Upcharge Character Breakfast

[Bella29]

I would love to see this happen so I am putting it out there into the universe and hoping The Powers That Be read it.

I think there should be an improved/upscale character breakfast/brunch option. It would be ticketed with staggered dining times, top characters (actually the Pooh characters would be awesome but I'll take the Fab 5), the characters come to your table along with a photographer, but they have more than 10 seconds to interact - not asking for them to sit down and hang out for the meal but like 1-2 minutes. The food would be buffet, but better than Cabana's breakfast buffet. Similar to Crystal Palace, and reserved in advance like Palo.

An upcharge similar to Palo would be reasonable and necessary - $15 for kids, $25 for adults?

I think on cruises with sea days this is possible and would be a money maker for DCL. They have the restaurant space and the characters are on board. My family would love to have a special brunch and get most of our character pictures taken care of in one fell swoop without having to wait in line for them.

This would be completely different from the current character breakfasts which are rushed, limited menu, jr. characters, etc.

If this is something you would pay an upcharge for, please chime in! Or if you have ideas for improvement, please feel free to share.

 

[SeaSpray]

At first I thought your idea was ridiculous, but then as I read further, I can see where and why a family with small children would appreciate and want to pay for something you've described.

When my boys were young, we did character meals galore. They were fun, they were built-in breaks from the parks, but most of all, they allowed us to visit with the characters and collect all of the autographs that my sons wanted.

Now that we're a family of 4 adults who don't cruise together as regularly as we used to, we'd have no need of a meal that you described, but if I had young kids, I'd agree 100%

P.S. I'm on pain meds, I hope my post makes sense and doesn't come across as negative because I mean it in a positive way.

 

[CesD]

What would be served at the buffet worth $15/child and $25/ adult that they don't have in Cabanas?

I'm not a fan of up charge options though so this would be a hard sell for me.

 

[squirrel]

They did staggered times on my last cruise. It worked perfectly, no need to add a charge for it. Only those that wanted to attend went and picked up tickets.

 

[insureman]

I suspect that Bella29 is actually Karl Holz.

 

[sambycat]

Nope

 

[DIS_Ag]

On our first cruise in 2013 it was the old school characters in Parrot Cay (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip, and Dale). I didn't fee too rushed. They took all the combos of pictures we wanted and Goofy even danced with our daughter for a bit.

 

[cheermom2four]

Im not sure I would pay extra for that since we are already paying a fortune to take our kids on a cruise. But I also see your point of wanting the characters to be visiting longer than a split second which would be nice.

 

[swissfamilystrickland]

I would be super excited if this happened. We love character dining and our kids would be excited about it as well so I'd definitely pay an upcharge for the character dining experience especially if it were more unique or cruise themed compared to what is offered at the parks. It would be great if it was included in the prices though since they are already high enough!

I would love to see this happen so I am putting it out there into the universe and hoping The Powers That Be read it.

I think there should be an improved/upscale character breakfast/brunch option. It would be ticketed with staggered dining times, top characters (actually the Pooh characters would be awesome but I'll take the Fab 5), the characters come to your table along with a photographer, but they have more than 10 seconds to interact - not asking for them to sit down and hang out for the meal but like 1-2 minutes. The food would be buffet, but better than Cabana's breakfast buffet. Similar to Crystal Palace, and reserved in advance like Palo.

An upcharge similar to Palo would be reasonable and necessary - $15 for kids, $25 for adults?

I think on cruises with sea days this is possible and would be a money maker for DCL. They have the restaurant space and the characters are on board. My family would love to have a special brunch and get most of our character pictures taken care of in one fell swoop without having to wait in line for them.

This would be completely different from the current character breakfasts which are rushed, limited menu, jr. characters, etc.

If this is something you would pay an upcharge for, please chime in! Or if you have ideas for improvement, please feel free to share.

