too much character meals ?

[bestjsg]

with the help of this forum, I finally booked my trip in May staying a CBR for 8 nights, joined the meal plan since I really hate to figure out what to eat when I get hungry so the ADR feature is great and that I thought with the meal plan we could go for more expensive stuff...

so I have now used ADR online and booked.

Day spend at MGM - eat Dinner at Hollywood & vine at 4 pm.. (?!) so I can get the Fantasmic dinning package with a 'vip' viewing area for the show. ( is this even worth it ? heard food was not that great..)

Day spend at MK - eat Dinner at Crystal Palace

Day spend at outlet mall (a break from Disney..already..?) - booked Chef Mickey for dinner

Day spend at Epcot - booked dinner Princess Story book

Day spend at MGM or MK haven't decided yet - booked Cinderella Happily Ever dinner

Day spend at AK - booked Dinner at Boma

Day spend at MGM or MK - haven't decided yet, - haven't booked anything yet, and hence the question came in mind...

does this sound ok ? would the kids 9 and 4 be tire with all the character dinning you think ?...any comments on this ?

also , I heard in general that the food for these character dinnings are usually not that great, it is almost like in exchange of having the characters for good food kind of thing....any comments on this ?

 

[2gr8DisneyKids]

We have never done a Character Dinner other than CRT, but love the character breakfasts and have had lunch at Crystal Palace and Garden Grill (now just dinner) and were happy with them all.

We love the Character meals b/c of the great character time. The kids are totally into autographs, hugs, etc. and this way we do not need to stand in line for them. We will probably cave and stand in line for the fairies this year, but other than that we just stop if we see someone good.

Have a great trip the ADR's look great to me!

 

[twokids0204]

You know what's best for you.... but I think the Character meals are good to keep to a minimum - they all tend to be buffets, so the temptation to over eat is there.
As well, it tends to be less magical when you always see the characters.
And thirdly, there is so many better places (from a food perspective) to eat at.

 

[bestjsg]

thank you for the replies...

so if I were to cut down on these meals, which ones should be gone or what are the must have .. ?

in fact, we will be celerating my daugthers 5th birthday on this day ,

"Day spend at MGM or MK haven't decided yet - booked Cinderella Happily Ever dinner "

Would you say this is the best character meal for it ? if not which one / place is better for celebrating kids birthdays ?

 

[twokids0204]

thank you for the replies...

so if I were to cut down on these meals, which ones should be gone or what are the must have .. ?

in fact, we will be celerating my daugthers 5th birthday on this day ,

"Day spend at MGM or MK haven't decided yet - booked Cinderella Happily Ever dinner "

Would you say this is the best character meal for it ? if not which one / place is better for celebrating kids birthdays ?

Personally I was not very impressed with Crystal Palace.

I would keep Chef Mickey's and 1900 Park Fare.

Epcot has SO much good dining around the world, why not give up Askershus, and try Le'Cellier or Teppan Edo or Chefs De France or Tutto Italia?

Just a suggestion....

 

[Diamondintheruff]

When my kids were smaller I booked lots of character meals. Now they are getting older and they don't need as many. So I would say do them while your kids are still young enough to find the magic in them. Yes, there are some wonderful other non-character restaurants at WDW. In fact there are wonderful non-character restaurants in every city.

My opinion is to keep them. Enjoy the way your children's eyes light up when the characters come to the table and watch the magic happen. Because they are only young once.

 

[dopeyluvsgrumpy]

We booked a lot of character dinners on our last trip. The problem we had was that most of the character meals are buffet and DS never wanted to leave the table to get his food because he was afraid that he would miss someone coming to our table. We really didn't like Crystal Palace because its a huge restaurant and we had to wait forever for our little ones to see all the characters. We liked liberty tree tavern the best but thats no longer a character meal. 1900 Fare Park was very good too. The ugly stepsisters were the best, they really played their parts well, but still remained likable to the little ones. While we were at 1900 a birthday girl got a dance with Prince Charming.

 

[Northstar]

I think it might be too many character meals, making the special 5th birthday one a bit less magical...


Why not drop Akershus and go for something in Epcot with a show, like Biergarten or Marrakesh? (Biergarten's a buffet, Marrakesh is not) Our DD liked the oompah band and show at Biergarten a lot when she was 8. The belly dancer at Marrakesh gets all the kids up there gyrating. It's a family-friendly show.
We all liked the food (especially the beer... well, DD age 8 didn't try the beer!) at Biergarten, and we also liked Marrakesh though neither one was really fine dining. They were reasonable food and a lot of fun.

