What's the big deal about character dining?

[vivianmarie244]

I'm having trouble understanding what the big deal is? Don't you get to see the same characters around the park? It just seems like a big expense for something you can get in the parks already. What's the added benefit?

 

[TDC Nala]

From what I have seen, it's that you don't have to wait in line to visit the characters; they come to you.

It's also true that you won't have Pluto go on break just when you get to the front of the line.

This is really valuable to a lot of guests, part of the reason why it can be difficult to get into a character meal.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Character meals are a benefit if you want to meet certain characters but don't feel like hunting them down or waiting in line at the parks. When you go to a character meal, there will be several characters that are (almost) guaranteed to meet you or interact with you. It's a good opportunity to get autographs and pics. In addition, character meals usually have very kid-friendly settings and child-friendly food options (most of them are all-you-can-eat), which makes them good table service options for most younger children.

I don't really do character meals anymore, but I can see the appeal. You have to eat somewhere, and if someone in your party really likes the characters, it's a way to take care of both needs at the same time.

 

[mdelano4]

Your kids will get enough one on one time with the characters when they stop by the tables. If you pick it right, the expense isn't too terrible. I would recommend Chef Mickey (Breakfast), Garden Grill or Crystal Palace.

We always have at least one character meal during our trip.

 

[sparks19]

what everyone else said... it's basically killing two birds with one stone. You have to eat sometime and if you are into meeting characters than you can eat AND meet characters and then skip waiting in the lines at the parks and do all the other things you want to do.

HOWEVER... this will be our first character dining experience with DD. We are doing the princess lunch at the Akershus. She LOVES the princesses. Even though we are having that princess lunch we are most likely ALSO going to see the princesses at magic Kingdom too lol. I'm fitting in the princesses whereever I can as much as I can because DD loves them so much.

I thinkt he added bonus of the character dining is that you get a little different interaction. I think they have a little more time to pose for pictures and stuff than at the meet and greets in the parks with a never ending line. that's my experience anyway but I havent' done character dining since 1999 lol.

if you are into meeting the characters I think it's worth it to do the character dining because that can free up time in the parks that you would have spent going from character to character and waiting in line for each one... added up that's a lot of time when you could knock out 5 or 6 characters in one sitting and since you have to eat anyway win win.

Character dining doesn't have to be expensive. Some of them have outrageous pricing but others are pretty reasonable. lunch at CRT was listed as $39-$59 per meal... Akershus was listed at $15-$39 (figures aren't exact as I can't remember the exact ones at the moment but the difference in price is relative)

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I think the benefit is to not have to wait in line for the characters. And you have to eat anyway, so why not do a character meal?

 

[TDC Nala]

I think the benefit is to not have to wait in line for the characters. And you have to eat anyway, so why not do a character meal?

Because better food can be had elsewhere on property, including elsewhere in the parks. If you're going for the characters, it's just required that the food be decent. If you're going for the food and not the characters you may be disappointed. Disney figured out awhile back that guests would come to these meals for the characters and the food was secondary.

Most say the food is just fine. I am sure it's fine but it used to be better, and to me the characters were secondary.

At CRT you are not paying just to see princesses...you're paying a further premium to eat in the castle. Akershus has the princesses but no castle, so if you can get by without the castle you can save a little cash choosing it instead. If you like Cinderella in particular there's the 1900 Park Fare dinner.

 

[JimmyV]

Beats the alternative. Just by way of example, I took my kid to see Mickey at:
Chef Mickey's x 2
Poly Breakfast x 1
Garden Grill x 1

I also took her to the Judge's Tent to see Mickey several times. And I swore if I had to watch that $%^& cartoon of Donald baking pies one more time I would take hostages! The character interaction at the meals was much better. Besides. You get to sit through the ordeal instead of waiting in that awful line (which I know is now gone, but, you get the point.)

 

[Eddie75]

It's for the kids! When my wife and I went alone we weren't concerned with character meals, just good food.

 

[iloveeeyore]

For us, there is a time and place for character meals. We love to do a character meal on our first night in WDW. The atmosphere at the character meals is very celebratory and peppy, it really gets us in the mood for our vacation! (We are two adults and now 2 teens). We couldn't get Chef Mickey's this time so we are trying 1900 Park Fare. I hear the wicked stepsisters and stepmother are funny and that teens (and adults) should enjoy them.

