How many character meals do you make ressies for? (and which ones do you like)

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

How many character meals do you make reservations for? And which ones do you like or not like so much?

 

[shannonstar]

We do at least 5 every trip. It is pretty much one a day if not more. That may be changing this year though.

In MK - we always have to have a Crystal Palace Breakfast before the park opens. We love that the photopass people are there to take pictures in an empty park.
In EP - we love the Garden Grill. It is the most character interaction you will get anywhere. Chip n Dale are super entertaining.
In HS - we liked going to H&V for early breakfast and less stressful rope drop, but apparently they are no longer doing the rope drop that way and we will be rethinking this one. The food is good, but I don't want to miss Jedi Training Academy and TSM FPs
In AK - we love the Tusker House Breakfast. Great food, good character interaction. Have never had to wait to get on Safari or EE by doing this.

We have done Ohana, but it wasn't a favorite.

We have done 1900 Park Fare and plan to put it back on the list this year. The Mad Hatter is fun. We haven't ever done the dinner (heard the food is not so great) but would like to see the Royal Step Family in action.

We have done Akershus at breakfast and the character interaction was good, but the food was meh. Also, very hard to get to Soarin for FPs before the crowd.

We have done CRT for lunch, but have heard breakfast is better. I'm not really one to burn two credits if I don't have to.

Chef Mickey's made my son's never again list the first time. It was just so loud and chaotic feeling in the contemporary. It was great to see the Fab Five all at once, but beyond that not our cup of tea.

We have yet to do Cape May Cafe breakfast, but really really want to. I have heard great things about how relaxed it is and that the character interaction is great.

That's all of them, I think. Except the Garden Grove which is at the Swan or Dolphin.

We have done Mickey's BBQ too, but I don't count that as a character meal at all.

 

[Starclassic]

This will be my 1st trip to Disney, so I can't say yet which ones I like/dislike, but we will be doing 3 character meals this trip (dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table, dinner at Chef Mickey's, and breakfast at 1900 Park Fare).

 

[Eliserose]

We loved Akershus-thought the breakfast was great and so was the princess interaction. We also loved Chef Mickey's breakfast. The character meals are a great way to get autographs (if you have books) without having to stop in the parks. I wasn't too thrilled with CRT, especially for the price. My girls liked it, but I wouldn't go back to that one.
We are going to try Crystal Palace next time. I loved being in the park for breakfast before it opens.

 

[AshleeH]

We did three on our first family trip, none last year (to save money on a spur-of-the-moment trip) and we'll be doing at least three on this year's trip. The ones we tried:

Chef Mickey's: Great character interaction and a nice warm-up for my then-4-year-old to get used to the fur characters (he loved them). The food was better than we expected since there are a few minor horror stories associated. The wait to get a table (even with an ADR) was over 45 minutes, but once we were seated it was a lot of fun. My oldest asked if we could go back this year, but I think we'll be making it a breakfast to minimize the wait a bit.

Cinderella's Royal Table: My boys were 7 and 4 and both loved Ariel and Belle, so I figured, what the heck? A reservation opened up and I nabbed it, only thinking we would eat here once unless we had a daughter, and I personally wanted the experience of eating inside the castle. The food was great and the character interaction was the best of any of them! Lots of one on one time and Ariel even came back to the table (they don't normally, but she was apparently flattered that her little princes told her she was their favorite princess). What started out as a one-time dining experience might be repeated because it was a truly great meal with lots of fun memories.

1900 Park Fare: We did the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast and it was fun. This was on our last day and we were leaving Disney immediately after, so it was a little bitter sweet. This one was done because of the lack of "Boy meals" at Disney (most are the Fab Five or princesses) and my kids liked Tigger and Mary Poppins, who both appeared. It was fun, but the other two were the biggest hits with my family.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We've planned two for our first trip this fall: lunch at Crystal Palace and breakfast at Akershus.

 

[pinkxray]

Our daughter was 5 and 6 for our last two trips so I had at least one character meal a day, 1 or 2 days had 2. It was a great way to see the characters without waiting for food and DD staying entertained while DH and I got to have a sit down dinner. We have done most of the breakfast and I would go back to any of them if DD wanted. We still have a few places to try for lunch/dinner but I like breakfast buffets over dinner.

