Assembly line Character Dining

[itsreally4mommy]

No, I'm not talking about buffets, LOL! We just returned from our second trip and I'm not sure if the first time leaves you more starstruck, my kids being a bit older, or if the characters really were different. But I felt like my kids were a mere stop on an assembly line. CRT was ok, and actually better than I expected given some feedback (then again, it was our first CRT maybe I was still in awe of eating in the castle) and it did seem like the princesses did attempt to make conversation. For our other meals such as Akershus it was Hello,sign your book, pose for a quick pic, goodbye. I had to start prepping the girls for things to say to possibly induce a bit of conversation. It also seemed as though more were there last time. This time it was exactly 4 princesses.

Our other dinners were 1900 bkfast and LTT. As I remembered Mad Hatter and Alice were the highlights, but did not linger and play in the foyer w/Mary and others like before. Our time w/them was brief but they seemed more in character than the frigid Mary. Pooh and Tigger were similar to our experience @ LTT w/other non speaking characters. They were brief but did make somewhat of an attempt to be playful by tugging @ the girls' mousears. One thing that was a bit odd was at both dinners they forgot they had stopped by to sign the books and came by to sign them again. I do try and keep an open mind about the difficulty in keeping everything straight while in that costume. But my girls did start to realize they didn't remember them. I tried to play it off that the characters were being so silly they wanted to sign again and again.

I don't mean to sound like an impossible to please reviewer. I would still do character meals again. I just didn't feel the magic like before.

 

[Belle5]

WCC is so much fun the first time. Each time after that the ketchup thing grates on my nerves like fingernails on a chalk board. Be warned. It sounds like you have a similar tolerance level to me. Make sure you rotate the kinds of meals you go to at WDW, otherwise you will find yourself feeling this way a lot. I say that mostly in reference to any kind of themed dining versus good food dining. I loved "Ohana the first time, liked it the second time, and the third time we dined there my entire family wanted to throttle the 'Ohana M.C. It has now been many years and we are willing to try it again, especially since we are with WDW novices. You are not alone! It amazes me how people can eat at places like Chef Mickey year after year... Just my personality, I guess! Fortunately, WDW has such a variety of restaurants--it's your own fault if you get bored!

 

[CoolDisneyKitten]

You should try Cape May for breakfast. We aren't big character meal fans, partially for some of the reasons you described, but at Cape May the character interaction has always been really wonderful. We were there last week, and we saw Goofy, Minnie, Chip and Dale several times throughout our meal. Goofy would sit down and color with the kids, and all the characters were playing with both kids and adults (like our group), as well as doing the ubiquitous picture/autograph stops.

 

[itsreally4mommy]

I might try that, we've never been there. Another thing that I found odd was my DD asked Jasmine if she would have her picture taken w/her Daddy. Jasmine looked at us like we had 2 heads and kind of like she thought it was creepy and said okaaay? I didn't think it was that odd of a request? Especially coming from a little girl.

 

[SnwflkCts]

I might try that, we've never been there. Another thing that I found odd was my DD asked Jasmine if she would have her picture taken w/her Daddy. Jasmine looked at us like we had 2 heads and kind of like she thought it was creepy and said okaaay? I didn't think it was that odd of a request? Especially coming from a little girl.

Maybe Jasmine thought Daddy had prepped your little girl to say that ... I bet some of the princesses hear quite a few side conversations that they wish they didn't hear. That's all I can think of ...

Very interesting main topic. Since I have no little kids and since I am not sure how I would deal with characters (I'm shy), I've not been to any of the character meals.

 

[KatMark]

I might try that, we've never been there. Another thing that I found odd was my DD asked Jasmine if she would have her picture taken w/her Daddy. Jasmine looked at us like we had 2 heads and kind of like she thought it was creepy and said okaaay? I didn't think it was that odd of a request? Especially coming from a little girl.

That's really odd. We went last year for the lunch because my husband wanted to try the food (he did not like it). Jasmine asked my DH to stand so that they could have a picture together.

 

[suzimar57]

wow - never thought it strange when DH posed with all the princesses at CRT breakfasts..... including aladdin....

 

[Disney owl]

thanks for posting your thoughts

 

[william4192]

As a grown man, I sometimes feel uncomfortable around the "face" characters, especially the princesses. Some do a better job of making you feel "normal".

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

I do agree with the poster...
I went in 09/2005 and again in 09/2006, did CM and Akershus both times..
Chef Mickeys' was fun in 05 (Mickey sat at my table and read the sports section, Chip commented on my Harvard Biz School tee, all of them spent alot of time to make a grown solo guy feel comfortable.
The second time was later in the morning (and it was busier and in the 'main area' versus the alcove off to the side...and on my last day in 06 I went sans reservation early in the morning and got a table in the same alcove area as on my first trip and it was like a difference of night and day...

Akershus seemed the same way just in my observations of the families by my table (in the corner by the buffet). As for the interraction I don't know if the princesses did this intentionally or what, but I made a beeline for the Koldbord when they were making the rounds near my table...so I thought I was out of the water...until they double-backed and said basically "Aha! Caught you!" I think with solos and guys it is a case-by-case basis, based off of how early in the 'set' it is, wether or not they've had a bad experience with a grown-up, etc. They were nice to me, but I was so embarrassed by the attention that they were probably enjoying it...
Hope this helps!