Help me decide which character meals...

[talulabelle]

Ok, so the kiddos are 5-9-10-and 12. I already have ADR's for Chef Mickey's dinner. (I want all dinners as I'm planning on breakfast at our cabin, and packing lunch for the parks) - We are staying at the FW Cabins. Do I need to do Mickey's back Yard BBQ too? Or will that be overkill? Ds 5 is the only one that is really going to love the characters, 9 and 10 yr olds will enjoy it, but don't need it, and DS 12 is pretty much getting dragged along for the sake of the little ones. We have done Hoop Dee do in past and would love to do it again, but for the price, I feel like we should try something different. We only get to Disney about every 4 or 5 years.

I'm planning on 2 "fun" character type or show type meals about 2 regular TS meals and the rest dinners in our cabin.

Any advice is appreciated as far as restaurants keeping in mind we are not on the DP and will be paying out of pocket. We have done Cindys RT and I loved it, but DH doesn't think we need to go back, he is looking for something different.

 

[theweave]

Are you on the DDP or not? By the sounds of your post you are not sooooo.... I went to CP last year for lunch and it was very good! I went right when it opened and the food was hot and ready for me!

The character interaction seemed pretty good around me. I was by myself and definitely not a child, so they tended to not be too long with me I thought but they spent longer with little ones around me.

Not a bad price for lunch too. It is the only character meal that I have done so I can't be much help with the others. Hopefully more will chime in as well.

Good luck.

 

[CathieArms]

You're going to get a million different responses to this. The way I handled it was to decide which characters were most important to me (my kids) to see. I decided that I did NOT want Chef Mickey's (it just seems too hyped for my taste, though I did enjoy it several years ago), but I wanted to see Mickey and Friends, as well as Pooh and Friends. So, I opted to do:

Garden Grill - Has Mickey and Pluto (?) with Chip 'n Dale
Cape May Cafe - Has Minney and Goofy (?) and maybe a couple of others
Crystal Palace - Has Pooh and Friends

In your case, if you want to add one more, I'd keep your Chef Mickey's and add Crystal Palace to get Pooh and Friends. But, you should decide which characters you'd like to see. If you want to see, say, Lilo and Stitch, then Crystal Palace wouldn't be your answer.

 

[frannn]

Crystal Palace is great for dinner. The added bonus is that you could do it on your MK day, and not have to leave the park. Since your youngest is a boy, I'm thinking the Cinderella dinner at GF and Princess dinner at Epcot are out. If you are on the DP, Coral Reef is good for the kids, to see the wall of tanks with all the turtles, fish, and I think they even had a small shark. No characters there (unless you call the turtle Crush!).

 

[bags6490]

We like Garden Grill with Mickey, Chip and Dale......
It seems less crowded to us and we seem to get lots more character time everytime we are there.

 

[ShannonMB]

I agree that you should try something different! I am thinking maybe you should do the Backyard BBQ instead of Chef Mickey's since you are right there! I haven't tried it, but it sounds like something really different, and your older one might enjoy it more.

We also enjoyed seeing Pooh and the bunch at Crystal Palace, and the food was pretty good, too. I would recommend that if you haven't been. We always do princess meals b/c we only have one kiddo -- a DD. This time we are excited to try Tusker House at AK, but I think they only have characters at breakfast and lunch (Donald and Daisy are there!).

Best of luck deciding! So many fun places, so little time!

 

[momofrrr]

You might try Ohana's. Lilo and Stitch are there, even my DS21 loves it. Mickey and Pluto are also there. It is on our list again for this trip but we usually do breakfast. Have a great trip!

 

[ROEDISNEY]

CP
Cape May

 

[Tisha_PA]

I would add CP and Ohana's breakfast or maybe Tusker House.
If you want princesses but don't want to do CRT, consider doing either Akershus or 1900 PF. My kids got a huge kick out of the stepsisters at 1900 PF.