First Character Meal for a New Family?

[WDWfeelslikehome]

DW and I are adopting and our soon to be DS will be almost 3 when we take him on his first ever trip, and our first family trip to WDW. My parents, si, B-I-L, and nephew will also be there. My DM has already decided that she wants a family gathering for a character breakfast either at Cape May or Crystal Palace. I would like to surprise my DS and DW with an additional character meal that is just for the three of us. I am looking for suggestions for my DS's age range, and possibly for children adopted out of country and their first reactions to WDW.
Thanks.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I would pick Chef Mickey's!

 

[Mandychelle79]

Our first character meal is going to be chef mickey's

 

[SGMCO]

We love O'hanas Best Friend Breakfast at the POLY.
This has Lilo & Stitch, Mickey & Pluto.
We've been to Chef Mickeys, Garden Grill and CP
and the atmosphere, food at O'hanas has been the best.
There is a Kids parade around the room, they give the kids
small musical instruments to play while the Characters dance
along with them.
Then just hop on the Monorail back to MK.

 

[livndisney]

DW and I are adopting and our soon to be DS will be almost 3 when we take him on his first ever trip, and our first family trip to WDW. My parents, si, B-I-L, and nephew will also be there. My DM has already decided that she wants a family gathering for a character breakfast either at Cape May or Crystal Palace. I would like to surprise my DS and DW with an additional character meal that is just for the three of us. I am looking for suggestions for my DS's age range, and possibly for children adopted out of country and their first reactions to WDW.
Thanks.

Congrats on the adoption!!!!!!! My DD came home at age 4 and went to WDW 2 days later! Mickey was a HUGE hit. I would suggest Chef Mickeys. My DD accepted him before princesses or anyone else. When I was overseas, I read her Mickey books. Please PM if you would like more info on my DD's first trip to WDW.

 

[revrob]

Our DD's first trip to WDW was two weeks after coming home. It was wonderful! She was truly in awe of everything. She was 3 1/2 at the time, and she responded very well to all of the characters. I think Chef Mickey's is a GREAT first character meal as a family. But of course there is also O'Hana's, and since it means "family", you might want to consider that too!

Congrats on the adoption! I hope everything goes very smoothly, you return home safely, and have a magical trip to WDW.

 

[design_mom]

Congratulations on your adoption. Our two were adopted as toddlers, too.

DS's first character breakfast was at O'hana. We loved it. At the time (maybe still is), it was one of the few places where breakfast was served family style. It made it easier on us with a small child that we didn't have to take turns at a buffet. We also felt that we got a lot of character time. (My favorite all time picture of DS was taken at that breakfast.) It would be a nice choice for your family breakfast since O'hana means family!

We're going to the Crystal Palace on our next trip (next week!) it will be DD's first character breakfast. My sister had early ADRs and highly recommended it. She says it's so neat to walk into the MK while it's nearly empty. I can't wait to see DD's face when she sees the castle.

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

Congrats and my vote is for Chef Mickey's that is truly the one place that my dd has wanted to go back to every time.

 

[Aliceacc]

Congratulations on your new addition!! My oldest was adopted from Korea at the age of 7 months.

Slightly off topic, but consider putting The Tigger Movie under the tree. Tigger searches the world over for his family tree, which he presumes will be full of Tiggers who look just like him. He eventually learns that he is unique, but that family is often a group of people who don't look like you, but who love you for that unique-ness. It's a great message done in typical Disney style.

A book along the same lines is A Mother for Chocko by Keiku Kazka.

Once again, congrats!!

 

[The Disney Bunch]

We love to start and end our trips with Chef Mickey's - really gets you in the mood. Crystal Palace is next.

 

[tinkandpan]

I too will jump on the chef mickey bandwagon. I think it will be a great addition. If you were not doing CP- that would have been my other choice.
COngrats on the adoption

 

[Mkrop]

I like Chef Mickey too but if you want soemthing quiet and laid back for just the 3 of you, and that may not overwhelm him, I would go to Garden Grill, that characters are wonderful, Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale, but there is not the craziness of Chef Mickey.

