Too much character?

[Rocco]

So we have a 9 night stay coming up in august, and I have been making what ADRs can. Right now I have 8 character meals reserved, plus fantasmic. I starting to think that this may be to many character meals. Here is what I have lined up so far.
Day 0
-Late Arrival,
Day 1
-Late Dinner @ Chef Mickys <--Iffy on this one.
Day 2
- Early Dinner @ Crystal Palace
Day 3
-Late Dinner @ Boma <-- staying at AKL and have read good reviews
Day 4
-Breakfast @ Hollywood & Vine <--Need to keep for early entry
-Late Lunch @ Mama Melrose <--Not CM but Fantasmic
Day 5
-Dinner @ Tusker House
Day 6
-Late Dinner @ 1900 Park Fare <-- Most likely to cut
Day 7
-Late Dinner @ Akershus
Day 8
-Breakfast @ Ohana
-Early Dinner @ Garden Grill
Day 9
-Breakfast @ Tusker House.

Should I drop a couple of the CM and pick up somewhere that has some better tasting food? Have a DD6 and DD11. Took DD11 to CRT 5 years ago, and she loved it. Hmmm I may have talked myself into keeping all of them. Your thoughts?

 

[cinderella'smommy]

I would drop some character meals, if I were you. They can get to be so hectic, that it starts to get irritating. Its nice to just have a regular meal where they bring you your food, and nobody shows up that causes the kids to jump up, down and all around.

The first time we went, we went for four days in the park, and had one character meal each day; and that was kind of too much. On my second trip, we did two over 3 park days; and our most recent trip, we only went to CRT for my daughter's birthday over 5 days.

Whatever you decide, have fun!

 

[PurpleTurtle]

My girls have always done fine, but the character meals tend to set my boys off. It's like sensory overload for them after a few, so we now just do 2 or 3 over our 8-10 day vacation. They just can't seem to handle all of the chaos like the girls could at the same ages. I guess my point is, think about your kids dispositions and make your best judgment.

 

[bastraker]

Just an FYI - dinner at Tusker House is not with characters, only at breakfast.

 

[Hoopfamily]

While we don't book 9 character meals, we do quite a few and we pepper in some great sit downs. The only reasons I can think of to really nix a meal in no particular order are:
1-Cost
These meals can get pricey, but if that's how you roll.
2-Time
These meals can be very time consuming. This is the one that I have a hard time reconciling against our plans as I'm the planner it can wreak havoc on a travel schedule.
3-Character Overload
Beware the overload, you might push yourself and your kids past the point of no return.

Otherwise go go go to as many Character Meals as you can handle.

 

[sukhakuli]

I'd change one of the Tusker House meals, maybe do another EPCOT meal?
How old are your kids? CP is one of our favorites, but I might not do it for our next trip because the kids are getting older, and it's geared towards the preschool set. I think the H&V character meal is, also, so consider that.

But, I think that for families with kids, character meals are great. For the most part they are buffets, or the food comes really fast, and kids hate waiting for food. They tend to have a nice mix of healthy stuff and kid stuff, and you can move at your own pace. Plus, they have a lot of stuff to keep kids entertained during the meal, so they don't get bored as fast as they do at a stuffy meal. Have fun!

 

[Rocco]

Just an FYI - dinner at Tusker House is not with characters, only at breakfast.

Yep, I knew that, thank you. We are at AK that day, and so I made dinner Ressies.

1-Cost
These meals can get pricey, but if that's how you roll.
2-Time
These meals can be very time consuming. This is the one that I have a hard time reconciling against our plans as I'm the planner it can wreak havoc on a travel schedule.
3-Character Overload
Beware the overload, you might push yourself and your kids past the point of no return.

Otherwise go go go to as many Character Meals as you can handle.

We are on DDP so cost isn't too much of an issue, May have to pay for 1-2 meals OOP

I'd change one of the Tusker House meals, maybe do another EPCOT meal?
How old are your kids? CP is one of our favorites, but I might not do it for our next trip because the kids are getting older, and it's geared towards the preschool set. I think the H&V character meal is, also, so consider that.

