View Full Version : character breakfast or dinner
I would love some advice/input on character meals. We are going to Disney in late Sept. with our 3 and 1 year old sons. They are most familiar with Winnie the Pooh, and somewhat with Mickey,etc. (not princesses) and are interested in others' experiences. (Rates, meals, exchanges with the characters).
I am a Disney 'pro' in so many areas, but have never done the dining. I would love help here.
Thanks in advance.
Stacy
Have the the boys met characters before, as they may find meeting characters a bit overwhelming/frightening to begin with. Our youngest was 18 months old at the last visit and it was only towards the end of a three week holiday that he began to get comfortable with meeting characters, and then only Minnie. Most of the characters are HUGE compared to the very young children. You may want to see what their reaction to the characters is before doing character dining. In saying that, character dining can allow for a less intense meeting, especially if in one of the quieter restaurants (eg Liberty Tree Tavern, Crystal Palace(name?)). Some of the restaurants have activities every so often that can make it a little frenetic (eg Chef Mickey's @ Contempory Resort).
All of the characters are very good and sensitive with the younger children, however, if there are other kids bouncing around then it doesn't help.
It may be worthwhile choosing a breakfast (a little less expensive) and go in the last hour of the breakfast time so it is a little quieter for your first character dining. You can find out which characters are at which restaurants for which meals from many sources, including the Disney website. http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/waltdisneyworld/parksandmore/restaurants/restaurantgroupingindex?id=WDWCharacterDiningRestG rping
Best wishes,
Euan
burgessfamily
31-07-2003, 17:18
[:I] Hi we are going over in Nov and my daughter wants to meet Winnie the Pooh.
Can I book this on the net as this is included in the 10 day pass or would I have to ring Disney over the phone to resevre our place.
It will be for Breakfast.
Thank you for any help
Burgessfamily:D
You can phone and book character dining. For the princess ones this should be done as soon as you can. For most of the others you can book them at guest relations on your first park visit:)
sammibabe
31-07-2003, 18:40
Our youngest was 17 months old last time and she was not happy being close to the characters. As we have two older children we had a character breakfast as we did not want them to miss out. We sat Polly on the inside ie. as far away as she could be from the characters. She was ok with Mickey but when Minnie joined him she freaked a bit - she cheered up a bit when Mickey pretended to cry! On a different note my eldest has to have a gluten free diet and the food for her at the breakfast and also Cinderellas castle was excellent. One thing with Disney is that nothing seems to be too much trouble (in our experience)
Gillian-B
31-07-2003, 22:18
We've had the character breakfast before - it was brill and I had my photo taken with Pluto (who says you need to be a kid to enjoy it) :)
Gillian
Nostromo
01-08-2003, 00:56
We plan to go to the Character Breakfast hosted by Goofy at the Cape May Cafe of the Beach Club Resort. This coincides with our visit to Epcot World Shocase. If one arrives by 9am or so, one can quietly NOT display the 3-hour parking sticker given by the security guys and further on ask for VALET PARKING at $7 all day. Then 'one' and his family can have their breakfast and leisurely trot across to the nearby INTERNATIONAL GATEWAY entrance to Epcot in time for the 11am opening of World Showcase without the hassle of the long walk from the main Epcot car park and through Future World to get to the destination.
We have eaten at the crystal palace for evening meal and it was fantastic. Food was great and so was the character interaction. O'hanas at the Polynesian was OK - Mickey, Goofy, Chip and Dale - but the food was average.
My sons were very good with Elmo and the gang at Sesame Place. I guess I can't decide if it is better to eat with them in the park or at one of the resorts.
Stacy
We had Breakfast at the contempory resort's chef Mickey, it was excellent, children are 5 & 3, food was quite good. Reccomend you get a later sitting,ours was 11:15. As it was nearing the end all the characters came out and stood around playing with the children. Ours had nearly 10 minutes on their own with them. We saw Mickey, Minne, Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale. Kids want to go again, so does the wife, OK and Dad too. Have fun
Lesley S
04-08-2003, 18:16
We always have a meal at the Crystal palace in Magic Kingdom. Have found the food there to be excellent everytime we go and good value for money.
We booked over the phone, from the UK as it was a holiday still in Florida, these are usually done 30 days in advance or major dates like New Year and Christmas you can book these 90 days in advance.
Other times we have just gone straight to the reservation desk when we get in and booked for tea time (after 4p.m.) we have always been lucky and managed to get in. We are always at the park earlier enough, to do this.