Do we have TOO MANY character meals planned?

[ThreeMusketeers]

Down to the wire here, with booking our ADR's for Character meals. And I have one planned almost every day for our 6 night stay. We have the dining plan, so all of them are covered as far as cost goes, so thats not an issue..but are we missing out on other dining experiences disney has to offer? My main thought in booking so many Character meals was that, my dd would be insured to meet some of her favorites.

Here are the ones we have planned...

Chef Mickeys...

Princess Breakfast...

Reastaruantasauras..* know i spelled that wrong*

CRT

Crystal Palace

and one night we have the non character HOOP DEE DOO Review booked.

Is this overkill..or are there those of you who do the same. Also, when you book an ADR 90 days in advance does this insure that you are going to be seated at that time, or are you waiting for sometime once you arrive?

4 adults and one child age 3.5 going.

Thanks.

**ALSO..doing the double digit dance...93 days to go!! **

 

[PaulaSue]

Okay I am jealous!!! How did you book all of those and still have 93 days to go? What tips can you give? I want to get 2 or so and can use anyhelp I can get.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We aren't big breakfast eaters--so it would be too much for me.

But if you are into breakfasts--a big breakfast helps cut down food costs for the rest of the day.

Maybe change 1 or 2 to lunch?

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

We aren't big breakfast eaters--so it would be too much for me.

But if you are into breakfasts--a big breakfast helps cut down food costs for the rest of the day.

Maybe change 1 or 2 to lunch?

oh..duh..what a good idea! lol. Why didn't I think of that...moment coming on.

oh..and too PaulaSue..sorry i may have typed wrong, we are going to book those meals, thats what we have planned..hopefully they will be available! lol So sorry..no tips yet! lol

Thanks though for the advice

 

[rchristiansen]

Um, I don't think it's really Overkill. But personally I'd want to save my money but since you are on the dining plan, it really doesn't matter. I would maybe drop the Princess Breakfast at Norway because you are doing CRT and then do 1900 Park Fare with Mary Poppins, Alice, Et al.

Then you'll see Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto at the Restaurantasaurus so maybe skip Chef Mickeys and make an ADR for 50's Prime Time Cafe. All the adults in the group would like that one and your daughter would get a kick out of the interaction there.

RE: Wait time. The only one I had to wait for some length of time was CRT. Maybe 20 minutes. All the other ones I was seated right away.

 

[Colinsmom]

We booked quite a few for our upcoming trip with almost 3yo DS - Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, 'Ohanas, Garden Grill, Liberty Tavern. I figure that we might as well take advantage of the free dining plan, plus the fact that DS is free at all the buffets and family style restaurants. Since he isn't 3yo, he wasn't given the free dining plan, so we'd have to pay for his food everywhere else!

We are doing a mixture of breakfasts, lunches and dinners. If DS tires of eating with characters, we'll just make some different ADR's and go elsewhere!

We are also booked at Sci-Fi Diner for DS, and Boma for DH and me. I wasn't willing to give up Boma!

To answer your other questions, with a ADR, you get seated ahead of everyone without ADR's, which means that you may still have to wait 10-15 minutes. And booking them early does not give an advantage over others who book later, it just means that you can likely get the times that you want!

 

[Suzanne74]

I would definately rotate them to be breakfast, lunch and dinner then all breakfast. Maybe do CRT or Storybook as a lunch instead. Maybe do Chef Mickey's.

If I canceled one it would be the AK breakfast since the same characters are at Chef Mickey's - actually there are more at Chef Mickey's or Crystal Palace as a dinner.

Some suggestions:

If you aren't big breakfast eaters, try to get ADR's on EMH mornings at the parks but book the brekfast around 10am. This way you get in at 8am and have 2hr of rides and do a brunch type of meal which saves from being hungry by 1pm if you eat at 8am. We do this - get up in the AM and eat a nutri-grain bar and juice to hold us over. We definately eat more at the breakfast this way and we aren't feeling the rush to get out of the restaurant by our servers or ourselves at say 9:15am when the park is filling up and we haven't been on anything yet. Plus we aren't usually hungry again until dinnertime

If you do dinner, esp at Chef Mickey's get the earliest time possible. Less chance you will have to wait to be seated and more of a chance to get back to MK and do some rides.

Oh by the way, my dd who is almost 4 likes the character meals better then anything, all she talks about is Chef Mickey's!!

 

[thelionqueen]

We are doing the free dining as well, so price is not the issue. We are going for 10 days and booked 3 character dining experiences (breakfast, lunch and dinner all at different restaurants) and I think that may be too much too.

Here is the thought. The character meals are really special to kids (me too ). Too much of anything takes away the "special event" out of the experience. If they see all the characters in the restaurant, they will not be so excited to see them in the park. Also, the buffets have mostly the same food and you will probably get bored with virtually the same food again and again.

IMHO, I would do less and experience the magic more. Just "food for thought" have a great time!!

 

[crisi]

Have you been to WDW before?

What are your priorities for the trip? Attractions? Meals? Time together? Character Time?

Are you doing mid-afternoon naps or swims?

The reason I ask is that any sit down meal takes an hour or an hour plus (it isn't a reservation, you get the first available table, so even with an ADR, you may wait. Usually not long (often not at all), but we've waited 40 minutes with an ADR). Character meals take (IMO) a little longer than regular meals, and Hoop Dee Doo will be two plus travel time. For people who go often, they have some idea of why they are going, and they can say "I'd rather eat at Crystal Palace than see three or four attractions (especially for breakfast, if the parks are open, you are missing prime attraction time). I've seen a lot of first timers plan schedules with a lot of sit down or character meals, plans to go back to the resort every day for a nap or a swim and they still believe they will see everything in four parks over a week. The reality is that a 9:00 Cindy's reservation will put you into the parks just as they start getting busy, and you'll get as few as two attractions (maybe far more depending on the season) before its time to go back for the swim. My own belief is that I like the swim and I like the sit down meals, but I'll see more next year.

