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

[HomerHog]

It can be hard to get past the idea of paying that much for lunch. However, when you consider the cost relative to other meal options -- $40 or so for Counter Service, over $100 for dinner -- it is one of the better options.

We look at it this way. We would spend at least $40 on CS. So we are paying $30 to sit in air conditioning, get more food choices, and have the characters come to you instead of hunting them down and waiting in line. Also, even when you find the Pooh characters you won't find all 4 in one place anywhere else. Usually 2-3 of the together. Same goes for other character groups.

 

[sctigger]

I think it will be worth it for you. This is one of my favorite character dining meals. It has great character interaction and the food is pretty good. I you have kids this is a good splurge.

 

[daisyyy]

Even though you are staying offsite.. you can still get the DP. OP stated that since they were staying offsite, they were paying OOP.. Just wasn't clear if they knew they can still get the plan. To answer your question... the character meals are fun.. esp for younger kids... (Maybe not really little as some kids might be afraid) but if your kids like characters and are not afraid.. it's a good opportunity to get some Cape May Breakfast, or Ohana Breakfast. others?/ If they enjoy Alice... maybe do 1900 for breakfast.. if they like the cinderella.. try the castle or 1900 for dinner. Check out which character meals are available.. and who is going to be there. There's others.. I just cant think of them all right now. Also.. as another PP mentioned.. if you want to save a few $$, then do a character breakfast instead of dinner.

 

[vicki_c]

Even though you are staying offsite.. you can still get the DP. OP stated that since they were staying offsite, they were paying OOP.. Just wasn't clear if they knew they can still get the plan.

You cannot purchase the dining plan unless you stay on-site at a Disney owned resort (so not Shades of Green, Swan/Dolphin or DTD hotels).

 

[daisyyy]

Really... sorry.. I thought they could still purchase the plan. It's late.. so I think I'm confused....ignore my other post then,,,

 

[DaniB]

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.

What is IoA? My son loves Spiderman.

 

[Boardwalk33]

We love the Character Breakfast, never done a lunch, but it's the same experience. Like one of the other post if you children are going to be upset and scared maybe don't waste the $$ this time, but if they aren't going to be scared you HAVE to do it. It's just so priceless when those characters come over and make that little one feel so special. And wait to see how they treat the parents too, it's just an amazing feeling. Make sure you bring your autograph books and a pen/sharpie.

I hope you enjoy your trip!

 

[Tiger926]

What is IoA? My son loves Spiderman.

Islands of Adventure @ Universal Studios, Tiger

 

[#1hoosierfan]

We will not be doing the DDP when we go in March. I have 3 character meals planned. I love them as much as the boys do. For my 3 year old ds seeing the characters is the most important thing.... not the rides, so it is totally worth the cost for us.

 

[nyz2004]

I remebered my one year old had such great time at CP last year. He was so happy to meet the characters. Food is nothing special. you're just paying for the experience.

If I pay out of pocket, no. If on dining plan, yes. But just one character per trip.

This tims we;'re doing Chef Mickey's.

 

[snowy76]

$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

ITA. We had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings last week for about the same... they don't even serve you on plates (they use baskets)!

 

[disneypolybride2008]

we're only on the regular dining plan so if i want my character breakfasts then i have to pay out of pocket, but i'm planning on having two of them. It's a lot of money for just two adults to eat, but i dont know when we'll go back, probably once we have toddlers of our own to take, so it's worth it to me to do them. We're going to 1900 Park Fare and Crystal Palace. OOP that's a lot but I never get to eat out for breakfast at home and so tons of great food and getting pics with the characters is worth it to me. I say go for it, you only live once. Your kids will only be young once. Try not to think about the cost. Like someone else said, try to save money while at home to make up the cost.

 

[odaddy!]

Add me to the "for the food, No" camp, if your kids are crazy in love with it, Yes!

 

[Sleeping Becca]

We eat multiple character meals each trip and are rarely on the dining plan.

It is worth it for us, in fact Crystal Palace lunch is one of our faves.

Disney food is expensive no matter how you slice it. If going to a character meal is going to be a strain financially, the Pooh Characters are available in Epcot in the UK pavillion.

 

[Tiger926]

We eat multiple character meals each trip and are rarely on the dining plan.

It is worth it for us, in fact Crystal Palace lunch is one of our faves.

Disney food is expensive no matter how you slice it. If going to a character meal is going to be a strain financially, the Pooh Characters are available in Epcot in the UK pavillion.

Pooh characters are also at Animal Kingdom too, and sometimes you can see them in front of Sorcerer's Hat @ DHS too.

HTH, Tiger

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Maybe f you only do it once it is worth it. But the food isn't that great, and it gets noisy, and other people's kids can be really irritating.

 

[jillhou]

No food at Disney is worth the price you pay. Some of it is pretty decent, but certainly doesn't match restaurants in major cities - NY, New Orleans, Dallas, Houston, LA, chicago....

Character dining is the one thing I really do enjoy - even though my boys are all older now - youngest is 16.

Disney is just a very expensive place. If all you want to do is ride the rides - then do so!! By all means.....but if you want a little more magic - then the character meals are one way to get that extra something!!

Have a great time.

 

[DiscussDisney]

We just returned a couple of days ago and I have to say that the food at the Character Buffets we went to was very good to excellent. Our worst meal ended by being Le Cellier (but I'll leave that review for another thread). We paid out of pocket because we ended up getting a very low rate at the Poly due to an Orbitz deal back in June (so it ended up being much less than FD). So, YES, definitely worth paying out of pocket....at least it was for us!

 

[Sleeping Becca]

Pooh characters are also at Animal Kingdom too, and sometimes you can see them in front of Sorcerer's Hat @ DHS too.

HTH, Tiger

Yes, the Pooh characters do meet and greets at several locations, however to my knowledge the UK is the only place where you can meet them as a group (not wait in individual lines) and get them in a group picture.

 

[Tiger926]

Yes, the Pooh characters do meet and greets at several locations, however to my knowledge the UK is the only place where you can meet them as a group (not wait in individual lines) and get them in a group picture.

Good point, but not all of them are together though at all times. Last July, we were lucky to get 3 of them, but this March and last month, only 2 of them were in there. We checked several times over the 2 weeks we were there last month, and we never did see all 4 or even 3 of them. I just checked through years of photos, and it's been a few years since we've had all 4 of them together in UK.

I guess it's all luck these days, Tiger