Park Fare and CRT?

[salamander3]

Hey everyone, I'm really new to the dining idea at Disney. In past trips, it has been go as cheap as possible. This will be our first trip with the dining plan and our 3 year old princess.

We currently have a reservation our first night at 1900 Park Fare for Cinderella. Cinderella is her favorite princess. Thanks to the awesomeness that is this community, I was able to get a CRT for the day we're at MK. I know she is going to freak for Cinderella, but the stepmother and stepsisters... she tells she's going to put them in jail, so I'm not sure what kind of experience that would be.

Here is my question. Is it too much to do 2 Cinderella character meals? I'm watching to hopefully find a Chef Mickey's instead of PF, but if that doesn't happen, would you do both? Or would you go non-character for that?

Our other reservations are Tusker House, CP, and Hollywood and Vine. We aren't doing Epcot this trip (unless I'm really nice to my husband for the next few months, and frankly I don't know that I have it in me ;P )

Thanks in advance for any opinions!

 

[Jekyllcat]

You could maybe switch out your PF dinner for a PF breakfast. You would reduce the number of princesses to avoid overload, but you would still get some character interaction that day; breakfast includes Alice and Hatter, Mary Poppins, and Winnie and Tigger.

Of course, then you have overlap between PF and CP...

 

[BlondeAppetit]

What about Cape May Cafe on your departure day? Or Ohana for dinner?

 

[Mikie]

I'm doing CRT and Akershus in the same trip, with much overlap of princesses. We've met the same character multiple times on previous trips in the past (even when it wasn't a particular favorite of anyone's) and had some great interactions. jasmine recognized my daughters when we saw her in Morocco after already meeting her at breakfast - the girls were FLOORED. We also met Cinderella twice (it was definitely two different "friends") and again, they had cute conversations talking about all they had seen and done since their previous meet at a restaurant.

I love character meals and I'd say if you can't easily get a different ADR you're excited about and at a decent time, AND as long as the menus are appealing to you, keep these reservations and be confident you'll still enjoy them thoroughly!

 

[salamander3]

Thanks all! I think we're going to stick with it, unless Chef Mickey miraculously appears. So here's our plan:

Arrival: 1900 Park Fare dinner, I think I timed it right to see the Halloween fireworks before dinner.

Day 1, AK: Tusker House 10:20 Brunch
Boma 7:20 Dinner

Day 2, MK: Crystal Palace 2:10 Lunch
CRT 9:15 Dinner (if I can't find an earlier time, we'll just stay close to watch the fireworks)

Day 3, HS: Hollywood & Vine, 10:20 Brunch
Hollywood Brown Derby, 5:30 dinner

Departure: Ohana breakfast, 10:20 (snagged this today, yay!)

Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

 

[quakechicago]

Thanks all! I think we're going to stick with it, unless Chef Mickey miraculously appears. So here's our plan:

Arrival: 1900 Park Fare dinner, I think I timed it right to see the Halloween fireworks before dinner.

Day 1, AK: Tusker House 10:20 Brunch
Boma 7:20 Dinner

Day 2, MK: Crystal Palace 2:10 Lunch
CRT 9:15 Dinner (if I can't find an earlier time, we'll just stay close to watch the fireworks)

Day 3, HS: Hollywood & Vine, 10:20 Brunch
Hollywood Brown Derby, 5:30 dinner

Departure: Ohana breakfast, 10:20 (snagged this today, yay!)

Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

That sounds so fun! I wouldn't worry about it being too much if she's having a good time. The step sisters are so fun and when I mentioned to both the character handlers and the CMs that my kiddo was feeling nervous about the step sisters/mother they way toned it down for her. You just have to ask.

We were there in February and DD3 fell in love with the princesses! We're going back in November and both times went with deluxe dining for the 3 character meals a day!

She also got very into the autograph books and we bought a Disney Encyclopedia of animated characters so it has names and illustrations. It was SO fun and the princesses (& all the other characters too) LOVED the book! The step sisters argued over whose pic was better!

An added bonus is if we saw a character DD didn't love or is even a bit frightened over (Captain Hook, Smee, and Stitch), she still wanted them to sign her book so she was able to interact with them just fine.

One other suggestion, since it will be different CMs, mention to them that you saw them recently and it will REALLY keep the magic. DD really wanted to do an Akershus breakfast next morning after we just had dinner there the night before. We were able to get in and when we saw each princess I said, "We had to come back to see you again after last night." The Princesses were so awesome rolling with it! The CP gang also were great with seeing her "again"

Have a wonderful time and a bit of pixie dust in case a CM opens up!