How many character meals in a one-week trip?

[micmacmissy]

I've booked CRT for lunch for my daughter, and LTT for dinner for my son.

We also like the Garden Grill at Epcot.....but how many character meals are overkill?

We're there in the parks for 5 days...is 3 character meals overkill?

Any other fabulous character meals we should consider?????

 

[scottishduffy]

I don't think it wil be overkill so long as you guys are seeing different characters and space them on different days. Especially if your kids have not been to Disney in a while or if this is a first trip.

I am a huge fan of LTT with the traditional Disney characters (Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Goofy). That is a great res. The CRT is good for the princesses and you won't have character repeats.

If you want one more try for either a breakfast (maybe on the day you leave?) or one of the resort experiences with characters. Just try not to repeat characters and it should be more than Ok. There is Lilo and Stitch at the Poly, I believe there is now an Alice in Wonderland Tea somewhere, and the Pooh characters at CP in MK. Garden Grill has the same characters as LTT so I would skip it, repeating characters would make it feel like overkill unless your kiddos happen to be fanatic over someone in particular.

There are also some fun non-character dinners like the RainForest Cafe and Coral Reef. Whispering Canyon is also a popular ressie. I would say keep the 3... just aim for different characters on different days.

 

[micmacmissy]

Thanks for the suggestions. I personally can't stand Rainforest Cafe...but can you tell me more about Coral Reef? That's in Epcot, right? What about Whispering Canyon? Where is that? We are staying at Shades of Green and won't have a rental car...so we need places that are easy to monorail to. Thanks!

 

[cinderella_mom]

I did a dining review of our July trip. 6 of our 7 TS were character meals and we enjoyed all of them.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1551416

Hope it helps.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We went for 4 days and had 3 character meals, I dont think you can have too many!

 

[bigbabyblues]

We usually do 6-7 character meals in an 8-9 day trip. You can't have too many, as long as you enjoy them!

 

[milmore104]

We try and hit as many as we can in a trip. The only one we don't do is LTT. I would suggest Chef Mickey's. It's our FAVORITE character and a MUST for us. We actually do a breakfast and a dinner every trip.

 

[becka]

We like the character meals. The kids love them and they are entertained so the adults actually get to eat. We usually plan quite a few each trip. In November we are doing 4 character meals on a 7 night trip:

Akershus Princess lunch
Crystal Palace lunch
'Ohana breakfast
Hollywood & Vine lunch

 

[DisneyGuess]

We're going for 5 days and also have 3 character meals planned.

CRT is for me, had to compromise with my DS6 that we could do a meal with Pluto, so we're doing Chef Mickey's and Donald's Prehistoric Breakfastasaurus.

 

[bentleygirl22]

I've booked CRT for lunch for my daughter, and LTT for dinner for my son.

We also like the Garden Grill at Epcot.....but how many character meals are overkill?

We're there in the parks for 5 days...is 3 character meals overkill?

Any other fabulous character meals we should consider?????

No way No overkill at all ...

My family loves Character meals ..
You have our Favorite one the Garden grill on your list already ...

you may also want to try ..
Crystal Palace
Chef Mickey's

~amanda

 

[lovmy2girls]

No I don't think it is over kill at all.

I would consider Lilo and Stitch breakfast at 'Ohanas. LOTS OF fun for everyone there. Stitch is so crazy there. We got an early adr and he kept coming back to our table because the place was not crowded yet. He kept trying to steal stuff off our table.

 

[Joanna71985]

Definitely not overkill. LTT and CRT are 2 of my favorites.

 

[daisyduck123]

For our last 10 day trip (earlier this month), we did about 5 or 6 character meals.

 

[traci]

Our first two trips that's all we did were character meals! But...we were traveling with our very, very young children. This trip they will be 2.5 and 3.5 so we are doing a mix of both.

CRT
Crystal Palace
Ohana breakfast
Ohana Dinner
Sci-Fi
Kona breakfast
Kona Dinner
Coral Reef

*We try to keep it simple and close to the resort. With our little ones it just makes our life easier. Our 3 year old is really excited about Coral Reef and can't wait to see sharks while he eats dinner! Have Fun

 

[matthew_hull]

*We try to keep it simple and close to the resort. With our little ones it just makes our life easier. Our 3 year old is really excited about Coral Reef and can't wait to see sharks while he eats dinner! Have Fun

Here's a picture for him:

 

[traci]

Oh Thank you!! I am going to show him that pic!

 

[MomWith2Cinderellas]

I've booked CRT for lunch for my daughter, and LTT for dinner for my son.

We also like the Garden Grill at Epcot.....but how many character meals are overkill?

We're there in the parks for 5 days...is 3 character meals overkill?

Any other fabulous character meals we should consider?????

I think it just depends on the family. Some families may do one character meal and others may do 5 character meals. We have cut down on the character meals. For 16 days we are doing 4 character meals (CRT, H and V, Akershus, and Cape May). We like a sit down meal at the end of day. It is a nice way to relax and plan your next days activities!

 

[StrollPatrolMom]

In a 7 night/8 day vacation we have 7 booked is THAT overkill?

Seriously, for us the trip is about the kids and they're gonna LOVE all the character interaction...this way we can focus on the rides and not chasing characters around the parks and waiting in lines for that....we're taking advantage of free dining to the max!

 

[srgibbs]

Especially when you have smaller children they are great. I try to make sure we have a few meals for everyone planned. The kids get to do Chef Mickey's B'fast which is a must for us. We will also do Crystal Palace for dinner during an evening EMH my 6yo DS still loves these characters. DD loves princesses so we will do a Norway Dinner for her and also the Play and Dine B'fast since she loves the little Einsteins. Fo DH and myself we will go to Kona Cafe, O'hana, Coral Reef, and Spoodles. We also have WCC booked as we thought the kids would enjoy. Ready for Sept. 15th to get here so we can head that way. For us it is a matter of a little variety and something for everyone.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We do one per trip. Rarely, maybe two. More than that IS OVERKILL. Especially with kids.
Though fun, character meals are neither quiet nor relaxing. We prefer to have a few meals that are relaxing and quiet. Table service meals where you can actually sit and enjoy. You do so much walking and are so inffused with characters the entire trip, it's nice to step away from it for an hour. During characer meals you're trying to eat, trying to get pictures and signatures and maybe sqeaking in a abthroom trip and carry ona conversation. After a day week of walking, you don't really get to sit down to enjoy your meal. And many of the character meals are especially noisy. Kids need to relax a little too.

If you really want to have the fun of a character meal - almost - but a little less hectic - try Roaring Forks. If you eat at breakfast, you have a choice of a la carte of an endless breakfast skillet. Later melas are regular menu.