Is Character Dining Really worth the price if paying out of pocket?

[proud_canadian]

I have booked a lunch at CP for my girls, but as it is getting closer now, I am starting to do some math and I am realizing it will likely cost us $70+, not even including tax + tip (this is for 2 adults, 2 kids). I'm starting to wonder if this is really worth the extra money??? We are offsite so no dining plan. Would you really pay that much for a character lunch? I know it would be a special day for them, and we won't be back for awhile, and my kids are 3 and 6.... but still.... WOWZERS!

 

[Nadjalu]

That is a tough call.

Some things you can look at are this:

How much time will you be spending in Character lines?
Are your girls into Characters? (if they aren't or scared you may want to wait)
If they do love the Characters, is it worth it for you to have THEM come to you?

And one other thing, at home when you all go out to eat think how much the bill is. Yes it will be more at WDW, but how much more? Would THAT amount be worth it to have the characters come to you while you sit and relax a bit?

I hope I was a little help to you, as everyone's situation is different.

Oh another thing you can think of is doing a character breakfast rather than a lunch or dinner....they are cheaper.

 

[Magic3forme]

We paid out OOP last year dinner for Chef Mickey... was it worth it?? Yep, every penny!! It was my sons birthday so that made it extra special! also it was so hot at the parks and the thoughts of standing in line to see the characters... no thanks!!

To see the smile on my kids faces when the characters came to our table and made a big deal about it being his birthday.... yep worth it to me!!

our girls loved CP when they were little and we were paying OOP then too.

 

[weswife]

Hi, I agree its worth the money!

In 2007 we paid out of pocket, we went to our 1st character dining! It was my DS's 8th b-day and it was a wonderful experience! We became hooked, we have done most of them! We purchased the dinning plan after that.

If your children like characters then yes.It is alot of money but the smiles are so much. My children still talk about the character interaction they have received at the dining experience!

Enjoy and have a wonderful trip!

 

[Planogirl]

I would do it for the kids because it's very special for them. We've quit going now because DS is a teen and it's so expensive but I do kind of miss those character days.

 

[vicki_c]

$70 for a character lunch for 4 almost sounds like a bargain! LOL! (I even checked because that seemed too low, but you're right it's about $72 for lunch before tax & tip per allears). We have never done a dining plan and we always do character meals - they are worth it to us, if that's where we want to dine. It was hard to swallow $165 for breakfast at CRT, but we even did that once.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

I would do it b/c its special for the kids and you won't be back for awhile. I would try to save here and there at home and then not feel bad that the cost is so high for eating in Disney

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

It depends. The better question is, Is it worth it to YOU?

If you feel that $70+ is too much, then it isn't worth it for you.

For some, the experience to get one on one time with the characters and not have to stand in a line is worth it.

I never tried a character meal because of the cost until I bought the dining plan last year and tried 2 character meals. For the kids, it was so worth it and they absolutely loved it. For me and DH, we felt that Akershus was worth it but Chef Mickey's was not. And now that I know how the kids feel about the character meals, I feel it is worth it for at least one character meal to see their wide grins.

 

[VeganCupcake]

Are they big Winnie the Pooh Fans??? I would say its worth it, but maybe if they like other characters more you can try something else with characters they like more and then you would maybe feel better about spending the $$$ on the food.

 

[WUVmyDISNEY]

I agree with Vegancupcake. If you are going to only 1 character meal, I would pick the one with the characters that the kids most enjoy.

I also think a buffet is a good way to fill up on one big meal and then have a snack and smaller meal for your other meals. This has always worked for us when we do the character breakfast buffets. Not so much anymore for the characters (yeh right lol) but because we like a nice big breakfast with lots of choices for everyone and then we will get maybe a big cinnamon bun later in the afternoon for a snack or mickey bar and a CS meal at Caseys for our dinner.

 

[lilandvisma]

I have booked a lunch at CP for my girls, but as it is getting closer now, I am starting to do some math and I am realizing it will likely cost us $70+, not even including tax + tip (this is for 2 adults, 2 kids). I'm starting to wonder if this is really worth the extra money??? We are offsite so no dining plan. Would you really pay that much for a character lunch? I know it would be a special day for them, and we won't be back for awhile, and my kids are 3 and 6.... but still.... WOWZERS!

My girls were 2 and 7 when we went. though we were on the dining plan we enjoyed our lunch there VERY much and would not even think twice about paying OOP if needed. To us it IS worth it because you don't have to wait in long lines to meet characters and you can see them all there, Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tiger. There also is a little parade that your children can participate it (my then 7 year old LOVED it and I thought she really wouldnt) the food is good. The desserts are wonderful A large fresh variety and lots for the kiddos. We actually made a breakfast ressie there and paid OOP for it after we arrived in WDW because we liked it that much. We will be trying dinner for our next trip as we preferred lunch. Yum...it is now a must do for us!

$70 really isn't that much when you think about it. We just took the fam to Red Lobster the other night, didn't order anything spectacular and still got slammed with a $55 bill... and that was for 2 adults and 2 children at LUNCH. No entertainment either

Ultimately I think you will enjoy your experience there if you keep your ressie. GL!

