Hi, Michelle! We had a very nice character experience for dinner at 1900 PF last summer. The characters were Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine and her daughters Anastasia and Drizella. They were a hoot.
The key to having good character interaction, at ANY character meal or encounter, whether you are a child or an adult, is to be proactive in engaging them. They pretty much circulate the room for autographs and photos and take cues from the guests as to how "involved" they wish to be. If you indicate you are "game" for interaction, they usually respond accordingly...if not, they typically move on to the next table. We always go with a list of topics or prompts we want to use when we meet characters, and almost always, we get a great response. For example, I asked Cinderella if the prince's REAL name was "Charming" or if that was a nickname. Lady Tremaine overheard the conversation and came over and started yelling at me for asking such a ridiculous question. My son, 14 at the time, was telling the stepsisters that they were way too smitten with "Charming" and he wasn't really that great, he told them he himself, while not a prince, owned many castles. They called their mom back to the table to get permission to let him court them, and she started grilling him about his bank accounts. We were cracking up. We got some hilarious photos. DH's phone rang in the middle of all this and he had to take the call (mortgage broker) and Drizella started YELLING through the phone, "he's on vacation, there's a reason he didn't invite you." We were laughing so hard we, well I, was crying!
The food on the other hand...meh. A few items were really good, like the strawberry soup and some of the sushi rolls. We didn't leave hungry, but we weren't like yum either!
The cost is around $40, I believe it varies per time of year. The price will include the tax but not the tip, and specialty drinks and alcohol are additional. It usually takes about an hour or 90 minutes for all the characters to cycle through the room, so if you want to see them all, figure about 90 minutes. You might have to wait a while past your ADR time, so try to arrive early. Depending upon what time fireworks are that night, sounds like you have a great plan.
