A few thoughts on character meals

[Happyinwonerland]

Character meals. Expensive, sub-par food filled with brief meet and greets with some of your favs. A Lot of people on here say "But I don't go for the food, I go for the convenience of seeing the characters while eating". But is it really saving that much time? And is the cost worth it?

Take the CP. There you meet Pooh and the gang. For a family of four you're looking at roughly $120. The meal takes an hour to an hour and a half of your time, counting walking and making reservation time. Not to mention, you were up at midnight 6 months prior in order to snag your reservation. So you pay your $120 (on top of the $400 you spent for your family to go into the park) and spend an hour and a half eating $15 worth of waffles a and sausage. Most of that time is spent waiting to be seated, waiting in buffet lines, etc. During your meal, the characters come and spent roughly 2 minutes each with you, interrupting your meal and making your food get cold. After paying all that money, YOU are on THEIR schedule, and will meet when they day or not at all. Hope you aren't at the buffet line when they come by! Your photos are not taken by photo pass photogs, so usually aren't the best, and the background is just the dining room, with 100 other families.

OR you could eat your breakfast on the way to park ( pancakes and sausage on a stick, baby!), spend 10 minutes in line to meet Pooh and Tigger, get one on one time with fewer distractions, have the photopass photogs take you picture ( thank you, memory maker), with the themed backdrop as your background. You can meet them when you decide. And best of all, you just saved yourself $120! Woohoo, Mickey Bars all around!!


****IF there are characters you ABSOLUTELY must meet that are only offered during character meals, I can see it being worthwhile.*****

 

[Mikeb1892]

Breakfast at CP with my wife and two sons: $120
Travel/Wait/Eating time: 120 minutes
Seeing my kids faces meeting and hugging the characters IN AIR CONDITIONING without waiting in a line with nothing to do: Priceless

In my opinion it all comes down to what is important to you. If you want to maximize you time in the park doing rides and attractions, then I can see where the character meals wouldn't make sense for you. But for us, with two young kids, the break out of the heat sitting down in comfortable chairs in air conditioning while refueling is worth it on its own. Throw in the characters, and for us, it's a no-brainer.

 

[merdie]

My family really enjoys character meals. We like the experience, love CP, especially going into the park before opening and walking down an empty Main Street. Is it expensive, absolutely! Do I find it worthwhile? Yep.

It's fine that you don't find them worthwhile, OP. Other people do, so I'm not really sure what your point of posting this is.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

My point of posting is that a lot of people come on here asking if character meals are worth it. And are hit with a barrage of "Yes, totally worth it!" But not a whole lot of explanation why it's worth it or much opinion from the not worth it camp.

I think sometimes it is worth it. We're doing a meal as askershus on DD'S birthday, so she can see some princesses and we can eat some unique food. I just wanted to share a different opinion on things and my reasons why.

 

[Thing 1]

You know, the same exact thoughts went through my head recently. With a 22 and 8 year old, we have done just about every character meal in the last 20 years, some many times. We have wonderful pictures and we did enjoy most of them but have spent 1000's on them. We were at a Non- Disney resort this week-end (upper-end-DVC equal) for a marathon. Included in our package was free breakfast at one of their restaurants. It was a "signature" type place with dinner for two being about 150.00 (we did not eat dinner there) but the breakfast buffet was 8.95. No characters but we had an ocean view table, amazing service and the best breakfast foods I have ever had anywhere. True Southern dishes like shrimp and grits, and home made muffins and the freshest sweetest fruits and juices ever. Plenty of GOOD hot coffee kept coming and one of our friends kids had a crazy amount of chocolate milk, all included. Really made me think that we are done with character meals for a while. I'm sure we will do them again when we have grand-children, or maybe if they add a really cool new one or if we go during the star wars dining time frame, BUT we are backing off from them a bit for now.

