Comparing character breakfast on cruise to ones in the parks

[deanimal]

Okay, this may be a bit more of a parks question, but I figured that most folks here are also WDW vets and would be able to answer this question.

We were on the Wonder a few months ago, and the character breakfast on board was our first experience with them. We really enjoyed it, but the interaction wasn't great. It kind of felt like the characters were rushing from table to table to try to get everyone in. There was time to squeeze together for a quick photo, maybe 10 seconds for a wave or a high five, then off to the next place. Again, we had a great time overall, but I found myself thinking that I'm not sure I would have payed a lot of money for it if it wasn't included.

Fast forward to now, and the 180 day reservation window is coming up for our WDW trip. I've already decided that we want to do Cinderella's castle since our DD4 still really, truly believes in the princesses. I'm also hoping to do the Crystal Palace on one day since DS2 is a huge Winnie fan, and you can't see him on the cruises. But I'm sort of on the fence about whether to book a character meal with Mickey and friends. If the interaction is about on par with the ship, I don't know if its really worth it.

What do you think? Can anyone compare the two experiences?

 

[Nicki828]

We found the interaction best at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian. We went to the dinner buffet - here's the info:
The Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner is hosted by Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, and Anastasia and Drisella
We found the characters extremely engaging. We had our best character pictures from this dinner. Not to mention the food was pretty decent. We found it took quite some time for the characters to make their way around to us at both Chef Mickey and Crystal Palace. Interaction was okay - but they do need to make the rounds, so it is relatively brief. We didn't really enjoy the meal at Chef Mickey. That was our least favorite meal of our vacation. Hope that helps.

 

[Started By A Mouse]

Okay, this may be a bit more of a parks question, but I figured that most folks here are also WDW vets and would be able to answer this question.

We were on the Wonder a few months ago, and the character breakfast on board was our first experience with them. We really enjoyed it, but the interaction wasn't great. It kind of felt like the characters were rushing from table to table to try to get everyone in. There was time to squeeze together for a quick photo, maybe 10 seconds for a wave or a high five, then off to the next place. Again, we had a great time overall, but I found myself thinking that I'm not sure I would have payed a lot of money for it if it wasn't included.

Fast forward to now, and the 180 day reservation window is coming up for our WDW trip. I've already decided that we want to do Cinderella's castle since our DD4 still really, truly believes in the princesses. I'm also hoping to do the Crystal Palace on one day since DS2 is a huge Winnie fan, and you can't see him on the cruises. But I'm sort of on the fence about whether to book a character meal with Mickey and friends. If the interaction is about on par with the ship, I don't know if its really worth it.

What do you think? Can anyone compare the two experiences?

Why wouldn't she? Don't you?!? After all, they are real princesses!

 

[scrapbookingpro]

We have eaten at just about every character restaurant on property, and even though you can get a "dud" experience once in while, the WDW experience is generally WAY better than the cruise experience. As you already noticed, the cruise character breakfast is very rushed and you barley have time to snap a photo before they run off to the next table.

At WDW we have had many great experiences- they stay much longer, they play around, they take more than one photo, etc. You will enjoy Crystal Palace so much more.

 

[lbgraves]

I think the problem with the CBs on the ship is that everyone gets there at the same time and the characters have to make the rounds in one hour. At the park the seating is rotated. We have found that the meals usually take longer than an hour as well so there is less of a rush.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

The parks also have a lot more friends of the Characters than the ships with very different schedules.

More time to spend with each and every Guest in the parks so a better experience in so much as more time for interaction.

Still better to do a CB on a DCL ship though!

Ex Techie

 

[Tolson70]

Our servers on our DCL Magic cruise in January told us that the characters are very rushed and there is no guarantee you will see them all, the only guarantee is that Mickey Mouse will see you at you table.

 

[shburks]

I think the problem with the CBs on the ship is that everyone gets there at the same time and the characters have to make the rounds in one hour. At the park the seating is rotated. We have found that the meals usually take longer than an hour as well so there is less of a rush.

That's exactly what I was going to say! In the past three years, we've done Chef Mickey's twice and Crystal Palace twice and really enjoyed both. We liked both for different reasons and for the most part, really enjoyed our character interaction.

They have a very specific rotation around the room, so they're going to get to you even if you just missed one--they just keep moving in their rotation and because everyone didn't walk in the door at 9:15 am for breakfast, people are coming and going and the flow seems to work.

Our ds LOVES the character meals and we always do at least one every time we go. Since our DCL trip is on the Fantasy and not currently scheduled for a character breakfast, we've scheduled one at Cape May (Beach Club Villas) to try something new.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Character interaction at WDW is generally much better than what you get on the ship.

If you're going to do Chef Mickey's though and are looking for more interaction, I would recommend an early seating - the food is fresher and the characters aren't as rushed.

Personally, for Mickey and Friends, I'd recommend dinner at the Garden Grill at the Land in Epcot - the food is served family style (so no getting up and down worried about missing a character) and it tends to be a little calmer and have more interaction per table.

 

[hasabigrock]

Character meals at Walt Disney World are well done but there're some things you can do to get the characters to stay at your table just a bit longer.

Bring an autograph book that they will slow down to sign.
Then ask for a couple of pictures. Have the kids stand up in the aisle in stead of sitting in chairs. That gets them face to face with the chars.
Then to hold them just a little longer have them give each char a hug.

Face characters like the princesses are better because they can talk and interact wirh the kids better.

 

[lbgraves]

The kids both loved Park Fare. All of the characters spent time with them, even on their second time around...or perhaps Anastasia simply liked dancing with my son and there weren't many boys around. LOL! Prince Charming taught him how to bow, Susie and Pearla took measurements of DD to make her a dress and the fairy godmother was just very sweet with her. Of course Cindy seemed to take a lot of time to complement DD on her Cinderela-ish dress and tiara.

 

[kcashner]

I'm with everyone else--way better at the parks. On the ship...assume full ship and everyone attends breakfast...characters have one hour to get to 450 guests. Yeah, not nice.

In the parks, there are fewer guests in the restaurants and then enter/exit at different times. If you didn't see a character, you can "hang out" for another 10 minutes till they return. We've had some GREAT experiences going either when the restaurant opens or toward the end of the time (like 10:00 breakfast). There are not crowds, and characters will actually play with kids. One time Goofy sat down and colored with DD!

 

[sorul82?]

The best character experience we had was at Chef Mickeys. We had the latest time possible (I know not everyone can handle that). We were one of the three last families in the place and all the characters sat with us at our table.

 

[deanimal]

Thanks for all the feedback. I think that if we do another Character meal we'll do Donald's at Tusker House. I just mentioned to my hsuband that Donald was the one character we hadn't seen on the boat. My husband said, "of course not, there was no room in that dining room for his tail!"

 

[DizMagic]

Tusker House is my favorite character meal. the food is good for one thing - and ive found that the characters seem to hang around a little longer then at Chef Mickey's. enjoy!

 

[Davids-Coco]

To echo what everyone else has said, we have had great experiences at both Disneyland and WDW. The cruise ship was lackluster. One tip we have found helpful - at Disneyland at least - is to make a reservation for opening time (Goofy's opens at 5) or before the dinner rush. We get awesome interaction like this.

 

[Tikifamily]

We went to WDW over thanksgiving and could not get Cinderella's Castle seats. So, we opted for storybook breakfast at Ashkerhaus in Norway. It was incredible! Ariel sat down at out table and talked boats and fishing with us. Cinderella compared dresses with my dd. Aurora even started a little dance party. I will definitly go back there.