Disney Character Dining for Preschoolers?

[mermaidmom1]

Hi, We will be traveling with my 3.5 year old daughter and I was just looking for general feedback on Character dining experiences for this age group? We have some reservations for a character dining each day but I was thinking about canceling some so that's it's not too much for her but I wanted to get some feedback on which ones have good feedback and are worth it. Or if there are others that I should try? My daughter likes The little Mermaid and Mickey Mouse and she knows some of the other princesses Here's what we have scheduled:
Day 1- Dinner at Epcot for the Disney Storybook Princess meal
Day 2- Lunch at Cinderella's Castle at MK( is this really worth the money?)
Day 3-Breakfast at Restaurantasaurus at Animal Kingdom
Day 4-Dinner at Hollywood and Vine at MGM

Thanks!

 

[lyzziesmom]

I found that my younger DD (now almost 3, her first WDW trip was for 2nd bday and has been twice since then) didn't do that great at character meals. She would either be so busy with her food that she didn't want to bother with the characters, or just the opposite and be so entranced by the characters that she didn't eat, and then was hungry shortly after we left the restaurant. Once she even slept through the whole shebang! She enjoyed the characters much better when we waited in line to meet them and get her picture. The character meals just seemed a little too hectic. My DD8 however, has loved them since the first time she went to one 2 years ago.

That's just my experience, other children may handle it differently. You know your daughter best and how she might react... although at that age, they are full of surprises!

You might want to rethink doing character meals EVERY day, it could get a little overwhelming for her (and for you). I would think one princess meal would be enough. Breakfastasaurus was pretty fun, but very hectic. Does she like Pooh? Crystal Palace at MK is very nice and they have a little parade every hour where the kids march around the room with the characters. I have not done the Epcot princess breakfast or H&V so I don't have input on those specifically. We did not like the menu at the castle lunch but the character interaction was very good.

Keep in mind that she will react differently than she might at home. My little firecracker who NEVER EVER naps slept in her stroller through most of her last WDW trip, and slept through half of each meal. She was terrified of the face characters on her first visit, and loved them to pieces on the next.

Last, remember that she will have a magical time no matter what. Everything at Disney is so special for little ones, if you don't do a specific thing she won't know she's missing anything, she will just know she saw Mickey Mouse and had loads of fun.

 

[Maggi May]

You never know how preschoolers will react to the characters and the generally noisy restaurants. My 2.5 DS loves the characters and is now asking to "eat breakfast with Mickey" again. On the other hand, my best friend's 5 YO DD is terrified of the "big head" characters and they avoid character meals.

I agree with the PP that you may want to just do one princess-themed meal rather than two. I have a prince, not a princess, so I don't know firsthand about the princess meals but from reviews on the board, many people seem to think the Princess Storybook meal at Norway is a better deal and has more characters.

You mentioned Hollywood and Vine for dinner on day 4. The character meal is only available for breakfast and lunch. I think it's one of the best meals for preschoolers. If your DD watches the Disney Channel and likes JoJo and the Little Einsteins, she will have a blast.

I hope you and your family have a great time!

 

[dancemomnj]

My youngest dd was 3 when we went in November. She and the 6 year old loved the character meals!

We did the Norway lunch and it was great! She dressed up like Sleeping Beauty. If she likes Ariel, she is usually there for lunch and dinner. We had our picture taken with her when we came in.

We also ate at CRT. Another great one! She still talks about eatting in the castle. Is ist worthe 2 ts? For us yes. It depends how important the castle is to you. I would think the one in Norway would be better for you if you only want to do one becase of Ariel.

Our dd 3 is a big Pooh fan so we ate dinner at CP our first night. It was an amazing way to start our trip. If your dd is a Pooh, Piglet... fan you have to go!

The favortie for both my girls was Chef Mickey's. Since she likes Mickey I would suggest this one for sure! We did this the last night and it was a great way to end the trip! Mickey, Minney, Goofy, Pluto and Donald where there.

We're going back in July and only doing 2. They are CP and CM.
I wouldn't worry about it being too many characters. To me that's Disney.

