ADRs Characther Dining Overkill?

[Wunderkind]

So we are finally going to WDW with our young kids (8) and (3). We are very excited to go as a family. I've been working very hard for quite sometime to get ADRs. Here are the ADRs I have so far:

1. Chef Mickey's breakfast
1. Cinderella's Royal Table dinner
1. Cape Mae breakfast
1. Crystal Palace dinner

We would get two more breakfasts/lunch and at least two more dinners. I'm thinking something quick and easy for the breakfasts and a couple of laid back dinners.

Originally I hadn't planned on getting so many character meals. I had hoped to get into a Fantastmic dinner package or the California Grill on the night of the Crystal Palace dinner. Unfortunately, all ADRs were gone in those two restaurants. Now I'm looking at this list and wondering if I'm overdoing it.

Questions:
(1) Do you think 4 character meals is character dining overload?
(2) Also, could you please fill in the other meals we are missing?
Breakfast/Lunch:
Breakfast/Lunch:
Dinner:
Dinner:

Your input/suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

 

[broberts]

I don't think it is overkill. My thoughts were that my son will only be young once and the heck with it.

A couple of others that we tried are:

Breakfast - O'hana (it is another character - Lilo and Stitch).
Dinner - Garden Grill (Chip and Dale)
Breakfast - Tusker House (Donald, etc)

Liberty Tree Tavern is now non-character. This was one of our favorite character meals and the food was suprisingly tasty (after reading some less than stellar reviews on here).

With two younger kids, I would recommend O'hana and Garden Grill as they are both served family style. Tusker House, though good, is a buffet so you won't feel very relaxed (at least I didn't).

Hope this helps.

 

[WDWAtLast]

We are going in August (2 girls -8 and 5) and the of ADR's that I am hoping for has all character meals! I know that the next time we make it back to WDW, they may not want to do any (or only 1-2) character meals, so we are packing them in this trip!

I have heard wonderful things about Ohana's breakfast. Mickey, Lilo , Stitch - and I heard the interaction of charcter's is tops as far as character meals go. It was my friend's family's favorite last spring - and they did alot!!

We are also planning on Hoop Dee Do Review. I know it takes 2 TS credits, but my friend (and many here) rave about it. It does include gratuity and beer/wine.

Have fun!

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

Just be prepared to eat the same food over and over again!

We went in December and had 3 character breakfasts and we had booked 4 but by the time the 4th one came around we had gotten sick of having the same breakfast foods.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Characther dinning is fun

 

[loralie]

I don't think 4 character meals is overkill. I am not sure which days of your trip you are doing them but I would try to do them every other day...not 4 days in a row. If you can't help it than it would still be fine but for me I would like to space them out a little.

As for the other meals...what about fun meals that are not character. Sci-Fi or 50's Prime time in DHS. Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Loge. The new T-Rex at DTD. Also...maybe you guys would like a nice meal without all the fuss. I hear Grand Floridian Cafe is really nice and usually pretty easy to get into. I hear they are great for breakfast too.

Either way I am sure you guys will have a great time.

Loralie

 

[Missus Toad]

I think it's fine. Character meals save you the time of hunting down and then waiting to see characters in the parks, and they make sit down meals so much more fun for the little ones.

You've gotten some good suggestions for other meals. Other fun family meals we've had are at Biergarten and Teppan Edo.

 

[Hayloburger]

We love the character meals, we probably do 4 or so every trip...it saves time waiting in line at the parks to see the characters. We are planning our next trip, and I just asked my 8 year old daughter, what are her favorite things to do at WDW....the castle breakfast and CP breakfast were her favorites.

We like them all, but, if you are doing the buffets, yes, it seems to be the same food. We like to do breakfasts (the kids are early birds)....by the time dinner rolls around they are very tired, so we eat early with the characters and then when they see the LONG line in the parks, I can usually say.."oh, we just ate with mickey this morning, let's catch him tomorrow"...that usually works....

If you are going in the summer, I would much rather see the characters at breakfast, than wait in a long, hot, humid line for an autograph! B

 

[IndyClown]

So we are finally going to WDW with our young kids (8) and (3). We are very excited to go as a family. I've been working very hard for quite sometime to get ADRs. Here are the ADRs I have so far:

1. Chef Mickey's breakfast
1. Cinderella's Royal Table dinner
1. Cape Mae breakfast
1. Crystal Palace dinner

We would get two more breakfasts/lunch and at least two more dinners. I'm thinking something quick and easy for the breakfasts and a couple of laid back dinners.

Originally I hadn't planned on getting so many character meals. I had hoped to get into a Fantastmic dinner package or the California Grill on the night of the Crystal Palace dinner. Unfortunately, all ADRs were gone in those two restaurants. Now I'm looking at this list and wondering if I'm overdoing it.

Questions:
(1) Do you think 4 character meals is character dining overload?
(2) Also, could you please fill in the other meals we are missing?
Breakfast/Lunch:
Breakfast/Lunch:
Dinner:
Dinner:

Your input/suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

We are same as you. We plan on doing...

Chef Mickeys
Crystal Palace
Cape May
Norway Princess
and HDDR

That to me is a lot for 6 days but my kids are 6 and 5 and this is what they love at mealtimes in Disney. We go every 2 years, so after a couple more trips, they probably won't be into them anymore. So I think you are ok. You don't typically get 5' mice dancing around your dining room at home....at least I hope you don't.

