.

Reasonable/set price as far as DLP goes and it also serves beer (tho' not for the kids!). The staff are great and bring the kiddies toys at the end of the meal. We discovered it on our second trip and have been each time since. We have recommended it to friends too and they have liked it as well.

Rainforest cafe/Planet Hollywood are both good but expensive.

Main tip - book in advance and avoid park closing time as it is very busy.

Have a fantastic time.

Deb

Deb

[Poohluvr328]

I wouldn't know much about Disneyland Paris...but I hope you have a magical time :wand: :PIXIE: :queen: :Princess: :wand:

-Pooh

[paulvshaw]

Thanks very much for your responses. :sun:

We seem to have highlighted a few restaurants:

Annette's Diner
Cafe Mickey
Inventions
Rainforest Cafe
Lucky Nugget Saloon
Plaza Gardens

So, bearing in mind that we ware going to the wild west show for 1 day - it appears that we have shortlisted more restaurants than days available.

If anyone wants to put the above in order of preference, please be my guest. Would I be ok to book these restaurants on the day we want to go, or should I book a day in advance (if that is possible) ?

Next up its the rides - what are your favourites - what is the must ride - again if you fancy putting up a list in order of best > worst that would be great.

You guys are really helping with my planning - thanks a bunch.

Cheers

Paul.

[windbag]

Lucky you and your family - I hope you have small queues and great weather (oh and deep pockets if your eating at all these restaurants!!)
We really liked the Plaza Gardens for the buffet; then the Rainforest for the atmosphere (although it was quite humid and darkish inside and if your table is near the shop people peer at you when youre eating - we ARE the caged animals!); then the Silver Spur although the kids menu is limited (as most are in DLP) to ckn, fish in breadcrumbs, pizza, burger type steak; pasta but the big size of the dining room and the friendliness of the staff was good. Food came quite quickly too and you could hear the riverboat horn outside - very atmospheric. Next choice would be Annettes Diner but probably more for lunches as its mostly burgers. We loved the dancing they do when your eating and the 'feel' of being in america with the booths and clothing they wear. Quite a long wait for food and the queue outside gets even longer both day and night. We didnt go into cafe Mickey but it was always busy and holds a lot of charecter thingys (bkfasts/dinners). Inventions was way too expensive for us so cant comment there either.
I would definately recommend you book early on the day you want to go - perhaps first thing in the morning at your hotel (if your staying onsite) via the info desk. We booked our dinners for three days in one go. They give you a printed ticket and you turn up just before your time and voila! We always have our last meal at the Silver Spur about 6.15pm and although its not that busy people are turned away because they stop serving newcomers after 7pm. It would be frustrating to go up without a booking and hope to get in but be turned away when you are hungry. You could also try other hotel restaurants for 'themed' food (ie cheyenne for Barbecued; Newport for fish; Santa Fe for mexican/chilli dishes etc). And the Videopolis in Discoveryland is good for burger lunches (plenty of seats in cool air indoors) or Caseys Corner for a huge hotdog two people can share.
As for the rides, we love Big Thunder despite it sometimes breaking down (getting old like us!) and the Pirates (3 smallish drops in water dont get wet just a little damp) and your boys would prob. love Tommowland Speedway (drive your own cars) although the queues can get quite long. Also even though im almost 40 I insist on going on Peter Pan. Its a long queue so get fast pass if poss and the ride is over in a flash but to me its my childhood fav. film. Oh, and of course the dreaded dolls in Its a Small World - nice long boat ride, annoyingly catchy song (which you come to realise inhabits nearly ALL small childrens musical toys!!).
Just a note on Walts - we enjoyed this restaurant although my boys (then aged 11 and 8) got bored waiting for the meal to arrive. Its quite posh and food is ok but too many herbs etc for my bland palette but the boys enjoyed looking out the window at Main Street and if theres an evening parade its ideal spot if you time it right to see over everyones heads. All restaurants have menus outside so you can check them all out before booking. Good Luck! :sun: :sun: :sun:

[paulvshaw]

wow - thanks for the advice there - unfortunately my pockets are not that deep and I think I may have been scared off going to inventions. I really dont have much of a clue how much to expect to spend each day at the restaurants - I would like to think that our food budget wouldnt go over £100 a day (I hope you are not laughing too loudly).

