Character Meals and interaction - have things changed over time?

[scubamouse]

In 2002 we did Crystal Palace and the restaurant at the Land. We had amazing character interactions and several of the during each meal. We had really memorable times. Chip and Dale were encouraging our picky eater to eat his food and mickey played peek a boo w/our then DD1

fast forward to 12/2005

We did dinner at Chef mickey's and lunch w/CRT. At each meal the characters only visited once during the meal. We would still do CRT since it's a great setting and knowing they only stop by once we'd take more time with everyone than we did. But Mickey and the gang, it was so easy to meet them in the park and have great interaction there, we'd probably skip the second character meal. The kids got to see Mickey and gang bunch of times for free during our park visits

for veterans:
have the interactions changed over time or were we spoiled in 2002?
Was our 2005 experience pretty typical?
Any ideas for getting more out of our character dining?

I'm pretty sure we suffered from expectations that were too high this past trip. I'm just trying to get a realistic view for next time!

 

[tink2]

We always do several character meals a trip- at least 4 and usually 6. We've been 4 times since 2004 and I'll give you my thoughts. I think character meals are generally hit and miss with character interaction. Some restaurants are more consistent with this- ex. I think the Land is usually very good on character interaction- I've ALWAYS read good reports on character interaction from there. Crystal Palace is a favorite of ours- we eat there twice in one trip most times. The interaction here I think varies- we've had excellent interaction- with Tigger sitting on the floor and playing with our baby for 5 minutes. But, we've also had the opposite- where we had to demand Eeyore come to our table b/c we were through eating and had been waiting for him for 20 minutes. Most of the time it is average here I think. Chef Mickey's- we had average interaction the time we ate there last year- our first time. Kinda what you described- pretty quick. CRT doesn't always get the best reports for character interaction- but honestly, we've eaten there 3 times and have had great interaction all three. Now, we do try to strike up a conversation with the princesses. I found this worked well one year when DS started asking Belle about Beast and she stayed forever talking! We've been doing stuff like that ever since! I know this is long, but my point is, I think it varies and is hit or miss with most places. Some days they are really trying to get people in and out and the interaction reflects that.....

 

[Danaans]

I have always found them to be hit and miss also....however, I just went to the Grand Morning gathering (I had 9 people) at Tony's and it was better than what I expected. Sometimes, it like everything else in the world....sometimes its good, and other times its not.

 

[jtdl]

Our first breakfast at Crystal Palace was great - the characters "socialized" with us and hung around for a few minutes. We had an early morning ressie for that one. Last year we decided to do the brunch thing and had a late ressie and had absolutely no "socializing" with the characters. They appeared at the table, stood between the two kids while I snapped a pic and they were gone. Tigger was actually rude to my son who didn't want his pic taken with him! We also sat around for quite a while after we had finished eating waiting for the last couple of characters. I thought maybe this terrible interaction was because of the time of day, but I guess it probably is just hit and miss. You would think the managers of these restaurants would monitor such things, since we are paying alot of money for the character interaction and not necessarily the food! All they would have to do is stand around the dining room and look at peoples' expressions after the character left their table and they would be able to tell whether the guests were pleased with the interaction or not.

 

[AngieBelle]

At some resturants- like the ever popular Crystal Palace- the characters are under a lot of pressure to hit as many tables as possible. It's such a big resturant that if they give everyone quality interaction, other tables will be on their way out before they even get to see the characters at all. It's frustrating and I hate it, but it's better that the characters do quick visits than to miss people entirely. Characters sometimes get in trouble if they take too much time at one table! If you want characters to give the best interactions, try to go at times when there are less people.

Your best bet is the Land's Garden Grill. That place is small enough that the characters can take their time and still see you so often you get sick of them! hehehe. I've seen the chipmunks get totally silly there- sitting down with guests, dancing, chasing each other around, putting signs on each other's back, etc.

 

[bomzar]

You would think the managers of these restaurants would monitor such things, since we are paying alot of money for the character interaction and not necessarily the food! All they would have to do is stand around the dining room and look at peoples' expressions after the character left their table and they would be able to tell whether the guests were pleased with the interaction or not.

