Character Dining Lunch with Young Children

[2Tiggies]

I think it really comes down to what your children are exposed to and what is familiar to them. Often it's the sheer size that intimidates little kids, rather than the actual character. You make the best informed choice you can and go in with an open mind and you'll be find wherever you go

 

[Elise79]

I don't think any "fur" character is likely upset a child more than another

Some children prefer face character and some fur. This is a more important issue in my mind.

Our DD hated face characters until she was bit older as they talked to her. She had no issues with any of the furs including Little Einsteins or Handy Manny (she was a toddler pre Sofia & Doc).

I would always pick the meals for the characters my DD wants to see most

 

[chmurf]

I really can't see why Pooh & Tigger are any more or less likely to make a child cry than Sofia or Handy Manny though?

I think it really depends on the child.

I know some very young kids who are more comfortable with animal-like characters than with human-like characters.
I guess that, maybe, a human-like character with an oversize head might seem scarier than an animal.
But that's just my experience. your mileage may vary. Kids are so different that it's really hard to tell beforehand.

 

[scoobydooby]

My DD was terrified of coming face to face with the villain 'face' characters when she was little. I think she really believed they were real. She was 8 before she would go anywhere near them. Lady Tremaine (sp?) glared and pointed at her from the parade when she was 5 and it took her years to recover!!!!! She cried and cried. Fur characters. Princesses. No problem.

 

[foxxxy83]

REALLY, REALLY sorry to jump onto this thread with a question but need an outside opinion... if I can possibly get an ADR for dinner at CRT, do you think it would be slightly embarrassing given it will be full of families with little girls and we will be a family with just one boy who, although he will be 7, is the size of a much older child?? My DS loves the characters to the point where he had me traipsing all round the parks on a character M&G mission and spent time at Fairytale Hall teaching Aurora how to pose and Cinderella how to dance last time we were there so I'm thinking he may actually want to eat there as oppose to the samey Whinnie the Pooh, Mickey type character meals.

 

[joolz1910]

I agree with a previous post about booking a character meal later in your holiday. My eldest two were always happy around characters but my youngest was terrified! She only warmed to characters in the last few days of the holiday.

My opinions:

CP Breakfast - lovely venue, good interaction, nice food.
Chef Mickey - food was OK, good interaction, all of my kids loved it.

We would like to try breakfast with Stitch at 'Ohana next year.

 

[2Tiggies]

We would like to try breakfast with Stitch at 'Ohana next year.

We absolutely love Ohana breakfast. The food is great and because it's a family style buffet you don't have to worry about not being at your table when the characters come around.

if I can possibly get an ADR for dinner at CRT, do you think it would be slightly embarrassing given it will be full of families with little girls and we will be a family with just one boy who, although he will be 7, is the size of a much older child??

Do you think he would be embarassed or you? If he is comfortable with it, I don't see an issue at all. Explain to him that there are going to be lots of little girls there. However, little girls have brothers and he will by no means be the only boy in there. Families with boys and girls usually just eat together.

I think that's a question only your son can answer.

 

[chmurf]

if I can possibly get an ADR for dinner at CRT, do you think it would be slightly embarrassing

it will only be embarassing if you are embarassed.

there seems to be a certain dogma according to which CRT would be for little girls only. I don't agree with that. Case in point, kids get a gift, and little boys get a magical sword. So little princes are welcome

And, think of it, how would princesses find decent husbands if princes weren't allowed in the Banquet Hall ?

If your son is okay with a "pricessey" environment, there is absolutely no reason to get embarassed at CRT. Don't grown ups go kid-less to character meals ? They do.
Disneyworld is the place where dreams come true, let that dream come true and never let anyone tell you it's "awkward" or out of place or whatever. It's your kid and you, your vacations, do what you please. That should be the only consideration.

We would like to try breakfast with Stitch at 'Ohana next year.

we love this one. Characters are great.
The food is okay. It's nothing exceptionnal, (Mickey Waffles, fruit, potato wedges, breafast sausage and bacon, biscuits and scrambled eggs) but it's all you can eat and served family style. And their fruit juice is amazingly good. As previously mentionned, you don't need to leave your table and miss a character like it's always possible at CP, Chef Mickey, Cape May Café, TH, H&V or other buffet character meals
We're not going for the food, but for the atmosphere. (we love ohana's and try to do both breakfast and dinner on every trip).