 

[love2cruisedisney]

My little one LOVED the characters. We went in March and we dined at O'Hana's for the first time for breakfast. This was the worst character dining we have ever been to. We waited for EVERYTHING and had to ask over again just for our drinks. (I know this is a favorite restaurant for some) Our favorite character dining is The Garden Grill. We thought that the interaction with the characters was GREAT! We have been to just about every character dining (except the princess ones). We also love Chef Mickeys. I want to also try the Hollywood and Vine character dining, as they have some of the characters from playhouse disney. Good luck and I hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[skier_pete]

If you are paying cash for your meals and you don't have your heart set on eating at the Castle, I would skip the Cindys' Royal Table. 1900 Park Fare and the Norway buffet will give you those characters. I would also recommend substituting Crystal Palace for that meal. The decor is really impressive for the adult, and the Pooh characters usually appeal to the kids. She has a better chance of seeing Ariel at Norway (probably 50:50) than at CRT also (zero chance of Ariel being there).

Another reason to switch away from CRT is that if you do the first character meal, and she seems totally disinterested in them, then you could always cancel the others, but CRT I think you have to give 24 hours notice(or 48?) to cancel.

That said, our DD3.5 totally loved the character meals. We thought that rather than make her wait in line to see the characters, that she would be more apt to embrace the concept if she could sit in her seat and see the characters come to her, and also see other kids interacting with the characters in this setting. Plus, saves you waiting in line to see the characters, so it actually saves park time for rides. I don't think you are doing too many character meals at all. As I said, I would just consider switching out CRT for CP unless your trip would not be complete without a meal in the castle. (We are going to do CRT for the first time this next trip, but are using free dining to do it.)

H&V is really good if your DD is into JoJo's circus and Little Einstein's.

SkierPete

 

[Lisa Hale]

Character Meals are a great way to enjoy dinner and give the kids a special memory (be it from actual memories or pictures). Our daughter was 3 last year and not only did she love, love, love each and every character meal we scheduled (which was 8 during our 2 weeks, some breakfasts, some dinners, some repeats), but it significantly cut down on the time we had to stand in line to meet and greet characters. By seeing the characters at Chef Mickeys (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Chip & Dale), Crystal Palace (Pooh, Piglet, Tigger & EEyore), Princess Breakfast (Jasmine, Belle, Aurora, Mulan, Snow White), 1900 Park Fair (Cinderella, Prince Charming, Perla & Suzy (Mice), & Fairy Godmother), and hmmm (I'm missing one, but you get the gist), the number of lines we stood in for meet & greets was way lower than it could have been, resulting in less time in the heat, way less crowds around the characters, more time with each character, etc. We then saw the few characters that she still wanted to meet in lines, we weren't burnt out by it all and happily enjoyed waiting for them. However, by the time we waited in a couple of lines, we were completely reminded WHY we scheduled so many character meals to begin with,

We've already scheduled several for this year (and even added another), and our daughter is already talking about it. Enjoy yourself!

 

[Twingle]

We love, love, LOVE the character meals! All three of mine have done very well with the meals, and not so hot at all with waiting in line for the Meet & Greets. About the only meet & greet we do anymore is at Mickey's Judges Tent in the Magic Kingdom, and the Character Connection in Epcot.

Also, us adults like the character meals almost as much as our kids! Chef Mickey's is a tradition for us - we always eat dinner there the night we arrive in Disney. I haven't gone to CRT in years, frankly because I want to make sure my girls REALLY remember it, since I don't think we'll go again for awhile. That being said, I've heard excellent things about 1900 Park Fair, and we're eating there for the first time in June.

As far as getting the kids to eat, the first time we took our son (he was 3 at the time), and he was so busy looking around, he wasn't even looking at his plate. There was an AWESOME CM that noticed my DH and I trying to get him to eat, and she told him if he could just have 3 bites, then Mickey would know that our son had enough energy to hug him. Worked like a charm, my ds still remembers this, and will tell his sisters to eat up so the characters will come.

Have a great time!

 

[tanyaandallie]

I think every kids experience is different. We went in Nov/Dec when my dd was 3.5 and my son about 20ish mos. We breakfast at Chef Mickey's, lunch at CRT, lunch at H&V. For us, this was just too many character meals. My kids were both scared of the characters. My dd is very shy and was just overwhelmed. The one we liked the most was CRT. It was so nice, quiet and peaceful. The food was good as well. We also much prefer the sit down over the buffet.

The restaurant we liked the least of all (character meal or not) was H&V. We ate there 2 times. Once for lunch with the characters and once as part of the Fantasmic Dinner package. The food just really wasn't good. During our lunch we waited and waited and waited. It took forever for any of the characters to get to us. By the time we saw our first character my kids were done eating and ready to go.

So, IMO, it depends 100% on the child and on your family. If you love the chaos, then H&V might be great for you! We much prefered the CRT meal and character interaction.

