Do you remember your first ever character meal?

[jkmmah]

Where was it at?
When was it?
And is it the gold standard that you measure all character meals by now?


Our first was at CP in 2003. It was thrilling to meet the characters for our very first time, and the food was pretty good, but since then we've had other meals that have surpassed that first experience. So, no, it didn't "set the bar," so to speak.

 

[BARBARAAPPLE]

OH YES I REMEMBER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WAS CINDERALLS CASTLE
JULY
AND THE BREAKFEST WAS GREAT
I WANT TO GO BACK EVERYTIME I ENJOYED IT WAY MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN OUR PARTY

DREAMING OF THE CASTLE

 

[Kaycee]

Our very first character meal was at Hollywood & Vine in 2001. Sigh - I miss that character breakfast.

We also had breakfast at Donald's and dinner at Garden Grill that trip, and enjoyed them both.

 

[barb45]

Our first was at Cape May Cafe (breakfast) in 2001 and YES it did set the bar. The funny thing was that my husband looked at the prices and just about wanted to leave but after breakfast loved it. We go every year now. The reason it set the bar was that it wasn't very busy and the characters spent so much time with us. Goofy was hiding behind the bushes looking for my son (when my son went to the bathroom) and then came back behind the bushes when my son was back - it was so funny. And one of the Chipmunks sat on my son's lap and feed him! It was so good and we haven't been able to hit another one like that since. The last one we went to (same place) we were done eating and hadn't seen a single character. I refused to leave until one came around to our table and by then I was ready to open a can of "Chipmunk whoop-***"! (Just kidding!!). We love our character breakfasts.

 

[jenjersnap]

Our very first was breakfast at CRT and ushered in the most magical vacation I could have ever imagined or hoped for this past December.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Yep.
2) Remember it well.
3) Character Breakfast on Empress Lilly "Riverboat".
. . . Mickey
. . . Minnie
. . . Goofy

 

[mom22belles]

late 80"s or early 90's. At MGM in the building that now houses Playhouse Disney. It was an Aladin themed lunch buffet. We saw Aladin, jasmine and the Genie. I don't remember the food so I guess it wasn't that good!

Nancy

 

[shellybaxter]

Our first character meal was when our Dniece was two and a half. We took her to Goofys Kitchen in California Disneyland. I have to say, I'm not sure whether it was just because she was so small, or because we had a late seating for breakfast, or what, but there were TONS of Characters. Chef Goofy (of course) Mad Hatter, Pluto, Snow White, Donald, Piglet, and more I think. They all stopped by the table and stayed for a while. The Mad Hatter could talk of course and he stayed around and had a converstation for about 5 minutes. DN was a "runner" so we used a harness and Pluto thought that was too cool, a "leash" like his. During the meal they had a singing and dancing time which was really fun.

I have to say, since then we have been to Princess Storybook Breakfast, Crystal Palace, 1900 Cindy Dinner, Chef Mickeys, and CRT and all have been fun. None of them were quite as special as that trip to Goofy's Kitchen

Shelly

 

[pozey]

Our first character meal was at Donald's Breakfastsaurus in May 2001. It was our first trip with kids. My oldest DS had just turned 5 and he was really into the characters. He loved them!

My youngest DS was 3 and the first character to come to our table was Goofy. My DS hid under the table! He didn't want anything to do with Goofy. Now, when Mickey and the rest of the characters came around, he loved them (well, maybe not loved them, but he would at least go up to them). But when he even SAW Goofy, back under the table he went!

 

[LAWalz23]

I absolutely remember and it has set the bar that unfortunately sometimes is not met. My first character dinner was May 2001 at Chef Mickey's. It was myself, ds, dbil (he is a dear), dniece and dnephew (they were 3 1/2 at the time) and our parents. It was very magical as the kids were in awe (it was their first trip) and the characters were wonderful with them. The adults were glad to finally be there as the trip had been postponed 2x due to dnephew's being ill. It was also our 1st night and has become a tradition for us. Also, personally I could have gone home the next morning and I would have been happy, it was that much of a magical experience for me.
The same is pretty much true for our 1st character breakfast (later that same trip) at the castle. Niece was dressed as Cinderella and nephew as Peter Pan. Again the characters were wonderful, the food was great and being in the castle was special as was walking up an almost empty Main Street.