 

[1girln3boys]

I enjoy them my kids could care less. This past trip we didn't even do one. I enjoy CRT and Park Fair. I enjoy both breakfast and dinner there. To me the interactions are a lot of fun.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

I'm of the opposite opinion, especially if your children are younger. Keep the character meal and dump the Memory Maker. There are many considerations regarding the character meals though. Do the kids even care about seeing characters? Are the characters available at the meals appealing to your children? Are you coming to WDW repeatedly or is this your one trip?

We still, with an 18 and 15 year old, have one character breakfast every trip. And we have many lovely pictures of them even without Memory Maker.

 

[MandiC]

For some they are worth it and for some they aren't. I believe they save time if you want to see the characters. You have to eat either way, why not see the characters while you are at it? Will we go back to CRT? No way, the food was as you said awful and the characters were rushed and it just wasn't worth the exorbitant prices. Tusker House? Absolutely! Good good, decent price, early entrance to the park, great character interactions. If you ask my younger daughter about her favorite memory she would say eating at Akershus. Worth it.

 

[Crystal824]

We love the character meals. Pricy yes, but they are worth it to us. We have two little kids who LOVE characters. In fact, we have a trip coming up in April where we are doing a character meal everyday. Once our kids are older and not so much into the characters, we may feel differently.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

As much of a tightwad as I am, I have to say the cost is secondary. But the hassle is just not worth it "generally speaking" for us.

If we ever do another, it'll be breakfast. Planning our entire morning around making sure we were on time for a lunch reservation? Not again.

 

[kcpinwdw]

Our last trip we hit up CRT, CP, Tusker House, and DIsney Jr play and dine. Next trip I will go back to Tusker House, and try 1900 PF and Akershus. I agree that "worth it" is totally subjective. If I was on a tight budget I would skip all but whatever my kids were obsessed with at the time. But I enjoy them, and like a PP said I would rather sit and eat than wait in even a short line! And I do tend to splurge on these type of things. BUt, overall, if meeting characters is your priority there is no beating "characterpalooza," and I would miss all the meals hands down for a repeat experience of this. It was definitely the most magical part of our trip, and amazingly cost free, wait free, hassle free.

 

[HCinKC]

I have only done them without kids. I was single, and someone else paid. While I enjoyed them, I could take it or leave it.

We are doing the Star Wars breakfast and dinner for ODS's first Disney trip. Those are the characters that we anticipate him wanting to meet, and we don't mind the experience either. Still, DH and ODS are going to breakfast, and I am taking ODS to dinner. I have a hard enough time paying for 2 of us, I can't stomach 3 for both meals. Forget about all four of us when the baby gets bigger.

I do think they are overpriced, especially considering that some of them lack in quality of food. I really think it should be good, unique fare, specific to the attending characters' theme. That being said, they are an experience that isn't unworthy if you can manage it once (or more if it's your cup 'o tea).

 

[Bryguy00]

This is going to be my first trip, sons second, and wife's third. We booked Park Fare for our first dinner. I'm excited. Can anyone let me know their thoughts if you've been there?

 

[TravelandLeisure]

We did a number of character meals our last trip because we were on DDP (Akershus, Hollywood and Vine, Chef Mickeys, and 1900 PF dinner). Our DD who was 3.5 years old definitely enjoyed herself, but DH and I felt that the food could have been better. I personally don't believe any of these meals are worth the price OOP (especially Chef Mickeys--terrible food!). However, I don't regret doing them. It was our first family trip and DD had a blast. This summer we are not on DDP and consequently have chosen to do only 2 character meals--Tusker house breakfast (I have heard a lot of good things about this meal and there are no other options in Animal Kingdom I'm particularly interested in), and CRT (I'm not expecting much, but just want to have the experience of eating in the castle).

 

[Bluegrrl]

Well...I have a two -almost three - year old and we love the character meals. Pre-kiddo, we could take them or leave them, especially since we know some "friends" of characters. But post-kid we find them to be fun. We went to Crystal Palace for his first birthday, and it was so much fun! I found the food to be good, and the Crystal Place cms to be really nice (they put confetti on the table for him, gave him a cupcake, and he got lots of attention). And we had a great view of the castle in a nice, airy, beautiful place. We also love Disney Jr because it keeps him entertained while we get to eat!