 

[jncvh]

I took my two year old last fall and even though she was a little skittish during our first character breakfast, she warmed up once she made it to Cinderellas Royal Table. This will be a memory that we will never forget. She saw Cinderella and got the biggest smile on her face. She was very quite at first, then we got our picture, after the picture we were all leaving and my two year old turned around and ran back to Cinderlla and gave her a big hug and then gave her the biggest kiss on the cheek. I thought I had the picture to post but it is back home on the laptop. It worked out so well as one of the cast members was holding my camera and took additional pictures for me and just as he was handing it back to me my daughter ran over and the CM snapped to greatest shot of my daughter kissing Cinderella on the cheek. Even my mom, who was visiting, started to cry. During the dinner the mice and God Mother made their way over to her and spent time with her while they were singing.

We also went to O'hanas beakfast and she was delighted as she is a big Stitch fan. All of the characters were great and the food was pretty good. The characters did the congo line and every character came to our table and signed our family shirt. They each spent about 5 minutes with the kids as they were signing the shirt and turned out to be a great photo op as Stitch or Goofy would run over to tease the other characters while they were signing.

Don't hesitate taking your young children, I find it is all up to you and your family on how much fun and memories you get back from your trip.

 

[vpalmer]

First, Hollywood and Vine dinner is not a character meal, only breakfast and lunch.

My almost four year old has been to WDW twice and we love character meals. We don't find them too overwhelming at all. That being said, if you are only visiting for four days I would probably only do 2-3 character meals just for variety. How about 50's Prime Time for dinner at MGM? Still fun but not a character meal.

We have eaten at CRT and are going again and paying OOP instead of using hte DDP. Honestly, the only reason we are going back is because we are going with another family who has never eaten in the castle. Every girl should eat there at least once!

Does your daughter love Pooh? We are planning our third trip back to Crystal Palace. It is a staple for us. The lunch is great and the restaurant is beautiful. Plus there is great character interaction.

 

[kelscross]

My girls are 5 and 6, we've been going since they were 2 and 3 though.

Their favorites: Chef Mickeys - they have music and dancing when Mickey comes out. You get to wave your napkins over your head during the song...they love it!

Ohana Character Breakfast - Stitch is there so that is a plus, and I think they take them around in a conga line of sorts.

Princess Breakfast - both girls...enough said...lol

Ohana Dinner - they have coconut races, limbo line, hula lessons...keeps them busy when mom and dad are still stuffing their faces on the goodies!!

Crystal Palace - Pooh and friends...The first time we went my 2 year old was terrified of the characters, but the person playing Tigger was excellent and by the end of the meal she was hugging all of them! They have a little parade also.

They didn't care for 1900 Park fare for breakfast, because they are scared of the mad hatter, but dinner is Cinderella and friends and again..girls...love those princesses.

I will say that we had a magical moment in 1900 Park Fare Breakfast though. This was in 12/05, we had a late breakfast seating. Pretty much everyone was cleared out but us and the adults were still eating. Suddenly Belle came out to our table and was talking to the girls. She took them out to the courtyard and told them stories and picked flowers with them. They about had panic attacks that they got to spend alone time with Belle!!

 

[Joanna71985]

Hi, We will be traveling with my 3.5 year old daughter and I was just looking for general feedback on Character dining experiences for this age group? We have some reservations for a character dining each day but I was thinking about canceling some so that's it's not too much for her but I wanted to get some feedback on which ones have good feedback and are worth it. Or if there are others that I should try? My daughter likes The little Mermaid and Mickey Mouse and she knows some of the other princesses Here's what we have scheduled:
Day 1- Dinner at Epcot for the Disney Storybook Princess meal
Day 2- Lunch at Cinderella's Castle at MK( is this really worth the money?)
Day 3-Breakfast at Restaurantasaurus at Animal Kingdom
Day 4-Dinner at Hollywood and Vine at MGM

Thanks!

Those look like good choices. Out of those, I have done CRT. I think it is really nice there. It is in a nice setting, and the food is great! Other character dinings I have done and enjoyed are:
Play N Dine at MGM- this one is a lot of fun. The characters are Playhouse Disney characters, and there is Playhouse Disney music. Just a lot of fun.
LTT- This one is good. Good character interaction, and the food is good. It is served at the table too.
CM- I have heard this one is fun. I am doing it this summer, so I have never eaten there yet.
Same for Norway.