Best Character meal for boy with Aspergers?

[Earstou]

We've never done a charcter meal with my 9 yr old, because he didn't like the characters approaching him. But he is much better now that he is older (his is a very mild form of autism).
He's heard our stories about meals we had before he was born, and he thinks they are funny. So we want to try it this year. We will talk this out beforehand, so I think it will be okay. But he might not tolerate any of the princesses, or something he deemed too juvenile!
Which meals work better for boys?

 

[Piper]

I took my nephew with Asperger's to WDW when he was 9. We did lots of character meals. I used "social scripting" to prepare him. I made up stories about him and the characters. We talked about the meal and both made up stories about what might happen. He did great and loved it!

Did the same thing with the rides--and he had no problems there either although his mother swore that she could never get him to ride anything at Six Flags!

 

[SueM in MN]

Welcome to disABILTIES.

Whcih characters does he like? I think that would be a place to start.
My DD is not autistic, but she does not like the characters approching her either (in fact, when we are in the parks, if she sees any characters, she drives her wheelchair off in the other direction).
We have done the character lunch at Crystal Palace several times and liked it a lot. They have a lot of booths there, so if he really wanted to bee removed from the characters, he could sit on the inside (bench) side of the booth. One of the nice things about the character meals is that you can watch the characters as they move from table to table and get closer to you. My DD benefits from watching the other people interacting with the characters before they get to our table.

 

[disneyelaine]

My son did not do well at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary. He does not like characters much, but that place is just way over the top for him. In fact I had to leave with him & left the rest of the family there. But with ASD kids you have to go with the flow.

But the 2 times we have done the Character Breakfest at the Beach Club, we had wonderful results! I don't know if it was the characters or just the whole atmosphere of the place, but we really saw a difference. Hey, we even stayed for the meal

 

[bradleysnana]

My grandson has recently been diagnosed with asperger and bi-polar. We never knew before why he was so terrified of the characters. One of our worst experiences was at the Beach Club because the character came from behind before we had a chance to warn the character off. Our best experience so far was at the Swan. There were only a couple of characters but it was easily controlled. I believe we saw characters from Lion King (Timon and Pumba). We were able to speak to the character assistant and explain the situation. She made sure to tell the character not to approach Alex and to only go near his brother. It worked out very well. We always place Alex on the inside in the event he really needs to get away. We allow him to control whether he wants to see or be near the characters
Becky

 

[Earstou]

To answer SueM in MN, if I ask, he tells me he doesn't like any of the characters! But I think he might enjoy Chip and Dale, or other similar characters (not something "for girls" or "for babies" in his words).
Some suggested putting him on the inside, away from the characters. that's a great idea. Never thought of that!
Thanks for all the input!!!
I'm thinking about trying the Garden Grill in Epcot for a couple pf reasons:
1) The restaurant rotates, and my son loves mechanical things and would think this was cool!
2) In the afternoon they have an Ice Cream Social character meal (what kid can pass up ice cream?).
3) They do the Rehitching ceremony there. We'll be celebrating our 25th anniversary and maybe doing this will take some pressure off of my son.
I've read that Mickye, Pluto, Chip and Dale are there. Does anyone know for sure what characters are at the Garden Grill?
Thanks again for all the help!!!!

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't know what characters are at the Garden Grill, but it might be a very good choice. We've eaten ther, but not recently.
Like you mentioned, it turns and that is way cool. You get glimpses of the Listen to the Land boat ride that is below. You might want to go on that first so he can relate what he sees in the restaurant with what he saw on the ride. I know that my nephew (who has Aspergergers) would probably be drawing up plans for how it all works together.
All the seats are booths, so the characters can only approach you from the side of the booth. The booths are all arranged around a central core (so one side of the booth is against a wall). He'd be able to see the characters approaching and kind of get an idea of how other people and the characters interact. Chip and Dale tend to be a little mischievious and silly. They once took some plate covers that were on our table and put them on like hats. Just so you are prepared. He might enjoy that since they do things that are maybe not mainstream society behavior.

