Character meals for wee ones

[bratray]

Hello; going back to disney in Jan 03. Trying to keep within the budget for food. Throwing budget aside, I would like to know what character meals are highly reccomended for little ones (son will almost be 4)

Thank you

Lisa

 

[SilverL]

The one with pooh!

It's great fun for the little kids!

 

[mommystieg]

We did both Chef Mickey's and the Crystal Palace in June-our youngest dd was 2. She loved them both!! The Crystal Palace had Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore and Chef Mickey's had Chip, Dale, Goofy and Mickey. I know the Crystal Palace is being refurbished right now and I am not sure when that will be finished. I believe the Pooh character meal has been moved to Tony's during the rehab.

 

[cinmell]

The food at 1900 Park Fare is good and the characters are Pooh, piglet, eeyore, and tigger. Chef Mickey's is good too with Mickey, Minne, Pluto, Chip, Dale and Goofy.

 

[chucknrita]

The character interaction at Hollywood and Vine lunch and Garden Grill lunch were great!

 

[crisi]

My preference is for one served family style. I don't need the hassle of a buffet when I already have the hassle of a little one.

Does he like Mickey, or is he more of a Pooh guy? My four year old boy is far past the Pooh stage.

(We like the Poly, but I think its up to you. Pick characters, location, food style, and food quality. We just like visiting the Poly at least once per trip - its one of the prettiest hotels and its right on the way to the MK - in addition to being served in my preferred family style. )

 

[dcedwards]

My DS will be 4 this trip. He has been about every 10 months since he was 13 months old. We always do buffets and have not yet done a family style meal so my information will only be good for buffet type character meals but here goes:

1) Park Fare 1900 - dinner - As adults we really like the selection here. It has always been great. There is a good kids buffet here and even my picky eater found things he liked. The character interaction has always been excellent here. Characters are the Pooh theme. And, while they aren't my sons favorite characters he still loves to see them...there is just something about seeing them at WDW vs. on TV, etc. Magical ... I guess ... and the adults like them, too.
2) H & V - Lunch - we like the food at this buffet. Is more traditional than Park Fare and my parents really like it. My DS likes the characters - goofy, minnie, pluto, chip and dale. They come around to the tables and really "ham" it up with the kids. They also do a little dance thing in the middle of the restaurant and often have kids participate. This would be a good one at 4 yrs old.

I've read good things about the Princess Breakfast and it is served family style. And, I believe Tony's (moved from Crystal Palace) is also served family style for breakfast. We haven't tried the meal at the Land in Epcot. I hear it is Farmer Mickey and friends. Have heard some nice comments about it also.

Chef Mickey's is not our favorite but many love it. But, again, it is a buffet. The only other one I can think of is Ohana's in the Polynesian. I believe it is served family style. I have read some good things about it, too. Plus, they have activities for the kids during the meals, I believe. Hope this helps.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Our favorite is breakfastsarus with Donald Duck at AK. It is theonly place to see Donald and we have always gotten a great meal there.


jordan's mom

 

[bratray]

thanks for all the replies- if hollywood and vine has Goofy than that will be the spot for DS!!

 

[chucknrita]

Hollywood and Vine has "Gangster Goofy" and Minnie, Chip and Dale all dressed in 50s style. They all came to our table at least four, some even five times each within a 45-minute period...it seemd like we always had a character at our table!

 

[Scottish_Maleficent]

My two DS's are 3 and 4, and on our last trip we did Holloywood and Vine - the kids absolutely loved it - the characters were great - and they were playing hide and seek with Minnie and the entrance, and she was hiding them with her skirt and Goofy was looking for them. It was simply magical.

Previous we have done Garden grill, which is served Family Style and the food was really nice. It was much more calm and quiet than hollywood and Vine, but it was very relaxing, not having to get up for your food, our waiter just kept taking away the empty skillets and brigning back full ones!!!!!

Haven't been to Chef Mickeys, but we will definitely try next trip

 

[travelitis]

We really prefer family style service over buffets with little ones. Our kids will be 11, 8 and 4 this trip, but we've taken them on other trips to WDW. Our top pick is Garden Grill, but other family style meals we're doing this time include CRT, Tony's, and LTT. We're doing 1 buffet, the Storybook Princesses and considering trying Chef Mickey's. We've done Crystal Palace, and while we enjoyed it, it's so much more relaxing to be served than to have to get up for everything you want. A character lunch served family-style can be a relaxing event that makes a refreshing break. We feel it's worth every penny.

 

[NotUrsula]

There is no waste of money in the World as great as a character meal if your child is petrified of characters!

We did a character meal one time when we wanted a sit-down dinner in MK before an E-nite and that was our only choice. We knew DS didn't like characters, but we thought we could let the handlers know they should stay away from the table. It was easily one of the worst meals of our lives. DS hid under the table the entire time and would not eat a single bite of the meal that we had to pay $10 for. (This was a family-style meal.) The message didn't get through to all the handlers for a while, so we spent the first 30 minutes trying to shoo the characters away so that DS would not start screaming when he saw their feet.

DS is 5 and a 6-time WDW veteran. He won't go within 10 yards of any character, and no amount of coaxing is going to change his mind about that.

 

[bratray]

hello, the last time we were in disney
/97 (way too long) we did the garden grill- i loved it and still have the hats- i want to try something different this time- but i must agree a sit down dinner is soooo much better then getting up and down- as we all know, most of the time its "mom" getting the extra drinks, replacing dropped spoons, running back to the buffet to fill up kids plates...

Lisa

 

[travelitis]

They don't do the hats anymore, but in 2000 the kids got souvenir cups we still have.

 

[crisi]

NotUrsula is quite right.

Schedule your character meal for a few days into your trip. Then make sure your kid gets to see the characters - from a distance, then up close and personal. And don't assume that because they loved Tigger last year, that Tigger will not be the scariest thing they've ever seen this year.

Our daughter loved the characters - our son was happiest when they were several feet away (he didn't do the screaming and crying thing - it was more a "that's your space, this is mine" sort of arrangment). If it had just been him, I wouldn't have bothered.

(Seven days into the trip, on the morning we left, he reached out and touched Pluto's nose.)