Two part question.......

[MickeyNicki]

1. Which is better for character dining, breakfast, lunch or dinner?

2. Which character dining experience is the best?

I am taking my 2 young nieces and cannot decide!

 

[mom2grace]

We just got back with DD 5.

Our favorites were Crystal Palace for dinner, Princess Lunch at Norway, and the Castle for lunch. DD liked the Castle the least, go figure!

 

[3princesses4us]

1) Everyone's different on this. I say it depends on how you like to plan your day. If you want to start your day by getting some character sightings out of the way while you still look good and save yourself from HAVING to seek out certain princesses at the parks and like to eat breakfast, I'd go with a character breakfast. If you like a cool, mid-day break from the heat, go for lunch. I guess one of the biggest benefits to dinner is that if you're on the dining plan, you get the most bang for your TS credit by going to dinner.
That being said, I prefer to start my day with a good breakfast and characters!

2) I'd say Chef Mickey's is a must because of the fun atmosphere and you get to see the fab 5 right away (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto). However since you have girls going with you, a princess meal might be a must for you (Lord knows it is for us). Having said that, I think the Princess Storybook meal at Akershus serves unusual Norwegian food for lunch & dinner so I'd do breakfast there if they're at all picky eaters. CRT is magical the first time at any meal, but I don't think you get any real characters at dinner, just someone in the lobby and a lithograph. So I'd go breakfast or lunch here. If your nieces are into Cinderella and you can't get CRT, definately do 1900 Park Fare at the GF for dinner to see Cindy, the Prince and the mice.

Sorry so long winded. That's my 2 cents. Good luck!

 

[juligrl]

We prefer breakfast for two reasons:
1. It's food that everyone in our family will eat.
2. We don't spend all day looking for the characters since we get our fill of them at breakfast.

 

[powellrj]

we like to book the last breakfast seating and call it brunch! We have done the dinner character meals, but we are usually too tired to really care too much about them. With the "brunch" one, its cheaper and we are usually more rested and enjoy them more.

 

[budbeerlady]

We did 1900 Park Fare Dinner and Ltt dinner. We are up early and wanted to be at the parks when the ropes dropped. And by 6pm we are done with our break and ready to hit dinner and the parks again.

But this year we will try the Lilo and Stich breakfast for DD. We really enjoyed 1900 Park fare I took care of DD's need to meet Cindy. IT was Cindy, the mice and price charming was out so we had Snow White. DD just loved it and my Dh loved the food so everyone was happy!

This year besides Lilo and Stich we are doing the Princess Dinner at Akerhus for something different. Dd wants to eat in the castle but I refuse to spend that much money for what goes on now. Another one I am thinking of trying is the Garden Grill. It looked like alot of fun when we saw it on our trip.

 

[kcashner]

We typically do a character breakfast on the last day, and love Cape May Cafe at Beach Club. Good food, nice send off. It usually isn't too crowded, and we've had great character experiences there.

As to character dinners, we like 1900 Park Fare for the best food. There are lots of little gems "hiding" on the buffet--like real scones! The dinner characters are Cindy, Prince, and mice--a little less than optimal for some families, but wonderful food. Prince Charming joked with my teen daughter about her "Prince Kyle."

Other good character dinners are LTT (family style, good food...less hectic than the buffets), CHef Mickey's (fabulous dessert and sundae bar, atmosphere can get a little wild at times). Garden Grill is fun...we've been there several times and had a mix of experiences. DD doesn't like Pooh, so we don't do Crystal Palace any more. It's also very full of very young children. So....you have lots of choices.

The meals at the castle are all about atmosphere. Every little girl should eat there once (but not once per trip!) Ours didn't eat anything last time.....and of course were hungry an hour later.

 

[Robert P]

we have found breakfast to work best, as the food is more standardized, so everyone can find something they like to eat. Also, when paying OOP, it is the least expensive meal of the day.
sometimes we get an early ADR, to avoid longer waits, and to get into the parks early. occassionally, we go for the last seating, and make it brunch (as powellrj posted previously).

with nieces (girls), I would say Princess breakfast in Norway would be the best choice for breakfast.