Best plan for characters

[dragitoff]

Let me preface my post by saying we go to WDW every year, but my girls are now 13 and 10 so they haven't been into going out of their way to see characters for many years. Having said that, DW and I will be taking our DD's to WDW in May. This trip, we'll also be taking our 4 newest members of our family. Our 4 adopted sons (ages 3, 5, 6, and 8) will be making their first trip to WDW! My brother will also be meeting us there with his 3 year old daughter.

We will obviously have to make time to see characters. We will be at WDW May 23-27. We are currently planning on the 24th and 25th to be MK days. 26th will be an Epcot day and the 27th will be AK, but we'll be hitting the road around 1pm that day. We're staying at AKL DVC Villas if that matters for this question.

Having laid all that out, what is the best plan for us to see characters for the kids? Back in the old days, we'd always make a trip to Toontown and stand in line there to see the Princesses and then on our Epcot day, we'd stop at the Character Stop. I don't even know if those options are still available any longer or if there's a better alternative. Should we use our FP+ reservations (or at least one per day) on character stops? Since it's our boys' (and my nieces's) first trip, I'd love for them to get the most out of our trip.

For what it's worth, we are rope drop folks and usually hit the parks all day. With the little ones, I'm certain we'll be turning in early and/or coming back to the room daily for a break/nap.

Thanks!

 

[Flamingeaux]

google Kenny the Pirate.

 

[LSUfan4444]

The approach at each park is quite different and would depend very much on what other "must do's" you had, whether you are hopping, etc.

The approach I like at Magic Kingdom is meet & greets first, then Fantasyland, FP+ for Mine Train, then lunch, then FP+ for Thunder and Splash (for example). But at Hollywood Studios & Epcot I want to head to the attractions first because of tiering and how that limits me you having to choose between Soarin / Test Track, Toy Story /Rock n Roller Coaster, etc. At Animal Kingdom I slaos usually start my day with Safari (standby), then hit Rafiki's Planet watch, come back for Lion king, Finding Nemo Musical, lunch and don't even start meeting characters till probably around 1pm.

 

[Mikie]

Congratulations on the additions to your family!!
What fun it will be to do the vacation with a whole new family dynamic! Kenny the Pirate is an excellent resource. I'd recommend character meals if it is in your budget and park style - you get to combine a break, food, and meeting 4 characters all at once! For boys and girls, I like Garden Grill in Epcot and Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. Cinderella's Royal Table in the castle at MK is, of course, a classic.

In Epcot, the character spot and picking up the times guide to let you know when/where to find characters throughout world showcase is the way to go.
Animal Kingdom, I don't know if there are any characters that require a FP - the ones we were interested in meeting there were good old fashioned get-in-line-and-meet
I like LSUfan4444's approach in Magic Kingdom, although I'd mix in a few more rides in the morning and not "just" meets before you start using fastpasses on rides.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Because you'll have two days in MK, you can get FPs for Talking Mickey in Town Square Theater to start off your first morning. What better intro to characters than Mickey. Don't tell your group that he "talks" in case he doesn't on that specific day. Definitely check Kenny's site as he has every character location and meet and greet times.

You won't need to FP any characters in AK. Mickey and Minnie do meet together in AK - it's the only location where you can have a photo taken with both of them.

If you have a Chase Disney Visa, the photo location is in Epcot and you'll be able to choose a free photo from that meet and greet. It's usually Mickey and Pluto, or Minnie and Pluto in the Visa location.

 

[dragitoff]

Since my daughters didn't get to go to WDW last year (first year missed in a long time), we want them to get to do the things they enjoy as well so we will do a mixture of thrill attractions (utilizing rider swap) and kid friendly attractions. Our boys are a little on the skiddish side now so even HM probably will be a no go for them. I'd say there's no attraction that someone in our family won't do, even if the entire group can't or won't. My 13 year old loves Dinosaur so we'll let the kids play at the Boneyard while she and one of the adults goes to ride with her.

Obviously there are MUST DO family attractions as well. The kids will have to do things like Jungle Cruise, Dumbo, Turtle Talk, and others. The planner in me wants to pre-plan so much, especially now with FP+, but the realistic dad in me says to have a plan but adapt as needed. The character thing is really something I'm not real familiar with. Even when my girls were young, it just wasn't ever a priority for them. My boys love the standard Disney characters, so I definitely want them to get the full character experience (pics, autographs, interaction, etc..)