Which character meals do I keep?

[celina14]

Hi all! We are going to be in Disney in November/December and I've already made my ADRs and currently have 6 character meals booked. I feel like that's a bit overkill so I'm trying to narrow it down to maybe just 4. But I'm curious if somewhere there is a list of which characters are typically at each meal? Then I can eliminate some that overlap. I'm specifically interested in the following:

CRT- I'm absolutely keeping this one but still wondering which princesses it typically is
Akershus- Maybe princess overkill if also doing CRT but are there different princesses at this one? I mainly have it for PPO advantages but if I can get a FP for FEA I may not need to keep it but still might if it's different enough from CRT.
Ohana Bfast- I think this is a definite keep for us as well.
Tusker House- would probably only keep this if I can do it as a ROL package whenever they want to open those up.
Chef Mickeys- Strongly thinking of eliminating this one especially if we cover all the other characters at our other meals.
Minnie's Holiday Dine (H&V)- This one probably will definitely keep also because I think it will be fun to get them in their holiday attire and we have it as a Fantasmic package currently.

So are 6 character meals too much? As of right now I'm thinking the 2 I would most likely get rid of are Chef Mickey's and Tusker House but open to hear other thoughts and what characters are there.

By the way my kids are DD5 and DS2. My DD says all the characters are her favorite but she does really love the princesses, Minnie and Stitch. My DS is still little so his interests are still developing but he does seem to have a love for Mickey.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Accident]

In my opinion, the character meals are more for the parents and not the kids.. My daughter was scared of the characters walking around while she was eating when she was that age. In my mind they are a little pricey and the money is better spent elsewhere.. I would personally pick 1, maybe 2. concentrate on what your DD5 would know since you have a little list.. Work on your DS2 learning those same characters.. If there is a meal that is a mom/dad must do, then working on getting the kids familiar with the characters will really change it..

every family is different of course but that's a lot of running around and waking up early for expensive breakfast to me...

 

[_auroraborealis_]

CRT is typically Cindy downstairs, then Aurora, Snow White, Jasmine and Ariel. Akershus is typically Belle, then Aurora, Snow White, Jasmine and (wait for it...) Ariel. Both can have others swapped in as staffing demands. But you can count on probably 3/5 overlap most of the time.

Eliminate CM for food quality alone. You have overlap of almost every character already between Minnie's Holiday Dine and Tusker House; Pluto and Mickey are at Ohana breakfast as well.

There is almost no PPO advantage to Akershus, by all reports. If you want to get PPO advantage, it's usually better to get Garden Grill to rope drop Soarin', but your kids are too small for Soarin'?

 

[Jenny Sanders]

I would keep CRT and Ohana. The others seem to overlap too many characters...just my opinion.

 

[sandy77d]

We did several character meals on our trip in early June - CRT, Ohana, Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, and Tusker House, so I will say that we love character meals. The princesses at our CRT were Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Merida, and Ariel. I doubt I would do two princess meals - but my daughters do not like princesses too much. They really wanted to eat in the castle. We loved Ohana. The characters there are great. Stitch is so much fun. My DH did not really like the food at Ohana for breakfast, but I thought it was fine. I really enjoyed the food at Tusker House because it was different than your typical buffet. The characters there were also fun.

For us, 5 character meals were not too many. But, my daughters are 11 years old and they loved the characters.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

If CRT is a must, cancel Akershus (though we prefer it to CRT!). If O'hana and Minnie's H&V are musts, cancel Tusker House (though that's our favorite!) and Chef Mickey's (which is simply gross). Three character meals are plenty IMHO and you will get a good variety of characters between the princess meal, O'hana and H&V.

 

[Bailey 512]

I agree. Cancel Chef Mickey- Yuck. Ohana is great. CRT is of course a must. We have had decent experiences at Crystal Palace.

 

[mkla2015]

We did 5 character meals on our trip this year... and 6 the year before. My kids love the character meals so I figure we might as well do them while they are still young and really enjoy the characters.

But, if you are dropping two- I'd say Akershus (since you are doing CRT) and Chef Mickey. If you haven't been to Tusker House before, I'd keep it. It's one of our favorites- we always have breakfast or brunch there.

 

[Hans Olo]

I must be in he minority here but my family all loved Chef Mickeys! We also loved Akershus. The cheesy potatoes were delicious!
I'm no help in getting rid of any. We really enjoy character meals
Best of luck!

 

[Lavitz]

Each year we add more and more character ADRs. This year we're up to 7, lord help us.

This has a list of all character dining spots and which characters are at each place.

http://wdwprepschool.com/guide-to-all-disney-world-character-meals/

Not to make your life more difficult, but H&V Disney Jr breakfast/lunch is near the top of our list of best ADRs for kids. Can't beat Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, Handy Manny and Jake at that age.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I'm going to have to vote for keeping Chef mickey given the ages of your kids. We loved it. We did breakfast there 2 weeks ago and thought the food was fine- Mickey Waffles were delicious! It was all freah, hot, and well stocked. That's the only time I've ever had chef mickey's. The kids (ages 3, 7, and 8) had a blast!

 

[Happyinwonerland]

Not to make your life more difficult, but H&V Disney Jr breakfast/lunch is near the top of us list of best ADRs for kids. Can't beat Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, Handy Manny and Jake at that age.

DD was2/3 (she had a birthday during our trip) last summer and we ate a H&V lunch and it was so much fun!