 

[eeyore0062]

Where was it at?
When was it?
And is it the gold standard that you measure all character meals by now?
.

It was at Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge with Pooh and Friends
It was August of 1998.
It was a lot of fun, as it was just me and DH and we had a late breakfast, so we had the characters pretty much all to ourselves. No, due to the fact that those were unususal circumstances, I cannot say that it was the gold standard by which we measure all other Character meals. Others that we have greatly enjoyed have been Hollywood and Vine with Minnie and Goofy for lunch (greatly missed!), Garden Grille for lunch and 1900 Park Fare for breakfast. Now, those are the ones by which we measure all other character meals!

 

[slp87]

My first character meal was in the '80s, I believe, at the location of Chef Mickey's back before the Contemporary was updated. I can't remember the name, but it was great! Somebody help me out and remind me of what the restaurant was called. We also ate a character breakfast on the Empress Lily in '83 and saw lots of characters.

 

[Simba's Mom]

My first character meal was in the '80s, I believe, at the location of Chef Mickey's back before the Contemporary was updated. I can't remember the name, but it was great! Somebody help me out and remind me of what the restaurant was called. We also ate a character breakfast on the Empress Lily in '83 and saw lots of characters.

I THINK that was the Concourse Cafe, or something like that. We ate there too-shortly after Typhoon Lagoon opened.
Our very first character meal was at the Polynesian, was it the Papeete Bay Verandah? It was called Minnie's Menehuene, a buffet breakfast. I remember really enjoying it, but being disappointed because we were hoping to see Donald Duck. One of our first character meals, that I loved, was the Melvin the Moose CB at FW-"Wake up, you silly moose!" and playing our kazoos. Now, that was fun!
Sadly, all the character meals we went to when our DSs were young have since been discontinued.

 

[foxfire]

1) Yep.
2) Remember it well.
3) Character Breakfast on Empress Lilly "Riverboat".
. . . Mickey
. . . Minnie
. . . Goofy

This was our first one, also, I think that was in 1982.

 

[BCV23]

Our first was in 1983 at the South Seas Dining Room at the Polynesian. It was Minnie's Menehune Breakfast, too but was in a small room where the art gallery is now. THat breakfast was later moved upstairs into the area that was Papeete Bay.

 

[GailT]

1984 at the Empriss Lilly, I forget what they call it now. It was at DTD, we had a character breakfast that was plated, my son was 2 and cryed whenever a character came near him.

 

[SamSam]

Our's was also at the Empress Lily (now Fulton's). It was perfect.....the breakfast was good and the character interaction was delightful. I don't remember the exact date, but somewhere in the early 1990's.

 

[Cookie Princess]

Our first character meal at WDW was probably 13 years ago when Chef Mickey's was at DTD. Does anyone remember this? He was the only character there (dressed in chef's clothing) and you ordered off the menu. There is a picture of me sitting at the table with a HUGE rack of ribs on the plate. Shortly after that they moved Chef Mickey's to the Contemporary and added other characters.

Other favorites that are gone: the Villian dinner at 1900 PF (the best), and the character meal at MGM located where Bear in the Big Blue House is now. They had great characters there for boys: Quasimodo, Meeko, Alladin, etc... They really need more meals for boys!

 

[mickeymousefan]

First character meal that I can remeber was eating at the CP on our honeymoon in April 1998. We have been back every trip since. Now our kids really enjoy it too!!!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

My first character meal was breakfast on the Empress Lilly - l982. First dd was only 5 and it was our first experience at Disney. DD is now 28 with a family of her own!

THe next time we went we had three more children (all boys). We stayed at the Poly and had their first character breakfast there. That was pre-Ohana. I forget what it was called in those days. Ds 2 1/2 was scared to death of all the characters that year - l988.

THe littlest ones first character meal was at Crystal Palace. Older kids have grown up and no longer want to come with us. THey were 2, 4 and 5. We started staying at GF then. For some reason the magical pixie dust really hit us that trip and we've been coming back every year. We're still doing the character meals. THe year of that trip was 2003.