Your vote for the best character dining experience for toddlers/infants!

[pearland1]

What would you vote on as the best character dining experience now, for toddlers or infants?
I will have a 3 1/2 year old girl and a 18 month old girl there in January.

What are your recommendations?

Thank you!

 

[Kae]

We enjoy them all. but one that we really liked when the kids were young was Cape May Breakfast at around 10 am. Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale. It was much more quiet & the kids got lots of one on one with the Charaters. Chef mickeys is a blast but total Mayhem. Crystal Palace has great food but people tend to rush more.

Kae

 

[ParkPrincess]

My vote would be Crystal Palace at MK. It has the Pooh characters. We've had dinner there when our DD was 3, and she just loved it. Each character came by and spent plenty of time with her. They had a little parade and sang during dinner, too. Very cute.

 

[mom2aredhead]

Both are loud, so if this is an issue for either of your little ones, then they won't work but my choices are:

Chef Mickey's - we always do a LATE seating and basically make brunch out of it - go to MK for rope drop, then hop on the monorail for 11:00 ADR at Chef Mickey's - we've done this a few times and NEVER had an issue with the food being cold, etc. It's not nearly as crowded as other times so the characters are able to spend much more time with the kids.

The other one is Playhouse Dine at H&V if your older one is into JoJo and the Little Einsteins. They have the kids get up and dance - it's lots of fun, but again - loud. For this one, I would try to snag the earliest lunch ADR (which from what I recall is around 11:30-ish??) - before it gets too crowded and added bonus, there's breakfast and lunch food out.

I have no girls, so can't comment on anything princess-ey, but the Princess meals seem to be the most popular with the tiara-wearing crowd around here!

Have fun whatever you decide!

 

[jpeka65844]

I second mom2redhead's Chef Mickey's strategy! We did that in March and really enjoyed it! It gave us some time in the parks to knock out the kiddie rides, then an 11:10 seating. The place was pretty full when we arrived but by the time we left, it had emptied out. Food was still hot and fresh (can you IMAGINE the leftovers they must have?) and characters came around THREE times!

Crystal Palace was also good. We made an 8:05 ressie before the park opened. The restaurant wasn't full and it was awesome to see the park with nobody in it! The characters came around once and probably would've come around again but we left right after they left our table. We'd been there to dinner earlier in the week and had lots of face time with them then. We liked the breakfast seating so much that it's going to become our tradition. We talk about what we liked, what we didn't, and what we want to do different/again on our next trip.

Oh btw....DS, 16 mos at the time loved both of them!!!! Sorry I didn't answer that one sooner!




Denice T.
Olathe, KS

 

[mill4023]

I'd pick based on which characters your oldest likes the most.
Is she into princesses? If so, Akershus is great. Although we weren't crazy about Norwegian food, so my pick would be breakfast.
Crystal Palace is great if she likes Pooh, Tigger, etc.

 

[BrADmatt]

I would have to say either Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends or 1900 Park fare in the GF. My 2 DS loved them both when they were young (and so did I, still do )

 

[las3888]

We have taken DS (28 mos) to almost all of the character buffets. He has travelled to WDW 5 times since he was 8.5 mos! I would say his favorites are Crystal Palace and Hollywood & Vine (Playhouse Disney characters). IF I had to pick his very favorite, it would probably be H&V. We like this one too as it is not that crowded and the characters come by a few times if you're lucky. Cape May is nice as is 1900 Park Fair. To us, it depends on what our day's plans include...(MGM, MK, etc.).

Good luck!

 

[las3888]

I forgot to mention Biergarten in EPCOT. There aren't characters, but DS has a great time watching the entertainment of the oom pah pah band.

 

[kenny]

We did the Princess Breakfast with my dd in december (she was 2 1/2). She loved it. There is no cinderella but Snow White was her favorite so it worked out great (Aurora, Belle, Snow White, Mulan, Mary Poppins were there).

We did Crystal Palace for dinner which she also seemed to like. Got to bounce with Tigger.

Cinderella dinner at the Grand Floridian was ok too.

This Oct we are going to do CRT for breakfast. We have never been.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Princess Breakfast in Norway, our 3.5 year old niece loved the attention! Face characters are not as scary as the big costumed ones

 

[drag n' fly]

Crystal Palace. Easy to get to with young ones. Once you are done you are in MK already. Buffet is set up easy for parents. Kid friendly food and nice characters for young ones.

 

[jtlover]

I would say Crystal palace with small ones as the characters are more friendly looking for the littlest one - it is really good food too

 

[TJA]

My twins are now 4 yrs old and have been going to WDW since they were 7 mos old. We hit several character meals each trip along the way. I think our favorite has to be Chef Mickeys because of the atmosphere. The Celebration Song is very fun and gets the entire family in the Disney spirit. It is a must-do for us every trip. Crystal Palace is also fun -- the characters and kids parade around the palace to the pooh song.

 

[Schucraig]

We love the Garden Grill!

 

[shaniadobie]

My picks are Crystal Place and the Castle.
Make your reservations for the castle ASAP it fills up quickly !!!!!
my DD loved both places.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Just a couple weeks ago, we took our 2 year old daughter and her infant sister, to CP, Chef Mickey's and Donald's Breakfastasaurus. Although she loved each and every one, for the record, her favorite was Donald's.

 

[PrincessNala]

I agree that all the character meals are wonderful for the kids. Having experienced with both my niece and nephew and now my own dd2, I would have to say going to the first character meal with a real person is easier as they can talk. Seeing 6' Goofy can be frightening to a 2 year old. My dd was frightened of Mickey and Stitch at Ohana's but fell in love with the princesses in Norway simply because she could talk to them. She still talks about how Snow White taught her the princess pose and that was 7 months ago. Best of luck! All in all, the magic will be wonderful for your little ones!

 

[hannah's dad]

On thing to keep in mind is that your 18 month old might get frightened by the characters. To a toddler, they are HUGE when seen up close. My DD was afraid when the characters came up to her last year at just over 1 and was still afraid this year at just over 2.

So, I'd pick a meal based on who your older child wants to see. If the toddler loves the characters, great. If not, you can sit her where the characters won't come close to her.

We've eaten at lots of the character meals, and I think the best overall experience is Chef Mickey's. The food is decent, but the atmosphere is loud and a lot of fun. LTT is much quieter, but the food (IMHO) is better - if you like Thanksgiving!

 

[Amber74]

If your kids watch Playhouse Disney on Tv I would say definately Hollywood and Vine breakfast or lunch. My son had a great time. They periodically do a performance where all the kids get up and dance with the characters and it is so cute. This is the only meal that I videotaped while in Disney. I was trying to talk my DS4 into going up and dancing with them and at first he wouldn't, then he told me to close my eyes and when I opened them he was jammin' with June, Leo, Jojo, and Goliath.
It was the cutest thing.