Character dining for adults?

[MegDen101109]

DH & I will be traveling to Disney in Sept...no kids to bring with us yet!
He is insisting that we have no reason to go to a character dining since we dont have kids.

What is your experiences w/ character dining w/o kids? Are there any that are more adult oriented?

 

[Eeyore's Wife]

Character Dining is geared a bit more towards kids than some other dining options, but if you want to interact with characters they are the way to go. Honestly, while some of them have decent food, the best dining options are often those without characters.

Did you want to have a character experience or did a menu catch your eye that just happens to have characters?

You can do character dining without kids, and many of us here at the Dis do this on a pretty regular basis.

 

[Gigi22]

It might be nice to try out a character meal just to see what all the fuss is about first, in the name of research, of course! My DH and I (we don't have kids) went to CRT for breakfast, and Askershus (spelling?) for breakfast/lunch. DH agreed to go to humour me. There were a lot of families at both. And, we enjoyed it. Not sure that character dining is high on our "to-do" list anymore, but at least we have had the experience.

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

One of my favorite WDW restaurants is Akershus in the Norway pavilion @ Epcot.
It also happens to be Princess dining.
We love Norwegian food (it's in the blood ) so that is why we eat there.
We went first with our 11 & 14 year old, and they enjoyed the princesses.

Went last Sept. just the two of us adults and enjoyed getting our photo made with Belle. Otherwise, we were left alone for the most part, and really enjoyed our Akershus experience. (get the FISH!)
Going back in Oct for my birthday dinner.

Tip: do not go to a character dining experience if you do not care for that particular cuisine. IMO, first the food has to be desirable, then we'll talk about characters.

Last Sept. we also ate a lot of breakfasts at the Cape May Buffet (Beach Club resort).
They have anything and everything you could want.
Getting a pic of DH and Goofy on DH's 42nd birthday was just the icing on the cake- priceless!

We ate b'fast there 7 mornings, and the characters always said hello and then moved on when it was obvious we were more interested in the food.

 

[TDC Nala]

I've done the character meals, but I don't do them by myself - I'll only do them with a group at this point, more fun for interaction with characters. That's the reason to go - I can't think of any character meals that are worth attending for the food. I have not been to Akershus since it went princess, but I did like the food - if they'd put Mickey Mouse in there instead of princesses I'd probably have been back by now. (I hear some of the breakfasts may be better food-wise, but I don't do breakfast out often). If you really aren't interested in interacting with the characters (sounds like you might be but your husband isn't) I'd go someplace with better food.

 

[dpmfloyd]

my girlfriend and i had reservations at the liberty tree tavern this past january - it was unknown to me that it was a new character dining experience (since crystal palace was being refurb'd) - so we went in, the apps game out and poof - chip was standing next to me. we had fun with it. it was clear it was mostly for kids, but - i think everyone needs to have at least one character dining experience. you can have some quick photos. enjoy a meal, and you get to look around and see some kids just go nuts when pluto or minnie walk up to their table - it was pretty cute.

but overall, its an unspoken thing the characters wave, - you can wave them in and ask for a quick photo, or you can point to a table next to you and say "i think there's a little one there that would like to meet you" (essentially the nicest way to say, "please dont stop heree")

i'd say do it, at least once. disney is meant to have fun, and goofing around for a photo or two was surprisingly fun. i was pretty excited to get my photo with dale - i kinda nudged chip away since i think he could be a little nicer to dale

 

[HunnyJar]

My husband and I love going to character meals without the kids. The only time we felt even slightly disappointed with our experience was at Akershus when the characters came and went so quickly, but we had that same experience there WITH our kids this year. We have no problem going to character meals just the two of us. We are both big kids, so it's fun for us.

If you want to try it - enjoy!

 

[KatMark]

DH and I ALWAYS go to at least one character meal, if not two, while we are on our trips (our kids haven't traveled with us the last six trips or so). Crystal Palace in the MK is a must for breakfast and we will sometimes do Cape May Cafe for breakfast as well. We've not done Chef Mickey's in a while because we don't care for their dinner and don't want another breakfast (especially since we now have to fit Boma in as well); we did Akershus for lunch with the princesses for my 50th birthday--but did not care for the food at all.

