How many character meals do you plan?

[FLAgirl73]

Curious to get everyone's opinions on this one.

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

One a day for us Usually we opt for breakfasts

 

[gandycat]

This past trip, we did 4 in a 7 day trip. This was the first trip that we did the dining plan. Normally we'd only do one or two b/c I don't want to spend that much (-: My kids are older now which also was a consideration, they were 9 and 6 for our last trip. I wasn't sure how my 9 year old would like them, but he actually had a great time, even when there were princesses

 

[imthatgirl]

We do 1-2 . Personally I can't do all character meals. As a whole the best food isn't found at them and I figure for the amount of money we're paying we should eat well a couple times too.
We have even had trips with no character meals. Though I do like to do at least oone because then we don't have to wait in as many lines to see them.

 

[RachChamb]

I was only planning on doing 2, but ended up booking 4. We are on the DDP.

We're doing Chef Mickey's, 1900 PF, Crystal Palace and Tusker House.

 

[Amirah95]

I've got 3 down right now...it could only end up being 2. No more than three though.

 

[MommaB]

We do one a day and mix up which meal it is. But we use the DP and DD eats for free at buffets. Plus at her age (16m, 18m and on our next trip 23 months) she LOVES the interaction with them and I love not standing in lines with a wiggly toddler.

 

[momma2kiddos]

Well next year I'm not sure if we're doing 7 or 9 nights but we fully intend on doing AT LEAST 5. I'll have a teen, a toddler, and a 7 month old at that time and there is no way in heaven I'd wait in line to meet the characters with the ages I have!

 

[squirrel]

I go during Free Dining and I max. out the number of nights at 14. I usually do one 2TS credit and then 12 others. Of those about 6 are Character Meals.

This time I will be doing 14TS-one is a 2TS credit and I will pay out of pocket for one. 7 Character Meals this year.

 

[samshane]

Back in Feb we did 2 of them... my 11yr old didn't want to do it at all. After the second one on the last day of our trip she asked me if next time we could do more of them! I was surprised... she thought she was too *cool* for this - but thoroughly enjoyed the autographs and photos. So we are going the week before Labor Day and I have ADRs for 4 of them - maybe a 5th, we're still on the fence as myself and DH want to go to a couple restaurants that are non-character.

 

[dizneychik]

Usually one per day.

 

[jellybeans0607]

Usually 2. If we did too many I think the kids wouldn't get some of the other great experiences while there. There are so many restaurants that you couldn't find at home it would be a shame not to utilize them.

 

[lulu2]

We have a 5 day December trip planned and right now we are planning on 2, Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

We have 6 on our "to book" list right now. Most of them that we do are buffets-- they work *really* well with DD. That, and we really like the characters, it's fun.

 

[designermv]

On our first trip, we did something like 5. It was ridiculous. I felt like we had to plan our whole day around where we had to be for our meal that day. It was just too stressful for me. Second trip we did two. This past trip we did two as well, which was perfect. We did the Stitch breakfast at the Poly (where we stayed, so it was easy getting there), and CRT for dinner.

 

[blana]

I think I have 6 planned for my 8 night trip coming up. We'll see if I can get all of them. (Only 2 breakfasts since DH doesn't like breakfast foods all that much. Donald's Safari & then one for our last morning before heading to the plane.)

ETA: most are buffets or family style, which works great for us, with a < 3 with us. She can eat as much or as little as she likes at those, without having to pay extra. And we're on the DP this time, since DH wouldn't do late breakfasts.

 

[Jdougherty]

We have 3 scheduled for a 5 day trip. Some of the group will be going to all of them and some will be skipping the princess breakfast

chef mickey

Crystal Palace

Princesses in Norway.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Now that my kids are 14 and 10, one: Chef Mickey's.

And I'm not sure how much longer that one will even last.

 

[Mom2apirate&princess]

We are doing one on our next trip. My kids are 12 and 8 and kinda outgrowing it.


Now that I think about it on our previous trips we tend to do just one.

 

[Greenfield1984]

IF we upgrade to DDP from QSDP (and that's a huge if) we'll be doing 4 in a 9 night stay : Crystal Palace, Tusker House, 1900 Park Fare and Akershus. Our DD will be turning 3 this trip and LOVES the characters, and I think it would be a lot easier to do TS at character meals. Not to mention the fact that they are buffet/family style meals, so she can eat all she wants (she's not on the dining plan).