We were there for a 4:30 reservation last November the day after opening night. We were seated within minutes, got a great picture with Goofy, and had fantastic service. The food was hot and fresh and none of us had trouble finding things we liked to eat. There were no handlers with the characters, and they all came to our table multiple times. In fact, it was actually kind of difficult to finish eating because they were at our table so much. We didn't try for autographs after being told they wouldn't be signing, since we had all the same characters at Tusker House anyway. Maybe we just got lucky. It seems that at any restaurant in Disney, YMMV.