2 Boys & Princess Character Meals

[got15]

Hey! Taking 2 sons (4 & 16 mo) on our first family trip to Disney. We are staying for 5 days. I have ADR for both CRT and Norway for dinner. I happen to love Scandinavian food- and the princesses are not a draw for me. I also booked CRT for our last day dinner- thinking it would be cool to eat in the castle and the boys would get a sword. I am starting to second guess myself- is this too many princess meals for the 4 year old? He has been starting the girls v boys comparisons but is also a total flirt. What do I do.....keep them as is? Or cancel one... Has anyone else just brought their boys to a princess character meal? Thanks in advance.

 

[jedimeg16]

My boys were a little younger when we went last year (2 1/2 years and 13 months at the time), and we only had one princess meal on our trip, but they seemed to love the attention the princesses lavished on them. Especially my youngest and Snow White - she gave him a kiss on his forehead and it took until his bath that night to get it completely off!

I think two princess meals is fine. And while we didn't eat at CRT, I think they will love their little swords.

 

[redpeacoat]

My son handled the princess meals just fine, and he's 6 1/2. One thing that helped was that I dressed him up too - as a pirate! That way he felt special like his sister, and the princesses had a topic of conversation for him. It was cute

 

[imthemamahere]

I took my little guy to Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast when he was 3 1/2. He wanted desperately to get inside the castle the year before, so we splurged. He had JUST hit the "princesses are for girls" phase right before we left for Disney... so of course, he sat there in a sulk as the princesses tried to get him to smile. I swear, he had more attention from the princesses than any other kid in there, and he wouldn't so much as crack a smile, no matter what they did. The pictures of him pouting his way through the princess visits are HILARIOUS! But overall, it was a pretty disappointing experience for the price. (That said, he was so stoked to walk into the castle and up the stairs. And he loved the view. And the sword. And the wishing star ceremon. It was just the princesses interrupting his manly bacon-eating that bothered him.)

I honestly think he'd enjoy the meal more this year, when we next return - he'll be about 5 1/2 then. He's relaxed his battle of the sexes mentality (thank goodness). But he's so soured on it after last time, it's not worth the re-doing in our case.

In any case, your big guy might love the princesses when he's there, but if he's feeling anti-princess at all, well, he might pout his way through the meal like my little guy. It's expensive... so only you can decide if the possible reward is worth the possible risk.

If you do decide to clip one of your princess meals, I have two I can recommend highly. My whole family loves the character meal at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom - Mickey & Donald & co in safari gear, as well as the one at Hollywood & Vine in Hollywood Studios with the Disney Jr characters - Jake is a HUGE favorite around our house! In EPCOT, you could also do Garden Grill for dinner; that's got Mickey and Pluto and Chip & Dale. We haven't been, but it remains on our to-do list. Our interactions with the chipmunks on meet & greets have always been awesome!

 

[imthemamahere]

My son handled the princess meals just fine, and he's 6 1/2. One thing that helped was that I dressed him up too - as a pirate! That way he felt special like his sister, and the princesses had a topic of conversation for him. It was cute

LOVE the pirate idea at a princess meal. What fun!

 

[hockeymom519]

When we were discussing which ADRs we wanted, my 6 year old son said he wanted to eat in the castle. My 18 year old doesn't care, he'll just go with the flow. As long as there is food, he is happy. I'm happy because as the mom of 2 boys, I finally get to indulge in something "girly", LOL.

 

[jenjersnap]

As a mom of here boys, the princess meals will be fine! Just a heads up, Akershus' food isn't very Norwegian anymore, sadly. There might be some herring and gjetost on the buffet (the gjetost was missing last time for us) and there are kjottkaker as a menu item but that is really about it. The castle is lovely though.

 

[juliebug1997]

We don't have kids, but we eat at CRT nearly every trip as we are making up for all those years that we didn't get to go to WDW while they had this meal. We love to watch the princesses with the kids, but especially the boys.

 

[luvmy2babies]

As mom to a boy who has been smiling at women since he started smiling, it should be fine. He got his first lipstick print at 10 months and actually looked proud of it. He’s sat through watching 2 BBB makeovers and survived a princess meal on 2 of our 3 trips and in 2012, we did go to both. We went through the Princess meet and greets and what a flirt that dude was. He was dancing to try to impress them, especially Rapunzel. Rapunzel thought it was cute. His 10 year-old sister wanted to throttle him, but hey, it’s his vacation too .