Character Dining Experiences.

[disneypookies]

Ok guys, so i'm planning a trip for December as a first Christmas with my wife and then 1 year old DD. I want to make this trip special for my daughter, and want her to have as many character meets as possible regardless of whether or not she'll remember it.

I am at a loss for restaurants though, I don't know much about what there is available since I really don't go to sit down places (counter service all the time). So I'm coming to you guys to maybe help me out and let me know the best character dining restaurants out there ? I actually just need two, we will be doing Chef Mickeys Breakfast as another.


Thanks guys!

 

[bradk]

your biggest concern is actually how your daughter might react to the characters. with that in mind, i wouldn't book for any character meals prior to being in the parks and exposing her to them to see how she responds.

that said.. the two that would immediately come to mind are crystal palace with the pooh characters and possibly play'n'dine at mgm with jojo and little einsteins

 

[sarahandhannahsmom]

We are character meal fanatics. We have almost every one on our book for July.

Crystal Palace (located in MK) with Pooh for sure. If she is a princess fan, there are meals in Epcot at Restaurant Akerhaus with them. Liberty Tree Tavern (also in MK - not a buffet-it's family style) has Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale (pretty much the same characters as Chef Mickey's).

If she is a Playhouse Disney fan the Hollywood and Vine (At MGM) for lunch is good. You meet Little Einsteins and Jo Jo there.

Other resort meals are 1900 Park Fare with Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, Mad Hatter for breakfast and Cinderella, the mice and Prince Charming for dinner.

Epcot has the Garden Grille which is in a spinning restaurant with Chip, Dale , Mickey. This meal is not a buffet. It's served family style.

Animal Kingdom has Donald's Restaurantosaurus with Donald and friends.

There are a ton of choices. The food is not really that good, mostly disney buffets, but we go for our kids smiling faces, not the great cuisine.

I'm sure you'll have a blast no matter what you choose. The little kids love Pooh at Crystal Palace.

 

[TinkerbEllnor]

We thought Ohana was very good for their character breakfast. Good food and great character interaction. Breakfastosaurus had good food but the characters were VERY rushed, basically just paused long enough for a quick photo op but no real 'interaction'.

For the record, our 13 month DD was PETRIFIED of the characters. She didn't seem to mind them near her brother and watched quietly, but banshee-screamed when they came near her. Our DS went to WDW for the first time when he was 14 months old and danced with Mickey at my cousins wedding with no fear whatsoever. So obviously, your mileage may vary.

have fun! Your memories will last, regardless if she will remember or not!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Cape May Breakfast is awesome, Goofy, Minnie, Chip and Dale in their bathing suits! Since the restaurant wasnt busy they spent a lot of time with us, playing tic tac toe on the tablecloth, posing for pictures, "speaking" to us by writing on the tablecloth...it is our favorite

Another one is CP at MK, this is a great one!

If the costume characters scare the little one try the Princess breakfast in Norway, our nieces loved this one!

 

[Joanna71985]

Oh man. There are so many good character dinings in Disney. Here are my favorites:
*Chef Mickeys at Contemporary- that one is a lot of fun.
*Crystal Palace at MK- this one has Pooh and friends. Plus the food is really good.
*Play and Dine at MGM- this is a good starter one. Good interaction, with songs from Playhouse Disney. The characters are JoJo and Goliath, June, and Leo.

 

[nawmom]

Check out this link, as it was pretty helpful for us:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/Just_for_kids/character_dining.cfm

have fun!

 

[Debbid16]

I booked a 8:20 breakfast at Play n Dine at the MGM. We are staying at ASMo. What time should we leave the hotel to get to the park, get stroller and be on time for the ressie? This is our first character meal, any other tips would be helpful too. DS is 3.. Thanks

 

[nawmom]

we actually got to Hollywood & Vine about an hour early and they were able to accomodate us earlier than our scheduled reservation. I don't think they're too strict on timing but we had already been at MGM doing other things so we thought we'd check to see if they could get us in early since we were hungry by then! Glad it worked!

You'll have such a fun time there. It was a great experience for my 3 year old who loves little einsteins and JoJo.

 

[dizcrazy]

disneypookies: I concur with crystal palace (CP) for a 1 year old. Make the ADRS and after the first character meal, you'll have a good idea if DD enjoys the characters or not. We did CP when DD was 15 months old. I thought it was a great opportunity for a nice breakfast and great pictures. It was NOT. She was horrified, which didnt make for a nice breakfast for me and the photos were . . . well, humorous now.


Debbie16: According to the site ourlaughingplace, it will take 18 minutes to get from AllStar Movies to MGM. So for an 8:05 seating, I would plan to be at the bus stop by 7:30 am or 7:20 am. I suggest a little earlier because if it isnt an early magic hour day, then you wil be able to get GREAT pictures inside the MGM park without lots of people in your way.

 

[AStamm]

Once you get past that "is she afraid of the characters" question, I'd recommend that you choose a character experience where the food is brought directly to you. Either my DH or I have missed to many characters coming by the table while one of us is up at the buffet. Since I always want both still pictures and video, we both need to be at the table. There are no worries of missing out on something when the food is delivered right to you.

We personally LOVE LTT. Haven't been to GG for 2 1/2 years, so can't say much about it now. We're not big breakfast eaters either, so we haven't done 'Ohana.