Great review.
My experience was very similar. We visited in early May, likely one of the first dates of the year for the dinner.
We were told immediately upon entry that characters would not sign autographs, which was very disappointing for my son, as collecting autographs is his favorite activity at Disney.
Someone must not have told the characters that they weren't signing autographs though--my son had his book out on the table (because we were similarly rushed and I hadn't yet had time to put it back in our backpack) and at least two of the characters motioned for it and signed his book before we got scolded by a cast member. That irked me somewhat, as we did not encourage, nor suggest the autographs--the characters offered on their own. They were also not following their standard policies, as these characters clearly did not have their "handlers" about to remind them, which is a potential safety issue for the cast members in the costume.
The characters all came around within minutes of us sitting down. In fact, we saw a few characters twice because of how quickly they all made their rounds. Unlike some of your photos, we had very little character interaction. Static poses for photos and not much else.
The food was decent enough and I didn't have huge issues with any of it. I did have to ask for the chef to grill some slices of the roast beef a little longer. I prefer my meat not to be bloody and mooing. My son is a very picky eater and didn't end up having much more than a few chicken nuggets and a roll and butter.
All in all, we were done and out of the restaurant within about 45 minutes of being seated.
Was it worth it? That is hard to say...the price is fixed at $59.99 per diner, so this was a very expensive meal, even for only two people. My son barely touched any food, and while I had two trips to the buffet, I doubt it was anywhere close to $60 worth of food
I know that you are really paying for the character interactions. My son, being a huge star wars fan, and an autograph hound enjoyed the experience. I'm sure he would have enjoyed it more had the characters done autographs and spent more time at the tables.
It felt to me, as an adult, that Disney was trying to cram as many people through a $60 revolving door as they could to make as much money as possible.
Would we do it again? Most likely
