Am I going overboard with....

[THE-ELLA'SMOM]

my character meals?? Do kids get bored with them?

We will be staying in a time share from Nov 3rd to the 17th. This is our first family trip, DH has never been before. I have 2 DD's one will be turning 5 and the little one is 3.

We are arriving on Nov 3rd, plan to get settled, do some shopping, have ADR for Chef Mickey at 6:20

Sun: Lunch at Hollywood and Vine
Mon: Lunch at Garden Grill
Tues: no plans Magic Kingdon
Wed: DD's 5th birthday ADR for new Bibbidy Boppity and then breakfast at Cinderella's Castle
Thurs: nothing planned yet
Friday: nothing planned
(Grandma&Grandpa are only staying the first week)

Following week I just have MVMCP on the 15th, but I was thinking of booking Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner??
Any suggestions or feedback is greatly welcomed

 

[WDWorBUST]

How old are your children?

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I think what you have is fine. We are staying 6 nights in July and have 3 planned. Yours are also different characters so that is good.

 

[EeyoreFan5]

I have a 8, 6 & 3 y/o.....They loved and would eat at a character meal every day if we let them. They enjoyed 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother & mice. Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary and Akershus in Norway at Epcot with Jasmine, Belle, Snow White, Mulan & Sleeping Beauty. We also did Crystal Palace with Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet & Tigger for my birthday.

That was about as many meals that my dh would allow. We will happily go back to any of the above again. The only one we really want to try is Ohana with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey.

 

[THE-ELLA'SMOM]

Is there any meal that you are likely to see Ariel?

 

[mamaloya]

We did character meals pretty much every day when we were there in February 2006. Our kids never got bored. I made sure to get a variety of characters so that each child had their favorite at least once. It saved us a lot of time standing in line waiting for siggies in the parks. If there was a 60 minute line for Mickey, I would just tell the kids, "we are having dinner with him tonight." And they were happy to wait. Lots of personal time with the characters, photo ops, and don't forget the break from the hustle and bustle of the parks.

The way I see it, you can never have too many character meals. Just remember you will be there at least an hour, so it does cut into your touring time.

As for Liberty Tree, that is my favorite. The kid's enjoyed Ohana's at the Poly. We ate there then hopped the monorail to MK. Garden Grill was fabulous as well. We saw Donald at Donald's in AK. It is moving though and will add Daisy as far as I know, but not sure when.

 

[mamaloya]

Is there any meal that you are likely to see Ariel?

The princess meal at Akershus in Norway at Epcot has Ariel. She does not come to your table. She is there to take pictures with you before you are seated. She is in her formal dress though, not her fins.
I would call and make sure she is still there though if it is that important to you because they may have changed it.

 

[mom2aredhead]

My son is 3.5 and during our last trip in mid-May, we had Chef Mickey's dinner, Playhouse Disney lunch as MGM, Mickey's Backyard BBQ, Garden Grill dinner, and Chef Mickey's breakfast. It was not overkill. Like a pp said, you can skip the lines in the parks since you'll be eating with them later. lets face it, when you're traveling with little ones, Chef Mickey's is a little more enjoyable for them then something like Le Cellier.

Of all of them, Playhouse Disney lunch was our favorite food-wise, Mickey's Backyard BBQ was our favorite for overall fun, and Chef Mickey's breakfast was our favorite for character interaction. I will skip Garden Grill next time. It wasn't bad, just not our favorite, and the same characters are elsewhere.

The only downside was that when putting our photo album together, I realized that the majority of our pictures were of my son (or some combination of our family) and a character standing behind a half-eaten plate of food.

So remember to take lots of OTHER pictures.

 

[IlovemythreeC's]

Character meals are so much fun! It is impossible to have too many

 

[EeyoreFan5]

We went to the Akershus breakfast and Ariel was not there. I believe she is there at lunch & dinner. At the breakfast Belle was there to greet you prior to seating and didn't come to the table. Be for warned. We didn't have the autograph books ready and totally forgot about it until we were seated and then we were unable to go back for the siggie. Belle took a break. Crushing as this was my middle childs favorite princess and she reminds me of missing that opportunity everytime she looks at her scrapbook. Nice reminder huh? I feel like such a great mom. I missed the only thing she wanted. So next trip is definately a signature with Belle. She was in her gown and was so beautiful!

 

[disneynewbeemom]

We love character meals. It keeps my boys content and they love seeing their favorite characters. We are returning to Chef Mickeys and Ohana's this year (our favorite disney memory) and will also be adding Donalds and Garden Grill.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I too would keep them and if you see that the children are not enjoying them, you can change at the last minute, just be sure to call so someone else can enjoy your space.

For MVMCP- Doing LTT is the best suggestion I can give. Make your ADR for 5:30 or so and you will finish up right at 7:00 and already be inside the park and not have to wait in one land with everyone else for the party to start. At 7:00 go directly over to the presidents hall and be first in line for your picture. The LTT was really fun too with Charcters in holliday clothes and great food.

 

[rlrx]

While the character meals are great and I love them, just keep in mind that they can be overwhelming for a picture crazy mother. I was so caught up in getting everyone's picture with every character that came around and getting every autograph that by the time I got to sit down and enjoy the meal, I was exhausted!
I did look forward to the few meals we had that had no characters.

I think the true problem was that I get as excited about the characters as the kids do and it's a lot of money to waste if you don't enjoy the meal.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I don't think that you could ever do too many character meals. We have done all of them except the Norway character meal. Like PP said, they all have different characters, so I think its a lot of fun. Never too much!

 

[kinntj]

I don't think that's too many. So far on our list is: Ohana's, Chef Mickey's, and CRT. We might change the last one to Akershus instead. We're still debating on that one.

Enjoy!