How many character meals is too much for a trip?

[vacayfun]

My family of 4 (DS 6 and DD 4 along with myself and DH) for a first time trip for the kids to Disney in September with free dinning plan. Both kids are huge character fan (princesses/princes, Mickey, Pooh). I have planned the following meals with ADR, but am now rethinking and questioning if this to many character meals and overkill...This trip is focusing on the kids and making it magical to them, so DH and I don't have to have the "best" food, but we want to enjoy some good food along the way...
Day 1-T-Rex
Day 2-Tusker house breakfast
Day 3-none
Day 4-CRT lunch
Day 5-1900 Park Fair dinner
Day 6-Akershus Royal Banquet Hall lunch
Day 7-Crystal Palace breakfast

Chef Mickey and Ohana have been highly recommended, but CM is not available and Ohana's has only super late times available. Any suggestions of other restaurants the kids might enjoy or any comments of what I have planned are appreciated. I will note that I purposefully made the first princess meal at CRT b/c I want that moment to be the most magical of all and day 4 was only availability.

Any fun quick service suggestions are also appreciated!

 

[mommyof3princess27]

I love all your choices! We did coral Reef with the kids last time-they loved the fish tank! Sci-Fi is also fun!

 

[SLM]

There are characters at the Cape May restaurant at the Beach Club-for breakfast. It's a very pretty restaurant and we thought the food was good as well. My daughter also enjoyed the characters at the Garden Grille in Epcot when she was little. It's very low-key-and the characters are wearing farmer outfits-very cute!

 

[scootch]

I like character meals that are buffets as I too didn't care too much about the food, but not having to stand in line for characters is a real plus!! Plus with most of them being buffets, I didn't have to worry about the kids being antsy as my kids never even cared to stop long enough to eat, lol. My kids love Chef Mickey's if you can keep trying for it. It was and still is their favorite(even now that they are 10 and 12)

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I don't think there's such a thing as too many character meals. Last trip we did 7 character meals in 5 days. We did other non-character meals too, but I figure we might as well do them in bulk while the kids really enjoy these things.

Your other choices also look good. As for 'Ohana and Chef Mickeys...keep trying. I often check over 100x per day if there is something I really want. Things usually do open up...especially in those last few weeks before your check in date.

 

[canopynut66]

My family of 4 (DS 6 and DD 4 along with myself and DH) for a first time trip for the kids to Disney in September with free dinning plan. Both kids are huge character fan (princesses/princes, Mickey, Pooh). I have planned the following meals with ADR, but am now rethinking and questioning if this to many character meals and overkill...This trip is focusing on the kids and making it magical to them, so DH and I don't have to have the "best" food, but we want to enjoy some good food along the way...
Day 1-T-Rex
Day 2-Tusker house breakfast
Day 3-none
Day 4-CRT lunch
Day 5-1900 Park Fair dinner
Day 6-Akershus Royal Banquet Hall lunch
Day 7-Crystal Palace breakfast

Chef Mickey and Ohana have been highly recommended, but CM is not available and Ohana's has only super late times available. Any suggestions of other restaurants the kids might enjoy or any comments of what I have planned are appreciated. I will note that I purposefully made the first princess meal at CRT b/c I want that moment to be the most magical of all and day 4 was only availability.

Any fun quick service suggestions are also appreciated!

We are three adults and we love all character meals (except chef Mickeys) to us is just part of the whole trip. now we do take a couple of nights and go for steak someplace but mostly like character breakfast and dinners while at WDW. wish was decent on in HS they have Hollywood and Vine but the characters there are lame

 

[shell8558]

Whispering Canyon is alot of fun too! I would keep trying for those reservations. Last year we booked a last minute trip and I was able to score both CM and Ohanas. There was a thread here that was listed as" May ADR cancelations." People would post what time they were going to cancel a reservation, so others could try and get them.

 

[danceintherain]

I did 4 on my honeymoon. CRT, Tusker House, Ohana, and 1900 Park Fare(dinner).

For us, it was two much, but we were two adults, and while we enjoyed the characters, it wasn't exactly a necessary addition to our trip.

If you want to drop a character meal, I would drop Akershus based on your other meals. 1900 Park Fare is my favorite character interaction, but Akershus and CRT seem to be too many of the same characters. Also, Epcot has the most possibilities for doing something else.
It's good that you have it situated as last, in case you decide that you're princessed out after the first two. Otherwise, I think you did a good job not repeating too many characters.
My biggest issue with my plans was that we saw Mickey too many times (I know...blasphemy). We waited in line for him at his spot in the MK, then saw him at 2 of our 4 character meals. At least with the princesses you have a lot more variety. Cinderella was also the only princess we saw at a meal, because it was back when CRT dinner was only Cinderella in the lobby and FairyGodmother upstairs.

If you don't want to drop one, then don't. Nobody can tell you how many is too many. I probably won't return to a character meal, until I have a child old enough to enjoy it (which may be my next trip) but once I do we'll do plenty. They are an excellent way to meet the characters without having to wait in the crazy lines. I just wish they had a better variety, and the food was better.

 

[WillAustin]

As long as our kids are still enjoying them there is no such thing as too many character meals for us.

 

[Happy Mom2]

I think your ADRs are great! Your children are at a wonderful age to enjoy all of the ADRs. We try to do as many character meals as we can to cut down on the lines we have to wait in to see characters. I like being able to sit down and have the characters come to me while I eat.

 

[McKinneyMouse]

I have done Chef Mickey's several times over the years. It's not my first love of the bunch but the kids like it and they can see the monorail go right by through the hotel. This is a thing of awe for the wee ones.

 

[GeraldineW]

I can't tell if you are considering Ohana's for the character breakfast or for dinner. If for dinner you should keep in mind that it is a rather lengthy meal and while there is entertainment for the kids your 4 and 6 year old may not be willing to participate without you participating as well.

We also do a lot of character meals, but I do think there can be too much. The meals are not relaxing. You are rushing to get food, eat and whip out the camera and autograph books. I think everyone, even the kids, like to have a quieter, calmer meal from time to time. Also, I felt that by the end of the trip the character meals were not seen as "special" but more as "to be expected" since we did quite a lot of them. After our first trip I did try to scale back, although I have to say for our upcoming trip I do have too many character meals booked and have to reconsider some of them. It is a hard call to make.

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

Call me an overgrown old kid but IMO there's no such thing as too many character meals. I can go to a great restaurant at home but a character meal is something I can't do just any ole day

We have so many wonderful memories dining with characters that DS, now a teenager, still likes to go to the all you can eat character meals. He's a bottomless pit when it comes to eating and at WDW he doesn't know anybody so yeah, he'll hang out with mom & dad and Mickey Mouse

Keep trying for Chef Mickey's and Ohanua's - plans change and cancelations happen so perhaps you'll get lucky and be able to get an ADR for them - good luck! Enjoy the character meals - they're fun - do all you feel inclined to do and let your inner child get excited about it too Your kids are goin' love 'em