Help-2 Meet Characters-Early, Mid or Late Seating

[bdklein]

In general, to meet and interact with the characters at a meal, is it best to be seated early, late, or does it not matter? My kids (girls) will be 3 and 6. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[Stitch_lover_Sith]

For each trip we have done there has been at least one character meal. We have been seated at all three catergories and have had great charater interaction each time. The only thing which you cannot plan for is the breaks the cms have to take.

 

[3princesses4us]

DH and I got the earliest seating at Garden Grill on a Sunday (12:00) and had the characters to ourselves a lot! They almost came by too much and we didn't even have the kids with us! It was nice to not always be looking over our shoulder for them. We had a noon seating at Crystal Palace the Friday before and weren't near that lucky. They were swamped and we only saw the characters once... Maybe it's hit or miss.

 

[jtdl]

We usually get the earliest sitting at the Crystal Palace. This year I decided to get a late sitting and treat it as brunch. Big mistake!. The characters were very rushed and we were finished eating and sat waiting for a long time before they even came. Tigger was down right rude. He didn't even want to stay long enough to get a picture! On previous visits (early in the morning) the characters would come along several times and actually linger - not wave and, basically, run to the next table!

 

[Densgirl]

When our whole family goes we always have to do Character breakfasts late because DH wont get up early on vacation. I feel awful for the person who posted before me b/c we've had just the opposite experience. When we go late we seem to get a ton of character time. I like the Goofy's Beach Club Bash at BC. It is the least hurried character meal in WDW. Just MHO.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

Last trip, we had the latest breakfast seating for both CP and CM, and it worked great for us for two reasons. It allowed us to hit the park early & go at it hard. By 10:30, we were ready for a break (and air conditioning!), and it was time to go eat. At Crystal Palace, I think we were about the last party to leave before they began seating for lunch. All of the characters came around twice. Pooh even engaged my children in a game of ring-around-the-rosie. Talk about a magical moment!!

Chef Mickey's had good interaction, but it was still pretty crowded at the "brunch" time seating.

I have yet to have a bad experience with a character meal, regardless of the time of morning. I've found the key is just to go with reasonable expectations. I've been guilty of hoping my family would have as great/special/magical experiences as those I've read about here. That would set me up for disappointment if we just had a "normal", non-eventful character meal. But, now I realize that each time I go to WDW is a blessing and each part is a magical memory, whether it is extra-ordinary or not.
Have fun!!!!

 

[bdklein]

I normally approach most special events thinking that things are not going to be great; this way I'm not disappointed, and if things go great I feel awesome. I just want to do all I can do to ensure that my kidshave agreat time. Although I don't plan on hyping up the character meals to them, I wouldlike to make reservations for seating times at the best possible time. Thanks for reminding me that it will be fun no matter what time we go.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

It seems that the late seatings we have been to will get more character interaction because people are leaving and they are not filling up the tables with other people. We went to the CP for breakfast and wound up having all the characters stop by us several times during the end of the meal. The characters were also chasing each other around the restaurant creating all sorts of mischeif for the workers.

 

[jenjersnap]

We've had excellent luck at late seatings, everywhere except Chef Mickey's. This year late seatings doesn't fit as well into our itinerary planning so I am hoping we'll still have good luck with earlier seatings.