Am I making a mistake not doing any character meals?

[Sadie Girl]

Partly because of cost and partly because I think my older dd (10) wouldn't be as interested I've decided not do one of the many character meals. Anyone think this is a big mistake? Will we still see the characters around the parks? Talking with someone this weekend who went to DL in March said they hardly saw any except at the meal. Is this true???

 

[iceskatejen]

I see characters every time I go (which is very frequently). Princesses can be found by the castle. Lots of them are also around the Town Square area.

 

[TheZue]

I would just ask your daughter how important the characters are for her. If one of her goals is to get a full autograph album you will probably want to do a character meal. If she doesn't care it isn't necessary. Last time we went we did two character meals but we saw Winnie, Eyeore, Tigger, Micky, Goofy, Chip or Dale, Minnie, and the incredibles outside the meals over the course of a week.

 

[merlinsgang]

Just got back from takingmy two boys (7 & 9), We also chose not to do any character meals, mostly due to cost. We saw several characters in both parks throughout the day. The 7 yr old went up to say hi, hug, etc. The only time the 9 yr old showed any real interest was when Jack Sparrow walked by and we had to chase him through the park to get a pciture as he was on the way to another spot.

 

[Captjackson]

We saw quite a few characters back in February. I think every trip I've had to DL over the past 40 years, I seen alot of characters in the park. It seems they do congregate in certain areas.

Although, most folks here would probably disagree, I don't think it's a mistake to miss a character meal. At least for our kids. They love seeing the characters, but try any interaction and they become very shy (DD and the Princesses are the exception). I know for some people the character meals are the highlight of the trip. Guess you have to gauge your kids. If you think DD5 would love it, then maybe DD10 might have to suffer through it. If you don't think they'll be all that excited, then skip it. Remember, everyone is different. Just enjoy your trip.

 

[Mom2micayla]

I've been to DLR dozens of times and always see tons of characters in the park. A good deal of the time we don't bother with character meals either. They are costly and if you're on a tight budget, IMO it wouldn't hurt at all to skip them.

 

[MagicalMomAZ]

I think it depends on the child. My DD at 4 was scared of the characters, she has never liked to be put on the spot. I would have rather saved our money. Now that she's 8, however, she can't wait to get autographs and I think she'd have more fun....plus being the child who doesn't like to run after a character, they will come right to her table. So I think at 8, it will be money well spent. Plus mom will get some awesome pics for scrapbooking!

 

[CindyH]

I know my kids love certain characters, and having individual attention from them is really nice, so we do at least one character meal. Saves time from standing in line (although we still stand in line for those who don't do character meals, like Buzz).

On the other hand, when my boys get older, like your DD, we'll probably taper off on the character meals.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

For us the big selling point for the character meal was that you could see many characters in a short period of time, all while eating a meal. I mean, you gotta eat anyway, so why not make the most of the time?

You're right, it is expensive. But it sounds like the lines to meet some of the characters are very long, and I just don't know how patient DS2 would be...or DS6, for that matter. I can't think of anything we've taken them to where they had to wait in a really long line. They whine at the 5-minute line for the bank or post office, for pete's sake!

I'm hoping that spending a little hard-earned cash will reap rewards of meeting lots of characters, getting autographs and photos, some fun and food while we're at it, and more time spent seeing the rest of the park. Besides, it's our FIRST TRIP, so this is something we're willing to splurge a bit on.

When DS6 is older, he probably won't be so interested in meeting characters, so I'm sure we'll skip that, or maybe only do one. (Though I have read hilarious trip reports about the characters engaging bored teenagers and actually getting them to laugh and have fun!)

I say ask your daughter. If she says, "No way!" then skip it. If she wanted to do it and you don't mind shelling out the $, then go for it!

 

[dizzyami]

We have always been able to find all of the characters. We usually do one character breakfast a trip, and always on the day we are leaving, because we don't want to waste any peak park time eating breakfast. They are very costly - and if there are certain characters you want to meet you can easily find out where they hang out probably by either asking on this board, or asking a CM in the park.

 

[stagemomx3]

I don't think you are making a mistake. You will see plenty of characters in the parks! Plus our experience was that the characters at the meals focused much more on the younger preschool set, than on our grade schoolers.

 

[littlelambie]

Where did you see Jack Sparrow???? Dh and ds would LOVE that!!!!

 

[mystic_path]

Well if you think you kids wouldnt be interested and since it is costly, I think its a good idea if you skip it. It saves you money you can put towards something else that is fun for your trip.

And yeah there are characters around the park, so you can go and have a meet and greet them then when you run into them.

And that is sooooooo cool about Jack Sparrow. I cant wait to go meet him. Jack Sparrow is HOT!!! MMM MMM WOOOOOOH!! MMMMMMMM HOT! So I cant wait to go have a picture taken with him. Id wait hours to meet him. I just have to remember im in a family park!