How long do character meals last?

[Turtletyson]

Trying to plan our schedule, and deciding whether to do a character meal. I know transportation time is an unknown quantity, but is there a usual amount of time you can plan on being at the restaurant? I would imagine it also depends on whether the characters get to your table first or last.

Are there some character meals that take longer than others?

Thanks!

 

[cuchu2005]

This past Feb we did Akershus (my review, a few posts down).

The princesses came one behind the other to our table. Without being rushed, if it was for meeting the characters, we would have been done pretty quickly.

But character meals are usually on the expensive side, so besides characters for us it is important to enjoy our time there. There are restaurants that are worth a mini tour, some are buffet so you might be going for food more than once, etc.

Another example is the Breakfast at DHS. We did it in Nov-2011 and the Breakfast not only included visit from characters to your table. There also was dancing and playing, at least 2 times while we were at our table.

So not all character meals are the same, but I would take my time to fully enjoy it, without feeling I have to leave soon.

Hope it helps.

Mx

 

[mrsap]

We took our sweet time at Chef Mickeys...no pressure to hurry up and leave at all. However, we felt very rushed at CRT. My DD got her breakfast and 10 min. later the waiter brought out her birthday cupcake and sang happy birthday! Of course she's not going to want her breakfast anymore! The waiter came over more to see if we wanted him to clear plates than any other reason. Loved the food and atmosphere, but when you pay that kind of money, you want to enjoy it.

 

[Kaylasmomma]

we just did 4 Character meals last week all of them took at least 1.5hrs ...but we had 5 kids with us so i would plan for an hr at least

Askerhaus was the nicest ...like PP said the princesses came one after another
that place seemed VERY well managed it all went so smoothly we were in and out in just over an hr. The food was amazing

Crystal palace was awful.

Tusker house was nice they came one after another too

Play and Dine took quit a LONG time but there was a performance and dancing like every 15mins the kids LOVED it tho

 

[bleeps]

In terms of the character piece, it all depends on how you hit it (that is, if you happen to get seated just AFTER a particular character has been through the room, you may need to wait quite a while before that one comes back out). Generally it *seems* as though the princess meals are timed a little more around a particular seating (they all come through during each seating, or turnover, of the restaurant) but others just have a rotating schedule (every 10 or 15 minutes, a particular character comes through and works the room).

That being said, allowing one to one-and-a-half hours for a character meal should do it. Even if that sounds long, it's as much a part of the parks/vacation experience as doing attractions and it is nice to have a chance to sit and relax a little during the course of your day.

Enjoy your trip -- and go for the meal(s) with the character(s) you like best!

 

[hoosll]

We did Crystal Palace breakfast last Spring and we were told when we sat down that it takes 90 minutes to see all 4 characters. We made it an hour before the kids were just too antsy ... they were ready to stretch their legs and get moving so we saw 2 characters .... the other 2 had not even made it to our "room" yet.

 

[Kaylasmomma]

you also have to keep in mind if you were stand in line to see the Characters you are going to wait a MINIMUM of 20-25mins
and some of them (mostly the ones you wont find at meals) like Tink, Tiana or Rapunzel are almost always 45-1hr

 

[jwfla422]

It also depends on other factors too like how busy the restaurant is, as mentioned depends on when you were seated as to where they are in their cycles. T

here have been times where several come around one after another and sometimes we wait all meal and they are staggered. We've been in and out of some character meals in 45 min to an 1 hr and others taking as much as 1 1/2 hrs which is definitely the cut-off for us.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

It's always taken an hour and a half for us at Character Meals if we want to see all the Characters.

We normally take an hour to eat at restaurants anyways so the extra 30 minutes isn't a big deal to us.

Or should I say wasn't a big deal. The teens no longer want to do Character meals.

Crystal Palace was the longest one. It was 2 hours to see all the Characters. For some reason Winnie the Pooh kept skipping the section of the restaurant we were in. I finally said something to our waitress about it after the others had come by for a 3rd time!

She said something to someone because 20 minutes later, Winnie the Pooh finally came to our section of the restaurant.

 

[mmmears]

I always planned for 1.5 hours -- sometimes you get lucky and the characters all "start" close to your table (then for us it's about an hour). Sometimes you aren't so lucky and you might be done eating but still waiting for a few characters. I still think it's better than standing in line to see the characters, though.

Basically it's up to you since most of them are buffets -- if you eat quickly and don't mind missing some characters it could take much less time.

 

[JennyDrake]

It also depends upon how long you will have to wait (even with ADR) to be seated. 30-40 minutes is not uncommon.