Character Dining vs. Lines for Characters

[2BigDogs]

Hello all,

This is my first post, and I apologize if this has been addressed recently. I've tried to skim old threads.

We are taking an extended family vacation (probably 15 of us?) the last week of October. We are staying at Bonnet Creek. My husband and I have been before, but this will be our kids' first trip. I have 6 and 3 yr old DDs that aren't princess diehards but will enjoy seeing the characters. We of course want to maximize our time while staying as stress-free as possible; this is a vacation after all, even though I feel like I'm planning a Mars expedition.

Would we be better off eating a couple of character meals or just getting some FP/waiting in the normal meet and greet lines? I'm wondering if I can satisfy my kids by doing a couple of meals and therefore avoid some of the in-park waits. Also, my family thinks they are food critics, so while they don't mind paying for a couple of these pricey meals, the food needs to be a notch above edible. I'm thinking maybe Akershus and Tusker House? So many decisions...

Thoughts from you experts? Basically I'm trying to find a way for my kids to meet some fun characters without devoting my entire day. TIA!

 

[figment_jii]

Also, my family thinks they are food critics, so while they don't mind paying for a couple of these pricey meals, the food needs to be a notch above edible. I'm thinking maybe Akershus and Tusker House? So many decisions...

Normally, I would say that Akerhsus would be a great way to meet five different princesses (usually Belle, Ariel, Snow, Aurora, and Cinderella) and have a meal at the same time. That being said, the food at Akershus was okay; it was edible and acceptable, but nothing that's I'd say is amazing/outstanding. You're paying for the characters (which is true of pretty much all character meals) more than the food.

 

[glassslippergirl]

I would recommend the character meals. The lines can be really long for a minute or so of interaction. The meals are worth the money. You get a lot if quality interaction, good photo ops, and save time for attractions.

Haven't been to Tusker House. The breakfast at Akershus was good-- more than a notch above edible. My husband usually won't go near buffets (he thinks they are low quality and unsanitary), but he enjoys the buffets at WDW.

Do you have the Chase Disney Visa? There is a special character experience available in Epcot for cardholders. Two to four of the Fab Five in a private room. With a large party, this might be worthwhile for a big group picture.

 

[3Gsandme]

IMO, character dining is worth it to a degree. It definitely means saving time waiting in lines in the park. We did too many our last trip (4). I'd focus on 2. For us, it would a Princess one and a Mickey one. If you are a foodie or dealing with foodies, breakfast might be your better option. It tends to be less expensive with les chance to mess up the food. We didn't have GREAT breakfasts, but they were all okay

 

[jenninaustin]

Our family is a fan of the character meals - fun way to have interaction, you have to eat anyway (right?) and then your line time can be for rides.

For people who really need super excellent food...they might be bummed at some WDW restaurants anyway. I think the food is pretty good but I also am a theme-fan. If I have good service and enjoy the atmosphere, unless the food is inedible (which has never happened to me at WDW) I'm going to enjoy the meal!

Interestingly, my 2014 birnbaum's guide says that the 1900 Park Fare dinner (which is one of our character meals this time around) has the best quality buffet food. But that doesn't match what I've read on these boards. So I guess that just goes to show you that everyone has different tastes!

In short, I'd vote character meals but definitely spend some time reading the menus and looking at food pics to try to find the best match for your family. This time we are doing Garden Grill in EPCOT (my kids LOVE the spinning restaurant and Farmer Mickey is super cute) and 1900 Park Fare dinner.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

we do some of both. the princess breakfast at Akershus is great for meeting princesses. have also stood in line to meet some characters. we find that works best for us

 

[kittyab]

We did both. My DD would rather do a character meal then stand in line for 30 + minutes to meat a character.

 

[2BigDogs]

Thanks so much for the replies so far.

I think my party understands that these meals won't be gourmet; I just need the food to be good, hot (or cold), and have a decent variety. I've been reading a bunch of the character dining threads and am thinking Akershus might be a better alternative to CRT for us; the food at CRT gets very mixed reviews while Akershus generally gets a good (maybe not great, but consistent) rating. And yes, I am trying to get a princess meal and a Mickey meal for some variety. I don't want to do more than two, really, as I think there might be an uprising among the adults. I do think I'll at least attempt to get an ADR at BOG for our four-person immediate family. DH and I ate there for lunch in Sep, and the whole time, I kept thinking about how much my girls would love it.

It sounds like I'm on the right track, and I think I'll try to get my girls to the Fairytale Hall/other character hubs as early as I can to avoid the crowds. I also am hoping to do MNSSHP while we're there, so that should give us some additional opportunities to do things.

