Now, as promised, here are the top choices of my Princess for restaurants in the World. While my choices were based heavily on the food itself, these are based mostly on the fun factor. My daughter also is a creature of habit, so we often have to eat at the same restaurants over and over again.
1. Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort. This was of course one of my choices as well, but she loves it for some different reasons. She loves to go to the kids section (a buffet that is a little lower for kids to reach themselves) and load her plate with mickey shaped ravioli, chicken nuggets, and macaroni and cheese. She likes some of the big people food as well, but there is not the fun factor of having it at your own level. When dinner is over she heads to the sundae bar and fills a bowl with ice cream which she proceeds to cover with m&m's and other candy. Then she goes to the dessert table and gets the yummy oreos dipped in chocolate with mickey mouse ears on top. Oh yeah, in the middle of all her serving herself she gets to meet some of her favorite characters and swing her napkin in the air when they do the birthday celebrations. For all of these reasons, and many many more this will be one of those restaurants we have to go to every time for many visits to come.
2. Tony's Town Square at Magic Kingdom. Many people probably don't even realize that this restaurant exists (I myself walked by it for years before I knew it was there). It is an Italian restaurant that is decorated in motif from the movie Lady and the Tramp. There are pictures all over the walls, a fountain in the middle of the restaurant of the two stars, and the bathrooms have a picture of either Lady or the Tramp instead of being labeled as men or women. For some reason I cannot fathom, my child LOVES this place. I don't know if it is the decorations or the fact that every time we eat there we all have to recreate the famous spaghetti scene from the movie. She takes turns "slurping" a spaghetti noodle with both me and her Daddy. It is too cute and something she randomly started making us do on our first visit there. It is now one of our "must dos" for our trips. The food isn't bad, but I definitely would not classify it as the best Italian I have ever had. I always get the chicken parmesean and she always gets plain noodles with a meatball on the side. It is always one of the highlights of our trip.
3. 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Resort. This is another fun buffet with really good food. The potatoes and prime rib are especially yummy, as well as a strawberry soup that I highly recommend. This of course is not why my daughter likes this one. She loves the characters that are there for dinner. It it Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Drizella, and Anastasia. When Cinderella makes her grand entrance it is announced and Prince Charming comes from wherever he is and waltzes with her. Then they go back to visiting all the tables and signing autographs. The step sisters and step mother are what make this dinner so much fun though. They are always cutting up and bickering or complaining about Cinderella. I dare someone to try to get Lady Tremaine to smile. We always try, but she is very much in character. Also, watch out, she may get on to you for making a mess or saving food for later (my husband had a crumb on his lip and she asked him if he was saving it for later and told him to be careful). It is a blast. I strongly suggest that if you do this dinner, make a reservation for as early as possible. We had a 6:30 reservation and waited well over an hour. Luckily my daughter was entranced by the grand piano player in the lobby of the hotel and made a friend to keep her company while we waited. Eat as early as you can!!!
4. Akershus Princess Dining in Epcot. This will never be my first choice for a meal, nor will it rank anywhere near the top. However, we will be eating there again this year for dinner simply because it is only one of two places on property where you can eat with several princesses at one time. The only other option is the Castle at Magic Kingdom and it is a hard meal to score, and costs two dining plan entitlements. Therefore, I will take one for the team and make one of those parent sacrifices so that my daughter can meet her favorite princesses. I tell myself that one day very soon she will be too old for the princesses and we will again get to have more say in the dinner choices. It's not that the food is horrible, it is just that it is food from Norway and not part of my normal palette. Breakfast is traditional American fare, and lunch and dinner are authentic Norway fare. We are not big breakfast people, so we go for dinner and enjoy the picture package that is now included in the price of your meal. When you first enter you get your picture taken with one princess (one 5x7 and four 4x6) then three to four more princesses visit you at your table during dinner. That experience is fun and the smile on my daughter's face as she meets her favorite people makes the dinner worth every penny.
5. Garden Grill at Epcot. Ok, so this one isn't really on my daughter's list. The true last choice would probably be the Castle or Whispering Canyon, but I have already written about those in my post. So, I tried to think of another character meal that she might choose if she had the choice. The last time my daughter ate here she was almost two, and this year when we eat there she will be turning seven so I don't think she really remembers this one. It is one of the most relaxing character meals on Disney property and the food is super yummy. It is located in the Land pavilion and is on a platform that rotates very very slowly during your meal which adds a little fun to the meal (though it turns so slowly you wouldn't even know you were rotating if you didn't happen to notice the scenery had changed from a few minutes ago). The salad is especially yummy as it is made from veggies grown fresh in the land every day at Epcot. The restaurant is relatively quiet for a character meal and a great place to unwind after a full day of walking around the biggest park on Disney property. The characters were Chip, Dale, Mickey and Pluto the last time we were there. I am very much looking forward to visiting this restaurant this year and truly hope it is one that my daughter will easily had to her list,
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