Anyhow, with all this good advice over the next couple of days - I should at least be organised when we get there.

Thanks again for the responses.

Paul.

[Vikki]

If I could only offer one piece of advice that would be book!

We went off seaon and there was only 2 of us. We had an awful time finding places to eat because the have such a captive audience. So please do book. Also, regarding breakfast, try and book all of your breakfast times at once if possible, as the times fill up really quickly.

Thats was the only problem we had at DLP. Newport Bay is lovely. One little tip. At breakfast, try to smuggle out a bread bun or two and go feed it to the ducks on the lake they love it....unless they have since put up 'do not feed' signs of course :)

Have fun!

[ProfJoeKing]

Have a great time. Definatley go to cafe mickeys, last time i couldn't but i have heard it is great fun for all ages.Good Food aswell. Also you lucky people get to watch the lion king show. Is that running yet i would like to know?
Have a magical stay. all the best
joe.

[PaulaK]

We just got back a few hours ago from our Castle Club trip :cry: and the restaurants in the parks are operating on a rota system. Most restaurants (including both sit down full service & fast food) are only open certain days. Ask your hotel concierge for advice on which days which restaurants are open and they can book your tables.

I *highly* recommend the Silver Spur Steakhouse. Auberge De Cendrillon has a fantastic dessert for the kids. It's a white chocolate jigsaw they have to piece together and it comes with a paintbrush and coulis 'paints'. It kept my 2 busy for ages :D Annettes diner has a great atmosphere and the food is good and inexpensive. We ate dinner at Inventions 3 times this week. I would book as much as possible when you arrive or beforehand if you can! All restaurants at Disney Village had queues a mile long between 7.00pm and 9.00pm. I would try to stick to the hotel restaurants if you can. Annettes, The Steak House and Cafe Mickey in DV all belong to Disney, so you can book those in advance . The staff at City Hall are also very helpful in making ressies. The last reservations for dinner in the park restaurants is around 6.45pm because the park closes at 8.00pm, but we found the times available were too early for us.

Meal of the week went to the California Grill in the Disneyland Hotel ~ €230 for 2 adults 2 kids :hehe:
HAVE FUN!!! :mexwave:

The weather was fantastic these last 2 days, hope it continues for you!

[Wendy L]

Hi Paula welcome back, glad you had a great time.

[PaulaK]

Thanks Wendy!

I forgot to say, the queues were ranging between 5 minutes and the longest was 30 minutes (BTM, but we used fastpass) and bearing in mind it was half term and pretty busy, most rides should be only 5-10 minutes wait this week. :thumbs:

[windbag]

We budgeted £100 per day including snacks, dinners, gifts, water and brought change home. Average cost of burger chip meals in parks is under 15 euros and dinners under 60 euros even if you eat well (based on 1euro 43 when we went thats about £16 and £45ish based on myself, my 14yrd old and 10yrd old). Your children benefit from the enfant menus (starter OR pud, main meal, drink and col. book/crayons for around 10/11 euros each). Wow, PaulaK, I hadnt realised the restaurants were on a rota. We went only over weekend on 28th last month and everything was open except Plaza Gardens which was being painted or something. When you were there did BTM break down at all - we had it break down and close on the Friday, same on Saturday until late afternoon (6 feet from actual seat we were ARGH!!) and again on Sunday morning. And of course the usual temp. stop in Phantom Manor.
PM is another good ride as any queue moves quite fast due to scale of numbers allowed in each time - not too scary or dark and gives your feet a rest. Oh and the riverboat (do I sound like I sit down a lot!!)

[PaulaK]

BTM did break down a few times! The CM's at the door to Phantom Manor had all the guests stood on the porch waving to those stuck on a BTM hill! :lol:

[Gwendolyn]

Hi Paula, It's great to hear you had a great time.

I can't wait to see you're Caslte Club pics and to read your trip report.