Too many character meals?

[palavra]

My family and I (me, Dh and DD7) will be spending a week with free dining at Thanksgiving. Mostly because of our DD, we've made reservations for 3 character meals ( 1 lunch and 2 breakfasts). Do you think we are overdoing it on the character meals, or is this a really good way to meet characters without standing in line?

We have reservations at Crystal Palace (Pooh and friends), Tusker House (Donald and friends) and Akerhus Princess Storybook Breakfast. Just for the record, we also have reservations at 50's Prime Time Cafe, Biergarten, Coral Reef and Ragland Road.

 

[3boys4me]

I dont think that's too many. I think you have a good variety. Enjoy!

 

[Jchance]

The first year we went, we did several, and my DD loved it. I think it's a great way to meet the characters. You get to see the Disney gang, get autographs and pics, and get something good to eat. It's a win/win in my book.

 

[debbiedana]

I don't think you can have too many character meals! They're all fun, plus you're seeing different characters. It will be great.

BTW, your ADR's look great. You have a really nice variety. Have a great trip!

 

[DCbride]

I think you picked 3 very different character meals, so it won't be like seeing the same characters each time. We LOVE CP and book it every trip. I didn't care for Norway with the Princesses, but DD was under 2 at the time, so we weren't into Princesses yet.

I like having meals with the characters. They are usually buffets, which enables us to get food quickly. And the kids are occupied watching, waiting and getting ready for the characters to appear at your table.

Have fun!

 

[Stargazer]

I don't think you have too many but, what do I know -- we also have 3 (possibly 4) over Thanksgiving week! I think the key is having a mix of different characters like you've done.

For us, the character meals work out better because DD is a bit of a ride junkie and doesn't always want to wait in line to get one character's autograph. If she can eat and relax while just waiting for them to make their rounds, then it's all good!

 

[Binnie]

I don't think you can have too many character meals! They're all fun, plus you're seeing different characters. It will be great.

BTW, your ADR's look great. You have a really nice variety. Have a great trip!

Ditto! We love them, and nearly every table service meal we book is a character meal. Our next trip is in November, and we'll do 4 (including one day when we'll do one at breakfast and the other at dinner!)

 

[91Coupe]

I don't think that is too many. Can you every have too many character meals when you have children.

 

[mechteach]

We have reservations at Crystal Palace (Pooh and friends), Tusker House (Donald and friends) and Akerhus Princess Storybook Breakfast. Just for the record, we also have reservations at 50's Prime Time Cafe, Biergarten, Coral Reef and Ragland Road.

I agree with the others that this is a nice variety. I also want to add that the Biergarten is an excellent choice. DD really loved it last time we went, and so we plan on going back this time.

 

[PoohsFan1]

My family and I (me, Dh and DD7) will be spending a week with free dining at Thanksgiving. Mostly because of our DD, we've made reservations for 3 character meals ( 1 lunch and 2 breakfasts). Do you think we are overdoing it on the character meals, or is this a really good way to meet characters without standing in line?

We have reservations at Crystal Palace (Pooh and friends), Tusker House (Donald and friends) and Akerhus Princess Storybook Breakfast. Just for the record, we also have reservations at 50's Prime Time Cafe, Biergarten, Coral Reef and Ragland Road.

I too agree that you have a nice variety of character meals. And you are absolutely correct....going to character meals is a great way to interact with the characters. You are not standing in line waiting and once you finally get up there, you are not feeling rushed because there are hords of other people waiting to see them. We always do at least 3 a trip. Have fun and remember to take LOTS of pictures.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Your plan sounds terrific! You have a variety of characters, and IMO, this IS the BEST way to see the characters with kids! No waiting in line wasting your ride time, and the characters come to you!!

We did 5 character meals last July and we were only there for 5 nights! My kids love all different Disney characters, and they were only 1 and 3 at the time so given their ages and the July heat, we thought the character meals would be the best way for them to spend time with their favorites. We even did a character breakfast and a character dinner in the same day! Here are the character meals we did:

1. Liberty Tree Tavern dinner at MK with Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale (no characters now though)
2. Crystal Palace dinner at MK with Pooh & friends
3. Hollywood & Vine breakfast at DHS with JoJo, Goliath and the Little Einsteins (Playhouse Disney characters)
4. 1900 Park Fare dinner at Grand Floridian with Cinderella, Prince Charming and the step-family (OK this one was really just for me, I love Cinderella! )
5. Chef Mickey's breakfast at the Contemporary resort with Mickey & friends

We also did one dinner at Biergarten at Epcot (my kids loved it and so did we, going back next summer), and one dinner at Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge (we liked it a lot, but DH and I have sensitive stomachs and got very bad heartburn that night from the spices...we will not be going back but I still recommend it to people because it was excellent).