 

[TJA]

When our twins were age 3, Chef Mickeys created the most fun and excitement for them. Now, at age 4-1/2, Chef Mickeys is still the place to be. There is definitely something about that place that stirs up the juices. Perhaps the music they play, perhaps the monorail running through, perhaps MK being right next door.

My second choice for excitement would be Crystal Palace. If your family decides on Cape May, then you could always choose the Crystal Palace as your surprise. The Pooh characters are very exciting to a 3 year old and they do a parade around the room besides stopping at all the tables.

Congrats on the adoption!

 

[tadamom]

Congrats on the adoption!!!!

I too will vote for Chef Mickey's!!! We have done this twice now and it has been a HUGE HIT w/all adults and kids!!! The only other character meal that I have done is Crystal Palace. The CP was nice but since my kids & hubby are picky eaters, I didn't think the food was for us. I'm also not a Pooh fan so that may have also had something to do with it.

 

[GoofyG]

WE've gone twice now and both times was at Hollywood and Vine to eat with JoJo and Goliath, and the Little Einsteins. The first time my girls were about to turn 3 and 10 mos. Last time was 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 yrs old. They love it, the breakfast is good, and we saw the characters alot. It wasn't crowded, and every 20 min they would have the kids come dance with the characters for 5 min. It was alot of fun. We are going to try something different this next visit, but if not available we will be back at Hollywood and Vine.

 

[lazydazy8]

It's CLASSIC! What a lucky little baby to luck out with YOU guys as parents! Have a magical trip!

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Thank you for all of the suggestions so far. I am SO EXCITED to hear that there are so many Dis'ers out there that are loving members of adoptive families. Keep any thoughts coming, I have been jotting down notes, and have read some things that did not come to my mind at first. I am a sponge right now, taking it all in, just waiting to get invited back to DS's country for our court date, which is as of yet unknown. Any experiences out there for first time children (especially adoptive) with WDW and parents that have been frequent (addicted) visitors, would be comforting and apprecitated.

THANK YOU.

PS- luvsmickeymouse did you work with WHFC?

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

Thank you for all of the suggestions so far. I am SO EXCITED to hear that there are so many Dis'ers out there that are loving members of adoptive families. Keep any thoughts coming, I have been jotting down notes, and have read some things that did not come to my mind at first. I am a sponge right now, taking it all in, just waiting to get invited back to DS's country for our court date, which is as of yet unknown. Any experiences out there for first time children (especially adoptive) with WDW and parents that have been frequent (addicted) visitors, would be comforting and apprecitated.

THANK YOU.

PS- luvsmickeymouse did you work with WHFC?

Yes we did!

 

[livndisney]

Thank you for all of the suggestions so far. I am SO EXCITED to hear that there are so many Dis'ers out there that are loving members of adoptive families. Keep any thoughts coming, I have been jotting down notes, and have read some things that did not come to my mind at first. I am a sponge right now, taking it all in, just waiting to get invited back to DS's country for our court date, which is as of yet unknown. Any experiences out there for first time children (especially adoptive) with WDW and parents that have been frequent (addicted) visitors, would be comforting and apprecitated.

THANK YOU.

PS- luvsmickeymouse did you work with WHFC?

I guess you could say we are addicted, we live here LOL. We have had some VERY positive interactions with Disney CMs. They have truly gone above and beyond to make DD's trips magical.

Ok get out the tissue.......
My DD's first trip (2 days after she arrived in US) I took her to meet the Mouse. I had NO expectations at that point. I figured we would walk up Mainstreet and see how far we got. We made it back to Toontown, (my DD did not speak much English at this point) we were the last ones to be let in (for that group) to meet Mickey. My DD stood watching all the others get pictures taken. Then it was her turn.... I expected her to bolt out of the room. She walked up to Mickey, looked him up and down and in her best broken english said "Me come China lub Mickey" and threw her arms around him. I LOST it and started crying. All of the CM's in the room were crying, A manager wandered in and when he heard the story he closed the room and told me take as much time with Mickey as we needed. My DD was just rambling on to Mickey in Chinese and english. Every sentence ended with "Lub Mickey" there were a few "lub Mommies" in there Mickey sat down and listened to my DD. It was amazing!