Am I going character meal crazy?

[smiths02]

I would probably pick one princess meal (Akershus or Cinderella's Royal Table), Crystal Palace or 1900 PF breakfast (for Winnie the Pooh), and then one or two Mickey/Minnie type meals (Hollywood & Vine, Cape May brekfast, Garden Grill, Ohana breakfast)
I would pick a few other meals that are unique ambiance but not characters like Sci Fi or San Angel Inn or BOG (with the Beas at dinner or even without him at lunch) as mentioned by PP

If you do one everyday, I would recommend to not have them all be buffets...Cinderella's Royal Table, Garden Grill, Ohana breakfast are actually served to you...less selection, but buffets can be chaotic

 

[DrunkJam]

Buffets can also be a problem if you have an allergic child too. Cross contamination a gogo

 

[limabeanmom2003]

With kids, character meals are a great way to meet characters without waiting in line. One every day is a lot, but if your kids love characters I say go for it. If you have two meals where you would meet the same characters, I'd probably switch one out for another option. There are a lot of great non character meals to.

 

[heywagners]

Our family will be doing our 1st WDW trip in Oct 2017. It will my wife and I and our 3 kids (ages 7, 5, 3) and my in-laws. I'm thinking about how to make it fun for the kids and us. Would 1 character meal each day (6 day trip) be too many? We're planning on the DDP and I know CM's can be a good way to make the plans work. I'd love tips on how many to plan.

My theory is that they are only this age once and there is a limited amount of time that they will want to do character meals. We get the dining plan and the character meals are a good way for us to "make the most" of our dining plan credits. So, we do one character meal each day for every trip we take, until they tell us they are sick of them!

 

[Marissa227]

We are traveling with our three boys, ages 15, 4, and 2, as well as our niece, 13. We're doing a character meal each day except for our check-in day, when we're doing 'Ohana dinner, followed by the Pirates 'n Pals cruise. My little ones are VERY active, so sitting at a table service meal is a struggle. I'm hoping with the characters and action, they will be entertained enough that we can sit down and eat our food without rushing too much. I'm actually looking forward to the buffet's. Since we have a large party, I figure there will be something for everyone.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

my wife and I and our 3 kids (ages 7, 5, 3) and my in-laws. I'm thinking about how to make it fun for the kids and us. Would 1 character meal each day (6 day trip) be too many?

1) For your FIRST trip? NO WAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2) Do it !
3) You will definitely experience Character Overload, but that is what WDW is for !
4) Magic (in ANY quantity) cannot be measured.

 

[lustergirl]

I was sitting here thinking about the character meals today and what to do when we take the grandson for the first time next year. I think we will do Chef Mickey's because he loves Mickey and Tusker House.

 

[lorenni]

Our family will be doing our 1st WDW trip in Oct 2017. It will my wife and I and our 3 kids (ages 7, 5, 3) and my in-laws. I'm thinking about how to make it fun for the kids and us. Would 1 character meal each day (6 day trip) be too many? We're planning on the DDP and I know CM's can be a good way to make the plans work. I'd love tips on how many to plan.

Yes - every day is too many! Character meals are fun, but the food isn't always great and they can take up a lot of time from your day.

I would say plan one character breakfast and maybe one character dinner. If you want to meet more characters, you can do that with fast passes (or just waiting in line).

Which characters you want to see will dictate which restaurants you end up at. We don't need to see princesses, so CRT and Akurshus are never in our plans. Neither are we interested in stitch and lilo, so we don't do 'Ohana breakfast either. We usually do Tusker house for character breakfast.

 

[kreckl]

I think its too much. They are loud and hectic, not at all relaxing. We always feel like we rush through our meal, even thought we stop eating it every time another character comes around. i would recommend 3 with little ones.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I think we will do Chef Mickey's because he loves Mickey

1) Alas, he might like Mickey.
2) But, will YOU enjoy the food ??? . . . At his age, he would enjoy anything on a plate.

 

[Lisa F]

I was sitting here thinking about the character meals today and what to do when we take the grandson for the first time next year. I think we will do Chef Mickey's because he loves Mickey and Tusker House.

Garden Grill is MUCH more low key than chef mickey's and it has Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale. I think the food is a lot better. You'd get a bit more variety from TH too, with Mickey as the common character to both. Also Ohana breakfast has Mickey, pluto, lilo and stitch. You can have mickey and mix up the characters (and experiences) as well.

 

[michelepa]

I really enjoy character/entertainment meals and so do my kids. So I didn't really think about how many i was booking (never did dining plan) just booked what i thought they would enjoy. I took DD(11) for her first trip last August for 5 nights and we ate at Chef Mickey's(b), CRT(b), Crystal Palace(l), Park Faire (d), BOG (d), Hoop Dee Doo(d). It worked out great just to sit and relax in the air and see some characters with no lines and be entertained. Food and characters are different at many restaurants. Plus I'm just not a fan of quick service every meal on vacay.

With the ages of your kids it gives them entertainment and a wide variety of food choices- not just talking the small kiddie fried food buffet area- and you can take it easy a bit and regroup. I think your kiddos would also enjoy Hollywood and Vine.

This year I am taking DD again and we have ADR's at Ohana(b), Park Faire(b), Garden Grill(l), BOG(d), Hoop Dee Doo(d)