How many character meals do you usually do??

[madalynns mom]

On average, how many character meals do you usually go to? This will be our first trip with our daughter so we've never experienced any character meal before. We'll be there for 7 days.

We're spending 1 day in Epcot, 1 day in MGM, 1 day in AK, 2 days in MK.we'll have 2 days open for water parks, make up rides we may have missed, relax, ect. Does 4 or 5 character meals seem like over kill?? There are so many that I want to do but I feel like it may be too much.
Here's a run down of what I want to do:

Epcot - Akershus - dinner

MK - Crystal Palace - breakfast or dinner, not sure yet

AK - Breakfastosaurus - breakfast, but I haven't heard great things about this one so I'm not sure

Contemporary - Chef Mickey's - dinner

And if MGM gets a character meal I'd like to do that as well. Wow, I'm tired just thinking about it! Any input will be very helpful!! Thank you

 

[Tinkerbell2002]

My ds4 loves character meals. I mean loves them. Our last trip in Dec. we were there for 9 days and had 3 character meals (2x at chef Mickeys as this is his favorite) We are going for 7 days at end of the month and again I have three scheduled, one for LTT, Garden Grill and Chef Mickey. We were going to just do the LTT and Garden Grill but he was so dissappointed because he wanted to do them but also wanted Chef Mickey. So I scheduled that one too. Go with however many you want. They are a lot of fun and it cuts out a lot of waiting in lines at the park to see the charaters.
, ,

 

[annie1995]

When we went in September with our two kids 6 and 10, we ate at several Character meals. Now with that being said, we were on the dining plan, I probably couldn't afford to eat at character meals 6 times and still be able stay as long in Disney too. The ones we ate at were. We also ate at Si Fi dine in theater, which was so so, and 50's prime time cafe which was really good! The only character meal we were disappointed with was Chef Mickeys, it just had so so food, way better eating at our local Old country buffet. Anyway, here's my list!

Chef Mickeys ( dinner)
Crystal Palace (2 times for breakfast, 1 time for dinner)
Liberty Tree Tavern ( dinner)
Garden Grill ( dinner)

 

[scrapbookworm]

We do one character meal each trip. Each time it's always a lot of food, and pretty pricey too. For us, a meal like that each day would be very expensive, and very filling too, LOL.

 

[momandseandodisney]

We usually do 1 chara dinner and 1 dinner show

 

[rgf207]

We do a good amount. Last trip we did

Crystal Palace
1900 Park Fare
Chef Mickey's bfast and dinner

Funny thing is that I'm 25 and my Fiancee is 24 and we dont have kids

 

[tink2]

My kids LOVE character meals and it is also a good chance to sit down and have a little 'break' from the parks. We do a lot in comparison to some of the above posts. Dec. 2004, we were there for 5 days and did 5 different meals:
CRT, PSB (we have a princess lover in dd!), Chef Mickeys, LTT, and Crystal Palace. We usually eat breakfast in the room- except for CRT and PSB- and eat an early dinner/late lunch at a character meal. We usually try for the first dinner seating- around 4 just after the afternoon parade- a good time for a break and to eat! Anyway, I think it depends on you and your kids. For us, we get all you can eat and characters! My kids absolutely adore character meals and you don't have to wait in line. As my children get older and stop believing, we'll definitely cut down on the character meals drastically!!! But, while they're still young and believe the characters are real- we'll do as many as we can! All too soon, character meals will not be the 'cool' thing to do!!!!

 

[problemchild718]

We were just in WDW last week. we had breakfast at CRT and Chef Mickey's, lunch at Crystal Palace and Garden Grill. It was great and we would have preferred another character meal to some of the other dinners we had. I tend to make late breakfast ressies (11:00) and late lunch ressies (3:30) to hold the group over longer.

 

[minniedisney1]

We were ther in Dec. for 8 days & did 4 character meals. LTT-dinner, Crystal Palace-dinner, Chef Mickey-breakfast & Restaurantosaurus-breakfast. We enjoyed all of them. I would love to do more, but my DH has his faves that we can't miss either. Have a great trip!!!

 

[cobbler]

On our October trip we were in Disney for 7 nights and did 3 character meals and one dinner show.

On our November trip we were in Disney for 5 nights and did 4 character meals. We like to do quite a few because it is a good way for my kids to get their character fix and not have to wait in line for the main characters.

 

[La2kw]

On average, how many character meals do you usually go to?

