One more character meal question

[jilld11]

When people say their DD or DS enjoyed them so much and totally worth it, are you talking about 3, 4 or 5 year olds or do some of you find it too young for 7 & almost 10 year olds.
I know I would find it cool, but I'm an adult wanting that. Sometimes kids grow out of that fun for a while. I have no comparison as I've never done a character meal?????
Any ideas???

 

[Susie63]

My DD loved Goofy's kitchen at 8 years and I am sure she will love it at 11 too! She got to do the twist with Goofy and he held her hand as they danced.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

my nine year old loves them all we are not sure what one if any we are going to do in oct for his bday but he has enjoyed them every time we go, goofy and Ariel is more money and Minnnie has more characters and good food and good for boys and girls if that helps.

 

[hlbtimes2]

I have a 10 year old boy and almost 14 year old girl. They still love the character meals. They still get excited to see the characters enter the room and make their way to our table. We take a few pictures with each. We no longer pack an autograph book around the park with us. We average one trip a year, and they never get tired of going to them.

 

[jilld11]

That really helps. Thank you all. I think we'll go w/brunch at Goofy's to maximize spending. We already get free bfast at Embassy, so to go for a late brunch will be a lunch we would have bought anyway, so will be most worth money and the differentce in i price for me is $18 total. ( I book with a wholesaler in Canada, so that is the difference inc. tax and tip). That also means we might see a princess for DD.
Thanks all

 

[pixiewings71]

My girls are 12 & 15, they still enjoy character meals. Altho the 15 year old says she doesn't. LOL

 

[larina]

My girls are not 9 and 18 and they love character meals. My son was 3 1/2 our last visit and they are not his favorite part of the trip. The big characters scare him. He didn't mind the animals at Storytellers, but "Giant Mickeymouse" and other characters he's used to seeing smaller on TV scare the heck out of him.

 

[Karenann*]

All my "kids"(now ages 13 to 27) love Goofy's Kitchen. We don't always go because of the expense for a big family, but are going this summer.
They all love the food and have great experiences with the characters.

We started going to Goofy's when my youngest boys were 4 and 6. The older kids always had a good time too...grade school and middle school. The older they all got was no problem...the interaction just changed to a lot of fun and antics and joking around...like Pluto stealing Gipetto's handkerchief and Chip and Dale having a rivalry about which one is better looking. My daughter now age 20 had great special time through her growing up years with the Princesses there.

This summer we are taking my brother who has never been to Goofys and has not been in the Park for 20 years!

The character meals are for everyone... no matter the age!

 

[JacksGirlz]

My DD, now 14, has been going to Disney Parks since she was 4. She still loves the character meals as great places to eat and get photos with her favorite characters without having to wait in line. I ask her every time we go and she still says "Yes!" and then lets me know which meals/characters she wants. For our upcoming trip to DLR she wants to do Ariels Grotto and Minnie and Friends at the Plaza Inn.

 

[taaren]

My DS is 5, but we were instructed that we must go to it by friends whose kids are 13, 15, and 17 ... they all had a fabulous time.

 

[larina]

The character meals are for everyone... no matter the age!

 

[Keyser]

Not trying to be unhelpful, but I think every kid is different, even at different ages. Different kids will think characters are scary, exciting, fun, uncool, even at the same age. The characters with real faces who talk can be very different from the fully costumed characters. Here are a few anecdotes, from my two daughters at various ages:
- At 1 year old, one daughter was screaming in sheer terror when Mickey started walking her general direction at Chef Mickey's. We had to take her out to get her to stop.
- At 3 years old, one daughter had a great time meeting princesses. She didn't want to have anything to do with Mickey and the gang at all.
- At 4 years old, one daughter was somewhat nervous around all of the characters. She got over it enough to talk to her favorite princess at the time, but didn't enjoy meeting them. Meeting Mickey at a meal was also uncomfortable, but she got excited about Donald (since her dad was excited) and Goofy actually made her laugh a bit.
- At 7 years old, one daughter was OK with characters, but not especially excited.
- At 9 years old, one daughter seemed to really like all the characters, but more in the sense of trying to get her much younger sister to interact with them. Had it just been her, she would have easily had a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. I think having the younger sibling along gave her the freedom to enjoy it more on her own.

For all of those, we saw other kids of the same age with very different reactions from our daughters'. You know your own kids better than any of us. For 7-to-10 year olds, my guess is that they might act as though it's not-so-cool to do, but yet still enjoy it if they give it a chance. Same thing could be true for some rides (though the "not cool" probably comes as they get older). At that age, though, you could probably just ask them - if they seem interested in meeting characters, then a meal might be a good option. If they seem really negative, then skip it.

 

[mystic_path]

I agree with the PP. Character meals are for EVERYONE!!! I'm the youngest in my family at 29. No one has kids, so each of our family Disneyland vacations are adult vacations. However we ALWAYS go to character meals because they are so much fun. Characters know how to deal with people of any age. Characters have taken us by the hand to the dance floor in Goofy's kitchen along with some kids and had a dance party. The Mad Hatter took my camera, and when on video mode and ran around the restaurant with it, and other characters have been able to joke around with us on more of an adult level with subtle humor only adults would get. Who doesnt want to see Disney characters come to life? They were always real tho right? Its totally awesome!

My video of the Hatter is posted by my brother on Youtube. I dont know if I am allowed to post a link on Disboards, but if you wanna check it out its titled " At Goofy's Kitchen at Disneyland", uploaded by Sweettrav.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

My kids range in age from 1 to almost 9 and they love the character meals. My almost 7 year old has requested Goofy's Kitchen for her bday dinner when we go back in Oct.