Character Meal Questions - Need Help About This Page:

[CinderAbby]

Let me start by saying my DH is too much. Last year when we (or should I say I) planned our Disney trip, my hubby had no input. He offered no opinions when asked nor did he ask any questions - he basically didn't want to know anything. Now that he's been, even though we haven't officially booked yet, he's now FULL of questions, comments and opinions. It's nice, really it is, no more 100% planning by myself. But it's funny like I said.

No back to the topic. We've been discussing character meals, and if anyone saw my previous post asking about restaurants, I had listed us as possibly doing Crystal Palace and the Garden Grill. DH wants to do more character meals, believe it or not. I would like to do more too, but not have repeat characters, which it seems like some of them have unless I'm looking at the wrong places for info.

So we would like any kinds of advice/comments / recommendations from everyone who has done the character meals. We want the most amount of characters without them repeating at the meals and we would prefer a relatively decent lunch or dinner (we don't do breakfast) with it too. We don't want to pay just for character interaction.

Thanks so much.

[snoozin]

If you check allearsnet.com, I believe, they have the list of which characters are where.

My personel recommendations for buffets (darn, you don't do breakfast):
1900 Park Fare
Crystal Palace (Winnie the Pooh Characters)
Chef Mickey's (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale)

[vfair]

Originally Posted by CinderAbby

Let me start by saying my DH is too much. Last year when we (or should I say I) planned our Disney trip, my hubby had no input. He offered no opinions when asked nor did he ask any questions - he basically didn't want to know anything. Now that he's been, even though we haven't officially booked yet, he's now FULL of questions, comments and opinions. It's nice, really it is, no more 100% planning by myself. But it's funny like I said.

No back to the topic. We've been discussing character meals, and if anyone saw my previous post asking about restaurants, I had listed us as possibly doing Crystal Palace and the Garden Grill. DH wants to do more character meals, believe it or not. I would like to do more too, but not have repeat characters, which it seems like some of them have unless I'm looking at the wrong places for info.

So we would like any kinds of advice/comments / recommendations from everyone who has done the character meals. We want the most amount of characters without them repeating at the meals and we would prefer a relatively decent lunch or dinner (we don't do breakfast) with it too. We don't want to pay just for character interaction.

Thanks so much.

We have always gone to Donald's Breakfastasauras. Love it! That being said, it is going away in November. I have heard they are going to have a Donald's Safari Breakfast at Tusker House after the remodel - hoping this will be a good replacement. We have gone to Chef Mickey's for breakfast and dinner - I think we like dinner better than breakfast. Have been to Crystal Palace once - never been too excited to go back. Have gone to 1900 Park Fare for breakfast and dinner - food was good, dh and dd (especially dd) love the Strawberry Soup. The only time we went to Garden Grill was years ago when they did the Ice Cream Social. We've been multiple times to Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner - really enjoy the food and characters. We have only done this during MNSSHP and the characters are in Halloween costumes. Did Akershus for breakfast once right after they started - it was ok but the space was very small for the number of tables. Did Cindy's for breakfast at the castle once - food ok but nice character interaction, wonderful photo of dd with Aladdin.

Ok, I've rambled.

[CinderAbby]

Ok, I've rambled.

Believe me, I do plenty of that myself.

[chezp]

If you're doing those two, then how about one of the meals involving the princesses, as that will give you different characters - we like 1900 Park Fare for dinner or Akerhaus.

[HakunaMatata]

In addition to Crystal Palace, I would recommend 1900 Park Fare and EITHER Liberty Tree Tavern OR Chef Mickey's (these last two have some of the same characters). However, we have only been to Chef Mickey's for breakfast. For dinner, we enjoy LTT.

Have fun planning

[angiek1024]

It is hard for me to pick favorites of the character meals because we like them all! For breakfast my choice would be:
Ohana's with Stitch
For dinner my choice would be:
Garden Grill with Farmer Mickey or Liberty Tree with Goofy

Of course, Crystal Palace is a great choice for any meal with the Pooh gang!

Honestly, we haven't had a bad character meal anywhere but those are my favorites as far as the food goes.

[lukeandbrookesmom]

Originally Posted by angiek1024

It is hard for me to pick favorites of the character meals because we like them all! for breakfast

Same here - we only do breakfast character meals for breakfast and love them all!

[JennyM]

We love 1900 Park Fare for breakfast or dinner and the Ohana breakfast!

[Bman]

You know, we lucked into a character meal at Garden Grill. We just walked up right as they were opening for lunch and it was great. The food was very good and we got pictures with Chip, Dale, Pluto and Mickey. How cool is that? We would have liked the place even without the characters, but they were a big bonus.

-B

[klee]

Garden Grill is my absolute favorite. They especially love when you have one of their stuffed animals with you. I sat the Pal Mickey on the table and Mickey Mouse just loved it. He picked it up and danced around with it. I asked if he would like to hear it and he nodded so I made it do a couple of jokes. Mickey put his hand to his mouth and acted like he was laughing. They are all very attentive. If you can get a seat on the bottom section, you can really get a good view of the scenery as the restaurant revolves.

[bradk]

the allearsnet list is somewhat outdated.

if you're trying to maximize character potential, given who's in the parks readily, your best options are:

- crystal palace (unless you're going to a party, this is the only spot to find piglet)
- best friends (lilo is significantly harder to find in the parks, although she normally appears daily at island mercantile in dak)
- park fare dinner for cinderella (who otherwise only appears at meals and the toontown hall of fame), prince charming, suzy and perla.
- park fare breakfast for mary poppins (and a shot at bert), mad hatter & alice
- princess storybook for lunch, dinner (best chance for ariel with legs and/or cinderella)

[Minniemouse27]

We are doing:

Chef Mickeys (dinner) - Mickey, Chip, Dale, & Goofy
Akershus (breakfast) - Princesses
Crystal Palace (dinner) - Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, & Piglet
1900 Park Fare (dinner) - Cinderella, Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother, Suzy, & Perla
Hollywood & Vine (lunch) - Little Einsteins (June & Leo) and Jojo & Goliath

We've also eaten at Cape May (Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale), but that is only breakfast. We liked it a lot though!

[bradk]

hate to be the one to break it to you, but chip & dale have been out of chef mickey's for the past 6 months or so (unless they've been brought back).. it's stricly fab 5 now

[HollyH]

We really loved Garden Grill....for both the food and the character interaction. Plus the restaurant was just plain neat (revolving thru an attraction ). I think it's a good choice. Crystal Palace for lunch was okay....very noisy and crowded (a big contrast to GG, which was very private and quiet).