None.

 

[mom2alix]

We have 5 scheduled for our next trip:

Breakfast @ 1900 Park Fare (we've never tried it, but have heard it's nice)
Breakfast @CRT (family we're travelling with has never eaten in the castle)
Lunch @ Garden Grill (Chip n Dale are my uncle's fave characters)
Dinner @ Chef Mickey's (family tradition - we get the picture every trip)
Breakfast @ CP (Pooh is MY fave character)

These are somewhat spread out as we're there 9 nights. My kids are little so I actually like the buffet formats since I can get their food immediately and there's bound to be SOMETHING they'll eat, which I can't always guarantee off a menu.

 

[Wendy31]

We tend to do a lot of character meals, but DH & I see them not only as fun meals for our 2 kids but also relatively easy ways to meet the characters w/o having to stand in line to see them in the parks.

Last year, we were there for 7 days/6 nights & did the following:

1. CRT breakfast
2. Chef Mickey's breakfast
3. Liberty Tree Tavern dinner
4. Crystal Palace lunch
5. PSB dinner

* In addition, we had 3 other table service meals last year - H & V, Boma, & Ohana - so 8 table service meals total w/ 5 of them character meals in 7 days/6 nights.

This year, we'll be there for 8 days/7 nights and have the following currently scheduled:

1. Donald's Breakfastasauras (will cancel if the Toy Story breakfast becomes a reality)
2. PSB Breakfast
3. CRT lunch (may cancel)
4. Crystal Palace lunch
5. Garden Grill lunch
6. Chef Mickey's Dinner
7. LTT dinner

* In contrast to last year, we only have 2 table service meals scheduled - MM & San Angel Inn - so 9 table service meals total w/ 7 of them character meals in 8 days/7 nights.

We had the Dining Plan last year & will have the Dining Plan this year as well. Otherwise, we probably wouldn't do as many due to the cost factor.

 

[Kanga1]

We tend to do a lot of character meals, but DH & I see them not only as fun meals for our 2 kids but also relatively easy ways to meet the characters w/o having to stand in line to see them in the parks.

Last year, we were there for 7 days/6 nights & did the following:

1. CRT breakfast
2. Chef Mickey's breakfast
3. Liberty Tree Tavern dinner
4. Crystal Palace lunch
5. PSB dinner

* In addition, we had 3 other table service meals last year - H & V, Boma, & Ohana - so 8 table service meals total w/ 5 of them character meals in 7 days/6 nights.

This year, we'll be there for 8 days/7 nights and have the following currently scheduled:

1. Donald's Breakfastasauras (will cancel if the Toy Story breakfast becomes a reality)
2. PSB Breakfast
3. CRT lunch (may cancel)
4. Crystal Palace lunch
5. Garden Grill lunch
6. Chef Mickey's Dinner
7. LTT dinner

* In contrast to last year, we only have 2 table service meals scheduled - MM & San Angel Inn - so 9 table service meals total w/ 7 of them character meals in 8 days/7 nights.

We had the Dining Plan last year & will have the Dining Plan this year as well. Otherwise, we probably wouldn't do as many due to the cost factor.

Wendy,

I'm right there with ya! DD is 4 and the characters are as much the reason we go to Disney as the rides. I like the fact we can meet them and get autographs without standing in lines, and hey...you have to eat...might as well add the characters. And yes, the Dining Plan is a $$ lifesaver.

This year we will be there for 11 days. Here are the character meals I have ressies for:

Crystal Palace - Lunch
Cape May Cafe
'Ohanas
CRT - Lunch
Princess Storybook - Lunch
1900 Park Fare - Dinner
Donald's Breakfastaurus
Wonderland Tea Party (for DD)
Chef Mickey's

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

Last trip we did 3 character meals on our week long trip. The character meals were the most memorable. We also tried Alfredo's and did Hoop Dee Doo. I like to mix it up a bit, as during the character meals, the kids don't really eat much. I also prefer sit down character meals as apposed to buffet Character meals.

 

[Twinprincesses]

We are doin ght castle, norway and then the tea party at grand floridian.

 

[Hanover]

We usually do one a day. Gives us time to sit and relax and get autographs without having to wait in long lines or in the heat. A couple times we've done both a breakfast and dinner character meal in the same day and found that took up too much of our park time, not to mention we skipped lunch from being too full. We ended up having 6 leftover CS meals to use up on our last day (in addition to 4 for that day).