Yeah, I am not too excited about character breakfasts, but the H&V one was to help us get to HS a lil early. And the Tusker Breakfast was for our last day there.

I think I may end up cancelling the Chef Mickeys, 1900 Park fare and possibly Ohana breakfast.

 

[whitney37354]

We were there for 6 nights/7 days & did 10 character meals. Some days we had character meals for both breakfast & dinner. I figured we had to eat & it would save park time by not waiting in line for hours to get autographs.

 

[Rocco]

Oh and thanks for the replies!

 

[tina.tina]

My 2 cents. Also, we loved the Hoop Dee Doo Revue but my kids LOVE chicken.
Day 1
-Late Dinner @ Chef Mickys <--Iffy on this one. (We had bad service & was our least favorite as far as food goes. You can't beat the 5 characters in 1 place though.)
Day 2
- Early Dinner @ Crystal Palace (We loved breakfast there & I hope your dinner is good. We were some of the last ones there at the end of breakfast & the characters were awesome. I was sitting at the table alone on the phone while DH & kids went to the buffet. Eeyore & Piglet both came by & hugged me. If you have an afternoon break, you don't want to rush back too early for your dinner ADR.)
Day 3
-Late Dinner @ Boma <-- staying at AKL and have read good reviews (DD is not adventurous so I was afraid to try this one.)
Day 4
-Breakfast @ Hollywood & Vine <--Need to keep for early entry (I don't think you NEED early entry. I was so worried because we got there "late" right at 9. We got FPs & had a 20 minute wait for TSM on a very crowded day. I would re-think this because you'll be full hopping on rides & in the heat, too. Plus, you'll have another very filling meal later that day.)
-Late Lunch @ Mama Melrose <--Not CM but Fantasmic (We like Italian & next time might try this one. We had the H&V late lunch & it was fine. Make sure & get to Fantasmic about 45 minutes ahead. We did & were still near the top of our section. View was fine though.)
Day 5
-Dinner @ Tusker House (If you're paying OOP for meals, I wouldn't do this one because- well, why would you? It's a buffet & not top quality food. No characters. Nothing fun. How about Rainforest Cafe- not that it's top quality food, either.)
Day 6
-Late Dinner @ 1900 Park Fare <-- Most likely to cut (Haven't been & for some reason it doesn't appeal to me & wouldn't do it if I was paying OOP otherwise. You might want to keep it if you have a Cinderella fan. I'm not sure she visits Norway.)
Day 7
-Late Dinner @ Akershus (We didn't go but gotta get those Princesses in. We loved CRT)Day 8
-Breakfast @ Ohana (I would concentrate on getting to a park early instead of eating unless you love Lilo & Stitch)
-Early Dinner @ Garden Grill (Absolutely loved it- food & characters.)
Day 9
-Breakfast @ Tusker House. (Keep if you feel like it after you've been to other character meals. They get tiresome after a while. I think this would be worth it for early entry to AK)Should I drop a couple of the CM and pick up somewhere that has some better tasting food? Have a DD6 and DD11. Took DD11 to CRT 5 years ago, and she loved it. Hmmm I may have talked myself into keeping all of them. Your thoughts

 

[HeidiLowe]

We did 8 days in the parks (about 5 character meals) and by the end we were so sick of buffets and character meals I wanted to scream! I realize that we may be in the minority though as we tried to do it as "relaxed" as possible and character meals are anything but!

Here's how it goes, at least for us:

Get to a table and are told where characters are and about when they'll be at your table. Decide to wait to get food or run up and grab it so that you don't miss the characters. Since I'm the picture taker in the family (dh just can NOT be trusted with that piece of equipment, at least to get a good shot, LOL!!) I would eventually get my food and that's when the characters would visit. So by the time I get to my food I'm stressed, tired, and the food is cold.