Here is my ranking of the meals we have tried

Breakfast:
Crystal Palace at 8am for an empty park
Tuskerhouse
Cape May/Akershus/Ohana are tied for me but DH and DD love Ohana
CRT
Chef Mickey

Dinner
Crystal Palace
CRT
Chef Mickey

We haven't tried Park Fare yet b/c DH hates stepping foot in GF, but they are high on my list of places to try. I am also hoping to try Garden Grill soon too. Hollywood and Vine and the at the Swan don't interest me.

 

[Chelley00]

We do a lot in our usual 10 day trips. It's one of our favorite parts of the trip and we budget accordingly to include it.

We always do Chef Mickeys for dinner. Not my favorite, but the kids love it. it's a tradition.

Garden Grill probably our favorite. The food is good and the character interaction is always great.

Akershus breakfast. Great place to meet princesses and we try to make an early ADR so we can enter the park before opening.

Crystal Palace is good for breakfast or dinner.

1900 Park Fare. It's been hit or miss for us at dinner.

Hollywood and Vine. We went last year for my nephew to see Handy Manny and the food was great. It wasn't busy at all so we met the characters many times and the waitress was amazing.

Cinderella's Royal Table. We love this one, but it's so expensive so we don't do it every trip. We can see the princesses at Akershus cheaper.

Ohana. We've had great visits to Ohana, but our kids have outgrown Lilo and Stitch so we don't do that one anymore.

 

[MVC1225]

We have only done three Crystal Palace (lunch) food was fine but characters were pretty good, Tusker House (lunch) food was really good but characters were a quick picture and go, and Garden Grill (dinner) food was good and characters were great. My favorite so far has been Garden Grill. Full disclosure however we only had a child in Garden Grill since we were adults only (youngest was 16) at the other two locations so that may affect character interaction.

In May, we are going with a 2 year old girl (first Disney trip) and she is character obsessed so we will be trying to do two a day. There are so many rides (other than in MK) that she is not tall enough for or she will be bored that we are ok with spending lots of time dining (and this also avoids having to make lines for autographs).

We have planned:

Day 1:
CRT - Breakfast
Quick Service lunch at hotel
Chef Mickey - Dinner

Day 2:
Quick Service breakfast at hotel
Akershus - Lunch
Garden Grill - Dinner

Day 3:
Hollywood & Vine - Breakfast
Tusker House - Lunch
1900 Park Fare - Dinner

Day 4 :
Crystal Palace - Breakfast
Quick Service lunch at CHH

I think Day 3 may be too busy (although DHS and AK are the parks we do the least rides in). I am considering dropping Holywood & Vine and just doing Tusker House and 1900 or dropping 1900 and just doing Holywood & Vine and Tusker House. Any recommendations?

 

[Coconuts]

We usually do a 7-10 day trip, and do 2-3 character meals. Any more than that, we feel like we are on character overload. Those meals are very time consuming, waiting around to see all the characters, so we couldn't do one every day.

Must-do:

CP breakfast--we love the food and do an early ADR before park opening, because Main Street nearly empty is awesome!

Would definetly revisit:

Tusker House--love the food variety, characters, and the juice.
Ohana breakfast--love the family style=no getting up for buffetts
Garden Grill--love the food variety, family style, and relaxing atmosphere
Akershus--super value for 1TS credit, great photo package, and one stop shopping for princesses; have only done breakfast
CRT--unbelievable atmosphere; a "must eat there at least once in my life" place. I need to go back so my DD(3) can enjoy it; have only done dinner and food was good.

Maybe visit again (if I had no other character meal options)

CM--atmosphere is fun; breakfast food is ok, but dinner wasn't as good. We've been there many times already, so we'd rather do other character meals before returning.
1900PF--food was ok and the characters were hysterical.; have only done dinner.

H&V--nothing special; good for if your little ones really love those characters.

Cape May--have never been there.

Hope this helps.

 

[kdawg8762]

I would keep H&V if they like the characters. I found the interaction at 1900 to be spotty (at least at dinner, to be fair, thats when we went) and the food....well, honestly, it sucked.

