Windy City Heather
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2003
- Messages
- 1,036
http://www.chicagotribune.com/trave...7,1,7011316.story?coll=chi-homepagetravel-hed
From the Allentown Morning Call
Meals are all about kids at Disney World
Advertisement
By Tony Mecia
KRT News Service
August 7, 2005
ORLANDO, Fla. | ''See Pooh! See Pooh!'' screeched my 2-year-old daughter, Caroline, as she pressed her hands and face against the windows of the restaurant.
And she did see Winnie the Pooh, inside an air-conditioned oasis just a few hundred yards from Cinderella's Castle off Main Street, USA. A few minutes later, Caroline and her 4-year-old sister, Emily, were sharing hugs over lunch with Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger, too, in what was perhaps the highlight of their first trip to Walt Disney World.
Seeing Disney characters in person has always been among the top priorities for children visiting the theme parks. Meals with princesses, Pooh characters and traditional favorites such as Mickey and Goofy are a way to ensure that kids can spend quality time with the characters they want, in a relaxed setting with surprisingly good, if pricey, food.
In recent years, Disney has been ramping up the number of character meals it offers. In particular, it has had to satisfy the appetite for more meals with princesses, fueled by the growth of its Disney Princess brand of clothing and toys.
In fact, the hottest Disney dining ticket is breakfast with Cinderella and friends at Cinderella's Castle. Parents jockey for reservations 90 days ahead of time.
The inability to score a Cinderella meal ticket is probably the No. 1 complaint about character dining, says Bob Sehlinger, author of ''The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World.'' A woman once demanded that Sehlinger pay for her ''ruined'' Disney vacation after the theme park changed the reservation rules and she failed to score a spot, he said.
Still, there are nearly 20 other Disney meals at theme parks and resort hotels, and most parents and kids relish the chance for one-on-one time with characters they've seen in books or movies.
''When you're in the theme parks and you meet one on the street, you may have to fight a lot of children and adults to get close to the character,'' Sehlinger says. ''When you go to a character meal, usually the ratio of characters to guests ensures the kids get a fair amount of attention.'' For Charlotte, N.C., lawyer John DuPuy, the best photo of his family's trip last year to Disney World was of his son Jack, then 1, leaning from his highchair into Eeyore at the Winnie the Pooh lunch.
''When he hugged Eeyore, we knew he was understanding what was going on and really enjoying his time,'' DuPuy said.
Before my wife and I took our kids to Disney World in May, we made reservations for three character buffet meals: the Pooh lunch at the Magic Kingdom, followed the next day by a Mary Poppins breakfast and Cinderella dinner at the Grand Floridian Resort, one of the Disney hotels on the monorail line. When walking into the Pooh lunch, we were struck by how orderly it seemed. There were probably a few hundred parents and kids in a large room, but nearly all were sitting at their tables, as they would have at any restaurant. A dozen or so were in line for the all-you-can-eat buffet at the center.
The four characters Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger were spread evenly throughout the restaurant and seemed to follow a path that allowed them to stop at each table.
Our girls immediately wanted to seek out the characters, but a waitress politely told us to wait at our table for them to come to us. The restaurant seemed to enforce this rule with everyone, so when the characters came to our table, no groupies followed. We soon learned to time trips to the buffet around their visits. For a buffet, the food was good: a healthy variety, with touches like ancho chile-rubbed salmon and citrus-marinated flank steak at lunch, and an omelet station and Mickey-shaped waffles at breakfast.
The restaurants even had a kid buffet counter just a few feet off the ground, for easy access to favorites such as macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers. Emily and Caroline were too distracted to eat much.
A cynic might wonder if paying $12 for a 4-year-old to eat Jell-O and watermelon is a smart use of money (cost for adults: $18-$28). But these meals are about more than the food.
When characters made their way to our table, roughly every 10 minutes or so, we found them to be impeccably friendly and in character even though the non-human characters don't talk because of the masks that envelop their heads. Frankly, our girls were too overwhelmed to talk much, either; they just smiled broadly, posing for pictures at our command and silently offering autograph books and pens to the characters (available at every gift shop).
Tigger was a hyper bundle of energy, in constant, spastic motion. At the ''Supercalifragilistic Breakfast'' with Mary Poppins and friends, the Mad Hatter from ''Alice in Wonderland'' babbled nonstop and wished a merry un-birthday.
At the ''Cinderella's Gala Feast'' dinner, Prince Charming gallantly allowed Emily to kiss him on the cheek. We saw no shortage of little girls who wore their own princess dresses and tiaras.
At the breakfast, Emily mustered the courage to ask Alice in Wonderland where the White Rabbit was. Her reply, without missing a beat, or even looking up from signing her autograph: ''Oh, he ran off to play croquet with the Queen of Hearts, and I've got to catch up with him.''
The characters and waiters never rushed us, even though there were always people waiting to enter. We stayed for about an hour at each meal, and we could have lingered longer had we wanted.
We snapped at least 50 photos at the meals. We've got Caroline hugging Mary Poppins, Emily kissing Eeyore, both of them receiving pats on the head from Tigger. We wanted to record the perfect moment, the pure delight of a child.