Anyway, my kids got to see all their favorites and we did not have to wait in those hot long lines at the parks. We were so grateful to just walk right by them, and go on to the next ride, knowing we were going to see the characters later on!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

My family and I (me, Dh and DD7) will be spending a week with free dining at Thanksgiving. Mostly because of our DD, we've made reservations for 3 character meals ( 1 lunch and 2 breakfasts). Do you think we are overdoing it on the character meals, or is this a really good way to meet characters without standing in line?

We have reservations at Crystal Palace (Pooh and friends), Tusker House (Donald and friends) and Akerhus Princess Storybook Breakfast. Just for the record, we also have reservations at 50's Prime Time Cafe, Biergarten, Coral Reef and Ragland Road.

You're going to be eating about 21 meals in WDW, I don't think 3 character meals is too many.

 

[Kathy Z]

I agree with all those who said this is not too many and that you have a good mix of characters. In May we had booked CP (lunch) and 'Ohana (breakfast) ahead of time. I booked CP more for the buffet in a beautiful a/c restaurant than for the characters but both girls adored Pooh & friends. In a similar way, I booked 'Ohana because I had heard such good things about it and we were staying at the Poly so it was very convienent. The characters were a plus. Our DGDs ages 7 & 10 had told us that they had outgrown princesses but once we were down at WDW they started making a beeline for any character or princess they saw so I quickly got on DH's cell phone and called Disney Dining to see if it was possible to snag a lunch at Norway. We had to take a 3:10 pm lunch but it worked out great. That was the mid-point of our trip so it was a good day to sleep in, eat breakfast in our room (which we did 5 or our 7 days), go to EP when we were ready around 11:00 am and enjoy Mickey head ice cream treats to tide us over until lunch. The girls loved it!

 

[DominicaAnne]

I don't think that's too many at all. My husband and I have always enjoyed character meals with just us. This Thanksgiving is the first time that my husband and I are going with kids (DD1, DN8, DN9, DNephew18months) and we are doing 6 character meals:
Breakfast at O'Hana, Epcot GG Dinner (mickey and friends I think), Akershus, CRT, 1900 Park Fare and Chef Mickey's

I actually think we may be doing too many, but for the kids' first trip we wanted to make it special, especially for the 8 and 9 year olds who wanted to do all the princess meals. Well, we've got them all!

Have a great time, I think you'll enjoy dining with the characters.

 

[LovesTimone]

I think that you have a good variety.

I like character meals really any sit down meal. I like to think you get more that just a meal.
You get to see and get autograph from the character inside( air -conditioning)
no standing in line
the characters come to you
Better meal selection, and someone waits on you
No searching for a table
They also give your children who might be afraid of a character a chance to warm up and give you a chance for the magic picture.

have a great time.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

I don't think it's too many, either. We've done 4 character meals in a week.

Like others said, they're all different, you'll meet different characters. We love character meals because you have to take a break and eat anyway, why not do it someplace where the characters come to you? Then you don't have to wait in line to see them later.

Have fun!

 

[SmallWorld71]

My family and I (me, Dh and DD7) will be spending a week with free dining at Thanksgiving. Mostly because of our DD, we've made reservations for 3 character meals ( 1 lunch and 2 breakfasts). Do you think we are overdoing it on the character meals, or is this a really good way to meet characters without standing in line?

We have reservations at Crystal Palace (Pooh and friends), Tusker House (Donald and friends) and Akerhus Princess Storybook Breakfast. Just for the record, we also have reservations at 50's Prime Time Cafe, Biergarten, Coral Reef and Ragland Road.

I think your character meal line-up is perfect because it looks just like what I always do. We do Crystal Palace, one Princess meal, and one with Mickey and Friends. You also have a nice balance between buffet and non-buffet.

 

[gtpoohbear]

I don't think its possible to do too many character meals with kids especially. We did 9 last summer (during a 1 week stay) and our only regret was that there were a couple we didn't get to do...

 

[palavra]

Thanks everyone! We're happy with our choices, and I'm just so glad to get the ADR's out of the way!

 

[TruBlu]

There is no such thing as too many character meals. Your plan sounds perfect!