 

[joandegennaro]

Try the Garden Grill in Epcot. You get Chip, Dale, Mickey, Pluto and Donald Duck. This is a family style they bring you what's on the menu and refill as much as you want as many times as you want. Love the potatoes...have a refill. A family favorite of ours is O'hana for dinner. It has no character's but does have a lady who plays the uchilay(I know I spelt it wrong) and teaches the kids to dance. A fun place without characters is Whipering Canon Cafe. Ask for ketchup and everyone races to your table with their bottle. You then have to pass it forward for the next person who asks for ketchup. There are pony races around the resturant. If you kids are willing to embrace the atmosphere they will have a great time. You can order the family skilet or order off the menu. A great place to look at the menu's is allears.net. Every resturant is listed according to it's location (IE: the parks, resorts or downtown disney) I agree with the poster who says do while your kids are still young. I know that this year with DD's at 17 and 11 the character meals are not that important, however they did love the new one's we did last year.

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

with the help of this forum, i finally booked my trip in may staying a cbr for 8 nights, joined the meal plan since i really hate to figure out what to eat when i get hungry so the adr feature is great and that i thought with the meal plan we could go for more expensive stuff...

So i have now used adr online and booked.

Day spend at mgm - eat dinner at hollywood & vine at 4 pm.. (?!) so i can get the fantasmic dinning package with a 'vip' viewing area for the show. ( is this even worth it ? Heard food was not that great..) if you can get mama melrose's for fp, the food is much better & the ambiance is family friendly but not ear piercingly loud like h&v

day spend at mk - eat dinner at crystal palace really like this one! Are you pooh fans?

day spend at outlet mall (a break from disney..already..?) - booked chef mickey for dinner have not done this one but maybe 2 nights back to back buffet is a bit much

day spend at epcot - booked dinner princess story book we liked the princess interaction here very much & you do get up for the salad/cold board but your entrees/dessert are served to you

day spend at mgm or mk haven't decided yet - booked cinderella happily ever dinner this is without princesses? Just a show?

day spend at ak - booked dinner at boma we like this one, go early so you can see the lobby & stroll out back

day spend at mgm or mk - haven't decided yet, - haven't booked anything yet, and hence the question came in mind...

Does this sound ok ? Would the kids 9 and 4 be tire with all the character dinning you think ?...any comments on this ?

garden grill is a wonderful dinner - low key, super character interaction & such a fun setting. Served family style.

If you do throw out a dinner, consider a late breakfast - cape may has an wonderful breakfast buffet that is character themed but not manic. Gorgeous setting, relaxed and enjoyable.

hth.

 

[bestjsg]

thank you for all our suggestions, I have now modified the ADR a bit now...

Hollywood & vine - Fatansmic dinning package @ 4 pm ..(?!)

Crystal Palace - Dinner

Garden Grills - Dinner

Boma - dinner

Chef Mickey - Dinner

1900 PF - dinner ( 5 yr old birthday night.)

Whispering Canyon - dinner

Cap May Cafe - Breakfast..


Sound a bit better now I suppose ? any comments ?

 

[Nahanni]

Everyone will have their own preferences, so here are my comments.

thank you for all our suggestions, I have now modified the ADR a bit now...

Hollywood & vine - Fatansmic dinning package @ 4 pm ..(?!)
I would confirm this ADR is a F! dinner package (it will be guaranteed by credit card). H&V dinner is an average buffet with no characters so I would go with Mama Melrose for a "regular" dining experience and F! package.

Crystal Palace - Dinner
Nice atmosphere with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore. Typical buffet (IMHO better than H&V)

Garden Grills - Dinner
I have never been so I'm not sure about the food quality. I think the regular characters are Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale and you will see Mickey and Pluto at Chef Mickey's.
We enjoyed Akershus Princess Storybook dining. The cold buffet includes Norwegian dishes (pickled herring, smoked mackeral, smoked salmon, cured meats and cheese), followed by an entree served at the table and nice dessert platter (apple blossom, chocolate mousse, rice pudding). There is good table interaction with princesses (we had Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel and Aurora) and an included photo package (ours with Belle).

Boma - dinner
A restaurant we look forward to trying in future (based on good experience at Tusker House within AK).

Chef Mickey - Dinner
Not sure if it was the 7:30 seating, there was enough variety to be filling but I didn't really care for the food at this buffet (I've never had dry ham from a carving station before). The big draw is meeting the fab-5. Photo package with a Mickey statue is $30.

1900 PF - dinner ( 5 yr old birthday night.)
I hear it's a fun dinner with the step sisters but not the glamour of princesses (i.e. perhaps Akershus fits well here).

Whispering Canyon - dinner

Cap May Cafe - Breakfast..


Sound a bit better now I suppose ? any comments ?

 

[mom22belles]

In general character buffets are great for the kids because there is no wait for food. But keep in mind... the 'kids' buffet is pretty much the same in each place. Chic. nuggets/fingers , fries, pizza, mac. and cheese and kernel corn. There is nothing to stop the kids from eating the from the adults buffet.