Too Many Character Meals?

[Delphinus317]

I'm taking my 5yo son on his first trip to Disney for his birthday in July & I think I may be going overboard on trying to make it the most magical experience I possibly can.

We are going for 3 nights/4 days & I chose not to do the park hopper to keep the schedule simple. I also chose not to add a Dining Plan, because it's always too much food & thought I could save some money. But now that I've scheduled our ADR's, I'm thinking...

A. I've scheduled too many character meals for keeping the schedule simple & keeping food costs down and...

B. If I keep them, I may want to add the Dining Plan.

So here's what I got so far:

Monday (Arrival Day - Epcot)
Dinner @ Garden Grill 5:40pm

Tuesday (Hollywood Studios)
Lunch @ Hollywood & Vine 12:00pm

Wednesday (Magic Kindom)
Dinner @ Crystal Palace 5:35pm

Thursday (Departure Day - Animal Kingdom)
Breakfast @ Tusker House 8:25am

The remainder of the time, I was thinking we'd grab food mainly on the fly. I don't need combo meals or desserts with every meal, but it seems the pricing for even just a sandwich or salad & a drink at any counter service will make up for the cost of adding the Dining Plan if I keep these ADR's (I realize only 3of these ADR's would be included as TS in the Dining Plan). I'm just not sure what to do... Keep the ADR's & add the Dining Plan or ditch some of them to keep our schedule more flexible, since our timing is limited.

What do you think? Thank you!!

 

[Perditamarie]

I think character meals are great fun....since you have to eat anyway, this is a great way to meet characters/get autographs w/o waiting in lines at the parks...I say go for it.

Your son will probably get a kick out of it if he doesn't often eat at buffets and may try things he normally doesn't....my daughter ended up loving ratatouille at CP, but would never eat it at home (even zucchini tastes better in Disney!).

Even tho you pay oop for tips, I think the DDP is a good value as you will use the CS and snacks as well. I guess I would skip Tusker House if that imposes a time crunch on your last day.

Happy planning!

 

[2Jacks]

i would concur with the PP and say go for it. we loaded up on the character meals for our DDs first trip to WDW and it added to her memories (Wow!!! was that really 11 years ago?!?!). the same for DSs first trip to the World.

 

[Delphinus317]

Thank you for your quick replies and for validating my obsession with Character Meals.

I'll probably add the Dining Plan too, as it seems I'll pay more out of pocket for other meals & drinks/snacks along the way if I don't. Thanks again!

 

[tiredsigh]

Don't worry! We love character meals around here. When our youngest was 18 months old, we were able to eat because he looked around at all of the characters. Built in entertainment

We are doing DxDP again this time. All breakfasts are character meals and we have a lunch and a dinner ala character as well.

It is really nice to see the characters in a controlled setting. Saves you from waiting in line at the parks.

I think it would be a good option to do the DDP. You will each get a snack (for kids----they always want a fun snack at WDW like mickey bar, cupcake, icee) and a CS. I think it would all be used

 

[DisneyFamily123]

I highly recommend you consider Ohana's breakfast... and the 1900 Park Fare breakfast - especially if you plan to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie coming out in March 2010.

On our last trip 8 nights - 9 days, we did the following...

• Ohana Breakfast with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto (did this one twice!)
• 1900 Park Fare Breakfast with Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter, Tigger and Pooh
• Crystal Palace Lunch with Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore (did this one twice too!)
• Donald's Safari Breakfast at Tusker House with Donald, Daisy, Mickey, Goofy.
• Hollywood and Vine Lunch with June, Leo, JoJo, Goliath.
• We cancelled a breakfast at Chef Mickey's only because our park plans changed.

Next trip, same number of days, we will probably repeat Ohana, 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace, Tusker House. We might add Chef Mickey's Dinner if the food reviews get better.

 

[tink&stitchsmom]

You can never have too many character meals. We have small kids and we try to do at least one a day.

 

[bitohoney]

I have 10 character meals planned and it's just myself and 2 16 year old girls. But, we are on the DxDP.

 

[stitch34]

as others have said, never is too many character meals! We have 10 booked for our trip in March, about what we usually book per trip.

Looks like some great choices.
Hollywood and Vine I'd keep if he really likes those characters there, and if so, I'd recommend breakfast instead of lunch.

otherwise, I think you have some great choices! Only other one I'd add is maybe Ohana's - or ditch H&Vine and do Ohana's for breakfast,then head over to Hollywood Studios from there for the day.

Noncharacter meals that may be fun for your son: Whispering Canyon Cafe, and also Sci Fi Dine IN at Hollywood Studios - my kids love watching the movies and sitting in the drive-in cars!
Oh, and TRex over at Downtown Disney - my kids love it there!

 

[squirrel]

I think with your ADR's the DDP will save you money. Pay out of pocket for the cheapest one or save the last one to pay out of pocket incase you decide not to go to one of the TS meals.

 

[Chelley00]

DD and I went in Nov and we ended up with 7 character meals in an 11 day trip

Go to allears.net and price what you will pay a day for your table service meals plus the counter service stuff, and then see if you would save money with the DDP. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't