Thanks!

 

[figment_jii]

I've been reading a bunch of the character dining threads and am thinking Akershus might be a better alternative to CRT for us; the food at CRT gets very mixed reviews while Akershus generally gets a good (maybe not great, but consistent) rating.

Overall, I tend to agree that on food alone, Akershsus is better than CRT (at least at dinner time). So if you're going primarily based on food quality, then I'd vote for Akershus. However, overall CRT is the better experience. I liked Akershsus, but it was pretty basic character meal. At CRT, you get the experience of dining in Cinderella's Castle, each child (and adult if they want) gets a wand or sword, and a wishing star. The princesses enter the dining hall to a short narration. So overall, it's a more complete experience. It's one of those tings that's worth doing once while the kids are still into characters and princesses. Still, you've mentioned that you're DDs aren't die hard princess fans, so the overall "princess-ness" of the experience might not matter to them.

 

[tanyaandallie]

I personally prefer seeing the characters at a meal to standing in line for them.

 

[loveyb72]

The meals are a great way to see them and I feel it's different the in the parks. We do 1 or 2 per trip, I wouldn't do more then that. We have always stayed inside the park & had meal plans and up until our next visit haven't wasted a table service on a breakfast. It has always seemed like a waste. As stated by others some food is better at some places then others. We have done 1900 Park Fair and Chef Mickey twice, CRT and Mickey Backyard BBQ (which we paid OOP for, BIG waste). 1900 Park fair is really my favorite. I would say that the food was better then at Chef Mickey & the Step sisters are such a hoot!! CRT was great but my older DD was 10 at the time & per Disney is an adult & had problems finding something she liked. I will say eating in the castle at least once In your life is a must. The food has always been good but I wouldn't say great but really we all go for the experience. I suggest looking at the menus. Only you know your own family. On our next trip we are going back to Chef Mickey (DD request) and typing Crystal Palace prior to the park opening.

 

[trainingupmy4princes]

We love character meals as my kids loved getting autographs and I like having pictures for the scrapbook. My boys also love to eat and some are picky (spectrum kid ) so the buffets work for us as well. Last trip we did 1900 Park Faire, CRT, Ohana's, Tusker House, and Akershus for breakfast. We love getting those pictures in the parks before crowded so always try for an 8 AM ADR. We also did Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's for dinner. I would say the food is better at Akershus than CRT but the experience at CRT is way more princessy. We have done Garden Grill for dinner for a previuos trip. So of the Mickey dinners the food was better at Garden Grill for us. Plus it's served family style to the table instead of buffet style so fresher. The revolving restaurant was also fun for the kids. That said my family loves Chef Mickey's for the whole package. Monorail running through, the napkin waving and parade, you get a lot of the main characters and the kids love the many dessert choices . Now if you have any little ones we actually have always had good meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) at Crystal Palace and the 100 Acre Wood gang has always had fun interactions with us besides the usual sing and pose.

 

[leebee]

I'd recommend Akershus for Princess interaction and Crystal Palace for the Pooh guys. I believe both restaurants serve all three meals, so if you are paying OOP you might want to consider breakfast or lunch as a more-affordable alternative. Chef Mickey's is the best place for traditional Disney character interaction. However, we don't enjoy CM's. Every time we've been there (4 or 5 times) we've felt that the place is messy and the buffet not well-attended by the kitchen staff (spilled food, overly-dry food, etc.). You might look at Tusker House in AK for some traditional Disney guy interactions.

We have always enjoyed Crystal Palace, and still eat there even though DD is 20 and autograph books/character pics are a thing of the distant past.

 

[ariel326]

I would definitely recommend doing 1 or 2 character meals.
We did Chef Mickeys and Crystal Palace. Chef Mickeys was great. It was a lot of fun and we got a couple minutes with each character. The food was pretty good too. We did breakfast at Chef Mickeys as the very first thing we did for our trip. IT was a great way to start our vacation and there was a lot of energy that we carried in to the MK that morning.

Crystal Palace was okay. The food was meh ( we did dinner and not breakfast, which I heard after coming back that breakfast is better). It was fun seeing all of the characters and having them come to our tables.

I have have good things about both CRT and Askerhaus, so I would try and get to one of them if you can to do some meet and greets.

 

[DisNerd021]

'Ohanas has a nice breakfast. We were not impressed with Chef Mickey's for dinner so from now on we will just use that for breakfast. Crystal Palace's dinner was great.