We've never been disappointed at ohana's, unlike at other restaurants. I would mention Crystal Palace as our biggest disappointment (took forever to get seated, we were seated between 2 "pilars" I was barely able to stand up to take pictures of DS posing with the characters, took over 90 minutes before the last character came to our table, we were done with the meal for over half an hour, with a kid growing restless, and I found breakfast bacon and scrambled eggs laying under our table, we were eating lunch ... sorry rant over, but still, I would advise on CP for little kids, my bad experience is only a bad experience on this DISer's part not an absolute truth)

 

[2Tiggies]

chmurf, you forgot to mention the pineapple bread

 

[foxxxy83]

Well CRT it is then!! Just hope I can get an ADR for it now! That will have to be the first I try for when it comes to my 180 day!

 

[2Tiggies]

CRT is not that hard to get. It used to be a nightmare pre 2010 but it's not so bad now.

Where else are you eating in October? And what ADR's did you pick for July? Are you going to try a whole lot of new places over the two trips or do you have favorites you're going to re-do?

 

[torsie24]

Well CRT it is then!! Just hope I can get an ADR for it now! That will have to be the first I try for when it comes to my 180 day!

Why not try now for July? You have 2 weeks so double the chance of getting an ADR.

Then if you like it you can go again.

I know your "DH" "boyfriend" whatever is "booking" these ADRs but surely you talk to him at least once a day and I'm sure he'd be happy to book somewhere his son would like.

 

[foxxxy83]

My DH (we got married at New Year) is sorting the whole trip for our 14 nt one and said I can't have ANY input on it as it's the first time I've trusted him to sort anything like this out and he wants to prove he knows me and my DS (Dylan is my ex's little boy) as well as we know ourselves so, although we talk every day, anything Disney related is a prohibited subject. We're planning on trying lots of new places in Oct as there are SO many FAB looking restaurants. We stayed off-site last time so ate at our hotel quite a bit. Only place I'm booking again is Tusker House for breakfast as we enjoyed it so much last time and Yak and Yeti for lunch on our AK day. Wanting to try: California Grill (?) at Contemporary, Chef Mickey's, Grand Floridian Cafe, Tony's Main Square restaurant, Citricos's, Chefs de France, Restaurant Marrakech, Le Cellier Steakhouse and CRT. Any of those you think will be REALLY hard to get??

 

[torsie24]

My DH (we got married at New Year) is sorting the whole trip for our 14 nt one and said I can't have ANY input on it as it's the first time I've trusted him to sort anything like this out and he wants to prove he knows me and my DS (Dylan is my ex's little boy) as well as we know ourselves so, although we talk every day, anything Disney related is a prohibited subject. We're planning on trying lots of new places in Oct as there are SO many FAB looking restaurants. We stayed off-site last time so ate at our hotel quite a bit. Only place I'm booking again is Tusker House for breakfast as we enjoyed it so much last time and Yak and Yeti for lunch on our AK day. Wanting to try: California Grill (?) at Contemporary, Chef Mickey's, Grand Floridian Cafe, Tony's Main Square restaurant, Citricos's, Chefs de France, Restaurant Marrakech, Le Cellier Steakhouse and CRT. Any of those you think will be REALLY hard to get??

I'd go spare if my DH refused to let me have input on a family holiday!

And how are you meant to know what to book for Oct if you don't know where you're going in July?

Also - I don't think you'll fit 3 TS meals into one EPCOT day....

 

[foxxxy83]

We decided it would be better to do 2 Epcot days, 1 day and an afternoon at MK, 1 day at AK, 1 day at Seaworld. We arrive about 3ish so will just chill out at hotel first day, will have lie in and morning at hotel one day with afternoon at MK (will also be doing MNSSHP) and don't leave til half 1 on last day so got chill out time.

 

[foxxxy83]

And trust me, I have gone spare but will be interesting to see what he comes up with... he wanted to plan our wedding (like a Dont Tell The Bride type thing) so this was a compromise! Lol!

 

[2Tiggies]

And trust me, I have gone spare but will be interesting to see what he comes up with... he wanted to plan our wedding (like a Dont Tell The Bride type thing) so this was a compromise! Lol!

Wow, that's ambitious of him. Glad you made sure he knew that's the lady's job and not to be messed with Where did you end up getting married?

 

[edinburghlass]

Is there a restaurant in Fantasyland you can get an ADR for

 

[foxxxy83]

We got married at a friend's home as they have an extensive garden we put a marquee up in which was heated and just had a very intimate day as we don't have many family members so we kept it low key. Trust me, it may have been low key but I felt like a true princess and my DS stayed with my parents while we went on honeymoon for a week... we went to this little hotel in Naples for a few days then took a boat across to Capri and stayed at a spa resort there for a couple of nights as well. PERFECT!!

 

[2Tiggies]

Well I hope you're going to show us your appreciation for all our help by posting a trip report of this surprise July trip.