What's up with the character dining prices?

[Tiggerlovinggrandma]

Went on line today to WDW and they stated character meals as $15.00 for children 3-9 and $35.99 for 10 and up. I than checked ALL EARS and they have them as $14.99 for children and $26.99 for adults. I also checked DIS Menus and they are pricing them at 15.99 for kids 3-9 and $32.99 for adults or 10 and over.

So which is it? Does anyone know for sure what the true charge is for character meals?

 

[BriarRosie]

Depends on the time of year you're going to eat there, and it's not just character meals.

My breakfast buffet at the Captain's Grille at Yacht Club cost me $14.99 in October, but last month, it was $19.99. There's a "holiday pricing surcharge" for many WDW restaurants.

I'm not sure if you'll encounter it when you go, but it's something Disney started doing a year or two ago.

 

[Cafeen]

This seems to be a pretty common issue with the website lately, the prices are appearing as one "notch" higher than they usually are. It could be due to them incorporating the holiday surcharge or it could just be standard Disney bad coding.

I personally hate their breakdowns, as it tends to put all CS in one category, half the TS in the 2nd and the rest of the (common) TS in the 3rd. There's little to no breakdown of actual relative cost (and a $25 gap without deeper pricing detail is way too large)

 

[cigar95]

This seems to be a pretty common issue with the website lately, the prices are appearing as one "notch" higher than they usually are. It could be due to them incorporating the holiday surcharge or it could just be standard Disney bad coding.

I personally hate their breakdowns, as it tends to put all CS in one category, half the TS in the 2nd and the rest of the (common) TS in the 3rd. There's little to no breakdown of actual relative cost (and a $25 gap without deeper pricing detail is way too large)

The other real issue with the web site format is that it shows a range of "$15 - $35.99" and so many guests here think that means the kids' meal is $15, and the adult meal is $35.99, when all it really is is a price range - and a fairly wide one at that. If the meal costs $21.99, it's going to be shown in the same range as a meal that's priced at $33.99.

 

[Cafeen]

The other real issue with the web site format is that it shows a range of "$15 - $35.99" and so many guests here think that means the kids' meal is $15, and the adult meal is $35.99, when all it really is is a price range - and a fairly wide one at that. If the meal costs $21.99, it's going to be shown in the same range as a meal that's priced at $33.99.

Yep, I think it's best to mention that the price ranges are also not per restaurant. It's a category that spans the min to the max. I would bet someone else's money (pfft, not my own of course!) that that is what is also causing a lot of the confusion.

 

[TDC Nala]

Not all the character meals cost the same, either.

 

[MrsLS]

We found the pricing to be higher for the buffets than stated on allears. We were after the spring break crowd price increase at least I think we were as stated on the disney pricing for the hotel prices. The breakfast buffets that we went to - Crystal Palace, 1900 Park & Cape May were all the same price $54 for 2 adults (including tax).

 

[heather13]

We found the pricing to be higher for the buffets than stated on allears. We were after the spring break crowd price increase at least I think we were as stated on the disney pricing for the hotel prices. The breakfast buffets that we went to - Crystal Palace, 1900 Park & Cape May were all the same price $54 for 2 adults (including tax).

I was just going to state this too. I cancelled our dining plan based on the prices from allears after putting their estimates (high end) into a spreadsheet along with CS prices I found here of what we would likely order. A few days later I rechecked the Disney website for pricing and discovered it was actually cheaper to go with the dining plan.

 

[ccgirl]

Keep in mind the Disney prices do not include tax.

As others stated, a range is a range. Check the restaurants menu and it will tell you the price for the meal. They vary greatly.

 

[TDC Nala]

The posted menus are not always the most recent and do not always have the correct price. Disney doesn't post exact prices on their website. This is where the confusion is.