My ADRs... too many character meals?

[msukar]

Me, DH and dd5 and dd4 have these ADRs set for February... (we have the dining plan)

1900 Park Fair dinner
Crystal Palace lunch
Chef Mickey dinner
Princess Storybook breakfast
Alfredo Di Roma dinner
Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner

The Princess meals are a "must do" for us because the girls are so excited to see the princesses. DH is also really set on Alfredos (we were there before and loved it). Will I be disappointed with too many character meals and so-so buffet food or are Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's worth it? I'm a little disappointed to miss Le Cellier and 50's Primetime Cafe (although since I've heard about the bad CS in MGM we just may pay OOP for a lunch there). I'm interested in some opinions on this! Thanks!

Karen & the gang

 

[luv2nascar]

based on your kids ages they may really enjoy the character meals.
And you have different characters at your meals. I'd leave it as you have it. As your kids get older and their attention is longer you can try different meals at non character meals. Kids that age have a hard time sitting for 2 hr meals.

 

[jwfla422]

You only have 4 character meals. Not sure how long you're going, but certainly not too many that I see and of course this is your preference. Where else can you go to character meals besides WDW??? At one point I'd always book 1 a day and dh and I even enjoyed them before dd was born (many moons ago).

Some feedback on the following: (remember this is "my" opinion, yours may be different as would someone elses-but we do venture up to WDW a few times a year and have eaten at some of these places MANY times to get a pretty "objective" view-I will try places at least 3x until we decide it's not good and that it wasn't just a "bad day" or something like that)...

1900 Park Fair dinner- IMHO I thought this was over rated & we were a little disappointed as the characters quickly passed thru the tables. I know I'm in the minority as far as opinions go on this one. The food didn't thrill me for what it cost, maybe I expected more for $28.99? I love the breakfast though.

Crystal Palace lunch- love it, excellent, highly recommend.
Chef Mickey dinner-another one that is over rated, but if you never did it, go for it. The food is ok, very "run of the mill" buffet food, but the character interaction is fun here & there are lots of them. Worth doing once if you haven't done it before.

Princess Storybook breakfast- This is probably our least favorite. Food is just bad. The princesses rush through. We've tried it 3x and have finally given up, but if you can't get into CRT's then this is the next best thing. If you go not expecting too much it might be good. The food has always been cold and undercooked when we've been there-maybe they just know when we're coming. (but now that they have lunch or dinner we've been thinking about going back again)

Alfredo Di Roma dinner-haven't done this one in years. It was ok. FYI- Palio at the Swan has excellent Italian, if looking for Italian.

Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner-we've done this one several times and have always liked it. Some people don't care for the overbearingness of some of the servers but we find it all in fun and have never had anyone too obnoxious.

Prime Time- It's been a while, but we've always had fun here. The food has been good and sometimes not so good. Worth a shot.

Some other character meals to consider which we find consistently good:
Cape May Cafe breakfast
1900 Park Fare breakfast
Liberty Tree Tavern

 

[4star]

Can there be such a thing as too many character meals?!

 

[jenjersnap]

Can there be such a thing as too many character meals?!

I am complete agreement - LOL We're doing one just about every day of our trip. For us, with two kids ages 5 and 2, it's the added convenience of the buffet or pre-plated set-up. Faster to eat and lots of distraction!