Character meals

[41694love]

I see from some posts that people schedule some of the dining experiences for every day or almost every day of their stay. Am I missing something here? When I have gone in the past, we did one character experience - both for the expense and also for the timing - not wanting to have to be in a certain place at a certain time. If I am missing something and should take this into consideration, I will. I want to make my next experience the BEST!!!!

 

[karajeboo]

We usually do one character meal, because to us there is no comparison between the food at the character meals and, say, Le Cellier. We do the dining plan for the DINING, but I know my DSis scheduled every one of her TS meals with characters. To each his own, I guess. But we do have all our ADRs scheduled before we go to make sure that we are able to take advantage of some of the great dining Disney offers!

 

[bcinohio]

I'm with you. We usually do 1 character breakfast Chef Mickey's and one sit down dinner. We like the freedom to move about from park to park without having to worry about being somewhere at a certain time. We did the DDP a few times and it was hard to make it to those ADR's.

Have fun.

 

[frdeb1999]

We schedule everything and cooridinate. We know what parks and such we'll be at and make our ADR's according to that. If your using the DDP it's how you get the most out of it in most cases. And without ADR's you can't always get in where you may want. Works for us!

 

[Mckymousefn]

We try and do 1 character meal and 1 other meal... last time was Sci-Fi. We would rather spend our time at the parks, instead of worring about getting to this reservation or that one. Don't get me wrong, i love doing the character meals.. but with 5 people in the family it can get a little $$$ & we enjoy being on rides instead.

 

[PrincessDisney96]

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PrincessDisney96]

Of course you should do character meals! It's just not as fun to us if you don't. The best character meals are Chef Mickey'sand Crystal Palace which I really recommend you to try. If you have kids the answer is YES!

Jillian

 

[septbaby]

I see from some posts that people schedule some of the dining experiences for every day or almost every day of their stay. Am I missing something here? When I have gone in the past, we did one character experience - both for the expense and also for the timing - not wanting to have to be in a certain place at a certain time. If I am missing something and should take this into consideration, I will. I want to make my next experience the BEST!!!!

Actually planning or scheduling your Disney vacation can make it a better experience. Mostly because if you plan you'll do research and find some unique or special things for your family. My mother has been to Disney many more time than I have. She gave me the "keys" to plan our vacation and just came along for the ride. One afternoon while we were at the Animal Kingdom she said to me "it's so nice to have a plan and not be standing in the middle of a hot park not knowing what to do next." It was just she and I and my 5yo nephew. I can't imagine doing that with 4 kids age 2-10; the Animal Kingdom is definitely really hot park.

Now on that particular day we made some changes:
- Slept in
- Cancelled our breakfast ADR and had a CS breakfast at the resort then enjoyed the pool for the Morning
- Kept our park plan for the Animal Kingdom, just did it all in the afternoon
- Kept and loved our dinner ADR at Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (no way we could have eaten two buffets on one day as we had planned)
- Made it to Epcot in time for Spectro
- Took advantage of EMH at MK that night

If I hadn't planned I would not have even realized that we had time to make Illumanations after dinner (we did not rush dinner). Boma was packed; we would have been laughed out of the place as walk up diners. Given that I knew would could "pick up some MK time" via EHM made it easier to decide to enjoy our resort for the morning.

Researchig let's you learn that there are pony rides, a Chip & Dale sing along and free full feature Disney movies at the Ft. Wilderness campground. Planning let's you allow yourself time to do those things if you want to or know that they're options you can switch too if you can't go with plan A. We didn't make it to Ft. Wilderness due to rain, but discovered the Wilderness Lodge and the game room and that was fun too.

We were on the dining plan and only went to 1 Character meal, but we did each ADR/TS meal with a purpose: Narcoossee's was just an outstanding dining and entertainment experience and a great first night plan. Coral Reef was unique with the aquarium. Chef Mickey's, my nephew was out of his mind with happiness from the moment we set foot in the place (even before we were seated). Boma wowed my mother and seeing the AKL was awesome. Hollywood & Vine wasn't so special, but the Fantasmic package that came with it was great. We made our meal plans part of the vacation plan, not just a time to eat. We still made some changes and decisions on the fly as those were OUR plans and not some strict guidelines someone made us follow.

There is so much beyond the rides at Disney that if you don't plan you'd never uncover. Some of those things cost extra and others are just a matter of knowing when to be where.

One thing for sure, I'd pick a meal that I know each of your kids would like and I'd pick one primarily to suit you and your hubby. You might even let the 8 and 10 make a choice, involve them in the planning. Involving the 5/2 might lead you to drink as they ask "Are we going to Disney now?" and you're still 6months out for your trip!

If you chose not to do the dining plan you can still make that character meal ADR, but there is wide range of CS places and I'd research them to know your options at each park as well as your resort.

 

[PrincessMomto2]

We schedule a few Character dining experiences for the kids. Even my older dd who was 10 in August enjoys the characters. Mom does too! Actually I love seeing my girls react to them. My little one loved them. But not all our meals are character meals. I find that having a nice sit down dinner is break from being on our feet all day and it energizes us to do even more afterwards. Counter service to us gets old pretty fast. Now and then it is fine but I would not want to do that most of the time. Do make ADR's for any place you want to go to because the days of walking up have gone.

Have a great trip!

 

[MommyBuzz909]

It's our first time, so I just want to do as much as I can!!

 

[moosebug]

I get so nervous when the characters are coming to my table that I can not eat. So I only schedule one meal a day that is character and the rest normal!!

 

[chessie2008]

Out of our 10 TS meals I am planning 4 to be character meals. We took my older 2 kids last year to WDW and they loved them. This will be the first trip for my second son and I think he will love them.

 

[Harambe]

In the past, when we did character meals - our teens aren't interested anymore - we only planned one per trip. I think that makes that meal special, as compared to doing a bunch of character meals.

And as someone else pointed out, the food is usually better at other restaurants (altho I must stick up for my fav character meal at Garden Grill which is very tasty).

 

[PrincessMomto2]

I get so nervous when the characters are coming to my table that I can not eat. So I only schedule one meal a day that is character and the rest normal!!

OMG I totally understand exactly how you feel. I thought only I got nervous! I don't want to miss any of the characters or miss taking a picture of them with my girls.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

If we have the dining plan, we will schedule several character meals during our stay. Mostly because they are buffets or family-style service and our toddler eats for free!