How many character meals do you do?

[pantherlj]

We will be there Sun - Saturday in late January. We will be on the dining plan.

I have CRT Monday 8:50 AM
Crystal Palace Wed Dinner, 5 PM
Princess Storybook Thursday lunch, 11:45
Chef Mickey Sat 9:30 AM

Would you drop or change any of these? I want to enjoy the characters but don't want to spend the whole time at the parks eating

How long should I plan on character meals taking?

 

[mommyintn]

I think when you're on the dining plan you are really getting your money's worth doing the character meals. The only thing I'd change would be the 8:50am breakfast but I know with CRT you're just lucky to have those ADR's and after your storybook lunch at 11:45 that would be a perfect time to take a break and then come back to the parks later. Do what works for your family, planning the food is a big deal for me (it's so much fun!) but if you find it's too much just cancel when you are down there. I would keep Chef Mickey's for sure though.

 

[F1Julie]

I think your character meals selections are good. Character meals really don't take long. At CRT breakfast, we were in and out in 40 minutes and buffets can take as much or as little time as you want to spend there.

 

[Al and Kate's Mom]

We do as many character meals as we can - I HATE standing in line to get autographs, so this is my trade-off with DD. Most that I've been to take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours.

 

[Stitchfans]

I only booked two Character meals for our trip. Chef Mickeys and Ohana. We don't mind standing in the lines too. They don't take up that much time, IMO.

 

[Dina]

We did 4 on the last trip, and to be honest, it was a little too many for me. By the last meal, I just wanted to sit and be waited on without having to get out the autograph books and cameras 4 or 5 times.

 

[TinksMagic54]

We did three character meals (2 breakfast and 1 dinner) the last time we went (8 days). This time we are doing 2 character meals and will be there 5 full days).

 

[Harambe]

We like to eat at the Garden Grille, so we kinda do a character meal by accident. When the kids were younger, we would plan to do at least one per trip. Biggest problem is that DH doesn't like buffets much, so most of the character meals are out.

 

[MJMcBride]

we usually do 1. This year its the Cape May Cafe b-fast. For the first time too.

 

[Temair]

Last time we went we did the 2 princess meals. Looking back I wish we had done another mickey one.

Temair

 

[IMDORY]

We did two character meals on our last trip. (8 day trip)

The Garden Grill for lunch and Donald's Restaurantausaus for breakfast. Loved the Garden Grill, didn't like Donald's. I swore to myself that this trip we would only do one Character meal...well, we want to go back to Garden Grill more for the restaurant than the characters (although the characters are fun) and my 5 year old DS loves The Little Einsteins...so we are going to that breakfast. So, two it will be for this trip in December. (9 day trip)

 

[tyandbash]

We were there for 10 days this summer and went to 7 character meals. Including Mickey's BBQ. 4 of them were breakfast, so we could still do nice ts dinners. IMO they don't take any longer than other places to eat. About an hour or so. At CRT we were in and out in less than 40 minutes though, we were rushed along there!!

 

[wdwpirates]

Our next trip is in December for 9 days. At last count we will be doing 4 character meals plus HDDR. Weee!!

 

[alexis_fate]

We only have 1 this time around. DH hates them and DD would rather eat better food than buffets.

 

[Sokrmom]

Going in November.
Doing Chef Mickey's(dinner), CRT(lunch), Garden Grill(lunch), O'hana (breakfast). I am thinking there is one more, but it escapes me now. Glad to see that there are some who do multiple character meals. It seems like a great way to get the most of the character experience for our first trip!!

Hope we aren't overdoing it!

30 days and counting!

 

[Luv4Disney]

This trip we don't have any planned because we're only going for six days, but we normally do 4 or 5 the most.

 

[lovmy2girls]

During our past trips we have done almost all of them. On our big trips in the summer, we usually do around 3.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I've booked 3 if you count CRT dinner. The other 2 are Chef Mickey's dinner and 1900 Park Fare dinner. If I decide not to do the fantasmic package, I may do Garden Grill dinner too.