Too many character meals??

[ToyStoryBo]

We're on the DDP and will be there for 8 nights. I originally only planned on going to 1900 Park Fare for the dinner, CP for the dinner, and Chef Mickey's for dinner. That way we would see the Pooh characters and the classics at CP. Only planned Park Fare because we want to see the GF and I've heard the meal is alot of fun.

After all my reading here, I've decided to add breakfast at 'ohanas (it's our fave for dinner already)! I also needed a TS on our AK day, and Tusker House won based on popularity here and to keep it simple for us. We definitely don't need to go for the characters. Now I am wondering if we should do Boma that day instead......seems like we may be on character overload?! We'll be paying for 'ohanas OOP, and it's our MK day so we'll be having CP for dinner that evening....so that makes 2 character meals in just one day.

So, opinions welcomed!! I guess the main question is.......Tusker House or Boma??

 

[HdnMickeyGrl]

If your main question is Tusker House or Boma I've eaten at Boma several times but never at Tusker House since it's been a buffet. In my opinoin Boma was awesome, spectacular, amazing, the first time we went. Year after year it seemed to go progressively downhill to the point we don't eat there anymore. I don't know, maybe it's something that's only fun once and that is only my opinion. That being said, if you think you are on character overload go to Boma. As I said it was great the first time we went and even when we haven't liked it it certainly wasn't awful it just wasn't blow your mind great. And the AKL is beautiful. You can go out on an overlook and look at any animals down there. I think it will be a fun trip. I am always an advocate of visiting resorts. I think they are often overlooked and ignored but the resorts are so well themed you could make a trip out of just visiting the resorts. I've looked at the Tusker House menu and it seems sort of similar to Boma. If you think you've had enough characters go check out the AKL.

 

[bangzoom6877]

If it helps, on our last trip we did 5 character meals and it was only a 5-night trip. We did a character breakfast at DHS the same day we did the 1900 Park Fare dinner at the GF. Our sons were 3 and 1 on that trip. We did not feel like we had too many character meals, but we did see different characters at each one, for the most part. We did Liberty Tree Tavern dinner at MK our night of arrival (they still had characters back then but they no longer have them), Hollywood & Vine Playhouse Disney breakfast at DHS and 1900 Park Fare dinner the same day, Crystal Palace one night for dinner, and Chef Mickey's for breakfast on our last morning. We planned a lot of character meals so we didn't have to wait in the July heat to meet characters in the middle of the parks. We took the boys to see their favorite characters at meals instead.

This July, we have a 10-night trip booked. We are doing the following character meals:

1. Chef Mickey's dinner
2. Cinderella's Royal Table dinner
3. Akerhus dinner at Epcot
4. Crystal Palace dinner at MK
5. 1900 Park Fare breakfast
6. Hollywood & Vine Playhouse Disney breakfast at DHS (this is a big "maybe" due to the outdated characters)
7. Cape May Cafe breakfast on our last morning

We also have a couple of fun, but non-character meals (50s Prime Time lunch and Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner). Otherwise we have regular restaurants booked...Le Cellier dinner, Chefs de France dinner, Captain's Grille dinner, Cape May Cafe dinner, Kona Cafe dinner. We figured it would be a good mix for the family.

So, to answer your original question...no, I don't think you have too many character meals...but we really enjoy doing them!

 

[Pakey]

Although the Boma breakfast is amazing, we like Tusker House the best out of all breakfasts at WDW. They offer some very interesting choices there in addition to the traditional breakfast items. We'd eat there even if it wasn't a character meal.

We did a lot of character meals on our last trip when we took our 4 year old grandson for his first visit and never felt like we hit the "overload".

 

[LAWalz23]

Can't weigh in on the breakfast part but I say you can never have enough character meals, especially if your kids enjoy getting autographs and taking pics with the characters. It is a much calmer meeting than lining in up in the parks. Have fun!

