Character dining - what am I missing?

[lllGurulll]

We have done Tusker House and the Princess meal in Epcot. I have to tell ya our experience wasn't that great. We felt rushed at both places. The Characters didn't spend more than about 45 seconds with my kids. Just enough time to get an autograph and picture. For the money, I would have expected more than that. Even my kids were asking me "Is that it?"

I don't think we will be wasting anymore time or money on character meals.

 

[JennyMP03]

I don't believe they have characters anymore, but we ate at Liberty Tree Tavern when it offered character dining. We were just two adults on honeymoon, no kids, but the pictures say it all: our grins are huge! I loved it so much, and though my husband claims he booked it for my benefit, he enjoyed it as well. It was a great way to get autographs/pictures without waiting in line.

 

[aaarcher86]

When we're on vacation we enjoy eating out so having characters for the kids while eating is kind of a double bonus for us. It also allows us to do other things rather than waiting in line to meet characters we can meet at meals.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

OP - I felt the same way as you - I didn't quite understand the character dining thing. A couple of years ago, we tried it with our kids for the first time and it was really neat. The kids loved seeing the characters and not having to wait in line to do it (which I rarely do). The food can be sub-par to medicore - to pretty good. I found that breakfasts are pretty consistent and can't be messed up too bad but dinner can vary a lot more. I loved Akershus' food and character interaction and highly recommend that. I did not like Chef Mickey's food at all and was put off by the character interaction (they seemed to want to get away from the kids quickly) but my kids thought it was great. If you have kids, I recommend going at least once to a character meal with their favorite characters - and you can see for yourself what it is like.

 

[lllGurulll]

OP - I felt the same way as you - I didn't quite understand the character dining thing. A couple of years ago, we tried it with our kids for the first time and it was really neat. The kids loved seeing the characters and not having to wait in line to do it (which I rarely do). The food can be sub-par to medicore - to pretty good. I found that breakfasts are pretty consistent and can't be messed up too bad but dinner can vary a lot more. I loved Akershus' food and character interaction and highly recommend that. I did not like Chef Mickey's food at all and was put off by the character interaction (they seemed to want to get away from the kids quickly) but my kids thought it was great. If you have kids, I recommend going at least once to a character meal with their favorite characters - and you can see for yourself what it is like.

Isn't it funny how everyones experience the the same place can be different? I had the exact opposite experience at Akershus. Food was good but the character interaction stunk.

We pretty much have decided we are done with character meals.

 

[pickles]

I hate character meals, I dont know what to say to characters and find them annoying as they come and assume you are interested.

that said, i have 4 kids and so I have gone to the meals and personally i like the food at Crystal palace, so i tolerate the characters for the kids and for the food.

If you have kids you need to try it at least once.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Disney Restaurants board.

 

[vivianmarie244]

I understand wanting to have special one on one time with the characters and how you can spend more for that but WOW! I don't understand the astronomical price!! I would rather stand in line to see them then pay those prices!!

 

[RRL38]

We do at least one character meal every year, if not more. The one we always do is Chrystal Palace which we have always done for lunch. My son is 13 years old and still enjoys getting autographs and having pictures taken with the characters. Since he's 13, he doesn't think it's 'cool' to still do that, but when we go to the character meals he smiles big and enjoys every moment of it without having to be embarrassed that someone might see him. It's just priceless to me and I'm not ready to give it up. It's also a very nice break from the park.

 

[jlk806]

Because its fun! Our 2 year old loved it this trip and when he was 13 months old. Its a great opportunity to get pictures and hugs with the characters without having to waste time standing in long lines. And you get to eat too, which you have to do anyhow. And we like that most of the character meals are buffets, so something for everyone! Just a great, fun, experience.

 

[khgreen]

It wasn't worth it for us. We went to Chef Mickeys at 10:00 am during a "slow" time of year. We waited for ever to be seated even though we had ADRs. The food was about equivalent to a Golden Corral buffet. The sad part was that it took over an hour for the characters to come to our area. My kids finished eating in about 10 min. Then it was about 45 min of keeping them entertained and trying to explain why the characters weren't coming to us. We got some cute photos but there was no real interaction. Just a quick photo.

It seems like it could be worth it if you have a good character interaction. That just wasn't our experience.

 

[Princess Sleepy]

I understand wanting to have special one on one time with the characters and how you can spend more for that but WOW! I don't understand the astronomical price!! I would rather stand in line to see them then pay those prices!!

This is one reason we like the DDP. We don't have to worry about the price of a character meal.