Best Character Dining for Toddlers

[bevotex]

I currently have reserved a Princess lunch and a Chef Mickey (at the Contemporary Resort) reserved for my two kids (both under 4). Does anyone have solid recommendations for character dining for this age group? I made those two as shots in the dark. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mommymcgee]

Crystal Palace in MK! Good food and Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore.

We went last year, and at the time my kids were 4 and 1. They both loved it. It was the only place my DD requested as a repeat for our next trip. (And we did Storybook, CRT, Donald's, and Park Fare the same trip).

They serve B, L, and D so you can work it into your plans pretty easy. We did lunch and it was a wonderful break in the day.

 

[fakereadhed]

Depends if they like the characters or not. Do they do OK with the Bunny at the mall? Some kids like the face characters like princesses more than the fuzzy kind.

My little guy liked Crystal Palace and Chef Mickeys the best. But then he prefers the the big fuzzy ones.

 

[Joanna71985]

Well, LTT is a fun one with good food, and it's not very noisy. Now for a fun one for little kids (especially if they know the Playhouse Disney characters) is Play and Dine at MGM. It's very interactive with dancing. Both B and L.

 

[bevotex]

My kids love the little einsteins. We have been considering the Play and Dine one as well. Thanks.


I am quickly learning all the lingo, but can you help with the acronyms LTT and B and L? Thanks.

 

[Joanna71985]

My kids love the little einsteins. We have been considering the Play and Dine one as well. Thanks.


I am quickly learning all the lingo, but can you help with the acronyms LTT and B and L? Thanks.

Sure.
LTT- Liberty Tree Tavern. Character dinner at MK
b- breakfast
l- lunch

 

[Treacle44]

Crystal Palace without a doubt. We have done lunch there 3 times and have loved it everytime with under 5's.

As we're there for 3 weeks this time, we'll be doing breakfast lunch and dinner there at some point!

x

 

[dairyqueenmom]

We love the princess breakfast in Norway at Epcot. We make the 1st reservation of the morning, and you get into the park early. It is family style and all my children love the food. I think the food for breakfast is better then the castle, my dh like it because it is all you can eat. I like it because I tire of buffets with little kids. I am always making somebodies plate and not eating myself. We even have been luck to have Cinderella and Mary Poppins there.

 

[Rella Bella]

I'd like to put in a word for my favorite Ohana Character Breakfast! It's not a buffet, they bring all you can eat to the table. We love NOT having to leave the table for food and I would think that would be a huge advantage with younger children. Just sit down and relax... the wait staff and characters come to you!

The characters are usually Mickey, Stitch, & Pluto. And halfway through the meal they hand out noise makers to all the kids and have a parade around the room with the characters leading the way.

The meal begins with Hawaiian pinapple bread that is out of this world. Then coffee, fresh oj, fresh fruit, Mickey waffles, scrambled eggs, potatoes, link sausage & bacon. You can request more of what ever you like.

This breakfast has been our first morning stop since we discovered it when our son was 6... we all still love it!

Have fun planning!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

One thing I'd say is that you don't want to book too many character meals. They are fun, but not quiet and relaxing. I've said this before. One or maybe two per trip is good, but the rest of time our family prefers quieter meals. Chef Mickey's and 1900 Park Fare were especially LOUD - the entire meal. CP can get fairly loud too.
You keep getting up to get food at the buffets, trying to watch out for characters, scrambling to take pics and get autographs signed when the characters come by. Trust me, they don't stay at your table very long. If you should forget an autograph, too bad. They won't let you go to the characters when they are no longer at your table. So they are quite chaotic. One more thing, although you do get a fair number of pics, they all have plates of half eaten food in the foreground. The character greeting spots elsewhere in the parks are more picturesque.

As others have said, it depends how the little ones react to the characters s to whic are going to be best. Princess is a good choice especially for little girls. Chef Mickey's is a good choice for characters as Mickey is likely to be one of the child's favorite characters.

 

[jnsma]

I have 3 year old twins and did:
Breakfast at CP with Pooh
Lunch at Play and Dine at MGM with Playhouse Disney
Dinner at Chef Mickey's
all on different days.

The MGM one was the most fun for the kids and the loudest. They did the most singing/dancing/interaction with the kids and they loved it.

All 3 are buffets and I'd say the food quality is about the same for each.

We had an early dinner at Chef Mickey and since it wasn't crowded all the characters stopped by very early. After that they would swing by the area hitting the other tables as they filled but not stopping at ours until we figured it out and called them over. Looking back, we only got 1 visit from each character at each restaurant, but since they were so clustered at the dinner it was more noticable.

Personally, I thought the character meals worked out better than normal meals for us. Trying to keep 2 toddlers quiet in a restaurant isn't always easy especially if they are tired. With the characters, you have a distraction to keep them occupied as you eat or trade off going to the buffet.

Pick the characters your kids like best or the location/time that works for you and have fun!
Jeff.

 

[raven69david]

We took our DD2 and nephew 2 to the following last year:

Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom
Chef Mickeys at Contemporary Resort
Hollywood & Vine for Playhouse Disney lunch buffet @ MGM Studios

They had a great time and it was a very good experience for both of them. The food was good and had a little of everything for the kids (nuggets, chicken, pizza, mac & cheese, ice cream, etc).


Gonna do on this trip:

Lilo & Stitch breakfast at Polynesian Resort
Donalds Breakfast Safari at Animal Kingdom