Also keep in mind that the characters don't all come at once, so there's usually 4-5 different ones that all come spaced out and of course the ONE special that your child wants to see will come at the worst time, or not at all. That only happened once and they were very apologetic. So imagine trying to eat a meal and being interrupted 5 times to take pictures, plus having to go fill yours and your childs plates, oh, and then they'll have to use the restroom!! It's hard enough trying to get a 4 & 5 year to eat, let alone with all of that excitement going on. In fact I'm getting anxiety just thinking about it, LOL!!!

IMHO, being the relaxed touring family that we are, they're just not worth it. When we were there there were sooooo many characters just around in the parks and our boys were very understanding if they didn't see a character they wanted to. We just said something like "Oh, they're off doing......" whatever their character would be doing.

Good luck and have fun with whatever you decide!

 

[peachydreamyxx]

It all depends on your family. My DH loves to eat and is not a fan of the character meals and buffets, however DS loves the characters and since hes little, waiting in lines to meet them can be a bit of an issue. So to make both DS and DH happy we try and do all character meals for breakfast and eat elsewhere for dinners. The only exception to this is our meal at CRT. For our upcoming trip (which is 10 days) we have 5 character meals and 4 of them are breakfasts. Hopefully DS will have plenty of time with his favorite mouse while eating so that we can spend our park time on rides and at shows than waiting in line.

 

[KELLY]

WE are doing quite a few but that is the reason we are doing the plan for the most part. That way we can skip the character lines. We are going for 10 days. I'm thinking of adding one more but I pefer the non buffett ones. I'm thinking maybe Ohana's for breakfest.
Arkershus princesses breakfest
Tusker house donald and the gang breakfest
Garden grill chip and dale along with Mickey again dinner
Crystal palace for breakfest and dinner

 

[FamilyDisneyLovers]

Leave it just the way you have it It is so nice to sit enjoy your meal and get your Character Photos taken. I am so glad we did a bunch last time because it rained everyday and none of the Characters were outside.

 

[Mom2HandR]

I know every family is different, but we just took DD10 and DD5 in March. 1900 was the best - so much character interaction and great food. I would not cancel 1900. The stepsisters and Lady Tremaine are really funny. We did Chef Mickey's for breakfast - I hear dinner is not great. But getting the Fab 5 in one place is so convenient.
My biggest consideration would be whether the kids are interested in meeting the characters, doing autographs? Those meals are so worth it if they are. Mine surprised me - 5 wanted to fill her book and the meals kept us out of lines in the parks. 10 even got into it.

 

[momtoejanda]

We do every character meal on a trip...that is what my kids look forward to. If your family likes them, keep them!!!!

 

[PurpleTurtle]

Here's how it goes, at least for us:

Get to a table and are told where characters are and about when they'll be at your table. Decide to wait to get food or run up and grab it so that you don't miss the characters. Since I'm the picture taker in the family (dh just can NOT be trusted with that piece of equipment, at least to get a good shot, LOL!!) I would eventually get my food and that's when the characters would visit. So by the time I get to my food I'm stressed, tired, and the food is cold.

I could have written this! So true!!!

 

[SmallWorld71]

Every family is different. But, for us, 3 character meals is more than enough. 1 with Mickey and friends, Crystal Palace for Pooh and friends and then 1 princess meal.

With the ages of your kids - I would drop several of the character meals in favor of some of the other places that are so fun for kids that age. A few of my kids' favs include: 'Ohana (dinner), Coral Reef, Teppan Edo, Biergarten, Whispering Canyon Cafe and a must do for our next trip is Hoop De Doo.

As far as Hollywood & Vine is concerned: be aware that early entry into the park does not really give you an advantage as far as the rides are concerned. You will not be allowed into the rest of the park until it opens. While it may save you a few minutes over the people walking into the front gates when they open, the difference is negligible. Also, if you happen to get slow service/ seated late or whatever, it could actually work against you. I would def. drop this one unless you have preschoolers traveling with you.