Character Meal for a 3 Year Old?

[DallyGirl]

We will be taking our soon to be 3 year old DD to Disneyland for Halloween. We can't decide if we should do a character meal or not with her. Do you think it is worth it at this age? For what it's worth - she is a very outgoing (aka: not shy!). TIA!

 

[Jennia]

Definitely worth it! I remember going with my brother to tons of character meals when he was between two and three, they were usually the highlight of the trip for him. My dh and I are taking our dd to at least one character meal next year, and she'll be a little over two.

 

[bumbershoot]

We took our then 3 year old to one. He barely ate, b/c he was so excited by everything. So be warned, you're possibly going to be paying for uneaten food. And then we had to feed him later once his stomach caught up with him.

 

[RaeRae's Mommy]

Where taking are DD3 to Goofy's Kitchen in Sept. DD well be 4 in oct.

 

[caygrayloremomma]

I would and take A LOT of pictures. We did it this year for our 9 year old and 5 year old and were stunned at how much our eight month old got out of it. She was really into touching the characters and squealing and they all played peek-a-boo with her- we went to Minnie's at the plaza and the characters came back to our table, many, many times to play with all the kids and made sure to include our youngest. We will absolutely be doing that every single time we go.

 

[DallyGirl]

Thanks for the FAST responses. It sounds like it would be a great experience for her

 

[Jperiod]

The characaters are my DS's ABSOLUTE favorite part of DLR! He's also very outgoing. Catching the characters at the park, waiting in line, timing it so the character doesn't LEAVE right when you walk up or are waiting is HARD with a little one. They just don't understand WHY Mickey is walking away, but will be back in 20 minutes, etc (we had lots of tears until me & DH worked out a system of checking the line BEFORE the other brought DS over to wait).
Anyway, the meals are a great way to have a captive audience! Your child will get a nice long moment with every character there. It was so worth it, heck with the food! If she's into the princesses, I'd recommend Ariel's Grotto then. Waiting in line for an hour at the fantasy faire was torture for my young one, only to get 3 princesses that your child might not know or like (it's completely hidden and random). At Ariel's, you always get 4 or 5 of the most popular princesses, so she's bound to see someone she loves.

 

[pinktink83]

TOTALLY worth it!!!!! Our DD3 LOVED it when we took her in 2006. (so did our DS5) We did Minnie & Friends breakfast at Plaza Inn and it was great. Its the only one actually in the park so you dont have to leave the park to get to it. I also recommend doing breakfast over other meals b/c 1) its cheaper and 2) I think breakfast buffet food is yummier! And it usually fills you up so much you can go without lunch and just buy a little snack to hold you over until dinnertime.

 

[bluegrizzlies1]

minnie breakfast is nice because it is in the park my 3 yr old loved it she loved lilo and stich and the princesses.

 

[Monkey Monkey]

Oh, absolutely! My 3yo has been to Minnie's Breakfast, Ariel's Grotto, Lilo and Stitch breakfast, and Goofy's Kitchen between 2.5 and 3 years old. He hasn't yet met a character he hasn't liked, except he was kind of lukewarm about Captain Hook.

 

[dizneekrazee]

I agree, she will LOVE it!! My oldest DS was 3 at his first character meal. It was breakfast at Goofys. At the time, he was a bit shy of characters, but not people. So when Goofys came to our table, he hid on the table, so Goofy literally got under the table with him while we were eating. Have no idea what Goofys did to make him not shy, but whatever it was, after that, he was no longer shy/afraid of the characters.

For a 3 year old, I would vote Goofys or Minnies, because of the popular characters.

Have fun!!