My own kids would always rather do attractions than characters.

 

[Nancyg56]

Down to the wire here, with booking our ADR's for Character meals. And I have one planned almost every day for our 6 night stay. We have the dining plan, so all of them are covered as far as cost goes, so thats not an issue..but are we missing out on other dining experiences disney has to offer? My main thought in booking so many Character meals was that, my dd would be insured to meet some of her favorites. :

I was also planning to take DGrD to as many Character meals as possible. DD thinks way too many. We have 5 adults and one child age 4 going. ALso wonder if others try to plan the TS at the cahracter meals.






Thanks.

**ALSO..doing the double digit dance...93 days to go!! ** :cool1

 

[#1 Pocahontas]

If my DH would let me get away with that many character meals I would love to have a schedule like that!!!

Two per trip is all I can get him to agree to and he thinks thats too many.

We have never had to wait very long at all to get seated. I think our longest was at Donald's and we may have waited 15 minutes. We might have showed up early though, I don't remember the details. For all our Princess breakfasts we have never once had to wait.

Have fun and enjoy!!

 

[kelscross]

We scheduled character meals at PSB, 1900 PF, Cape May, Chef Mickey's, and CP for our trip this past July. I didn't think it was too bad. The kids loved it and they got to dine with all of the "major" Disney Characters. We didn't have to wait in line at the parks for autographs and photos for those.

I liked the PSB because you get five princesses and 1900 PF for dinner is a great alternative for Cinderella if you can't get CRT. Our wait has not been very long for any character meal we have been to.

Have fun!!

 

[trayletha]

Is this overkill..or are there those of you who do the same. Also, when you book an ADR 90 days in advance does this insure that you are going to be seated at that time, or are you waiting for sometime once you arrive?

Too many Character Meals? What's that? Our family thinks it is a great way to see characters and DH, DD and I have loved every Character Meal we have attended. We generally will have a Character Breakfast for every morning (we are big AM eaters and early risers); **enjoy** your DD will be able to interact with the characters in a "more" relaxing setting - although beware she probably won't eat much for all the excitment.

 

[SugarMomma]

I think that is up to you and your family. I think you should do as many CMs as you want because that little girl will only little once. Some of my best memories of Disney are from when my boys were little and the magic they felt from being around the Char. Do what you think is right and spend every minute you can looking at disney thru her eyes... because soon they grow up and dont even want to take an autograph book. Think of all the great pictures you will have for your scrapbook or photo album.

 

[gbmom]

No I don't think you are overbooked at all. we are going at the end of October and we are doing....

Dinner with Cinderella at 1900 Park Faire.

Breakfast at CRT and dinner at Chef Mickey's both on the same day for DD birthday.

The Princess Storybook Breakfast

Crystal Palace.

I wish we were doing more.

 

[NJDisneymom]

We are character dining fanatics here. Why? Because my kids LOVE them, LOL!!! So, no I don't think its overkill at all. When you meet up with the characters in the park you are lucky to get a quick autograph and a hug for a picture and then someone is pushing you on your way to move the line along. I could not get my DS to look at me for pics and was being rushed out of line. At the character meals they are GREAT about spending more time with each child and thats what my kids look forward to. We plan one for almost every day, but we do mix them up btween the 3 meals of the day.

Our last trip we were on the dining plan and did:
CRT (b)
Storybook (b)
Crystal Palace (l)
Chef Mickeys (d)
Donald's Breakfasaurus (b)
Cinderellas 1900 Park Fare (d)

Good luck getting everything you want and have a great time!!!

 

[SandieT]

We have been to WDW the last two years for one week each time. My girls were 1.5, 5.5 then 2.5 and 6.5. We did two and that was more than enough. It takes a LOONNGGG time to get throught he meal and they end up eating nothing because they are so excited and then you end up paying for more food an hour after they "ate".
We did the Hoop dee do review last time and loved it.
We did breakfast in the castle (food not too good). And Chef Mickey in Jan. Loved Chef Mickey but it is very similar to Breakfastosaurous in Animal Kingdom. I think if you do one Minnie/Mickey one and one princess one you are good.

 

[can'twait]

Why don't you see how your family likes them first? You can always make the ADR's, try a few, then make the decision whether or not to cancel the later ones after you have a few under your belt. Just make sure to cancel them with the appropriate notice (24 hrs?) or I think you may be charged for them. Better to have a ressie and cancel than to find out you love them and wish you had made more!

 

[CherCrazy]

Here is the thought. The character meals are really special to kids (me too ). Too much of anything takes away the "special event" out of the experience. If they see all the characters in the restaurant, they will not be so excited to see them in the park. Also, the buffets have mostly the same food and you will probably get bored with virtually the same food again and again.

IMHO, I would do less and experience the magic more. Just "food for thought" have a great time!!

I agree it's too much!! You will lose the "magic" of the moment with so many character meals....not to mention all the TIME those sit down meals take. I can't see a small child being happy for a week of sit down meals.

 

[Vickie46]

I don't think you have booked too many..

we are going to CRT, Crystal Palace, Norway, Chef Mickeys, 1900 Park Fare and If we can get in... Liberty Tree..