Just to clarify, it's the character escorts who are supposed to be doing this. And management does jump in whenever they're aware of problems like missed tables or slow characters. Usually, as soon as the server notices a problem, they call for the manager. You would not believe how many times in one meal period the managers have to "fix" things because of missed tables or characters going too slow or characters starting their rotation at the wrong tables. Most of the time there aren't too many problems, but I know of times where the managers have had to call for the characters head manager to come over to the restaurant to help their character escorts get their stuff together. Of course, when that happens, the characer escorts get all mad at the management for calling their boss. But hey! If you can't do your job the right way...All in all, the restaurant managers try to make everything as smooth as possible, because they want to avoid the problems that missed tables, etc cause. I know at CP it takes (on an avegage busy day) 90 minutes for all the characters to rotate through the dining room. So if you got sat and just missed Piglet, Piglet won't be back for 90 minutes. Hope this helps at least a little!

 

[jbird327]

I was at three character meals this past trip, Lunch at CP, Breakfast at Ohana's and Donald's. At CP and Donald's the characters all came by at one time - they were here and gone in a few minutes. At CP we had to wait awhile after we finished for the characters to come by. Ohana's was different, but we were there at 7 am (or maybe 7:30 but it was whenever they opened) - the place was basically empty and we were constantly being visited by characters - my daughter thoroughly enjoyed that meal.

 

[Third times a charm]

I have always found them to be hit and miss also....however, I just went to the Grand Morning gathering (I had 9 people) at Tony's and it was better than what I expected. Sometimes, it like everything else in the world....sometimes its good, and other times its not.

Do tell about the Grand Morning gathering at Tonys....I didn't know they had characters there.

 

[Third times a charm]

Do tell about the Grand Morning gathering at Tonys....I didn't know they had characters there.

Never mind, I found the info. I was looking for here:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wd...roducts?id=GrandGatheringsSpecialProductsPage

 

[daisyduck123]

When we were at Chef Mickey's last May...the characters kept coming & coming at one point. I thought DS7 would never get to finish his prime rib!

 

[Danaans]

Never mind, I found the info. I was looking for here:

Just in case your interested I have a whole thread that I did on it -- included also is a review....

here's the link
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=970571

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

I agree that sometimes the character interaction can be hit or miss. At CRT within 5 minutes of our arrival we had already seen all the characters there (Belle, Aurora, Mary Poppins, Fairy Godmother, Snow White), some rushed by for a quick picture before we had even had time to sit down at our table. At Crystal Palace the interaction was very good! Multiple hugs from Eeyore, Piglet, and Pooh, while Tigger nearly scared me to death while I was in line to get food from the buffet. I was standing there with plate in hand eyeing various choices and all of a sudden Tigger comes out of the kitchen and pounces on me from behind. We all had a laugh at this, especially Tigger! But the best interaction we encountered was at 1900 Park Fare dinner. Here we saw Cinderella, Suzie, Perla, and Snow White all taking extra time with every child. Sitting on the floor with them, playing with them, talking to them for extra long times. It was really beautiful for us (2 adults, no kids) to just sit and watch the characters interact with every child this way. Fantastic! (Cinderella at 1900 Park Fare was by far more pleasant than the one at CRT)

 

[Matt]

It all depends on how crowded the restaurant is. If you want quality time, schedule a breakfast at O'hana's when the restaurant opens. Schedule a dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern at around 9pm. I did both of these over Thanksgiving. The character kept coming over and over and over. Stitch is great by thew way. But if it was 9am, I'm sure i wouldn't have seen Stitch but once. It was 6pm I wouldn't see any of the LTT characters but once.

Park Fare is crazy busy by the way. We were sat for dinner at 7pm. It took forever for Cinerella to come by. My girls were trying so hard to be patient but they were getting antsy. Finally she came. We were there over an hour and by the time we were leaving, it was slowing down and Cinderella got to come back around again and spend more time.

I think the characters and their handlers are doing their best but it has to be hard with tables constantly turning over and keeping up with who has been seen.