Clueless About Character Meals

[katibosch]

...haha. I wasn't planning on doing any of these, or any reserved meals at all because of cost. But now that our toilet doesn't need replacing like we thought it did we have a little more money that we could spend and I think I would like to do one of these meals.

Since I didn't think we were going to do any reserved meals I didn't look into it and know nothing about it.

DD will be almost 6 on the trip and she loves the Princesses especially Belle and Ariel and Aurora so I'm especially looking for a Princess meal but if other characters are really better that would be fine too.

What character meal would you recommend based on food, character interaction, and whatever else is important? We'll be at the parks 10 days so have plenty of time to fit one of these in, I think.

Thanks everyone!

 

[xAshleyx]

I would defintely recomend Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at Epcot. Its in the Norway Pavillion-- for the princesses. It has all the same characters as Cinderella's Royal Table for alot less in price. Look up the lunch and dinner choices-- i went for lunch and the food was wonderful.

If you have picky eaters you can always have breakfast there. the inside has a good feel too it and doesnt seem like a plain restaurant. They have the princesses do a parade around the restaurant with the kids and my 3 year old DD loved it !

The price also includes a 5x7 photo with Belle that gets taken when you enter. Its a wonderful dining experience and the food is better than the Cinderell's Royal Table--
However, if you can afford it the Royal Table is a great experience you get to go inside the castle and eat. The view from upstairs in the restaurant is really cool.

IF you are on the dining plan-- Akershus is only 1 table service credit (includes photo too) vs. Cinderella Royal Table is 2 credits per person

 

[Chelley00]

Akershus Breakfast. Perfect for a princess, the food is good. You get your picture taken with Belle, and then 4-5 other princesses come around. It's one of our favorites and we do it pretty much every trip.

 

[aras4007]

The character breakfasts will always be cheaper then lunch or dinner, so if you want to save money that way, go for the breakfasts. I agree with the pp's about Akershus. Never been, but it gets great reviews and cheaper then Cinderella's. Another choice for breakfast is Crystal Palace in MK. That has pooh, tigger, piglet, and eeyore. Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort has Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald, but have heard bad reviews with that. Not so much with the food, but the long waits and it seems like its always backed up. The characters take a long time to come around also.

My favorite character dinner is Garden Grill in Epcot. Its Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale. The food is good, great service, and its one of the best character interactions. Its a family style meal, so its not as hetic because you don't have to worry about being at your table when the characters are coming around like at many buffets.

You can check out the list of restuarants and menu's on allears.net. They have the most updated lists.

 

[elaine amj]

WE did a few on our last trip. I ended up choosing them based on the characters my kids really, really, really wanted and I think that was the best plan at the end of the day. Plus, when I asked my kids who they wanted to see, I was surprised at some of their answers!

Akershus: I loved this and thought it was good value. We did breakfast at 10:30 so it was our lunch as well. The princesses were awesome. This was a "must do" because my daughter's fave is Ariel and she was more likely to be here than anywhere else. Food was good and the free photo they give you was great value.

Our next trip, we're skipping this in favor of going places we haven't been to yet. We want to 1900 Park Fare, mostly for the stepsisters.

Then we debated between Chef Mickey, Tusker House breakfast, Garden Grill dinner and Cape May Cafe breakfast for Mickey. We ended up at Chef Mickey because it was the only one that had Goofy and my DD really wanted to see him. It was good - but I wouldn't rush to go back unless my kids really wanted to see one of the characters there.

Our next trip, we're doing Garden Grill (not for the characters though - my kids just want to eat in a revolving restaurant!) and Tusker House (mostly because I want to try all the different food they have).

For character meals, I think you should choose them based on the characters you want to see. On the whole, the food is so-so everywhere.

Since you are paying out of pocket, breakfast will be your best value. Personally I would choose only two times for breakfast: 8am before the parks open...that way you will be the first ones in (I refuse to do this because our beauty sleep is a little more impt at this particular point) or 10:30am for brunch...that way you combine both meals and it will save you spending on lunch as well.

Have fun!! I enjoyed our character meals although on the whole, for pictures with characters, I prefer to hunt them down in parks to get better backgrounds.

 

[luvmy2babies]

Akershus will get you those. We did the lunch on our first trip and we have a breakfast reserved for our upcoming one. Our packet actually included an 8x10 photo and some 4x6 prints of the picture dd took with Belle. It may have changed though.

We enjoyed the place and it was nice getting to meet 5 princesses in one stop. We had Belle at the door. She was sweet, talked to dd about her dress and called my son (10 months at the time) her little tea cup.

Everyone else was good too. Snow White, Aurora, Ariel and Cinderella were the other four we had. Ariel asked my daughter if she could have my son for her collection. Dd smiled and said no, so Ariel kissed him and left and I got one of my favorite shots of the trip. My 10 month old looking very proud of himself with a princess lipstick mark on his forehead.