I have two daughers (5 yrs and 21 months) and was planning a character breakfast (Princess breakfast at Akershus). Should I only take my 5 year old? Is 21 months too young for this event and not worth it? I haven't been to Disney in years and this is the first experience for my daughters. I would appreciate any advice on character dining or dining in general with two little ones.
It depends on your 21 month old. At 20 months mine was afraid of the characters. Of course the characters were good and stayed away from her, especially after she frantically waved and yelled "bye bye" to everyone that came near her!
Plenty of guests take babies to character meals, especially the princess meals as it appears infants are less likely to be afraid of the princesses, who look like regular people in fancy dresses, than they are to be freaked out by the "big head" characters. You won't be paying for the baby to eat, so it's up to you as to whether or not the experience is worth it.
I would definitely take her. My DD was 26 months when she did her first character dining experience - lunch at Akershus. She was a little apprehensive with the first princess (Mulan), but by the time Cinderella came she was excited. Your DD will also see how her older sister is reacting to the characters and that will probably feed her enthusiasm.
Only you know how your youngest will react to a big Mouse in a suit (or other character). Our oldest son at 18 months (the first time he visited) fell in love with the characters and had no issues; when we took our second son (also at 18 months for his first visit), the first character meal he did not do well with at all...the King scared him to death at the Contemporary; by the second character meal he was fine -- he saw Minnie Mouse, she kissed him and it was the end of any fear in that child...he fell in love.
We took DS when he was 22m. He adored the characters! The hardest part was getting him to stay at our table, he didn't understand that we had to wait for them to come to us. I think buffets are best for that age since you don't have to wait for your food.
First time we took our son he just turned 2yrs old (he was scared of Santa and Easter Bunny) but he loved most of the characters and had a blast dinning with them. Plus it was great b/c he was free.
It depends on your child! My son was 13 months his first trip to Disney and LOVED the characters, esp. Goofy and Mickey. We went to several character meals and got a lot of cute pics of him with the characters. He still looks at them 6 months later and points each character out and laughs. But my son always loved Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, etc. Even though he is somewhat shy with strangers he really loved the characters!
