Character meals?

[mom2joeyz]

I've been to Disney at least once a year since I was about 5 years old. I have never been to one of the meals w/ the characters. DS is 18 months old and I think he'd like it. He loved the characters when we took him 6 months ago. Which one is the best to go to and how do you make reservations and how soon do you need to make them?

 

[LukenDC]

You can make character meal reservations 90 days from the date of your meal by calling the Disney dining reservation line. The following restaurants have character meals:

Chef Mickey's (Contemporary resort)
O'Hanas (Polynesian resort)
1900 Park Fare (Grand Floridian)
Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom)
Garden Grill (Epcot)
Donald's Breakfastsaurus (Animal Kingdom)

I believe that there are other restaurants offering character meals, but I cannot recall which ones.

 

[jimmiej]

Look here for good info & descriptions:

http://www.allearsnet.com/din/cb.htm

I would probably suggest Crystal Palace for someone your child's age. The characters are cuddly!

 

[skiptomypooh]

In case you don't have it, the Disney Dining number is (407)WDW-DINE (939-3463).

I have two little ones now, DS 5 and DS 2. I've also been lucky enough to go quite a bit, at least once a year since the oldest was 18mos. One added benefit of the character meals is that you get to sit down and relax a little. We barely even need our 'bag of tricks' with the coloring, books, stickers and small toys, since the boys are busy watching the characters move around the rooms.

I would recommend Crystal Palace also, for a little boy, not only because of the characters, but because it has a buffet. The same applies to 1900 Park Faire, Cape May Cafe and Chef Mickey's. (I'm sure I'm forgetting some) There will plenty of things for younger eaters to choose from. Some of the character meals are 'pre-plated' which means there's a limited menu. I've had trouble getting a bowl of cheerios from them. I know you don't pay for the tiny ones to eat, but you don't want to have to pack them a meal at a restaraunt either.

Finally, one more note: we often decide which character meal we want to have by our schedule for the day. If we're planning a 'down day' (which I also highly recommend with little ones), outside the park, maybe by the pool or shopping at Downtown Disney, we'll plan a character meal for that day at one of the resorts so we don't 'waste' park time. Of course, we're not usally in any rush, at least two of us aren't. They have their own agenda and we try to work with it.

Whatever you do, I'm sure you'll all have a great time.

Regards,
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