Our little man is a well-behaved boy, but there is only so much time that a two-year old can be expected to sit in one place without entertainment. Character meals help us: A. be able to sit down and eat easily as a family, B. get some actual REAL food into us, not just fried stuff at QS places, and C. Be able to meet some cool characters in a controlled and fun way. The characters do come around quite a lot, we saw Doc like, 4 times 'round at DisJR.

The buffets are the best, I never feel rushed and I think the food is really good. The "set plate" ones are the ones I don't like, since it's the same type of food, only more of it. I kinda feel like cattle being fed a bunch of hay, plus I feel very rushed - "here's your food, here's some more of the same stuff, now get out of here!" And the resorts have the better food, I think, since it's not all coming from the same park kitchen that also services the QS places.

 

[Lupeix]

Whether a character meal is worth it depends on your touring style and the age range of your family. In my opinion they are a must for families with little ones. Waiting in line on the heat with a toddler to meet Winnie the Pooh? The thought of it makes me want to cry (eating sausage on a stick while walking around for breakfast does not sound very appealing to me either). We did CP and Tusker house last time for lunch, DS was 2 and 1/2 and it was July. We found it to be a great value. DS got to see his favorite characters while comfortably cool and eating his favorite foods (for free). The character interactions were great, never felt rushed. Never waited much in line to get anything I wanted to eat either. We got a nice break from the heat, a place to sit down and some decent food. DH definitely ate his money's worth. Tusker house is even better in terms of food quality for lunch, really unique and tasty stuff. BTW I booked my ADRs for both a month or two before getting there, and we were going over one of the most crowded weekends of the year. You really don't need to be up 180 days in advance for anything except Be our guest.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

Pancakes and sausage on a stick was a joke. If I eat breakfast, it consists of a banana and a cup of coffee, hold the banana

Family style vs. Buffet: we have done several buffets and one family style, but I much preferred the food at the family style (Garden Grill). Characters coming to the table was just a big interruption. I will say, at GG, each character came around like 6 times and really spent time playing with DD and trying to get her to warm up to them. We did that one for for the CP seating, and I felt like the whole thing was crazy overpriced.

I've seen ppl day 1900 PF and Tuskerhouse were better. I have done both, and the food us still "meh" buffet food. Once again DD has no interest in the characters coming to our tables, and they were very rushed.

I just can't imagine paying for chef mickeys, going into it knowing that the food is terrible.

Budget isn't even the biggest consideration. I work hard for my money and try to make sure I'm using it wisely. An overpriced meal of bland food just doesn't cut it for me.

 

[Thing 1]

This is going to be my first trip, sons second, and wife's third. We booked Park Fare for our first dinner. I'm excited. Can anyone let me know their thoughts if you've been there?

We have done this one. We really did enjoy it. How old is your son? The characters are the cast from Cinderella. The best part are the step sisters. They carry out the role perfectly and prince charming was delightful. When we went our youngest was a baby and the oldest old enough (teen) to truly get and enjoy all the humor from the characters. We choose that meal for location. The food turned out to be very good. Maybe the best buffet food we have eaten on property. We went off season, had first seating of the night and the crowds VERY low. We got tons of attention. Im not sure that a preschool-school age boy would enjoy this as much as many other meals, but it did work for us.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I agree the food is subpar. The children are also incredibly illbehaved. But we did it when the kids were younger.

I would say Akershus is pretty good, though. As long as you don't mind Norwegian food. That's not a buffet or family style.

 

[DopeyDame]

I'm of the opposite opinion, especially if your children are younger. Keep the character meal and dump the Memory Maker.=.

That's me, exactly! At least with the $120 at the character meal I got some food out of it. The memory maker costs more than that, and I didn't get any pictures that were any better then the ones I can take myself (or ask the nice person standing in line to take).

Is it "worth" the money? That totally depends on your family and what's important to you and what's enjoyable. We had a fun time at Crystal Palace (with the not-insignificant added bonus of getting into the parks before opening).