 

[MVC1225]

I would keep H&V if they like the characters. I found the interaction at 1900 to be spotty (at least at dinner, to be fair, thats when we went) and the food....well, honestly, it sucked.

Thanks. This is my girlfriend's niece so I will check to see how familiar she is with the H&V characters. Too bad about the 1900 food, the menu on All Ears sounded very varied for a buffet.

 

[texasteacher35]

We usually eat 3-4 every time we go...I have a DS6 and DD16...the DD does not care about princesses...she would rather see characters in suits...LOL the DS loves all characters, but not too interested in girl stuff...

Chef Mickey's is good...a little pricey
Tusker house...we like this one for a change, and the music parade is fun!
Crystal Palace is good...the french toast sticks are awesome at the kid's buffet area!
Hollywood & Vine Disney Junior Breakfast...we LOVE this one!!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

We've never had a bad character meal at WDW. We always do Chef Mickeys and Crystal Palace each trip, we rotate doing all the other character meals, excpet Hollywood & Vine, as our kids have outgrown the Playhouse Disney characters. We usually do 4 or 5 character meals per trip. My girls really love 1900 Park Fare with the stepmother and stepsisters - hilarious!

 

[Lauralooneyfordisney]

It is usually just DH and myself and we love the character meals because we like having our picture taken with the characters and don't want to wait in line with all the kiddos.
Breakfast:
Crystal Palace-love it, CRT-Ok but way too much money so we only did it once, food wasn't great either., Chef Mickeys-love it but very crowded, 1900 Park Fare-food was just OK
Lunch-Dinner:
Crystal Palace-love it mainly because I love Pooh & Tigger, H&V-was pretty good, CRT-OK but only went once, Chef Mickeys-love it and we actually got to see Donald which you never find!, Garden Grill-love it and Chip & Dale, 1900 Park Fare-the food was just OK and not much selection but we loved the stepsisters.
It is really worth it to try every place at least once.

 

[The 6 J's]

We do a lot - try to do get 1 per day if we can. Several reasons for this:
1. We don't eat out a lot because 2 of us have Celiac disease (no gluten) so when we get the chance we do it up as big as we can.
2. The character meals feel like you are doing an event or special experience. More than just a meal. But it doesn't cost any more than a regular DDP meal so it seems free (not to be confused with Free Dining which is apparently a hot topic these days on the DIS-let's not go there).
3. I know some people feel that a lot of long character meals takes away from time in the parks but we find that the forced rest helps us stay at the park longer. I know going back to the hotel is popular but we feel like we get a similar break without having to spend time travelling back and forth.
4. We waste NO, and I mean NO, time in line in the parks waiting to see characters. Usually my kids won't even ask because they know the drill by now but my usual response is "we'll see ____ at dinner tomorrow" or "you just saw _____yesterday at lunch."


Our trip in Nov will include:
Ohana breakfast - loved it last March!
Park Faire 1900 dinner - again, loved it. Characters were outstanding.
CRT - better for breakfast, especially pre-park opening, but want to do BBB then CRT so dinner it is.
Crystal Palace - not my favorite but the kids loved it. Great spot for a break.
Chef Mickey - another one that I don't have great memories of but probably due to more to my personal stress level at that point than anything at the restaurant. Kids remember liking it.
Tusker House - never done it so giving it a whirl.

The only one we've done that I would not recommend is the one in Epcot at the Land Pavilion (name escapes me right now). The characters and food were ok it just felt like such an odd/tight layout for our large group that it wasn't as enjoyable. For the record: 4 kids ages 3-11.

 

[Tinker Bell Fan]

We love the character breakfasts.

So far our #1 favorite is Crystal Palace. DH always asks me to make a ressie for CP. The food is good and the character interaction is great.

#2 on our list is Akershus. Same thing - good food and the characters are wonderful (even if there are no little kids at our table).

#3 is O'Hana. We both love Lilo & Stitch plus the pineapple bread, juice, and fruit plate the "cousin" brings out is awesome!

We've also tried 1900 for dinner. We loved the characters but the food wasn't great. And we've tried Chef Mickey. I've tried Chef Mickey twice and was disappointed both times and won't go back. The characters were great but the food wasn't even edible (in my opinion) and if I'm paying good money (whether OOP or the dining plan) the food should be at least edible.