Am I Making a Mistake?

[Malissa Boymom]

We are going to disney for the first time next September with our 4 year old. I think i am picking all the very traditional places, and i am hoping i am not making a mistake. I am looking into Chef Mickey, O'hana, Garden Grill, Hollywood and Vine-lunch, Cape may-breakfast. Let me know what you guys think

 

[BlondeAppetit]

Sounds perfect to me! Especially for a four year old! There will be future trips to try "fancier" places. My only suggestion is to possibly drop one of the Mickey meals and add Crystal Palace (Pooh, Tigger, et al) for some extra variety. I enjoyed Chef Mickey's. My daughter's LOVED it. I like it's convenience to MK. Garden Grill gets fantastic reviews and it is not a buffet so that is nice with a young child. Ohana - for dinner or breakfast? We loved it for dinner! Hear breakfast is great too! Hollywood and Vine - unique characters...your child will totally know them all from the cartoons. The only reservation that throws me off is Cape May. Unless you are staying at the Beach/Yacht/Boardwalk area, it may be slightly inconvenient compared to the others. That is the one that I would drop for Crystal Palace.

 

[Deb & Bill]

On our first trip, we hit all the character meals. We brought our two nieces and our four year old son and they all loved them.

 

[Harambe]

We only did one character meal per trip when the kids were little. It was a big treat, and something they looked forward to. They also liked other themed restaurants, so we would do those rather than the character meals (like Sci-Fi, or Biergarten). It totally depends on you and your family! There is no wrong choice - LOL!

 

[HopperFan]

We are going to disney for the first time next September with our 4 year old. I think i am picking all the very traditional places, and i am hoping i am not making a mistake. I am looking into Chef Mickey, O'hana, Garden Grill, Hollywood and Vine-lunch, Cape may-breakfast. Let me know what you guys think

Boy or Girl?
Is this all your TS meals you booked?
Are you on the Dining Plan?

 

[Mickeycrocs]

Brought two year old to three of those 5 and he loved them, so did myself and my husband.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

Our kids were 4 and 7 on our first trip, we planned a character meal every other day. The character buffets stress me out, fixing plates, not missing a character etc. So giving myself a meal without autograph books and such was good for me.

My kids love Garden Grill and H&V breakfast. We've done those multiple times. Chef Mickey's we only did once.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We are going to disney for the first time next September with our 4 year old. I think i am picking all the very traditional places, and i am hoping i am not making a mistake. I am looking into Chef Mickey, O'hana, Garden Grill, Hollywood and Vine-lunch, Cape may-breakfast. Let me know what you guys think

You aren't necessarily making a mistake, but that's a lot of overlap in characters at a few of those meals. Are you sure your 4-year old will enjoy the character interaction? My DS was afraid of the face characters at that age and I have friends whose children were afraid of the costumed characters. With what you have planned, you will be meeting Mickey, Minnie and Pluto a few times. Personally, I would keep Chef Mickey (the food isn't great, but you get the Fab 5), O'hana Dinner (they play games with the kids) and the H&V lunch (to meet the Disney Jr. characters) and then pick 2 other meals to substitute Garden Grill and Cape May. There are other, great, kid-friendly places that don't involve characters. Teppan Edo, Coral Reef, 50's Prime Time, Sci-Fi Drive-In, Whispering Canyon, Rainforest Cafe, to name a few.

 

[crabbygal902]

Are you sure your 4-year old will enjoy the character interaction? My DS was afraid of the face characters at that age and I have friends whose children were afraid of the costumed characters.

This is something to consider. Although my DS4 was fine with character meals, the MNSSHP was not-so-scary but very scary for him. When he saw those grave diggers in the parade, he was DONE and we left very early. We had no idea he would react that way.

Might I suggest putting a character meal at the beginning of the trip, your kid-friendly (but no character) meals in the middle, and then a couple character meals at the end? You can use the first meal to see how things go and will still have time to make adjustments to the other meals if necessary. I like the ideas that DisneyWishes gave you for fun, kid-friendly places.

 

[robinb]

Personally, I think you'rte going too heavy on character meals. I think that having so many of them devalues the experience. It goes from "Look! There's MICKEY!!!" to "Ho-hum, another character."

 

[piglet1979]

I have not been to all of the ones that have scheduled. We did go to Chef Mickey for our first trip. I was not a fan and most likely will not go back. We had some bad experiences with the characters their. We did like Garden Grill and and Hollywood and Vine. The characters at Garden Grill are great. Some of the best pictures we have. My kids didn't eat the food but they are very picky so it was not a surprise to me. Hollywood and vine did not have characters when we went. We picked there for the Fantasmic dinner package. The good is fine. Nothing great. We do like going to Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and Friends. We also like Akershus with the Princesses. The food was really good too.

