Is there a thing as too much character dining?

[TwoCortWort]

I swear our ADR list keeps growing for our trip in 2 weeks, I just added a late lunch at Hollywood & Vine. My niece loves doing the characters and the meals....

We have...
1900 Park Fare (breakfast)
Hollywood & Vine (lunch)
Be Our Guest (dinner-technically not one minus seeing the beast)
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (dinner)
Cinderella's Royal Table (lunch---seriously 2 princess meals?)

I did let go Tusker House (breakfast) and Ohana (breakfast) after I got CRT....but we have those on our Christmas ADR list.

I swear I am going to be PRINCESSED out in the dining sense!

 

[baldy6060]

That depends. Do you have them spread out over several days? I'm not so much concerned about the number of character meals as I am the number of TS meals in one day. I ate a QS meal for lunch, then Boma for supper and I wanted to rent a scooter. Are you doing 2 buffets and BOG in the same day? You'd have to roll me to the exit. 5 character meals would be fine as long as they're spread out over a week or so.

 

[Fastpassminus]

It's a lot. Sometimes we just want a meal to relax & recharge. Character meals are hectic & exciting. They are sometimes more stimulating than the parks. I like to do. 1-3 a trip now depending upon length of trip & interest of everyone going.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I think the most character meals we've done in a trip was 7...and that was a 5 day trip! I personally like to balance it out with a handful of non-character meals just so you get other experiences (and more interesting food).

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I actually don't like character dining all that much. My daughter gets so excited that she doesn't eat well and gets hungry before our next meal. Most character meals are buffets. I prefer being waited on so that my feet get a rest from all the running around we do in the parks. Also, the food is typically not as good as the places we've tried with no characters. With all that said, we do usually hit one or two character meals during our trips.

 

[quakechicago]

We don't think so. We upgrade to deluxe dining every trip and basically do 3 or more character meals a day. Our now 4 yo kiddo has been going since she was 2 and LOVES it. We rarely wait in line for characters, fill our autograph book, and it leaves us the rest of the time to ride and play. I'm sure some day I'll be begging my teen to please do ONE character meal but for now she LOVES it!

 

[djp0630]

I love character meals as do the kids so we do a lot of them. However, DH doesn't since they aren't relaxing, people coming over to the table - autographs, pictures, etc. So now I try to break them up a bit with non-character meals. We are doing CRT, Akershus and 1900 Park fare dinner so 3 princess meals but love them all. Skipped CRT the last time and we missed it!

 

[BrokeMack]

There aren't enough character meals that interest me. CRT, once was enough. Chef Mickey's wasn't worth it. We're doing Tusker House next trip, looking forward to it. 'Ohana is great, would do it again. Otherwise, just the Star Wars meals.

 

[Nancyg56]

I think that if they are spread out over the trip there are nto too many. If you don't have a balance of regular dining you might be looking for a break before too long. They are mostly buffet, so the food is similar at breakfast and dinner, and you generally have to keep getting up to get your food. Add the characters and you just don't have a relaxing meal.

I think that since your meals are spread out over two weeks you will be fine. WE have CRT and Akershus booked, along woth 1900 PF dinner. Princess dining here we come!!!!!!!!!! If you are looking for meals that have characters but your food comes to you, try 'Ohana with Lolo and Stitch, or maybe Garden Grill dinner with Chip and Dale. Both arre favorites with us, with 'Ohana breakfast our "Goodbye Meal"

We have several booked this trip, but have them spread out, and I am considering dropping 1900 PF breakfast. I am going to see how the girls do and if it then it seems to be too much, I'll cancel.

 

[Madame]

We love character dining (I figure my kiddos will outgrow it soon enough!).
Our 1st trip we did...
CRT
TH
Akershus
CP
CM
BoG

Our 2nd trip we went back to BoG, CRT and H&V and did GG & 1900 PF
In Aug we have Cape May, BoG & CM (we're paying OOP or there'd be more!)
In Dec we have CM, BoG, CRT, CP, 1900 PF & GG (just got one this morning!).

 

[nat8199]

We are doing at least one character dining meal a day on our trip, and two the days that we are doing Garden Grille and CRT for later meals. I don't think there could possibly be too much.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Absolutely not! Thats a huge part of a Disney vacation. If I wanted Italian food or a nice steak, I could stay home, save a ton of money and go down the street for dinner. Also, it saves tons of time waiting in lines in the parks waiting for a picture with a character. Yes, there are certain ones you cant find at the meals, but when you already have 20+ with a character, the one you may be missing might not seem too important.

For our 10 day trip, we are going to:
Mickeys BBQ
1900 Park Fare
Crystal Palace
Chef Mickeys
Akershus
Cinderellas RT
Hollywood and Vine
Tusker House
Cape May
OHana

Except the BBQ, the rest are breakfast. Start your day the Disney way!!

 

[TwoCortWort]

That depends. Do you have them spread out over several days? I'm not so much concerned about the number of character meals as I am the number of TS meals in one day. I ate a QS meal for lunch, then Boma for supper and I wanted to rent a scooter. Are you doing 2 buffets and BOG in the same day? You'd have to roll me to the exit. 5 character meals would be fine as long as they're spread out over a week or so.

Oh my word no, we do on TS meal per day and spread them out over 2 weeks. In some cases our TS meals are every 2-3 days depending. We don't eat alot of food to begin with.

 

[TwoCortWort]

We love character dining (I figure my kiddos will outgrow it soon enough!).
Our 1st trip we did...
CRT
TH
Akershus
CP
CM
BoG

Our 2nd trip we went back to BoG, CRT and H&V and did GG & 1900 PF
In Aug we have Cape May, BoG & CM (we're paying OOP or there'd be more!)
In Dec we have CM, BoG, CRT, CP, 1900 PF & GG (just got one this morning!).

My niece is 13 going on 14, and she's the one who wanted CRT for this next trip. Trust me if they are like her, they won't out grow it.

Last summer we had 1900 Park Fare, Garden Grill, Chef Mickey's (where I got food poisoning...NEVER AGAIN), CRT & Ohana. We thought that was too many...but you seem to add new ones as time goes on even after you book reservations.

 

[wdw4rfam]

Never too much. We have gone every year since 2002, and we do a character meal every day except 2 ( sci fi, and Ohana dinner). They never get old, even year after year. This year we are doing

CRT
GG
CP
CM
BOG ( Not really character I guess)
1900PF
H&V

DD (18) was the one who wouldn't let me get rid of any of them. I thought she'd want to do more adult type dinners with her BF this year, but she said no way, she wants to do the character meals with us.

 

[22Tink]

I think not!! We've got a few booked...

BOG dinner
CP breakfast and dinner
CRT breakfast and dinner
Tusker House
Garden Grill
Still hoping for an Akershus breakfast

 

[jimmytammy]

Yes, IMO. 1 or 2 per trip is plenty, even with little ones

 

[Soccer Fan]

I know that I am in the minority here but I felt that I could not relax and enjoy my food at the character meals. I was always looking over my shoulder to see when the next character was coming and planning my eating around it, getting my camera ready, getting the autograph book out, planning bathroom breaks, etc. There was great character interaction and my daughter enjoyed it but it became a little stressful for me. In my opinion, too many character meals can be overwhelming.

 

[skuttle]

We only do two, maybe three, per trip. In our opinion, the food isn't that great at most of them, so we don't want to waste the extra time and money.

 

[LadyLaLa]

Thanks for the advice on here. We have a delux dp and we have several character meals scheduled.