How much is too much?

[JerseyBallerina]

I have two character meals planned so far, Chef Mickey's and Cape May Buffet (both breakfasts). But the more I read about them, the more I want to experience more, mainly Breakfastasaurous and 1900 Park Fare. We are really into the characters but I think I'm going too far. How many character meals do you do?

What would you recommend?

 

[LAWalz23]

We do Chef Mickey's the first night, a tradition! Then we usually have a princess breakfast and one or two more character meals. This trip however, I decide to let me niece and nephew pick one day of meals each and they picked character meals so our first five meals (dinner and breakfast) will be character meals and we will only be there 4 nights. They are 6 year old twins and this will be their 4th visit to WDW, so they are veterans. They picked for dinner Crystal Palace and 1900 Park Faire and for breakfast, Princess Storybook and Breakfastasourus (also a favorite of mine).
I say go for it if you want it. I personally enjoy the character meals especially watching my niece and nephew interact with the characters and taking pictures. The only thing I would caution you about is all of these meals are buffets and sometimes the food is only good at best. So if you don't really care for buffets it may be a bit overwhelming. Have fun!

 

[maggiew]

We usually do several each trip! The one thing I would suggest is to pick meals where the characters are different! You can only see Chip and Dale so many times ... The food is important too but keep the character mix in mind. We always do the breakfasts (mostly because my DD won't eat "real" food but she will eat breakfasts), but you may want to think about throwing in a character dinner or two.

We did LTT dinner before MVMCP a couple years ago and that was good. We were thinking of doing a Chef Mickey's dinner this time too because of the great reviews. But my one DD is 12 so she will have to pay full adult price and she might eat one chicken nugget. So I am not sure if its worth it.

Maggie

 

[MinnieGi]

We really enjoy charactar meals too especially our 3 yo DD!! We get such a kick out of seeing her eyes light up when the characters come to greet her. She loves to hug and pose with each one and of course get their autograph. We usually do 3 character meals on our week long trip. I vary the characters we see at each meal. DD always helps pick. We usually do CRT's as her princess choice and have varied the rest. We really enjoyed the Cape May breakfast - great food and character interaction. DD is a big fan of Chef Mickey's too and we've done that one several times. Last trip we did Restaurantasauras. DD enjoyed it a bunch. However DH and I thought it was less than average on the food and we thought the character interaction was okay but not as great as other character meals we have been too. Maybe it was just an off day for everyone. We also enjoy seeing the Winnie-the-Pooh characters at CP for breakfast or lunch.

If its something you think you will really enjoy go for it and make the ps's you want. You can always cancel a ps or two if you get down there and think its overload after you have done one or two.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I'm planning one for each day of our trip. Here's what I'm thinking about, although in the next 11 1/2 months it may change...

Day 1 - dinner at Garden Grill
Day 2 - Crystal Palace (not sure which meal yet)
Day 3 - Princess Storybook breakfast
Day 4 - Chef Mickey's (not sure which meal)
Day 5 - Donald's Breakfast
Day 6 - 1900 Park Fare probably dinner
Day 7 - Liberty Tree Tavern

I'm having a hard time deciding between B, L, D at CP, between B & D and CM, and between B & D at 1900 PF. I'm also debating on trying for CRT one day, and leaving out the Princess breakfast, which would make 1900 PF breakfast since we've already seen Cindy......

Decisions, decisions! I wish I had input from my family, it would help, but DH insists he doesn't care, and my boys are too young to understand. Guess I'm on my own!

Steph

 

[frannn]

CRT (2x), PSB, CP, CM, and CGF. We also did RFC twice. We were there for 10 nights, and felt we had our fill of big meals, but enjoyed every one of them! We did one large meal a day, so it balanced out. We got vouchers for the breakfasts at CRT and PSB, and didn't have to pay for DD1 at any of the meals, so we saved a bit. DD loves to eat, so it turned out to be a bargain! This year, we will probably schedule CRT, PSB, CM, and CP. CGF was good, but we would prefer CRT, since there's more princesses. If you are going just for the characters, the Ice Cream Social and the FW Campfire are also options (I've never been to either, but will try to schedule). We still wait on lines in the park for other character's autographs, like the villians, Pluto, Stitch, etc. I would love to see a meal with any of these characters, as all my kids love Stitch, and I love the villians! These meals are pricey, but worth it, IMHO. Also, if you don't go to WDW often, this is a treat that can't be matched easily anywhere else. It is definetly one of the high points of our trips (we also dress DD1 up, so the pictures are priceless), for all of us. The ribs at CM dinner are delicious!

 

[patsal]

On our first trip we did one per day. Now I don't do more than 2 per each week of the vacation. Usually resulting in a total of 4. I like to mix up the characters a bit as well. FOr this trip though it is 2 weeks, I only have two planned--CP for Pooh and friends and Breakfastasaurus for Donald and friends. I may add another, but not until I get there.

 

[jacksonsmom]

I say do how ever many character meals you please!!!
We LOVE Character meals!!!!

We arrive in WDW tomorrow morning & tomorrow evening we will be eating at Chef Mickey for supper

We will be at Disney for 20 days....we have 18 characters meals set up...yep, 18!

We will be going to Chef Mickey supper-2x, Cape May breakfast-2x, Donald's breakfast-2x, Princess Storybook in Norway-2x, 1900 Park Faire breakfast-2x, 1900 Park Faire supper-2x

These we will be hitting once:
'Ohana
CRT
Crystal Palace (Breakfast)
Chef Mickey (Breakfast)
Garden Grill
Liberty Tree Traven

Like I said we love our character meals

 

[mic_key_mouse]

We usually do 2, maybe 3, over a 10 to 14 day vacation. I think it helps to keep it a 'special' event for the kids- something they look forward to as a treat. When you do too many, the kids excitement level decreases with the more you do- at least in my experience. That's my 2 cents for what it's worth

Blessings.

 

[frannn]

How often do you go to WDW? I wish I could get my DH to go that long, but my job & kid's schedules would'nt permit it. The longest trip we've taken to FL was 14 days last year, but only 10 of them were at Disney.

 

[jacksonsmom]

Originally posted by frannn
How often do you go to WDW? .

LOL! Last year was our very first time ever! We brought APs because we were staying there for 2 weeks. Well, we decided to head down to WDW again before they expire next month.

We probably won't be able to go back to WDW until probably 2006, maybe even 2007.
So we are really going to have a great time for the next three weeks, including eating ourselves silly!!!

Actually poor DH only gets to stay down there for 1 week, then he was to go back to work (no more vacation time) but my mother is flying down & spending the last 2 weeks with myself & my son. It should be a lot of fun

 

[kdibattista]

We always schedule around 5 for a weeks stay Crystal Palace is our absolute favorite and we always eat there twice, Chef Mickey's is a very close 2nd and we eat there twice plus another one throughout the week.