We just got back from WDW and we loved the brand new "trial" "Princess Breakfast" at Norway in Epcot. All three of my girls (13, 11 and 2) thought it was great. Everyone's table got a lot of attention. Belle, Snow White, Mary Poppins, Aurora and Jasmine were there that day. My husband and I thought the breakfast food itself was the best we'd had all week. The staff served eggs, sausage and a potato/cheese combo that was delicious on a tiered dish right at your table so you could help yourself. They had fruit and muffins there as well. If you needed more of something then they trotted off to get it. It was fun, fast and really no hassle at all to get there. We did the 8:40 am seating.
The Crystal Palace is under renovation in the MK, so we had lunch at Tony's with Tigger, Pooh, Piglet and Eyore. We timed a reservation for 2:30 so we had prime seats for the end of the parade on Main Street. The lunch was the best we had all week and we had sooooo much attention from Pooh and pals that my husband actually got a back rub. Seems the parade drew many folks out of the building and the characters were bored. We had asked for window seating which was perfect and when our 2 year old was done we sent the girls right outside to sit a the curbside. Wendy came along and picked my 2 year old right off the curb to join in the parade.
The other character thing that happens each week at each of the resorts is the Character Caravan. On particular days the characters show up in the lobby by 7:30 for an hour to greet guests as they depart for the parks. There is a particular schedule for OKW which you can get when you check in.
Generally, I do my planning for character viewing and meal plans after reviewing current and past issues of ALL EARS, a weekly electronic newsletter about Walt Disney World, affiliated with Deb's Unofficial Walt Disney World Information Guide (
http://wdwig.com). And I buy an annual "Passporter" from -
http://www.passporter.com. both of these give me access to frequent newsletters which augment the information I can get directly off the Disney or
DVC sites.
On this particular 5 night/ 6 day trip....with so many planned character visits we didn't get sidetracked once in the parks to get autographs from other roaming characters.
I do have to say though, that my 2 year old was the one who LEAST enjoyed the characters. They are just too big for her and may frighten your little one as well. Maybe just try the character caravan this year...or one other setting to try it out.
Hope this helps your planning. Good luck.
(the orangutan from the jungle book)