 

[Wendy31]

We like character meals because it's a nice break from the parks, & it's also a good way to see a lot of characters w/o standing in line in the parks.

The first year (2005) we went, DD was 5, & DS was 3. If I remember correctly, we were were for either 6 or 7 nights, & we did the following character meals:

Chef Mickey's breakfast
CRT breakfast
Crystal Palace lunch
Liberty Tree Tavern dinner (no longer a character meal)
Akershus dinner

The next year (2006), DD was 6, & DS was 4. We were there for 7 nights & did the following character meals:

Chef Mickey's breakfast
the Animal Kingdom breakfast (back then, it was at Restaurantsauras)
CRT lunch
Crystal Palace lunch
Garden Grill lunch
Liberty Tree Tavern dinner

* This year, we also had an Akershus breakfast scheduled, but cancelled it because no one felt like getting up early enough to make our 8:45 am ADR time.

We skipped a year & went again in 2008 - DD was 8, DS was 6. We were there for 8 nights & did the following character meals:

Chef Mickey's breakfast
CRT lunch
Crystal Palace lunch
Garden Grill lunch
Liberty Tree Tavern dinner (I so miss this character dinner!)

For our next trip (hopefully October!), DD will be 10, DS will be 9, & baby DS will be 1, & I'm planning the following character meals:

Chef Mickey's breakfast
Crystal Palace lunch
CRT dinner

* If there were still a character dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern, I'd be planning that one again! We're doing Garden Grill in June when we're there for 1 day w/ my parents.

* Some day, I'd like to do the dinner at 1900 Park Fare to meet Prince Charming. I also like the AK breakfast character meal, but our family has discovered that we'd rather eat something quick in our room for breakfast & then be ready to hit the parks at park opening.

Anyway, we enjoy character meals!

One thing you may consider is how many buffets you have scheduled. Sometimes, the buffets can be quite crowded & you end up standing in line every time you're filling your plate - depending on what times you have scheduled & time of year it is, of course. 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, & Tusker House (or Boma) are all buffets. Are your kids old enough to fill their plates by themselves? Otherwise, you'll stand in line at the buffet to fill their plates & then stand in line to fill your own plate - perhaps missing the characters as they come by your table. After standing in lines & rubbing elbows w/ people all day sometimes it's nice to sit down at the table & let the food be brought to you!

 

[shawnh199]

We did 7 character meals (6 of them breakfasts) on our 7 day trip in December. We never got tired of them either.

Our favorite character breakfast was Tusker House. (Princess Breakfast @ Epcot, Ohana, Crystal Palace, Hollywood and Vine and Chef Mickeys were the other breakfast we ate at and I put them in order of our favorite to least favorite) The buffet is large and the food is great. (We ate lunch there too and it was great as well.)

It's great being in the park before it opens. Tusker House is located right next to the Safari Ride entrance, so if your ADR is early enough you could be some of the first people on the ride (or you can have someone go grab a FP @ 9am when the park opens) so you can get on the ride with little wait when you finish your meal.

It was also nice meeting so many of the characters at breakfast. That way, we didn't have to wait in hour long lines to meet characters, unless we just really wanted to.

We have never tried Boma's so I can't speak about their food, but we absolutely love Tusker House. It was our first experience there and is on our must do list for our future trips to Disney World!

 

[mmmears]

The nice thing about the character meals is that it's nicer than standing in line to meet the characters.

IMO the downside is mediocre food, a high price, and a not-very-relaxing meal. Now, I'm comparing this to other, regular, sit down experiences we've had.

If you want to see the characters, then by all means pick a character meal. They are lots of fun. But if you're not really interested in the meet & greet (or if it feels like it's too many character meals), I'd pick a nice, quiet sit down place instead.

 

[Eeyorerocks!]

Well, we once had 4 or 5 character meals in a 7 day trip. I think we did feel it was a bit much, not necessarily because of the characters (we love the characters!!), but b/c these meals tend to be very time-consuming, taking large chunks of touring time away. But this is less of an issue of you are visiting suring less crowded park times, when you can get more done.