Last trip for DD's sweet 16 celebration she surprisingly wanted to eat at CRT, so we did that, too. She really wanted to feel like a princess that day, and the characters played it right up, it was very sweet.

 

[HJV]

My husband and I go every year to the wine and food fest. No kids. This year we're doing a character breakfast for the first time. Though he's a breakfast person (I'm not) I thought it would be fun to get some pics with characters because we're usually too busy--and don't want to make the little ones wait longer--to stop for character pics. So he'll get eggs and I'll get some pictures

 

[Baileymouse]

We went to the character meals for the kids. The interaction with the adults was pretty funny. Years ago we ate at The Land and Chip & Dale did some incredibly funny stuff to my step-father, like stealing his food. We got some good pics. At CRT, Jasmine posed with my adult son, much to the delight of my then 5 year old daughter.

If I go alone with DH, we don't hit the character meals. They're expensive, the characters are the focus, and the food is not as good as it is in other Disney restaurants.

 

[Dustmouse]

Character meals are least painful way to get a good meet and greet experience. Standing in line at the parks for characters always seemed like a huge waste of time for me and searching for certain characters was sometimes challenging. At a character meal, you are guaranteed specific characters and will most likely get a good opportunity for pictures, autographs and memorable experiences.

You can read a thousand good and bad reviews of each character meal, but overall I feel that it is worth the money to get a meal and the experience, especially if you have kids!

 

[Alsobrook]

You can actually get Mary Poppins to feed you a spoonful of sugar.


Booyah.

 

[Cafeen]

As a single (it took me 4 tries to type that tonight kept typing signle...) guy, I like to go for the atmosphere. I don't really want to do too many, but one with Mom and one on my last day there. The food is ok, not great, typically not horrible, but I just like to sit back and soak it in. Watching the little kids' faces and how they interact makes me smile too.

When I went in 2009 with my friend's little girl (2.5 at the time), it was all for both of them. For the little one to interact with the characters, and for mommy to share that experience with her. I can tell you, sitting back and watching that is one of the best feelings I had (and a bit selfish, I admit, as the thought was "I gave this to them" ).

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Sure, you can wait in line to see characters in the parks, but you could waste over 3 hours or more per day waiting to see popular characters + the wait is often torture for the kids.

I figure we have to eat and TS meals are usually a nice rest/break for everyone so why not kill 2 birds w/1 stone? You sit, relax, eat a nice meal in a heated/air conditioned spot while the characters come to you. It seems like a no brainer winner to us! We did 6 character meals last trip and have 7 booked for our upcoming trip.

 

[cymbaldiva]

I'm having trouble understanding what the big deal is? Don't you get to see the same characters around the park? It just seems like a big expense for something you can get in the parks already. What's the added benefit?

For me? At this time, none - there's better food elsewhere and I already have pictures of myself with characters. Of course YMMV

 

[RadioFanatic]

Well, I have a dh who refuses to stand in line for characters so this way my DS gets to see who he wants while dh eats to his heart's content!

 

[hannahdrewmom]

If you have young kids it also serves as entertainment and they will sit longer knowing that characters are coming. Bribery for veggies might happen once or twice two... I've been known to say Winnie won't stop if you don't eat your carrots! Vacation is for the whole family and if my kids like it I'll do one once in a while.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

Lots of great reasons listed here that I agree with. We always do Chef Mickey's the evening we arrive. We've spent the day flying etc. and don't feel like going to the parks the day we arrive (in Sept. we get into MCO at 3:20 PM so there wouldn't be much time anyway). We want to get settled and relax a little but we also are so excited to be there and what better way than to see the characters (especially Mickey) right away! It kicks our trip off to a great start. This way we've also got our pics and autographs from the fab 5, no need to worry about that the rest of the trip. If we get to see some of them again, great, if not, we're good to go! So far that's the only character meal we have done (with the exception of LTT when I was younger before my kids). This time we have planned Crystal Palace for our last day's dinner to end the trip as well. We gave our oldest several options (by which characters would be there) and that's what he chose and we're all looking forward to it. For us seeing some characters is important and this is an easy way to do so. We're on the DDP anyway so that's just another reason that we just might as well do it.