 

[Wigit12]

My big reason for DH: Book Crystal Palace at 8am when they don't have EMH and you get to walk down Main Street without a huge crowd. Grab some great pictures. When you come out you can grab Photopass Photograhers standing around just waiting for you.
And it's a great way to get a few pics with characters without waiting in a line of kids. I hate to beat our kids in those lines and have miss their photo op.
We love it. Giving Chef Mickey's a try this trip because my Step Mom requested it and we're staying there but I'm pretty sure it won't replace our Crystal Palace tradition.

 

[Pakey]

The only character meal that I think has decent enough food is Tusker House breakfast. If you want to go for the characters, go, but if you want good food, most of them are not good enough.

 

[Nadjalu]

Absolutely to at least one!

I love Crystal Palace, not only for the food (which is very good, we do dinner) but I love the restaurant itself.

We don't have kids yet and enjoy it just as everyone else.

The first trip I was embarrassed but by the second trip I thought, hey I want to enjoy myself, so I let go and had fun with it.........now it is a must.
The characters are fine, they don't linger, but they do take time with you to do a picture and a hug.

It is fun, don't be a fuddy dud, it's Disney after all...........go and enjoy!!

 

[Crystal824]

My DH and I don't have kids yet (we have one on the way). We always do one character breakfast. It is fun and I love getting into the park early.

 

[RichmondTiggerFan]

At Disney, everyone's a kid. If you want to do character meals, go for it!

 

[jdisnut]

If you enjoy character meals, there's no reason why you shouldn't experience one. There is no policy barring childless groups from the restaurants. Don't think otherwise for an instant. Adults should not feel embarrassed to do anything at Disney. That was one of Walt's ideals.

I suggest trying the Garden Grill in The Land pavilion in Epcot. The menu is considerably more adult-oriented than at the ultra-popular buffets, and it is infinitely quieter and more peaceful. For breakfast, I recommend Tusker House. It's probably my favorite character meal on property.

 

[lvanleer]

The past couple trips that my DH and I have gone on we've gone to Crystal Palace for lunch(we're big Pooh fans) and the Safari Breakfast in AK(my DHs' favorite character is Donald)........we have no kids....love meeting the characters, getting our pictures taken with them and having them sign our autograph book.....so I say go for it if you want a total Disney experience.

 

[AirGoofy]

I don't think it's a problem w/o having children. If you are trying to convince DH, the character meals do have buffets. As for catering to adult, 1900 Park Fare has Cinderella, step-mother, and step-sisters. We've been there a couple of times with them, and they put on a show one year, "booing" Cinderella and silly pictures for the adults. Another way to convice DH is Mickey's Backyard BBQ at Fort Wilderness - it has characters, buffet, and beer.

 

[Swmhc]

My DH and I are just big kids, so whether our daughter is with us or it is a parent's only trip, we always do our fair share of character meals.

I think it depends what you like. Some people don't care much about character interactions. We love it. Even as adults only, we stand in line for photo ops too. I was so happy to finally get one of me with Daisy. My teenage daughter thought it was "dumb" so she took the photo and didn't get in any with her. Her loss as far as I am concerned !

 

[cyndiloveswalt]

My Dh and I did our first adult only trip last Jan and have another one scheduled this Jan (can't wait!). We did breakfast at Cape May and really enjoyed it. The food is great as is the atmosphere and it was fun to come home and rub the pictures with characters in our kids faces.

 

[adnilele]

i was pretty excited to get my photo with dale - i kinda nudged chip away since i think he could be a little nicer to dale

Totally agree!

 

[wild.zinnia]

We don't have kids and that wasn't going to stop me from going to Ohana and hugging Stitch (I didn't want to have to stand in line and I like breakfast). My DH wasn't all that thrilled, but he went along with it.