Character dining close to closing time

[Wendysofftoneverland]

Second guessing my Crystal Palace reservation for 6:15 when the restaurant closes at 7. Will this give us enough time to meet characters or will we feel rushed? My very picky kid is age 9, so this is probably the last character dining we will do for a while, since he will be a "Disney adult" next time we come. We haven't dined as Crystal Palace before, so I really want to have a good time meeting the characters and not feel rushed.

 

[Disnsyncey]

They will be circulating until at least 30-45 min after their last ADR, I wouldn't be surprised if the characters are around until at least 7:30, and they will definitely have enough food for y'all before they start packing up....

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

There will be ADR's up til 5 minutes prior to official closthing time.
They will never rush you.
You'll have plenty of time to eat and meet characters.

 

[kj2mom]

We have found the later reservations to often times be the best. The characters continue to roam but as diners finish and head out their tables remain empty so there are less people for the characters to interact with. This can leave more time for interaction with the remaining guests meaning you could receive longer interactions and potentially even multiple interactions as the amount of customers dwindle. Rest assured, they have a set time they are required to continue to roam so don't feel you are holding anyone up by remaining while they are out.

 

[Isthisnormalatdisney]

Second guessing my Crystal Palace reservation for 6:15 when the restaurant closes at 7. Will this give us enough time to meet characters or will we feel rushed? My very picky kid is age 9, so this is probably the last character dining we will do for a while, since he will be a "Disney adult" next time we come. We haven't dined as Crystal Palace before, so I really want to have a good time meeting the characters and not feel rushed.

Why’s it close? Is it cause of the Halloween party or something else? It’s normally open pretty late.

Don’t go close to closing time. The characters tend to leave and the place clears out pretty fast. You don’t get any special 1 on 1 time.

 

[Isthisnormalatdisney]

We have found the later reservations to often times be the best. The characters continue to roam but as diners finish and head out their tables remain empty so there are less people for the characters to interact with. This can leave more time for interaction with the remaining guests meaning you could receive longer interactions and potentially even multiple interactions as the amount of customers dwindle. Rest assured, they have a set time they are required to continue to roam so don't feel you are holding anyone up by remaining while they are out.

I’ve had the opposite experience. Eventually after a certain time the characters just leave and never come back. It really depends how close to closing time you go. Hollywood and vine is a pretty bad offender for this.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

Why’s it close? Is it cause of the Halloween party or something else? It’s normally open pretty late.

Don’t go close to closing time. The characters tend to leave and the place clears out pretty fast. You don’t get any special 1 on 1 time.

I'm sure its a party night.

I’ve had the opposite experience. Eventually after a certain time the characters just leave and never come back. It really depends how close to closing time you go. Hollywood and vine is a pretty bad offender for this.

I've gone several times within 15 minutes of closing and not just there but other character meals and they have never just left.
And I've had much more extensive interactions after there's not as many guests.
Perhaps you just have an off experience.

 

[Mazz519]

Characters will be around 33-45 mins after the last ADR... We once had a late reservation at Chef Mickeys and it turned out to be great alot of people left but all the Characters were there way past closing.. It was great !!!

 

[_19disnA]

Characters might still be around until everyone leaves. A bigger issue with buffet style meals is they likely won't keep refilling the stations when the restaurant is near to closing time.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

Characters might still be around until everyone leaves. A bigger issue with buffet style meals is they likely won't keep refilling the stations when the restaurant is near to closing time.

I have never experienced them running low on food or not keeping everything hot and fresh even after closing.

 

[BrianL]

I have never experienced them running low on food or not keeping everything hot and fresh even after closing.

Yeah, they seem pretty good about that at Disney.

 

[CarolynFH]

I've always assumed that there's enough time between "latest ADR time"and "kitchen and character appearances closing time" for guests who book that "latest ADR time" to enjoy their meal as much as those who book earlier times. Just like "last seating" times at restaurants.

 

[Isthisnormalatdisney]

I'm sure its a party night.

It has to have been. But if you don’t have a ticket I thought you couldn’t make 6:15 reservations.

I've gone several times within 15 minutes of closing and not just there but other character meals and they have never just left.
And I've had much more extensive interactions after there's not as many guests.
Perhaps you just have an off experience.

Idk they left well before we finished our meal. We purposefully try to avoid doing it but they sat us 30 minutes after our reservation.

 

[Isthisnormalatdisney]

Characters will be around 33-45 mins after the last ADR... We once had a late reservation at Chef Mickeys and it turned out to be great alot of people left but all the Characters were there way past closing.. It was great !!!

Yea that sounds about right. They left before we finished since we sat (due to their delay) 15 minutes before closing and the characters were gone within an hour of us sitting. Idk how people do character meals in under an hour

We try to not book within an hour of closing now

 

[Isthisnormalatdisney]

Characters might still be around until everyone leaves. A bigger issue with buffet style meals is they likely won't keep refilling the stations when the restaurant is near to closing time.

A lot of the buffets will keep one half open

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

It has to have been. But if you don’t have a ticket I thought you couldn’t make 6:15 reservations.

Idk they left well before we finished our meal. We purposefully try to avoid doing it but they sat us 30 minutes after our reservation.

CP is not open during the party so you don't need a party ticket in order to make an ADR at a restaurant that is not open to guests during the party.
The guests that are eating at CP and are still eating once the party starts will be escorted out of the park if they don't have a party ticket.

 

[Isthisnormalatdisney]

CP is not open during the party so you don't need a party ticket in order to make an ADR at a restaurant that is not open to guests during the party.
The guests that are eating at CP and are still eating once the party starts will be escorted out of the park if they don't have a party ticket.

Ohhhh I didn’t realize they completely closed it down. Missed opportunity to have Halloween themed character dinning I guess lol

 

[VGCgroupie]

We have had reservations before closing and it always worked out amazing with the exception of Be Our Guest

 

[Isthisnormalatdisney]

We have had reservations before closing and it always worked out amazing with the exception of Be Our Guest

What happened with be our guest?

 

[VGCgroupie]

What happened with be our guest?

Beast was no longer around 40 min before closing and since he wasn’t he never made into the rose room where we were during our whole visit.