 

[BevS97]

Hi,

Just passing through here, but I thought I would add that Garden Grill had Mickey, Chip, Dale and I think Pluto or maybe it was Goofy when we were there. It was one of the more low-key meals, especially if you just do the ice-cream social. Also, since it's only ice-cream there is less pressure on you if you do have to leave, you won't feel like you have missed out on your dinner.

Bev

 

[Poohnatic]

Hi! I know all Aspies react differently to this, but we end up at quite a few Character meals on each trip because my son loves it. It's a rare occasion that he talks and talks and talks that someone keeps nodding and 'listening', so I get a kick out of it.

Garden Grill is a must do each trip.(Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale at Dinner) I don't know what it is about that particular Chip and Dale, but they are awesome. Every chip and dale pulls pranks, but this team pulls younger son's curls straight and other antics.

He also asks for Chef Mickey's, which is strange--he can't stand too much activity, but loves the celebration. Chef Mickey's is consistantly the busiest of the meals we have attended.

Another one that's good is Hollywood and Vine.(Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale). This is a buffet, rarely crowded, with plenty of choices for a picky eater. I even got him to eat pork loin this time. We've done this one twice now...the characters will hang back. Request one of the corners if you want less distraction, although the fact that it is less crowded seems to work in our favor.

A pointer we've used with Neil is that he can ask one question of the 'face' characters like "What is your favorite color?" so that he can give the proper color marker for the autograph. He has set such a great example for his younger brother who was a little intimidated for his first three trips.

Good luck. I hope it goes well, as I get a lot of enjoyment of looking at the pictures of my son with the characters--the joy on his face is priceless.

Suzanne

 

[Figment1964]

My 9 yo son did really well at the Garden Grill. It was very low key. We did a late lunch so it wasn't crowded at all and the characters (Chip, Dale, Mickey and Pluto) came one at a time and seemed really mellow. I didn't tell our server or the host that we had a special need but I would think that if you mentioned it to them that they could clue the characters in to know what might be appropriate!

Before we knew he had Aspergers we did Chef Mickeys and he actually did great there, too. That was a couple of years ago and I think that if we took ear plugs along he might be okay with it now also.

Outside the parks we've done Medieval Times (definitely take the earplugs, we forgot last time!) and Pirates Adventure and he loved both of them!

 

[dizneluver9]

the characters at the GARDEN GRILL ...LAND PAVILLION AT EPCOT

Chip and Dale, Mickey and Pluto


Great meal...and characters visit once maybe twice...depends on how fast they get around the roatating resturant

email me if I can be of any more assistance

eaglesnestorl@aol.come or dizneluver9@aol.com

 

[BrerMom]

Our son was most comfortable with the Garden Grill. We had a late lunch, which made it even easier for him. I, on the other hand, discovered that I had to look in at the center the whole time to keep from getting woozy, but that's a different post.

If you decide to go to Chef Mickey's, call ahead of time and ask to be put in a corner in one of the smaller rooms. Our son seemed much happier there than in the thick of things. The time he seemed comfortable, he came with us to the buffet. When he acted overwhelmed, one of us sat with him and the other brought him back a plate. It was here that he finally hugged Minnie.

He did ok at Cinderella's. I seem to remember sitting on a bench with him in the middle, but maybe it was just three chairs on one side of the table.

I'm not sure if it's still there, but the character meal at MGM was also pretty calm. We will definitely go to Liberty Tree Tavern again. The food was fantastic and there were lots of "corner tables."

I will say it was much easier for us to have a chance to meet the characters at a meal instead of in the parks. He could watch them coming and if he chose not to interact with one, there would be another come by soon.

 

[SueM in MN]

He did ok at Cinderella's. I seem to remember sitting on a bench with him in the middle, but maybe it was just three chairs on one side of the table.

You might be right either way. Cinderella's has 2 levels, the bottom level has all tables as far as I can remember. The top level (the level where you enter, which is up one of 2 steps from the other level) has some boots along the wall. If you think a booth would work out better for you, you can always request them.