At Disney's character meals, capturing those smiles came easy.
Copyright © 2005, The Morning Call
From the Allentown Morning Call
Meals are all about kids at Disney World
Advertisement
By Tony Mecia
KRT News Service
August 7, 2005
ORLANDO, Fla. | ''See Pooh! See Pooh!'' screeched my 2-year-old daughter, Caroline, as she pressed her hands and face against the windows of the restaurant.
And she did see Winnie the Pooh, inside an air-conditioned oasis just a few hundred yards from Cinderella's Castle off Main Street, USA. A few minutes later, Caroline and her 4-year-old sister, Emily, were sharing hugs over lunch with Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger, too, in what was perhaps the highlight of their first trip to Walt Disney World.
Seeing Disney characters in person has always been among the top priorities for children visiting the theme parks. Meals with princesses, Pooh characters and traditional favorites such as Mickey and Goofy are a way to ensure that kids can spend quality time with the characters they want, in a relaxed setting with surprisingly good, if pricey, food.
In recent years, Disney has been ramping up the number of character meals it offers. In particular, it has had to satisfy the appetite for more meals with princesses, fueled by the growth of its Disney Princess brand of clothing and toys.
In fact, the hottest Disney dining ticket is breakfast with Cinderella and friends at Cinderella's Castle. Parents jockey for reservations 90 days ahead of time.
The inability to score a Cinderella meal ticket is probably the No. 1 complaint about character dining, says Bob Sehlinger, author of ''The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World.'' A woman once demanded that Sehlinger pay for her ''ruined'' Disney vacation after the theme park changed the reservation rules and she failed to score a spot, he said.
Still, there are nearly 20 other Disney meals at theme parks and resort hotels, and most parents and kids relish the chance for one-on-one time with characters they've seen in books or movies.
''When you're in the theme parks and you meet one on the street, you may have to fight a lot of children and adults to get close to the character,'' Sehlinger says. ''When you go to a character meal, usually the ratio of characters to guests ensures the kids get a fair amount of attention.'' For Charlotte, N.C., lawyer John DuPuy, the best photo of his family's trip last year to Disney World was of his son Jack, then 1, leaning from his highchair into Eeyore at the Winnie the Pooh lunch.
''When he hugged Eeyore, we knew he was understanding what was going on and really enjoying his time,'' DuPuy said.
Before my wife and I took our kids to Disney World in May, we made reservations for three character buffet meals: the Pooh lunch at the Magic Kingdom, followed the next day by a Mary Poppins breakfast and Cinderella dinner at the Grand Floridian Resort, one of the Disney hotels on the monorail line. When walking into the Pooh lunch, we were struck by how orderly it seemed. There were probably a few hundred parents and kids in a large room, but nearly all were sitting at their tables, as they would have at any restaurant. A dozen or so were in line for the all-you-can-eat buffet at the center.
The four characters Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger were spread evenly throughout the restaurant and seemed to follow a path that allowed them to stop at each table.
Our girls immediately wanted to seek out the characters, but a waitress politely told us to wait at our table for them to come to us. The restaurant seemed to enforce this rule with everyone, so when the characters came to our table, no groupies followed. We soon learned to time trips to the buffet around their visits. For a buffet, the food was good: a healthy variety, with touches like ancho chile-rubbed salmon and citrus-marinated flank steak at lunch, and an omelet station and Mickey-shaped waffles at breakfast.
The restaurants even had a kid buffet counter just a few feet off the ground, for easy access to favorites such as macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers. Emily and Caroline were too distracted to eat much.
A cynic might wonder if paying $12 for a 4-year-old to eat Jell-O and watermelon is a smart use of money (cost for adults: $18-$28). But these meals are about more than the food.
When characters made their way to our table, roughly every 10 minutes or so, we found them to be impeccably friendly and in character even though the non-human characters don't talk because of the masks that envelop their heads. Frankly, our girls were too overwhelmed to talk much, either; they just smiled broadly, posing for pictures at our command and silently offering autograph books and pens to the characters (available at every gift shop).
Tigger was a hyper bundle of energy, in constant, spastic motion. At the ''Supercalifragilistic Breakfast'' with Mary Poppins and friends, the Mad Hatter from ''Alice in Wonderland'' babbled nonstop and wished a merry un-birthday.
At the ''Cinderella's Gala Feast'' dinner, Prince Charming gallantly allowed Emily to kiss him on the cheek. We saw no shortage of little girls who wore their own princess dresses and tiaras.
At the breakfast, Emily mustered the courage to ask Alice in Wonderland where the White Rabbit was. Her reply, without missing a beat, or even looking up from signing her autograph: ''Oh, he ran off to play croquet with the Queen of Hearts, and I've got to catch up with him.''
The characters and waiters never rushed us, even though there were always people waiting to enter. We stayed for about an hour at each meal, and we could have lingered longer had we wanted.
We snapped at least 50 photos at the meals. We've got Caroline hugging Mary Poppins, Emily kissing Eeyore, both of them receiving pats on the head from Tigger. We wanted to record the perfect moment, the pure delight of a child.
At Disney's character meals, capturing those smiles came easy.
Copyright © 2005, The Morning Call
