Character Meals without Dining Plan

[luckylady131]

We are going to WDW the week after Thanksgiving for a week. We will be staying off site at the Hilton in DTD. I am trying to figure out which character meals would be good to book.

I am thinking of doing 3 character meals during the week. The Hilton in DTD also provides a character breakfast on Sundays. To technically that would be 4.

What are my best options? I was thinking about doing Cinderella's Royal Table (breakfast if I can), O'hana's (breakfast), and maybe Chef Mickey's (dinner). Are there better ones? My Daughter will be 4.5 year old, and is just now getting into the princess thing. She LOVES Ariel, and I have already told her that if she meets Ariel, it will be the Ariel with legs, not as the Mermaid (outside of Ariel's Grotto). She's okay with that. We will also have our 9 month old with us.

How's Crystal Palace? I have also read good things on here about Tusker House, 1900 Park Fare, and Akershus.

Since we will be paying for each character meal (won't have meal plan points to put toward it), I would like to get good food and a great experience!! I also plan on doing a Fantasmic show w/dinner one night as well. No idea if that is just dinner or a character meal.

My daughter is a picky eater. She will eat just a few bites and say she's full. So probably a family style dinner or buffet would be better (more cost effective) for us.

Would love to hear your suggestions. Also - do I just call now to make reservations? I am new at this and figuring it out as I go. This site has been really helpful already!

ETA: I am going to try to post a poll as well, as that may be easier and get more responses.

 

[CathieArms]

Since you're paying out of pocket, I'd do Akershus over CRT. It's much cheaper with all of the same perks except the "real" castle experience.

Chef Mickey's would be a good choice, though I've heard that Tusker House may be even better and then you have the added bonus of already being in a park rather than having to travel to a park after you've eaten. Same with Crystal Palace...and, by the way, Crystal Palace is awesome!

Unless your dd just loves Lilo and Stitch, I'd be more inclined to do Crystal Palace instead of 'Ohanas.

If it were me, this is what I'd do:

Akershus (instead of CRT)
Chef Mickey's or Tusker House
Crystal Palace

Edited to add: I noticed that you wanted to do a dinner instead of a breakfast. In that case, I'd do:

Akershus (Breakfast)
Crystal Palace (Dinner)
Chef Mickey's or Tusker House (Breakfast)

 

[budbeerlady]

Once you figure out what you want to book you call Disney dining or book online at 180 days out. http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/reservations/dining/

407-WDW-DINE or (407) 939-3463

I would also say Akerhaus unless your heart is set on eating the castle. It didnt live up to the $ for us when we tried it for breakfast.

We love the Tuskerhouse breakfast, huge buffet with many choices. We met Mickey, Pluto (?), Goofy, and Donald.

Crystal palace had great food and is nice if your child likes the Pooh characters.

Ohana is fun for breakfast but Dd LOVES stitch and lilo. The food is family plated
with the usualy mickey waffles, eggs, etc.

Fantasmic is not a character meal, just a reserved seat in the area at the show after your meal.

I would do Akerhaus breakfast, Tuskerhouse breakfast and 1900 Park fare dinner to meet Cindy.

 

[MomofKatie]

It depends on which characters your little ones like and want to see.

We love 'Ohana because DD is NOT into Princesses and is into Stitch. The food is really good, too.

Crystal Palace features Winnie the Pooh characters and has great food, plus is inside the MK.

One you didn't mention is the Garden Grill- it is in the Land pavilion in Epcot, and features Mickey, Pluto, and Chip and Dale in a quiet atmosphere. The whole restaurant slowly revolves, looking down over scenes from the Living with the Land attraction. The food is served family style and is good (flank steak, salad, turkey, fish, mashed potatoes, etc). It is just open for dinner.

For Princesses, the Castle is OK, but very expensive. Akershus also features the Princesses at better prices. 1900 Park Fare has Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the Stepsisters, who are a hoot. If your DD is a big Cinderella fan, she might like that one.

Tusker House is great!! Characters are just at b'fast, though.

Chef Mickey's is, of course, really great for seeing the Fab 5 characters (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Pluto). Can get really crowded, though, and the setting is loud with the monorail going overhead.

Our personal faves are 'Ohana, Tusker House, and Crystal Palace. You might want to substitute Akershus or 1900 Park Fare instead of 'Ohana, for the Princesses.

 

[luckylady131]

I guess I should add: Of the princesses, DD like Ariel and Princess Tiana. I am sure she would be happy to see any of the princesses in person though. She is a huge fan of Lilo and Stitch.