Ones that we have liked without characters are Liberty Tree Tavern, Teppen Edo, Tusker House, Trattoria al Forna (at the Boardwalk) and Boatwrights at Port Orleans Riverside. The kids love trying to use chop sticks at Teppen Edo and the cooking show that that do. The best food we have had was at Trattoria al Forna.

 

[jimmytammy]

The only thing that concerns me is character overload. Depends on how your child reacts to the characters. Our DS, when he was 5, was freaked out by them. Goofy came around and our DS hid under the table! So I would consider doing one character meal, give it a try, then go from there.

 

[Average Joes]

I agree that you have too many character meals. Don't forget that there are places to meet the characters at the parks.

My wife and I thought HV for lunch was terrible. I don't say that often. We did the Fantastic Dinning package and it was the last restaurant available. Got front row middle seats for Fantastic so I can't complain too much.

Garden Grill you could get pre-opening breakfast. It would be nice to walk in Epcot without crowds for pictures and get on Soaring without waiting.

 

[Barbydoll8]

I agree with the character overload. Especially all the Mickey time. But then again, your child might LOVE Mickey and you can ensure he would be there.
Garden Grill is great for Mickey and it's not a buffet so you don't need to get up and down. Some of the best character interaction I've ever had at the world.
Other kid friendly - T-Rex (but it's very loud), Rainforest (Very loud), 1900 Park Fare breakfast, Sci-Fi, Whispering Canyon.

 

[jason10mm]

I'd recommend keeping your reservations, but prepare to change them depending on how your kid does. You can drop a res 24 hours out, you can't rely on adding one on such short notice. Not sure how these reservations are spaced out over your trip but you may hit dining fatigue as well.

 

[Richard M Nixon]

Chef Mickey is a flaming dumpster fire of a restaurant, but if you're making a sacrifice on food to get picture of kids with characters, that's a common choice to make.

 

[Crystal824]

I've eaten at all of those except Cape May. They are all fine. I think character meals are fun, but I agree that is a lot of Mickey and Friends. Why not mix it up and do Crystal Palace (Pooh characters) or a princess meal? A few trips ago, I decided against my better judgment to do the dining plan. I hadn't done it in a number of years and needed to remind myself why I didn't like it I suppose. We added the regular DP. We booked almost all character or family style dinners (really that is the only way to make the DP worth it for us). We did t Chef Mickey's, Cinderella's Royal Table, Garden Grill, Hollywood & Vine, Tusker House, and Crystal Palace. By the end of 7 days, my 4 year old who loves characters was like yeah, its Mickey. She actually refused to interact with Mickey at Garden Grill, which was our last character meal. I think even kids can get character overload especially when it is the same characters.

 

[Marissa227]

We are going to do quite a few character meals too. I've been showing my kids Youtube videos to get a sense of ones they might be interested in. I was surprised that my 2 and 4 year old both said no way to 'Ohana breakfast. They both thought Stitch looked scary... However, they both LOVED the Crystal Palace one, which surprised me, because they're not really into Winnie the Pooh. I don't think it's too much, but like others have said, just have a back up plan in case your child decides he doesn't like the characters. You just never know how they will react.

 

[DisneyAnytime]

If you vary the characters you are visiting with at each meal, it is a really good way to meet characters with a little one who might not be cooperative enough to stand in the meet and greet lines. If you have a Princess, you might also want to consider switching a "Mickey" meal for Akeshurs in Norway (EPCOT) as she will get to meet several princesses there. I respectfully disagree with those who say it might be character overload. It is a wonderful way to meet multiple characters at once and best of all it is air conditioned and you are sitting! It can be a challenge at the buffet meals to get everyone's plate fixed and be sure to be at the table when the characters come around, but never fear! If you miss anyone, just mention it to your server and they will try to get that particular friend back to your table before going backstage. Just understand that sometimes that might not work but typically cast members try to be as accommodating as possible.

Regardless, opinions are like noses -- everybody has one! Only you know your family and what they would most likely enjoy. When DD was younger, we did 1 character meal per day. Now that DD and DS are both teens, we only do a couple per trip and choose our meals based more on the menu and location. It might take a few trips to find what works best for you -- but all the more reason to keep coming back!

 

[gorkt]

Yeah, we did a ton of character meals at that age and the kids really loved them. I think we did 4 on a 7 day trip, Garden Grill for Mickey and Co., Crystal Palace for Poo, Hollywood and Vine, and CRT for the princesses. It was a lot more fun than waiting in line for hours.