Character Meal Advice ...

[palenskec]

OK, so I know I posted earlier about the Plaza Inn...starting to rethink....

Because we are morning people, I'm thinking of doing Surf's Up earlier, instead of waiting until 9:40 for Plaza Inn (Monday November 10). That way we can do breakfast and still be at the park at a reasonable time.

We have a 2 year old. I'm wondering if it might also be fun to do the Ariel's Grotto breakfast or lunch on another day. Any thoughts on this one? Lucy is really starting to like the princesses - but we could also just go meet the princesses at Fantasy Faire if the crowds aren't too ridiculous that week.

Anybody have experience with littles at the character meals?? Is it hard for them to wait for the characters to come around? Maybe just spend our time looking for characters in the parks?

Price really doesn't matter to me...I want to do what will work for us!

I'd love any advice. We will be in the parks for 3 days Nov 8-9-10.

Cheers!
Carrie

 

[figment_jii]

I would start by asking whether or not your little one has ever met one of the characters before? I ask this because I went to DLR with an almost three year old who loved the princess and Disney characters...on TV. She was unsure/scared of the characters when she met them. She did better with the face characters (like the princesses), but was pretty unhappy with the "head" characters (like Mickey). If we had booked a character meal, we would have probably had to cancel. So, my point is, until you know how your child will react to characters, I would avoid booking a character meal for the first or second day of a trip (i.e., I would schedule it later in the trip so you can cancel without penalty if need be).

DL and DCA are great about having characters out and about. it's fairly easy to find characters, so that is an option if you won't want to schedule a character meal. In addition to Fantasy Faire, I have seen princesses just inside the main gate (not always, but not infrequently either).

 

[palenskec]

Thanks for the advice!

I am booking one for our last day, and I think that will do just fine. we have met characters at Great Wolf Lodge (water park place) and she really liked them, which gives me lots of hope for Disneyland. But I purposely thought we would do Plaza Inn or Surfs Up on our 3rd day to give her time to get used to the parks, characters, etc.

 

[VicMom]

I love Surf's Up and that's where we're taking DS for his first ever character meal on his first morning ever in DL.

The room is smaller so there always seems to be more character interaction than at other ones I've been too. Plus at intervals, music starts up and the kids can go up on-stage if they want to dance with the characters. So much fun to watch when I've been there without kids and I'm so looking forward to doing this in less than a week.

 

[GPmice]

If it's reasonable for you to do breakfast early, I'd recommend it. Personally I don't like sitting down to eat first thing when we get in the parks because that's a great time to rush a few attractions. However, we've had a very good experience doing a late breakfast (11ish) in lieu of lunch at the Plaza Inn. It's very convenient, and DH gets a full tum, which makes up for the lack of dancing for us.