 

[fab1976]

I have young kids and no, we wouldn't pay for something like that. I didn't find the lines to be bad to meet the characters and my kids don't always know how to interact with them at character meals in the park so it's usually autograph, pose, smile, picture, Winnie moves on. We had a fantastic meal interaction with Goofy once but it's usually just the same as the Disney Jr breakfast was. I would be happy to do that again, but wouldn't be happy to have to pay for it. Unless a character sat with us, then that would be worth it .

 

[Geomom]

No, I wouldn't pay for it. The cruise costs enough already, and I certainly don't want to take something that was free, have them 'enhance' it, and then be charged for it. A free character breakfast is just a nice little addition to our cruise.

 

[SonicGuy]

We actually found our character breakfast on the Wonder earlier this month to be rather relaxing and un-rushed. I have to agree with those that aren't in favor of this.

 

[storknurse13]

I don't know how I would feel about this if this was an option. Personally, I like NOT having to wait in line for our children to get autographs with the characters. I wish they didn't like doing it, but they do. The pictures always turn out great and they get a few special minutes to spend with a character. Although my kids like to meet with the characters that don't/wouldn't do characters breakfasts. So what I guess I'm saying is that if it was free and the characters varied then I would go for it. I just dislike paying an additional price for something that we can get without the extra cost by just taking up our time. One day, I will look back and cherish the moments that I spent getting autographs with the kids.

 

[Bella29]

Well I guess that explains why they're not offering it, since few appear to be interested! Silly me, I thought it was a no brainer!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Well I guess that explains why they're not offering it, since few appear to be interested! Silly me, I thought it was a no brainer!

The original format for the character breakfast - only on cruises of 7 nights and longer with at least 3 sea days - allowed for all guests to be scheduled for the Character breakfast based on their dinner seating. They needed the 3 sea days for the 3 rotations/2 seatings each day.

Attendance at these was never very good, and had been dropping quite a bit, with more and more returning cruisers opting out. This meant there were a lot of CMs being used in a dining room that weren't really doing much. So DCL now has the ticketed event, that way they can consolidate the numbers and only have one or two breakfasts on those cruises they still offer it (still on the 7 night and longer cruises, but I believe the 3 sea day thing isn't necessary now).

I doubt having a charge for the event would increase attendance.

 

[mmouse37]

I wouldn't pay an upcharge. We always go for the character breakfasts onboard and always find them fine...yes they are rushed a bit but you still get some time with the characters and nice pics. On our last Wonder cruise we most of the Fab 5.

I doubt you will see Winnie and gang onboard as there is some sort of licensing issue going on.

MJ

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

The ticking of the CB say on the Magic was brought in to stagger arrival times of cruisers, more in keeping with the CB at the parks. Having everyone turning up at either 8.15am or 9.30, caused problems as everyone was there at a set time, food out at a set time but the characters had to get around and it caused issues. Some didn't get to see all the characters. I had a CB on the Magic with booked tickets in 2015, and with Mickey Minnie Goofy and Pluto, it felt only 25% full but there was a steady stream of people arriving and going and the characters visiting sections of the restaurant that had people arriving at that set time slot.
On all my cruises that had CBs they have been very well attended, that to be is not the issue, but the characters took time to get around and people not knowing in advance the times and days of their CB caused clashes such as with Palo Brunch, having a full breakfast and then leaving for Brunch at 10am, and clashes with Spa and other prebookable events.

The current system is the best of all the versions from Mickeys Jam with the characters just in the middle. They are very popular just MDRs too big for characters and the principle of CBs in WDW like Chef Mickeys with staggered arrival times caused serious issues.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Pay extra to wear a napkin on my head? I don't think so!

 

[dclpluto]

You might have money coming out of your butt, but I do not. I don't want to pay a up charge for a character breakfast. If they did have a up charge they will get rid of the regular character breakfast. If you have so much money. You can get a character for 400 dollars for 30 minutes I believe the price is.

 

[darnheather]

I've been told my upcoming cruise on the Magic will not have a character breakfast. I'm very disappointed by this and might have been willing to pay to go to a special one if mimosas were included for me.