Character Meals worth it?

[cwcooper810]

Do you guys think character meals are worth it? Some of them can be really expensive. Traveling with a 24, 19, & 18 year old and 2 of us in college wit all of our savings going into this trip, is it worth it. Neither of us has ever done one and at first we were thinking of just doing one but then after researching and getting more excited about them, were considering 4 (Crystal Palace Breakfast or Lunch, Tusker House Breakfast, CM Dinner, and The Garden Grille for dinner.) I think it would be cool to see the characters and we love buffets but the dinner ones are like 30 bucks each. Im hoping for free dining in Dec but im trying not to get my hopes up too much

 

[MHSweb79]

OK, we are travelling childless for the first time in 25 years of marriage. My husband leaves all the planning to me, but he did request that we eat breakfast at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh. We're also doing 'Ohana breakfast because we love the food and the atmosphere, not so much Lilo and Stitch.
So I'd say yes, they are worth it. The characters don't mind posing with "big kids" for pictures and it's a lot of fun.

Edited to add: We've done Garden Grill and the food was definitely not worth the $$. If you are worried about budget, stick to breakfast. Also, realize that "free dining" is a just marketing term. Since you must pay rack rate for your room, you are definitely paying for dining one way or another. During the off-season, you must compare your savings over the cost of the dining plan to see which is cheaper. I had to lose my AAA discount in September in order to get "free dining." It still worked out to a discount, but nowhere near "free."

 

[CathieArms]

Do you guys think character meals are worth it? Some of them can be really expensive. Traveling with a 24, 19, & 18 year old and 2 of us in college wit all of our savings going into this trip, is it worth it. Neither of us has ever done one and at first we were thinking of just doing one but then after researching and getting more excited about them, were considering 4 (Crystal Palace Breakfast or Lunch, Tusker House Breakfast, CM Dinner, and The Garden Grille for dinner.) I think it would be cool to see the characters and we love buffets but the dinner ones are like 30 bucks each. Im hoping for free dining in Dec but im trying not to get my hopes up too much

I honestly don't think *any* buffet - character or no character - is worth $30-odd. With that in mind, why not switch your lunch and dinner around so that you can save about $10 and do the character "dinners" at lunch. Then, for dinner, just have a light meal. We tend to do that in general, but it makes it so much more worth it when you're saving $10 for pretty much the same thing.

 

[Kim1964]

We've done Chef Mickey dinner, Crystal Palace lunch, Cape May breakfast, and Garden Grill dinner. Of all of those, my favorite food was the Cape May breakfast and I have gone there without my kids. The others are fine for character interaction, but they are by no means a culinary delight (in my opinion). We're trying Donald's breakfast at Tusker House this year.

ETA: I think breakfast is the way to go....least expensive but still the same character interaction.

 

[let'sgo]

My absolute favorite character meal is the 1900 Park Fare Dinner, also know as Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner. You can really interact with the characters there, and what fun it was! There's Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella.

Make sure you ask one of the "ugly" step sisters which one is prettier. That will really get them started. We were laughing and having such a fun time. Lady Tremaine even had DH smiling, and he does not like his dinner interrupted by characters.

They all pose for pictures and this is one character meal that I would love to do again.

 

[tessiesevin]

I have to say that we enjoy dining with the characters just as much as being in Disney itself. I will never do Disney without the dining plan. We do a Character breakfast or dinner once a day and we stay for 10 days.

 

[danceintherain]

When you compare the cost of other Table Service meals, character meals don't really cost that much more.

For example
Character Meals
Tusker House Breakfast: $19.99/person
Ohana Breakfast: $18.99/person
1900 Park Fare Dinner: $29.99/person (I agree with the PP about the character interaction here. It is wonderful even for older people.)

Other Table Service
50s Prime Time - If we hadn't been on the DP we would have spent $80.20 on what we got (for two, so around $40 each)
Sci Fi Dine In - $72.29 ($36/person)
Coral Reef - $89.92 ($45/person)
Le Cellier - $116 ($58/person)

Now, from my experience the food at Character Meals is worse quality than that at other Table Service. I think it has something to do with most of them being buffets. Of the 3 we did I would say Ohana was the best as far as food went, because it was Family Style, meaning they brought the food to us. I think they may prepare it more "to order"
But, like I said before 1900 Park Fare was the best for character interaction, and that's coming from a 22 year old traveling with another 22 year old.

If you're worried about spending too much money, then opt for Tusker House Breakfast, or one of the character breakfasts at the resorts. The resort restaurants tend to be cheaper than those in the parks.

 

[Pakey]

The only one we have really loved was Tusker House. We did a late breakfast and made it our brunch because they had some great selections that were not typical breakfast items. For a buffet, we found the food to be better than we had anticipated. We were stuffed and only had a snack for our dinner later that day.

