Character Meals for teens?

[DIS~n~JAN]

Hi everyone,
Time is quickly approaching my 90 day booking for character dining. My DD16 & DS14 haven't shown any interest in this at all . I'm wondering are they to old for this or is this really an enjoyable experience once you do it? Which character dining would be better? Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[Colinsmom]

IMO, if they are not interested, skip it. There is better, less expensive food many other places around WDW. I personally like characters but my enjoyment really only stems from DS3's enjoyment of character meals!

 

[SqueakyMouse]

My ds (13) no longer enjoys the character meals. During our May trip, he politely asked to skip them. We set him free with his cell phone while we took the younger kids to the meals. This worked well for all.

 

[Barb D]

My big kids don't really care about them at all. DD12 says she'll go so she can have fun watching her little sister, but if we didn't have DD5 we probably wouldn't do them any more.

I'm thinking about doing a "ladies only" CRT breakfast. (Somehow I don't picture DS14 really getting into it. He and DH can surely find something else to do at that time!)

 

[Rella Bella]

It depends on your kids... but I'd say try one. My 20 year old neice LOVED it as do other "teens" we know. No one better than Mickey to get the kids into the spirit of the place. Even we grown ups... who thought we were doing 'for the kids' got caught up in the "magic". If they hate it or aren't impressed you obviously won't do it again... but I would do it once and see how it goes. Character meals don't cost that much more.

As for where... we used to go to OHanna for Mickey & the gang... but now they have Lelo & Stich -- they serve family style which is nice with hungry teenage boys.
Resturantasauras in AK is the only place we've ever seen Donald Duck... but I don't remember for sure if Mickey was there -- when we went they served buffet style and had made to order omelets.
The other place we like is the "Garden Grill" in 'The Land' at Epcot. We've been there many times and have always enjoyed the food... and they have always had Mickey.
Crystal Palace in MK has an excellent buffet... every meal we've had there has been great. CP has the Pooh characters, not quite as Disney as Mickey but some like that even better.
Some may disagree... but we would never do Disney with out atleast one character meal.

 

[rchristiansen]

I would say between 12 years old and 18 kids won't want to do something "So immature" - take them to a nice restuarant at Epcot. Ask them what ethnicity of food they would be most interested in trying.

 

[liquid]

My 14 and 12yo girls really enjoyed all the character meals. As this was our first trip, it may have just been the novelty....

If - no, when!!! - we go back I'll let them decide if they want to do any.

 

[tlbwriter]

My 13-yr-old niece loved the character dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern, but she's in the "hamming it up" stage. A teen who's going through a "don't look at me!!!" stage wouldn't enjoy it, IMHO.

 

[Barb D]

OK, I asked DS14 if he wants to do character meals. He says he doesn't care if he goes to character meals, but he definitely wants to go to some buffets! And since most of the buffets are character meals, I guess he's in. (He's 6'2" and a football player; what can I say? He's a hungry boy!)

 

[Camping Griswalds]

Are your teens boys or girls? there is a restaurant in Epcot that has belly dancers and we're gonna go just to tease my 13 year old son. We are also doing CRT because we now have a DD who will be 17 months and I hav had to do so many icky boy things for the last 13 years, that i can't wait to see the 13 yo boy and 9 yo boy squirm!!

 

[dixipixi]

In June we only made one character breakfast with DSs (12 & 16). It was at the Beach Club. They really liked the food and "tolerated" the characters. One good thing...the characters seem to know which kids want to spend time with them and which ones don't. They were polite, stopped at our table, took pictures (mostly with me ), and moved on. They spent more time at tables with young children which was perfectly fine with my "too grown up for this " boys.

We also did the buffet at the Crystal Palace. Since this was dinner and they were starving, they barely noticed the characters. I noticed they were "visiting the buffet" when Pooh and pals came by our table. Oh well, their loss!

I do think the buffets may be a good choice for teens. They do have an excuse for leaving the table and don't feel forced to sit through character interactions.

 

[DIS~n~JAN]

Thanks alot everyone for the input!!! I think I'll give it a try and go to one of the buffets! If nothing else I'll have a great pic with me and the characters

 

[kizmac]

I would do one atleast! My 14 and 11 yr old had a good time getting their pics with the characters! They also loved watching their little siblings interact with the characters. If it were just the two older ones I would of skipped it, but they did really enjoy themselves.

 

[staci]

It all depends on the mindset of your kids. in 1997, my brother was 14, and he was MORTIFIED if a character even came near him. My best friend and I were 17, and we were old enough that we didnt care so much what people thought, and we have about a million pictures of us with the characters. (I now know that db had a huge crush on my friend, so I think he was really trying to act 'cool' that trip )

If you want to try one, you may as well, they have to eat anyway and you can enjoy the characters!

 

[belle_of_the_ball]

DD of 14 here! can i just put the input from the way i see it. DEF. do a buffet..way better than just sitting in a chair + more food for the guys. Restuantasaurs has an AWESOME breakfast...according to the guys who i went w/ to disney (all my guy cousins and uncles +some girls) Idk if your kids dont like being looked at...my cousin (14) didnt and so we just didnt have the characters come to him..I however love being looked at and love attention so, i hung w/ donald and goofy. I think that is the best caracter buffet for older ones. Just my point though...have fun..and tell your kids not to worry.

Barb D- your son sounds like the whole group i was w/ that week! And they were all over the buffet scene

 

[mill4023]

I think it would totally depend on the kid. If, like many teens, they are in the "I'm way too mature and cool for something so childish" phase, then they will probably not enjoy it. But if they are the type who don't really care about being "cool" and still enjoy doing kid things, they would probably like it.

I'd leave it up to them. If they aren't interested, they probably won't particularly enjoy it.