Character Dining?

[Peyton's Mom]

I am taking my 4 year old son in May. What Character Dining Experience do you recommend?

 

[ScrapperBelle]

At 4, my son enjoyed the breakfast at Cape May. For some reason, it was not very crowded the morning we were there and we had great interaction with the characters.

Donald was his fave at the time and we did the breakfast at Restaurantosaurus in the AK. They've moved it to Tusker House now. That was his absolute favorite.

He also enjoyed the Rainforest (no characters, but he loved all the "animals" in there). Dinosaurs were his "thing" at that age and I wish they had the TRex Restaurant back then.

 

[Peyton's Mom]

Thanks for your help!!

 

[Broadway Duchess]

It's been a long time since we did a CB, as DS9 is "too grown-up" for that sort of thing. The first one we did was Chef Mickey's at CR when DS was one. We went back on DS's fourth birthday and he had such a good time! Ah, mem'ries...

 

[daisyduck123]

Our favorite character buffet is "Chef Mickey's".

If it's just you & your 4 year old, you may not want a buffet where you have to leave your table each time to fill up your plate. 'Ohana is a wonderful character meal where the food is served "family style", meaning a huge platter that everyone shares is brought to your table.

Upon check-in at both meals, your group picture is taken & during your meal your photos will be brought to your table with an option for you to purchase your photo package. We usually buy these pics. as they make great souvenirs!

 

[nextidiot]

Chef Mickey's, without a doubt. If you can't get a ticket, try Crystal Palace.

 

[squirrel]

My top picks would be: Donald's Safari Breakfast, Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace and Lilo and Stitch at O'hana.

We haven't gone to O'hanas yet, but can't wait to try it in October. I have heard lots of positive things about the breakfast.

 

[scottish mum]

Crystal Palace if he likes Pooh and friends, try and get an early ADR and enjoy a walk down a very quiet Main Street. Chef Mickeys is also ver good.

 

[tam626]

We also did Cape May with our 3 year old. it was so nice & relaxed. We'll do it again this year.

 

[mjmoon]

I guess it depends on which characters he'll enjoy. In '06 we did Ohana and Crystal Palace.. kids seemed to enjoy both. Last month we did Crystal Palace again because the food was excellent and the Pooh characters are so cute. My 5 year old was okay with the characters in '06 (just turning 3 at the time) but this time hid under the table and wouldn't go near any of them. My advice would be to plan a nice character meal but don't be too upset if your son doesn't want anything to do with the characters.

 

[MJAJmom]

My 2 boys went twice last year. DS4 loves Little Einsteins so he loved Playhouse Disney at Hollywood & Vine (June/Leo and Jojo/Goliath). Also loved Chef Mickey and Crystal Palace. DS6 favorites were Ohana, Chef Mickey and Tusker. All of them are great.

I would recommend looking at the characters at each of the meals and finding your sons favorites. Also where they can fit into your schedule. We like early breakfast ADRs at 8am before the park opens at 9am (CP for MK, Tusker for AK, and H&V for DHS).

We did several character meals at our October trip (see my trip report for lots of pictures of the characters and writeups). Have a great time planning!!

 

[bizzer1]

My son (2 1/2) loved Tusker House in AK - lots of meet and greet time with the characters and a great breakfast!
We also enjoyed Crystal Palace with Pooh in MK and Hollywood and Vine -Playhouse Disney (Hollywood Studios)
I did not love Chef Mickeys - was one least favorite - less intimate due to the size of the restaurant but just taking the monorail makes it worth doing!

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

Hi Peyton's Mom...I am also Peyton's Mom. My ds (and my dd, as well) loves Chef Mickey, and also the Playhouse disney character meals. They have both requested to go back to Chef Mickey for our next trip.

 

[DWFan4Life]

Top of our list is Chef Mickey. My kids really loved eating there and enjoyed the food.

May you have a great time and fun.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Like someone said, if your DS has an absolute favorite character, that may be the most important factor in your decision, but if he likes them all and you are just looking for general advice -

DS loved Garden Grill in Epcot when he was 5. The character attention is very good, and the food comes to you, so you are not worried about missing the characters by going up to a buffet at the wrong time. (The restaurant does spin slowly through some of the land sets, though, so don't do a motion-sick ride right before you eat there!)

If you are morning-people, I would recommend Crystal Palace for breakfast, because if you have an early reservation, you can get into MK before it actually opens. That one is a buffet, but it's worth having to employ a little strategy in fixing your plates for the amazing feeling of the almost empty park and the fabulous pictures you can get then.