Thanks for the pointers...keep 'em coming.

 

[CathieArms]

I guess I should add: Of the princesses, DD like Ariel and Princess Tiana. I am sure she would be happy to see any of the princesses in person though. She is a huge fan of Lilo and Stitch.

Thanks for the pointers...keep 'em coming.

We saw Ariel at Akershus. I've never seen Princess Tianna...she's the one from the newest movie?

 

[HunnyJar]

A few character meals we enjoy are..

'Ohana - nothing beats this breakfast for us. The characters are a lot of fun and the food is amazing and this is coming from non-breakfast lovers. Plus you get the amazing view of the castle. Just a great meal to start the day with.

1900 Park Fare - We like this for breakfast. The characters for breakfast are normally Mary Poppins, Alice, Mad Hatter, Pooh and Tigger. This is a nice buffet with good food. The character interaction is good and the location is lovely.

Garden Grill - Yum, yum, yum! The food is really good here and it is fresh! I especially love the salad - straight from Living with the Land! The characters here are AMAZING and I would say the best out of all the character meals for interaction. We saw Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale multiple times and they really interacted with our little girl. The service was also wonderful and just an overall great experience. Plus the revolving restaurant is pretty cool for not only the kids but for the grownups.

Crystal Palace - While I'm not a huge fan of dinner, I think breakfast is tasty. The characters here are Pooh and Friends. Lots of fun and the restaurant is really pretty. The buffet is good and well stocked with items the whole family should enjoy. The character interaction here is good, but definitely not as good as some of the others I have already mentioned.

We planned on going to Tusker House this past February, but our little one was sick and we missed out. But I have heard that the breakfast is wonderful and the characters that circulate are Mickey, Goofy and Daisy while Donald is outside greeting guests.

We have been to Akershus for dinner twice and we just don't care for it. Breakfast might be good, but we have yet to try it and in all honesty it will be a few years before we head back. Both times we went here the princesses seemed really rushed. The only princess who spent a decent amount of time at our table this last time was Snow White. The characters we saw both times have been Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel and Aurora while Belle greets guests. Next year we will be trying CRT instead.

Have a great trip!

 

[Hopefully]

You should be making your ADR;s ASAP. The places you are considering book to capacity. Folks have been making reservations for your week for a few weeks now.
Good Luck

 

[LilyWDW]

I would get online and see what you can get. As of right now, most character meals will already be booked. Currently people are booking for Jamuary 2011, so you are a couple of months behind in booking.

 

[luckylady131]

I would get online and see what you can get. As of right now, most character meals will already be booked. Currently people are booking for Jamuary 2011, so you are a couple of months behind in booking.

Where do I look online? I was wondering how to get to specific restaurant's availability sites. We are very flexible in regards to eating. I know these are being booked already.

 

[Reedi]

I have found that Chef Mickey's is better for dinner. But very loud. This is one that I would skip. O'hana's is the absolute best IMHO. We go there every trip for DS's birthday. Akershus definitely gets my vote over CRT, if you can even get a ressie to the castle. Food is a bit different at both, so if anyone is picky, you might want to check the menus. Crystal Palace and Tusker House are also great. Also, watch out for the typical characters at each. Character meals are a much better way to meet the characters than standing in lines. And you wouldn't want to "waste" a character meal to meet the same characters.

Also, IMHO, while I wouldn't miss a character meal, don't worry about staying off property or not getting the DDP, as the character buffets are generally the cheaper route and you wouldn't get as big of a bang for your buck anyway.

 

[budbeerlady]

Where do I look online? I was wondering how to get to specific restaurant's availability sites. We are very flexible in regards to eating. I know these are being booked already.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/reservations/dining/

 

[jojomoore]

I would choose Crystal Palace (breakfast), Tusker House (breakfast), and CRT (dinner). I don't believe characters are at Tusker House for lunch or dinner. I have eaten at Askerus and it was a very nice experience but eating at the Castle is magical.

 

[luckylady131]

Well, I booked 3 character breakfasts!!

I got:
Tusker House at 9:20a on Monday 11/29
Akershus at 9:25a on Thursday 12/2
O'Hana at 9:20a on Saturday 12/4

Now I have to book the rest of the vacation!! But at least I got that out of the way. I chose to do all breakfasts because it's our first time, and I didn't want to deal with potential meltdowns at dinner after a long day at the park. I would rather start the day off with these exciting events and end on a calmer note!