Character Dining, Yes or No with Infant

[AEA1127]

1) I see no way a child will remember such.
2) Parents might want to do it for THEIR OWN purposes, but it won't make a difference for the kiddies.
3) Our daughters were under-3 when we went, and neither remembers anything.

I'm not under the impression that my son would remember the breakfast or our trip in general. Merely curious if other parents had good experiences with their young children and the characters.

 

[Sarahleigh]

We will be traveling in September and do have a couple character meals planned and our son will be 9 months when we're there.
Do you have a Chuck E Cheese nearby? I'm actually not sure how big of a chain this is... but maybe you can try your baby out there meeting Chucky the mouse before Disney? That's what we're planning to do just to get an idea of how we may react to costumed characters

 

[momandmousefan]

I think it depends on the kid. My son is the most easygoing, happy baby ever on the planet. We are taking him next year at 18 months. I'm planning to do lunch at Garden Grille. I hadn't planned to take him until his 3rd birthday, but his face lights up whenever he sees Mickey on anything...TV, a stuffed toy, anywhere. Yesterday, we were birthday shopping for my nephew and he tried to pull a Mickey puzzle off the shelf at the store. He adores Mickey so much, I'm pretty much taking him expressly for the experience of getting to meet the "real" Mickey. I truly think he will completely enjoy it. I would take him tomorrow if I could. Of course, if his personality seems different by the time our trip comes, I'll reconsider.

I'll also mention that my sister took her son this past February when he was 18 months and they did a meal at Crystal Palace. The pictures of him hugging Eeyore are priceless. He loved it.

You know your child best. If you think your kid will like it, I say go for it! The other thing I'd say is not to be upset if it doesn't work out. That's how I view outings with my son. If he likes it, great, if not, oh well. A good attitude can go a long way.

I hope you love it! We took my daughter around then and it was the best character experience ever. She was on cloud nine and had so much fun.

 

[momandmousefan]

Thanks for all the insight guys!

ENJDisneyFan, the fact that you got memorable pictures even though your little one didn't love the characters makes me feel good!

I'm thinking worst case scenario he isn't into it this trip and we go again on a future trip. We won't know until we try, so it may be worth giving it a shot and seeing how it goes.

Would you go with Chef Mickeys or would another location get the edge? I haven't done a character meal since I was a kid so I've only read/heard what is good from our friends we travel with and from reading these boards. It seems like 'Ohana is a popular choice. Mickey is there as well, right?

I feel if you are going to do a character experience with a little one, this is the one to do. The food comes to your table so you don't need to get up to get food (tough with an infant), the seating is relatively private so it's less stimulating for babies, the rotation of the restaurant keeps things visually interesting and the food was actually decent. We did it for the first time at 14 mos. so of course our daughter could enjoy solid food at that point and identify the characters, but it was such a good experience we went back aGAIN before she turned 2 and it was even better. I can't say enough good things about how delightful the character interactions and mgmt. are with kids under 2!

 

[HarleenQ]

It's hard to predict how kids will react! My then 2 year old was terrified of Goofy - never would have thought that'd happen!

We're taking our youngest at 11 months in October. We've got a few character meals planned. We'll cancel them if the first one or two are busts. No harm.

I will say that the character meal photos aren't the greatest, honestly. I largely prefer the character photos in their designated areas, but there are definitely some cute ones. I know the idea is probably to get Mickey and some of his faves, but I'd largely vote for Akershus or CRT - I LOVE the photos of little boys who are just in awe of those gorgeous princesses, and they seem to give little gentleman a lot of extra attention which makes for some great pictures. Plus, there's a PP photo for both which would be nice. And then I'd FP Mickey or the other characters. Face characters also seem to be a little less scary in general for the younger kids.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I think the best character meals with an infant are absolutely the family-style, as @momandmousefan suggests.

Ohana can be rather boisterous, but another to consider is Garden Grill at Epcot. It's much quieter and more intimate, so if the babe is sleeping he will stay asleep easily, and if he's awake there won't be other kids coming running over to tug at characters (common at Chef Mickey). GG has Chip, Dale, Mickey and Pluto, so that's got some classic appeal over Ohana (my kids love Lilo and Stitch, but we all gotta admit that they ain't Chip or Dale, right?).

 

[AEA1127]

Thank you everyone for your replies! We will definitely give it a shot and see how it goes. Garden Grill sounds like it may be a good alternative to Chef Mickeys. We have some time before we need to make reservations so I'll do some more research

 

[chloelovesdisney]

We went to Garden Grill when my son was 6 months old and it was great not to have to get up to go to a buffet, much easier. I tried to post some pics but it says my files are too large. The characters came around twice while we were there.

 

[disneymom0104]

I actually find the 6/7/8 month time easier than the 15-24 month time as far as being scared of characters. At least for my kids. My 6 month olds have never been scared- have grabbed the characters noses and whiskers and we have been able to get some great photos! My last 6 month old at WDW did Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, Tusker house- loved them all. I agree it is more for you than for them, but I have also found that when we go again at 15-18 months after that 6-8 month first exposure *my* children that had the exposure as a baby had no problems with the characters at that toddler age, unlike my older kids that were scared as older toddlers.