 

[newdeal]

The food isn't worth it, it's only worth it in order to see and interact with the characters. The kids have a lot of fun and it beats waiting in the sun to see them. That said it will take over and hour for them to all come by your table. The crystal palace has pooh characters. There are other buffets with princesses and others with Mickey etc depending on your kids interests

 

[Kat&Dom]

Food wise, I don't think it is "worth it" but experience wise, it is fun. We try to do one Character meal per trip as a slurge. We do it for the character interaction though. At Goofy's Kitchen in Disneyland, my son was so excited about meeting all the characters that he only ate half a pancake and one sausage so an hour after the Character breakfast, he was hungry. LOL

At WDW, we did Liberty Tree for our first character meal - I got some great pictures of my son rubbing noses with Minnie - they no longer do the character dining though. Our next trip, we decided to do the Spiderman breakfast over at IoA and it was awesome - Spiderman told my son to drink milk and eat all his food so that he could be strong and help fight the bad guys - it has been a year but my son still talks about it. For our trip in November, we are trying the Garden Grove for dinner. We are hoping (if the weather is nice) to do Blizzard Beach for the day so doing a character dinner at a hotel will work better for us. I have heard that Garden Grove is less busy because it is not part of the Dining Plan so you get more character interaction as less people book it.

It is expensive especially since your children will probably not eat much but the memories it creates makes it "worth it".

 

[DW2010]

I have been asking myself this question. We already have CRT booked and paid for so I'm wondering if we should spend another $60 on Cape May breakfast. It just seems like so much money especially when we got to breakfast at a wonderful place in our city that's under $20 with the tip included.

 

[Bradsdadg]

We don't do the DDP it just doesn't make $$ sense for us. But every year we still do one character bfast a week. It's alot of fun. Is it worth it? Yes. Does my 5 year old eat enough food to make the $$ worth it? No. He usually eats some bacon and maybe a pancake or waffle and that is it. But the character interaction is what we're looking for. And he loves it.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

We've been blessed to experience many character meals, and I feel they are worth every penny. If your kids love Pooh and Friends, then they will LOVE eating at CP. In addition, there are DARLING DARLING DARLING topiaries of the characters in the entrance area of CP -- the perfect backdrop for great photo opportunities. We took some there of our girls and also our family sat on the bench there and asked the CM to take our family picture..they turned out terrific.

I think you should at least give it a try at least once. If not at CP, then somewhere else with characters that your kids truly love.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[jlk806]

If I was not on the dining plan, I would not do as many character meals as we are this trip (out of 9 TS meals, we have 4 character meals planned), BUT I would still do at least one every trip. It is worth it to me as my son age 2 loves the characters. If your girls like the characters, then it will be all worth it. My son carries his photo album around from last years trip (he was only 13 months then) and he loves looking at the pictures of himself with the characters! It is adorable and we treasure those pictures and memories and we will from this trip too!

 

[Tiger926]

We have paid cash, as well as Dining Plan, and since we no longer care for the DP, it's all cash.

That being said, we've been paying surcharges on buffets for a few years now, as we pay cash, and so it's starting to irritate us, so we are not doing as many character meals. We've done them all, multiple times, over and over, so we can make this decision, but for first or only timers, I would encourage a few character meals, as they are a special part of a Disney vacation - of course, that is if you can afford them. They allow for not having to wait in long lines in the sun, so that is great!

That being said, if a family cannot do any character meals, I don't feel they will be missing out at all. The food at character buffets is nothing special, especially breakfast. We feel breakfast character meals are grossly expensive - dry toast and runny eggs are not worth $25.00/pp!

We have done Crystal Palace more than any other buffet, been there so many times, and it is consistently good characters, service and pretty good food, so I would recommend this one for sure to OP, especially since it's Pooh characters, and it's at the Magic Kingdom. Perhaps pick the latest lunch (3:30, I think?), and then you'll be filled up enough for a few hours, and you can get a CS meal for later, or, leave the park after dinner, and eat off-site?

Happy eating, Tiger

 

[ladeeesquire]

I guess it really depends on your personal situation. We're staying off site but will be starting out almost each morning of our stay with a character meal because my dd 2.5 just loves, loves, loves the characters. Honestly, she probably won't care about most of the rides --she will love some I'm sure -- but the smile she gets when she talks about wanting to hug mickey... its unbelievable.

We're traveling with my 2 adult sons so we decided that a few of the meals: CRT and Akershus will just be my dd and me (she's under 3 so free resulting in only 1 adult charge). Dh will hang out with the boys and then we'll meet up afterward. Dh and I will be taking dd to Cape May one morning while my sons sleep in then we'll pick them up and enjoy a non disney day together. My whole point is, IMO it doesn't necessarily have to be the whole family's entertainment/meal if its only important to one member.

 

[henderkm]

We ate at Crystal Palace every trip for years. DD is a big Winnie the Pooh fan. The OOP expense was worth it to us.

There's just something special about the character interaction with the kids at a character breakfast. It's a little different than standing in line for an autograph and picture.