Also, DH tends to do a lot of work and not as much eating as he would like, since I like him to take the video / pics, and I love to be in the pics with the characters also!

 

[OhThePain]

My girlfriend and I love character meals. On our upcoming 8-night trip we have 6 character meals planned. We don't think there is such a thing as too many character meals. They keep meals fun while taking a break from the parks.

 

[PoohsFan1]

In my opinion, there is no such thing as too many character meals. We really love the fact that we can eat our meal and have the characters come to us, rather than waiting in line for them and worrying that we are taking too long because there are others behind us waiting as well. We always do at least 2 a trip, but then we always add more before we leave. This past December we were in Disney for 9 nights and had 6 character meals. We did:
- Akershus Breakfast (family tradition)
- O'hana breakfast
- Cape May Cafe breakfast (another family tradition)
- CRT breakfast
- Garden Grill
- 1900 Park Fare dinner

This coming March however, we are only doing Akershus and Cape May Cafe, but I am debating on one for our last day before we leave or the night we arrive. Have fun, you will really enjoy them.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We love character meals but only at breakfast where the food is a lot better than at dinner time

 

[pixarmom]

We're on the DDP and will be there for 8 nights. I originally only planned on going to 1900 Park Fare for the dinner, CP for the dinner, and Chef Mickey's for dinner. That way we would see the Pooh characters and the classics at CP. Only planned Park Fare because we want to see the GF and I've heard the meal is alot of fun.

After all my reading here, I've decided to add breakfast at 'ohanas (it's our fave for dinner already)! I also needed a TS on our AK day, and Tusker House won based on popularity here and to keep it simple for us. We definitely don't need to go for the characters. Now I am wondering if we should do Boma that day instead......seems like we may be on character overload?! We'll be paying for 'ohanas OOP, and it's our MK day so we'll be having CP for dinner that evening....so that makes 2 character meals in just one day.

So, opinions welcomed!! I guess the main question is.......Tusker House or Boma??

Hello ToyStoryBo! I can't comment on Tusker House vs. Boma, but I can share my character meal experience with only 3 boys! (Love your list of "pirates!")

For us, character meals (especially family style) are some of the best meals we have! It's just so entertaining for the kids, the food comes quickly and we all have a great time. Sounds like you may be relatively set, but our boys also love Garden Grill and Liberty Tree in addition to Ohana. (We go for dinner - really good!) It does seem like a lot of characters, family style and buffet by the end of the trip, but we think it's fun to do things that are unique to Disney while we're there.

Have a great trip with your pirates!!

 

[sharig5576]

We loved the Tusker House breakfast. One of the best we went to! I don't think there's such thing as character overload with young kids. We're going in Oct and have 1-2 char meals/day because I know my kids will sit and eat if they get to see characters.

 

[drmommy]

Definitely Tusker House over Boma...for a couple of reasons. I think the food is better. Also, unless you're staying at AKL, Boma is kind of out of the way. Eating in the park is much more convenient. Whatever time is spent on characters will be much less than your travel time...and a whole lot more fun!

 

[3"Mouse"keteers]

We do at least one character meal a day, sometimes two! It's so much easier to see the characters this way instead of waiting in lines in the heat.

 

[disneymom1980]

I have to agree with other posters. You can't have too many character meals, especially is you're traveling with kids. When DD was 5, we did at least one character meal every day during the trip. She loved it and loved the fact that we didn't have to wait in line to see the characters. That way, when we saw them in the parks, we could tell her that we were going to see them at a meal, and she knew her time was better taken up riding rides rather than waiting in line to see the characters there.

The only character we really waited to see was Minnie at the Halloween party (which took almost 2 hours). Once we were done DD said, "Next time we'll just see her at breakfast because that was NUTS!!!!!"