We never do the dining plan and I have no idea what the buffets cost so I can't say if they are a good value, but they are a great way to meet characters without standing in lines.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

I think they are worth it. I like going to buffet b/c of the assortment of foods. I love Tusker House breakfast buffet (had wonderful experience, great food, coffee and juice and great service...we went here 3x), my son loves CP lunch (godd food selection) and great character interaction. CM was not too found of the food selection...character interaction was fast. Haven't tried GG.

 

[disfan07]

my friend and i went to WDW last august by ourselves adn we were both 19.
Now granted, we were not AS concerned with budget. It was a trip that we planned based on what we were making at our jobs so it was defintiley not all of our savings....that being said we did a sit down meal 3 of the days we were there.
We did Crystal Palace lunch, Liberty Tree Tavern Dinner and 50s Prime Time Dinner
All 3 were definitely worth it and we actually came out ahead of our budget.
That being said...if we had been so concerned about budget as you guys seem to be, we could have skipped all of the sit down meals and still had a great time. The main reason we did those meals was becasue my friend had never been to WDW before and she really wanted to see the characters so this was a great way to do it without standing in ine.
We traded staying at a mod with being able to do sit down meals so we would stay within our budget
I would sit down with your budget and see if there are any trades you can so...ex: stay at a value if you're not already, no PH tickets etc. and see what you can really afford

My friend and i ended up spending only $800 each for 5 days including everything form airfare to souveniers and it was just as good of a trip as if we had spent $1500 each.

 

[cwcooper810]

Im trying to decide if its worth it to just do the dining plan. It would be $240 each because were staying for 6 nights, although I am going to try and see if I can just get it for 5 to make it 200 each. That way we could use the character meals as our table service and probably spend the same amount if not less than we normally would by doing them seperate.

 

[Hopefully]

As you nay know the Dining Plan must be for everyone in the party for EVEY night of your reservation. So if you are going to decrease it to 5, that means you are staying in WDW one less night

 

[dacky041208]

As you nay know the Dining Plan must be for everyone in the party for EVEY night of your reservation. So if you are going to decrease it to 5, that means you are staying in WDW one less night

True, or you could try book a room only reservation for one night and add it to the end of your trip. That way you could have your 5 night DDP, and then one more night. The only problem there is you might have to pack up and probably switch rooms with only 1 night left to go, but it is an option.

 

[MarkinNM]

Also, realize that "free dining" is a just marketing term. Since you must pay rack rate for your room, you are definitely paying for dining one way or another. During the off-season, you must compare your savings over the cost of the dining plan to see which is cheaper. I had to lose my AAA discount in September in order to get "free dining." It still worked out to a discount, but nowhere near "free."

Sorry for being off topic, but I have to chime in this “not so free dining” debate…

I don’t understand why some are telling me that it’s not free?? My math tells me other wise. Let me tell you I don’t get "pin codes" or special discounts or I am NOT a AAA member. So with that said I originally booked a 4/3 package for 8 nights in June added the dining plan, then the free dining came out and I changed the dates to the so called “not so free dining”, and added 1 more night, this is 10 days and 9 nights now WITH the “not so free dining”, my math tells me that I have a credit of $881, PLUS I saved $198 in the Airfare by booking it in Sept, for a grand total of +$1079 that I did NOT have to pay. So how is this not free dining??
Ok, how about a VERY NICE DISCOUNT with discounted food then…..
Rack Rates are WAY over hyped, trust me here the resorts are all paid off by now and if you pay $1 night you are paying “rack rates”…..

 

[abc999]

The dining is free. You just full price on a room..

AAA discount, you are getting a discount on the room, but you pay full price for the dining plan.

So, dining is free.

 

[psiprez]

Aw, you have to go to a Character Meal if you've never been.

It's always been our one splurge.

We are not a table service family at all. We stock the room with breakfast food, pb&j and snack foods to save time and money. And I just can't see losing and hour or more in the park each meal by sitting down for overpriced food that I'm too tired and hot to really taste anyways. So, we make the Character Meals an event, and look forward to it all week long!

 

[mickey2minnie1]

Having character meals is such a big part of the Disney magic IMHO. We try and go to as many as possible. All of us enjoy them!

 

[dacky041208]

I just think it's great to get some pics with the characters without waiting in lines out in the sun.

 

[lustergirl]

We are trying Ohana's Character Breakfast with Lilo & Stitch and our favorite must do- Chef Mickey's for dinner.

 

[Jletendre]

As noted if seeing the characters are a priority - these "meals" are the best way IMO, If anyone has ever waited at toon town they know what I'm talking about. I think out of all of them (and I've done them all) Chef Mickey's is the best as it has decent food, a great dessert buffet and you get Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and usually pluto or chip and dale. The classic Disney lineup so unless you have really little kids that are into pooh or a little princess that HAS to see the princesses that's the one I'd pick.

I figure half of your bill is access to the characters / photo time etc.

If you'd rather spend time meeting the characters go to Epcot as you have a far greater chance to get many in and won't have nearly the wait.