Character meals

[Debs1963]

We are going to WDW from 5/14- -5/21. with 4yo son and 6 yo daughter. We were thinkihng about doing character meals 4/7 nights we are there. Is this too many? Seems like the only way to really see all the characters.

 

[Dopey's Girl]

I'm guessing that you'll get varying opinions on this one.

As a frequent world visitor with 2 kids about the same age as yours, let me offer my opinion:

There are plenty of ways to see the characters without even doing a character meal so don't feel trapped into that. We always do a couple of character meals because it is an extra-magical experience. We love it in fact! But I don't know if I would do as many as you are planning in one trip. If it's to see different characters, then maybe...but if it's mostly standard characters, then maybe be more selective. I want my kids to LOVE the experience of it all, but I also don't want them to be disappointed if we eat a meal without characters, so we try to balance it.

 

[F1Julie]

I say go for it. DD4 and I usually do a character meal every day or at least every other day. You have to eat anyway, so you may as well do it with characters. I agree with the other poster about varying the characters. In your case, I'd probably do Crystal Palace for Pooh, a princess meal, Garden Grill or Chef Mickey's, and then maybe 1900 Park Fare for breakfast. That way you'd have mostly different characters at each meal.

 

[Greg]

We will be there the same time as you. One thing to keep in mind is that eating takes a lot of time. Character meals are a lot of fun, but so is riding and seeing and doing. We did two last time, one at the beginning and one toward the end of the trip and also the hoop-de-do. I'm sure you will have a great time whatever you choose to do.

Greg

 

[alloyd1170]

If you have time, why not do a character breakfast? We do Chef Mickeys every trip on the morning we checkout. Takes about an hour to see all the characters, but you might want to leave more time in case you have to wait for a table. Makes a great way to leave on a happy note!

alison

 

[ArRzrbk]

This is our first trip to Disney to stay at the Beach Club Villas with our children (age 1 and age 3), but I have given this a lot of thought. I love to plan, and I have an itenerary complete with parks, attractions, meals, and naps! And yep, I know with kids we will have to be flexible. That's why I have alternates for each day! Anyway, here are the dinners we have planned so far

Arrival Day - Breakfast on Autotrain, Lunch in Epcot Resort Area (TBD), Dinner (TBD, but we have PS at Cape May Cafe now and are thinking if we end up at MGM, we'll do 50s Prime Time instead)

Day 1 - Early Character Breakfast at Crystal Palace, Lunch in Room, Late Character Dinner at Chef Mickey's (DS's 3rd birthday - ordering cake)

Day 2 - Breakfast in Room, Late Character Breakfast (serving as lunch) at Cape May Cafe, Dinner in Room for Gram and Kids (Mom and Dad - TBD)

Day 3 - Breakfast in Room, Late Character Breakfast (serving as lunch) at Breakfastasauras, Dinner at Cape May Cafe

Departure Day - Breakfast in Room, Lunch and Dinner on Road (driving back home)

Hope this helps!

 

[beattyfamily]

We are going to WDW from 5/14- -5/21. with 4yo son and 6 yo daughter. We were thinkihng about doing character meals 4/7 nights we are there. Is this too many? Seems like the only way to really see all the characters.

IMHO, meals are a GREAT way to see the characters without having to wait in lines or search for them. Especially when the parks are crowded/peak times.

But I try to limit duplicate character meals if possible, but I have duplicated in the past and the kids still loved it! What we usually do is one Mickey one, one Pooh one and one Princess one. But we have on occassion, duplicated them like we did CRT and Cinderella dinner one year and we did CRT and PSB one year and we also did LTT and Chef Mickey's one year. But for the most part, I just try and do 3.

Enjoy whatever you do! I certainly do not think 4 in 7 days is too many!

 

[Amirah95]

We did 2 character meals on our last 7 day trip and I think that one more wouldn't have hurt. But yes, they are time consuming. We are only going to do just one next time and do PSs for other restaurants without characters. DH and I absolutely love character dining because of the picture ops with our DD.

 

[tink2]

I have two children who are 5 and 3. We have been to WDW 4 times with children. Yep, you get to see characters in the parks- so I agree with the don't feel trapped idea. However, character meals are so much fun, you have to eat, and you don't have to stand in lines to see the characters! We usually try to do a 4:00-ish character meal. This allows us to eat a breakfast at the resort, skip lunch, and have a good hearty early dinner. However, with a princess in the family who is 5, we did 2 breakfasts this last trip- can you guess which ones? And, CRT is always a must is we can get it! We usually try to do one character meal a day and that is our main meal. There are even a day or two where we do a character breakfast and dinner. We usually devote at least one full day to MGM- if not a day and a half- which has no character meals, so we skip that day.
character meals are so great and your children are at a terrific age to enjoy them! I say do them now while they still want to!!! I'm afraid as mine get older, we'll have to cut down on the number per vacation drastically!

 

[turnerx5]

Our experience with character meals was excellent. My wife took DD (6) and DS (3) to the Castle for Cindarella's breakfast, and said it could not have been more magical. We also took all the kids (youngest two plus DS 9) to the Ohana's character breakfast, which was great. Plenty of character interaction at the table and in adjoining areas close to us.

The two comments that I agree with are: (1) if you are going to do sit down meals anyway, why not make it a character meal, but (2) sit down meals take lots of your time, so you might not want to schedule one for every dinner meal.

We also did the Luau, and loved it. My kids loved the dancers.

Have fun! Tx5