Tips to a great character experience?

kycanonist

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 1, 2011
Messages
324
For those of you who are experts at the character meal experience, what are the best ways to be sure that my kids have the best experience possible at a character meal? My girls will be 5 and 8.
 
If the table is up against a wall, we sat our kids on the "outside" so the characters & kids had easy access to each other. Rather than playing musical chairs all the time.

We also made sure our autograph books were open to the correct spot before the characters came by, with pen ready by the side.

Make sure your camera is easily accessable.

I'm sure you'll get a lot more ideas from people! :goodvibes
 
I would also add, that if they have a favorite character there, to make sure your child tells them. We have gotten really great interaction with the characters that way. Everytime my younger DD lets Minnie know she is her favorite, Minnie always gives her kisses and hugs. Also, if your kids have a t-shirt or any article of clothing or such for them to wear at a character meal that has that particular character there, have them wear that too....the characters really go ga ga over it :goodvibes
 
For those of you who are experts at the character meal experience, what are the best ways to be sure that my kids have the best experience possible at a character meal? My girls will be 5 and 8.


If you miss a character b/c you were at the buffet or going potty or something...make sure to tell your waiter.

Wear clothes from one of the chracters (a Pooh t-shirt, princess dress, etc.).

If it is a birthday or something, make a note on the ADR AND have the person wear something...when we did my son's b-day at Crystal Palace...he wore birthday Mickey ears and a Winnie the Pooh shirt
 

Thanks everyone. We have the girls celebrating their birthdays at Chef Mickey and we told them so when we booked the ADR. Also, they are getting birthday shirts from an aunt to wear that day. That should help. ;)

Thanks for the great tips! Keep them coming!
 
Have you thought about making autograph books for the meals you are doing? We made DD's book last year with help from the Disign thread and we got a lot of special interaction and people admiring their pages. Prince Charming had a good look in her book!!! Some people do the pages for each restaurant.
 
Been to a lot of character meals..... great way to meet and enjoy characters without lines. Here's my best tips!

Many waiters will tell you how the characters come (the order, if come one after another, etc.), if not... ask. This can be helpful to know when to go eat (for the buffet meals).

Make sure you know how to use your camera! Some settings will result in a low quality image that will be hard to get a quality print in larger sizes. Use the highest quality settings and just bring lots of extra batteries and memory cards.

Have your camera ready and get UP from the table. Interact with the characters. Our best photos are those interactions, not just the plain strike a pose and smile shots. Encourage your children to do something funny... kid around with the characters, ask them questions, flirt with them, give a high five or something. I think it's helpful to let the characters know what you're doing in case they have trouble seeing. For example, I'll say something like, "Hey Pluto, how bout a high five!". Or just strike a really silly pose with the characters.

At some character meals, the interaction is "built-in"... at Hollywood and Vine, DS loved dancing with Agent Oso. Video Here. And the breakfast food was fine even though there are reasons to complain about the lunch food quality.

And enjoy the food too. The food quality is not always sacrficed because it is a character meal. The quality of breakfast food at Cape May Cafe, 1900 Park Fare, and Tusker House was outstanding. The food quality at Garden Grill was pretty good too.

Ask someone at the table next to you to take some pictures with your camera so you all are in the photo... then return the favor. (Oh... and I always have an extra camera just in case it gets broken).

Put the autograph books away... Interact and take photos FIRST.... then pull out the autograph books when you are done. Now, I like some photos of the characters signing the autograph books (and some characters are quite silly with it) but the best photos are the action shots.

Get autographs on things other than books. We like t-shirts with the characters on them. Also... last trip, we did pillow cases. These were great.

When the characters are coming, get rid of the dirty dishes or move them out of the way to the back of the table. Don't want that in your photo.

I like tables against a wall... that way, use the wall as your background and you don't get some kid at another table in the background picking his nose... (OK, that never happened, but I like photos of just us without others in the photos).

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OMG! My kids are going to love Hollywood and Vine if they can do stuff like that dancing!!!!

I never thought about the pillow case, but that does sound like a great idea. Where did you get the pillow case???
 
Darn it! Disneystore.com was sold out of the pillow shams!!!!

I know... I lucked out on that one. I don't get it.... but disneystore.com seems to get some popular items then they are sold out quickly. I check their site at least once a week. I bet they get some new pillow shams in sometime soon....
 


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