We've been to Tusker House twice, and it was just ok to me, nothing to write home about. I'd rather save my animal kingdom dinner for Boma- so good!

 

[ilovebassets]

I would keep Ohana and Tusker house. CRT if you really just want to experience the castle once, but it's absolutely not worth the money.

FWIW, Garden Grill breakfast is probably my favorite character meal both food and atmosphere wise. For the same reason I like 'Ohana, it's so much easier when the food comes to you.

 

[Baklava]

I would keep CRT, Ohana and H&V. We're the outliers but we really weren't wowed by Tusker.

We did a LOT of character dining, but we were using the DxDDP and utilizing dining for PPO breakfasts and breaks mid-day. I'd be happy with a character meal pretty much every day, but that may be overkill for some.

 

[crabbygal902]

Are you on the DDP? Then I'd strongly suggest keeping your character ADRs. They are very expensive and a great way to spend your credits. If not I'd at least consider reducing, if for no other reason than to cut some costs.

When my kids were little, we did almost all of the character meals and some multiple times. The kids loved meeting the characters, we loved not having to wait in lines to meet characters. We also enjoyed the entertainment during dinner. That was a huge draw for us, that the kids were entertained by their surroundings---not an iPad where they aren't interacting with anyone at the dinner table, that drives me bats---and we parents could get off our feet, relax a bit, and enjoy our kids being happy.

 

[Vader-was-framed]

My family is the bang for your buck type. Askershus house is the biggest deal on the ddp. $51 at 1 credit. I wouldn't cancel that at all. Chef mickeys and tusker house are also high on the list. But who am I kidding. I love all of them

 

[henry72]

If CRT is a must, cancel Akershus (though we prefer it to CRT!). If O'hana and Minnie's H&V are musts, cancel Tusker House (though that's our favorite!) and Chef Mickey's (which is simply gross). Three character meals are plenty IMHO and you will get a good variety of characters between the princess meal, O'hana and H&V.

But, if you are dropping two- I'd say Akershus (since you are doing CRT) and Chef Mickey. If you haven't been to Tusker House before, I'd keep it. It's one of our favorites- we always have breakfast or brunch there.

If you want to drop two, I would say Akershus and Chef Mickey. If you want to drop another, I guess I would go with Tusker House though I personally would keep this and get rid of Hollywood & Vine (but then again my kids are older.)

 

[cheydoesdisney]

I would personally keep Ohana, Tusker House and CRT! Tusker House is my personal favorite and I find myself going every time. The food is delicious, and there's plenty to chose from. Animal Kingdom has amazing dining expierences, but Tusker is the best by far. Plus, there's an endless supply of jungle juice(aka the best drink in Disney ).

 

[Lisa F]

I would keep CRT, Ohana and H&V. We're the outliers but we really weren't wowed by Tusker.

We did a LOT of character dining, but we were using the DxDDP and utilizing dining for PPO breakfasts and breaks mid-day. I'd be happy with a character meal pretty much every day, but that may be overkill for some.

I'm doing 6 character meals in a 7 day trip and hoping it is not too much, but my kiddo loves the character meals and requested them. I don't go very often (our last trip was 2 years prior and trip before that was 4 years prior) so I figured I'd go all out while he is still young enough to enjoy (8)

We are doing mostly breakfasts, not PPO (we are skewing toward later nights)
Tusker House
Cape May
Ohana
H&V Minnie's Seasonal Dine with F!
Garden Grill
Crystal Palace

my son won't touch a princess breakfast with a 10 foot pole

 

[celina14]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions everyone! I guess I should have mentioned that we did get Free Dining so I'm not worried about them being expensive as we will use credits for them. But it would be nice to have some credits for some other meals also, which we still will have a few just most of our meals would be character meals at this pace. CRT is absolutely not getting cancelled, I know it's expensive and a lot say it's not worth it but we have a reservation on my DD's 5th bday and I know she'll love eating in the castle. She loved it on our last trip at 2 and I don't know when we'll be back again so this may be the last time that it's truly magical for her. I'm leaning towards cancelling Akershus because the only real reason I made it was I thought it would give us an advantage on FEA but that doesn't really seem to be the case and I don't really want to rush through the meal to try and beat the crowds over there. As long as I can get a FP+ for FEA I think I'll end up dropping that one.

As for Chef Mickey's, we had bfast there 3 years ago and it was ok. My daughter really did enjoy the characters. But we have it booked for dinner this trip... is the dinner food still terrible? I'm also thinking we will cancel this one since we've done it before and we will get all those characters between some of the others. TH is also a big maybe right now, I have bfast booked there currently but probably wouldn't keep that because I'm not a huge bfast fan. If it comes out as park of a ROL package though then I will try and do it as that and hopefully it would be lunch or dinner... those are still character meals right?

I think Ohana is the other one that will definitely stay as of now. My son loves Mickey and my daughter loves Stitch and we have a later morning reservation so it could work as like a brunch for us. And H&V I'll probably still keep because it has Minnie and Daisy for my DD and Mickey for my son. Plus I'm not all that impressed by the other HS options anyway and we have it as a Fantasmic package right now.

Ugh, such difficult decisions. Looks like we'll probably end up with 4 or 5 character meals which I guess is fine, we're there for 10 days so maybe it won't be too much.

Thanks again for all the suggestions!