Characters and a child who acts younger than they appear

[cornflkgrl]

Between breakfast at Akershus and dinner at CRT, is there one that would be better than the other? Are they still doing the sword/wand thing at CRT? I am worried they will give a sword to my younger son but not to my older son or that the whole sword or wand thing in general will be too much for either one of them because it will be encouraging them to get up and start wacking each other with a sword
I made reservations for both and I was leaning towards canceling CRT dinner and just keeping Akershus since my son has told me he doesn't care about the castle he only cares about meeting Snow White in person.

 

[SueM in MN]

Between breakfast at Akershus and dinner at CRT, is there one that would be better than the other? Are they still doing the sword/wand thing at CRT? I am worried they will give a sword to my younger son but not to my older son or that the whole sword or wand thing in general will be too much for either one of them because it will be encouraging them to get up and start wacking each other with a sword
I made reservations for both and I was leaning towards canceling CRT dinner and just keeping Akershus since my son has told me he doesn't care about the castle he only cares about meeting Snow White in person.

CRT had been closed for renovation (scheduled to re-open in March). I have not heard if they were still doing the sword and wand thing or not.

One thing to be aware about is there is no guarantee which Princesses will show up at the meals.
Cinderella's Royal Table listing on the Disney website doesn't currently list any names - just says "Disney Princesses".

Askerhaus currently says, "All who attend the royal banquet can expect to meet several of the following Disney characters:
Snow White
Cinderella
Belle
Princess Aurora
Ariel
Mary Poppins"
(Makes me think - one of theses things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong...)

Anyway, it would be good to discuss in case Snow White is not there during your visit. She does typically appear in Germany by the wishing well at various times during the day if she's not at your meal. Those appearance times are listed in the Times Guide for the park or you can ask at Guest Relations.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

The characters generally treat everyone the same. I'll be 20 next month

 

[cattywampus]

We were at CRT in November and they were still doing swords and wands. Our princesses were Aerial, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine and Cinderella.

 

[ttintagel]

Kenny the pirate. Com.ahead great website for figuring out character locations and times.

 

[Miskey]

A couple of years ago, I took my 13 year old, non, verbal autistic nephew to Disney. He was taller than me and looked older than his age. He LOVED the characters and they were WONDERFUL with him. At the Garden Grill, he put his face right up to Mickey and just looked at him "eye to eye" for at least a full minute, with the biggest smile on his face. Mickey didn't move, just let my nephew lead the interaction. It was so touching, you can hear me crying on the video. We had the first seating at Garden Grill, and it was slow enough that not only were the characters able to spend time with him, they actually made their way around twice!

Another great interaction was with Pocahontas and Meeko. Even though my nephew is non-verbal, she carried on an entire conversation with him, while holding his hand and looking in his eyes.

I've also been do Disney with a family that had a young child that was afraid of the characters, and all of the characters, just stayed back, and waved or blew kisses at her.

This past summer, my daughter and I took a trip alone, and meet several characters. Gaston, Ana, and Merida are a hoot! Even though she's 18 and I'm much, much older, we never were made to feel awkward, and really enjoyed the characters, as much as we did the rides.

My point is, I think they are excellent at reading people and treating each situation accordingly.

 

[2tinkerbell]

My 28 year old daughter loves the characters. She has what we call, "holes in her abilities." She can figure out the budget, order our tickets, make our ADR's, figure out tips, totally do everything a typical 28 year old can do. However, she totally thinks the characters are the real deal (don't know how to say it better). All the characters are wonderful with my DD and they go with the flow.

One time, when my DD was about 9 years old we were walking out of Disneyland. I was a tad in front of my DD and suddenly I heard, "Mom!" I turned around and Goofy had walked up behind my DD and put his hands in front of her. My DD was just a tad scared. I said, "Oh Goofy! Are you trying to follow us back to the hotel?" Goofy nodded yes. He walked wit h us for a bit and then we said goodbye. I use this story because a lot of times children will feed off of what we do.

I always start the conversation during character meals. For example, I say something like, "Oh Stitch, [DD] is so excited to see you. She is celebrating her birthday." Another example is, "Mickey Mouse, it has been a long time since [DD] last saw you." If your DS is a little unsure or shy, I probably would say something like, "Snow White, [DS] really, wants to meet you, however, right now he is a little unsure. Perhaps you could sign his autograph book before we try to get pictures."

 

[Elevationist]

I can only advise as a solo-traveling adult who LOVES character meals... They won't pass by anybody who obviously is happy to see them, no matter the guest's age. When I see a character headed to my table, my face lights up and I smile and wave and say "Hi, (insert character name here)! I'm so happy to see you!" And they play with me just as much as they do a child. It's the best. (Dale was particularly in love with me at Garden Grill last time, he loved my enthusiasm and my face paint and he pulled me in for approximately one dozen hugs before moving on.) I don't think you'll have anything to worry about, they'll have as much fun with your older one as your younger.

 

[ladyjubilee]

Do the characters generally treat everyone the same or do they lavish attention on the little kids and kind of leave the adults and older kids alone? I am trying to decide if the character meals are a recipe for disaster. I already know it's going to be loud and overwhelming. I don't really know any other way to get my son to meet the characters though.

We've done character meals, and they were OK...but I didn't find the interaction to be great. It was pretty obvious they were on a rotation and had x amount of time to spend with each table.

I found that we actually had better interaction in the parks either on FP+ scheduled meets or during less crowded times (like during fireworks or parades) when to be honest I think the characters were bore and lonely .

On our last trip, we caught the Christmas elves when there didn't have a line--they spent about 15 minutes shifting dirt with my son and picking up leaves. At a scheduled FP+ meet, Rapunzel laid on the floor and just talked to him for around the same amount of time. On another trip, Rafeeki jumped with my son. At the AK dance party, Chip and Dale and Brier Fox spent a LOT of time dance with my son. The same at the Character Spot-Mickey, Minnie and Goofy ran around the room with him. Even during MVMCP, which isn't a slow time, Tiana and Prince Naveen spent time signing with my son and talking to him.

The other area that was a "problem" for us at character meals was the set up. We found the crowd and waiting to be called in crowd very challenging.