Character dining

[Surrey bantam]

Hi everyone

I'm really impressed by this forum - everyone seems to have so much experience of DLP that I thought I'd ask the experts.

We've just booked (me, wife and 2 girls - 6 and 3) to go to DLP in April for 4 days next year. We went this year and were just blown away by the experience !

This year though we didn't do any of the character dining and I think it would be great to do so this year but I'm all confused by the various web-sites...

It is my 3 year old's birthday whilst we are there - she is into Mickey, Minnie etc so we were looking at either one of the lunches or maybe the tea party.

- is there a difference between the restaurants that do the lunches ?
- how does the character interaction differ between lunch and tea party ? I think everyone will be too excited to actually eat any food !
- is the "birthday cake" worth doing ? Is it £20 per cake or as I saw on one web-site £20 per person (surely even at DLP that's too expensive ??)

My 6 year old is into Princesses. We hadn't considered the Princess dinner as it looked really expensive - any views ?

Any help much appreciated !

Rob

 

[Kayleigh1986]

The birthday cake is ¬25 I think, I rang reservations at the weekend, it's just for one cake, apparently it's just a cheapy cake but for me I'm paying for the fact that the characters will bring it over. We are booking evening meal at cafe Mickey

 

[DLPdaft]

Hi Surrey Bantam

Welcome to the Disneyland Paris Trip Planning & Community Board .

We are a friendly bunch here so please join in on any other thread or if you have a number of questions then just start a new thread for each

If you have not had a look yet, DLP posting rules are here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1477038,
DIS posting guidelines can be found here
http://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm

I really like Cafe Mickey, I wouldn't pay the set meal price for it, and I wouldn't pay for the tea party again either (not even sure where that will be in April next year, its changing next month).
I'd book Cafe Mickey for lunch or dinner, share pizza etc between you all, and order the birthday cake to be brought to your table there for dessert .

I have no experience of the Princess lunch, as my DD has never been fussed about the traditional Princesses (Pocahontas, Mulan and Jasmine were her favourites when she was into them and dressing up as one). I'm sure you'll get lots of opinions from parents of Princess-lovers here though.

 

[IsobelJackmummy]

Hello!

Like Elaine says, Cafe Mickey is excellent (I havent been for lunch, but we have eaten there for dinner a few times). You dont have to have the set menu, and it works out much cheaper to share a couple of pizzas. the characters in the evening come out just after 6, so we have always booked a table for 6pm, to avoid queues (you may have to queue even if you have reserved a table if you eat later).

We have eaten at Auberge (princess lunch) a couple of times. yes, it is expensive, but if you can afford it, it is worth the money. Not particularly for the food (which is very nice, but not to everyones taste), but it is an experience that for me was fantastic. Our princess mad daughter was on cloud nine, which made for some very happy memories which I will cherish forever.

The princesses are very attentive, and made our daughter (and son!) feel very special.

She isnt into princesses so much now, so I am really glad that we went when we did.

Happy planning!

 

[jillrobinson]

Can vouch for Cafe Mickey, we make a point of having 1 meal there every visit and have celebrated several birthdays for various ages. Was a little disappointed last January when they had run out of Birthday cakes, we had preordered, but my nephew didn't seem bothered he was more than happy with his icecream and birthday candle and the characters more than made up for it.

Can't help with the Princess meal as I have 2 boys, no princess interest !

 

[scampbunny]

another for cafe mickey!!
weve only ever gone at lunch - we aim to b there for 12 noon as find its less busy, and u can sumtimes get more interaction... weve done a few birthdays there now, and i love hearing the birthday music they play when they bring out the cake!!
u normally get a mixture of 6, sumtimes more characters...

and echo elaines comment - order pizza between u, we do that and it makes for a very cheap meal but with characters!!!

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Cake is 25€ for the whole chocolate cake - feeds 6 to 8 people

 

[DLPDreams]

Hi - welcome

Have you had a look at the restaurant reviews re Auberge at the top of the page? They will give you an idea.

We have done Auberge a few times now and it is lovely, but like a lot of things, has become more expensive with less value sadly . A first timer wouldn't notice this at all. But I recall going the first time and getting wine on the table, bottles of water, a free gift for my daughter - a gorgeous Cinderella wand, and boys got toy swords etc.

I don't regret going - we went again in June mainly for my DD2 as she is 4 and reasonably into Princesses (not as much as DD1 was at her age). But, we won't be doing it next trip - we have done it to death now I feel, and it tends to often be the same 'traditional' Princesses (but not always), whom we've met over and over now. If they introduced some of the newer Princesses, I think it would be a different matter entirely.

Having said all that, if I had a DD who was into Princesses and we had never been, I would go in a heartbeat - it is an amazing experience for a little Princess . And, it saves you the hassle of having to queue at the Princess Pavilion for hours just to see one Princess. But do make sure you book in advance, as I've seen so many disappointed little girls, all dressed up, being turned away.

As for Cafe Mickey - agree with the comments here. I think lunch is less frenetic and we've always done that - get there early, but next trip we are going to try dinner (which I think, seems to have a few more characters sometimes?). Not looking forward to booking a table and having to queue for it though! After Dreams it will be a nightmare .

Just a thought, you do know you can get a cake (the same) at Auberge too where the Princesses will bring it over and sing to your DD....

 

[Surrey bantam]

Thank you everyone - your help really is much appreciated !