 

[santa's surpriz]

From personal experience, I you'll be fine. My daughter's first trip I thought I went overkill on the character meals. Second trip, I planned less character meals and she was disappointed. Having young children and the character meals keeps them entertained, plus gives them guaranteed interaction with characters. My dauhter, age 6, will not wait in line to see her even her favorite characters.

They also like dinner at Ohana's or Whispering Canyon.

My next trip will be October 2010 and I plan to overkill the character meals again!

FYI, your Cinderella's Royal Table will not have the characters that you would experience at brakfast or lunch. Not sure if you realized that. I am not positive but I think there is the Fairy Godmother and mice. Less princesses. Park Faire at GF offers a nice dinner with a lot of princesses, step-sisters, and Prince Charming. Park Faire also has a character breakfast with a different variety of charcters, Mary Poppins, Alice, and the Mad Hatter.

Have a great time!

 

[Wunderkind]

...So I think you are ok. You don't typically get 5' mice dancing around your dining room at home....at least I hope you don't.

^^^^ That was funny! Thanks for the reply!

 

[Wunderkind]

I feel a bit better now. I thought I had gone overboard with the character meals. I do realize the breakfast will be a bit of the same each day (regarding food selection). However, the reason we are doing breakfasts instead or lunches is that when we go on vacation we generally eat breakfast, grab something in between to ease the munchies, and then eat a later dinner.

FYI, your Cinderella's Royal Table will not have the characters that you would experience at breakfast or lunch. Not sure if you realized that. I am not positive but I think there is the Fairy Godmother and mice.

^^ Thanks for confirming this. Yes, I knew CRT's dinner wasn't technically a character meal, but if I understand it correctly you do get your picture taken in the waiting area with Cindy, and the Fairy Godmother and Mice do appear during your meal. That to me is still very much in the vein of character interaction.

My oldest is the girl (8) and my youngest is a boy (3). I think we are OK without taking pictures with every single princess. My daughter is, for the most part, out of her 'princess stage.' She did have her pictures taken on our 2006 cruise with all the princesses.

Again, thanks to all who replied to my thread.

 

[marcielm]

I just wanted to say "thanks" for posting this! We are leaving in less than 3 wks for our first trip to the world, and we've got several character meals (3, and my boys want me to try and swap one for another today!) I was wondering if it would be "too much", but felt like many others have posted, it will give us an opportunity to see them without having to wait in lines.
Have fun on your trip!

 

[GatorLady]

I was just noticing, your trip ticker says a three day trip. Are you on the Deluxe DP, because you already have 5 TS credits from your list alone, without adding any additional meals. We love characters meals, the only thing I would say to keep in mind, if you are on such a short trip, it will cut into your touring time.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We LOVE the character meals. They totally embody the Disney magic for our family.

We did five character meals in 6 days on our January trip and had a blast. Future trips will have a character meal a day, assuming we can get the required ADR's.

DH and I enjoyed them as much as our 13-year-old DS.

They are as much about the entertainment value as the food!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Look at it this way....less time waiting in lines for autographs at the parks. That is one of the huge reasons we do more than one character meal. We just love 'em!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Character meals are the best!!!!!!!!!!! My kids love them and it keeps my kids occupied and not harrassing me during a meal.

I know it's mostly the same things over and over but it's a buffet. You can do different foods. That's what I like.

For us we love to do LOTS of them. Last trip we did 3 but were only in the parks for 3 days. We have an 8 day trip and are doing 6 (Ohana's dinner is entertaining but not character).

1900 PF dinner
Ohana's breakfast AND dinner
LeCellier
CRT
Akershus
CP
CM

For US we can dine anywhere while at home but you don't get character meals except at WDW! While at WDW I want the full on experience. Character meals are one of them for US. I live in NJ (squashed between NYC and Philly) and can get fine dining anytime I want. If DH and I ever go alone we will do more fine dining and maybe just 1 character meal but while we go with kids we will immerse ourselves in the magic.

Also we like to kill two birds with one stone. We eat and meet characters. I refuse to wait in long lines to meet characters.

 

[Stitchfans]

IMO you can never have too many character meals.

 

[disfanforlife]

We enjoy the character meals very much and our kids do too even though they are older. The kids in general like the buffets because they get to try different food and don't have to make a choice for dinner. We usually do buffet/character meals for half of our dinners each trip. My motto on our last trip was to try new places too, so we had 3 of our favorites and tried 3 new places too! I would also recommend 1900 park fare - it is another character meal/buffet, and it is a beautiful hotel to visit - the Grand Floridian.

 

[Wunderkind]

I was just noticing, your trip ticker says a three day trip. Are you on the Deluxe DP, because you already have 5 TS credits from your list alone, without adding any additional meals. We love characters meals, the only thing I would say to keep in mind, if you are on such a short trip, it will cut into your touring time.

Hope you have a great trip!

^^^ Hi thanks for noticing. The length of our trip is technically 5 whole days but we plan on being at the parks only three of the five. We've already purchased park hopper tickets and no I don't have the dining plan. I budgeted for the character meals a while ago (saving every penny). My plan is to visit MK each of the three days (whether AM or PM depending on ressies), then visit the others, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, or AK alternatively (whether AM or PM again depending on ressies). Does that make sense?