Do I NEED a character meal ???

[KSB818]

Hi all !
So I'm heading to DW in the fall, and it's my daughter's first trip !!! Now, we had planned on having a character meal - at Askushurs (probably not spelling that right) for breakfast - 11am. I did this without looking at the menu, and I'm alittle disappointed with what they offer. I know the experience will be great but, I also made a reservation that day for coral reef. Which I heard was great - right?
We have fast passes for the princess hall after he Bippity makeover, followed by lunch at Be Our Guest and Enchanted Tales later the same day. I think that will be enough planned character interaction, right ?? We also are going the Halloween Party which I think will let her meet more characters as well.
But is the character meal essential or can I go with coral reef/another restaurant for lunch ?
Thanks for reading my rambling, and for any advice !!

 

[10CJ]

I am confused as to what is happening on which day.

How many days are you talking about here? How many days is your trip?

I have heard mixed things about Coral Reef and have not been myself. We did Akershus a few years ago and enjoyed the breakfast.

That being said I don’t think you need a character meal.

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

Unless something changed since 2010 I would skip Coral Reef, we were very disappointed with the food and the service.
Had lunch at Akershus in 2014 and enjoyed it.
Since you are going to the party I think you can meet characters there so don’t think you need another meal with them

 

[Nancyg56]

I like breakfast at Akershus. It was one of our favorite meals when we took our two girls. The food was good, the service excellent. The Princess interaction was wonderful. Personally, I think there is something quite special about dining in a Castle, and dining with Royalty is even better. You wil have character interaction at the Party, however if you have your breakfast at Akershus you can cross a slew of Princesses off the list.

Coral Reef is hit or miss iMO. I have it booked, however I know it may be amazing or mediocre, but it was on the request list. My family has has several experiences there and they have all been different.

 

[Jasten]

Hi all !
So I'm heading to DW in the fall, and it's my daughter's first trip !!! Now, we had planned on having a character meal - at Askushurs (probably not spelling that right) for breakfast - 11am. I did this without looking at the menu, and I'm alittle disappointed with what they offer. I know the experience will be great but, I also made a reservation that day for coral reef. Which I heard was great - right?
We have fast passes for the princess hall after he Bippity makeover, followed by lunch at Be Our Guest and Enchanted Tales later the same day. I think that will be enough planned character interaction, right ?? We also are going the Halloween Party which I think will let her meet more characters as well.
But is the character meal essential or can I go with coral reef/another restaurant for lunch ?
Thanks for reading my rambling, and for any advice !!

We need a bit more info to help you. Like how old is your daughter? If i read that correctly you have a lot booked for a single day, which could eat up too much of your park time.
We took our daughter on her first trip last year. She was just under three so she ate free at all of the meals. My advice with a young one is to not panic if they become super shy during these. We ended up with some fantastic pics and dd remembers and talks about meeting princesses. They are absolutely worth doing if she is into princesses.

 

[HopperFan]

Character Meals are not necessary at all and it sounds like she'll meet plenty of characters. If it's her first trip she won't even know what she is missing. I would put my money elsewhere.

Coral Reef ........... it's off our list, and I've never heard anyone say it's great. Unless you get seated at the tank I would say the view is not worth it (done both), the wait is usually long to be seated and most reviews come in for average. The draw is the fish tank wall. Our last trip was so bad on all levels that we won't go back, too many other places.

 

[sanapp]

We always enjoyed Akershus for breakfast and has wonderful princess interaction. Depending on your daughters age I would assume it would be more memorable than Coral Reef for her. Nothing is necessary though. Since it is her first trip she won’t miss it and will have a wonderful time with the other meets.

 

[KSB818]

We always enjoyed Akershus for breakfast and has wonderful princess interaction. Depending on your daughters age I would assume it would be more memorable than Coral Reef for her. Nothing is necessary though. Since it is her first trip she won’t miss it and will have a wonderful time with the other meets.

Thanks so much !! I was on the fence about Coral Reef, but felt the same way about Akershus- my daughter and two other people in my party do not eat eggs, and my daughter is picky about potatoes(but is an adventurous eater otherwise) so I was worried about the breakfast selection and if it was worth it moneywise to go if she's only going to eat the salami.
I was able to get reservations for breakfast at Tusker House too, so if we decide to cancel Akershus, we will have another character meal

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

I really enjoyed Akershus for lunch, but I also love Tusker House. They’re two very different experiences, though. Maybe just do those two and you get the best of both worlds - Mickey & crew plus princesses.

 

[WaltDavisWorld]

On our first trip when our kids were very young we didn’t do any character meals and still managed to meet plenty characters and had a great trip. However after doing them on our next trip we have to do a couple each trip, we just really enjoy them! Coral Reef was a bad experience for us service and food wise. We would not return and I wouldn’t recommend it. We haven’t done Akershus but have a breakfast scheduled for our next trip. We have done CRT and the princesses are fun, so looking forward to trying Akershus. While there are characters at the party, unless you want to spend your whole night in line I wouldn’t count on meeting any more than a couple of your top picks to meet. No you don’t need a character meal but they’re fun!

 

[Ijohnson1987]

I’ve wondered the same thing. Good info.

 

[Pumbaa_]

My favorite character meal at Epcot is garden grill. It is a unique venue w the slowly rotating restaurant and the character interaction has been my absolute favorite

No princesses, but Pluto is a hoot

 

[iheartglaciers]

I don’t think a character meal is a necessity. The interaction is nice, in a more relaxed environment, but the photos are usually better in the meet and greets (just because usually you get the restaurant in the background of the character meal pictures).

Since it’s her first trip, she won’t know what she’s missing and I think there are plenty of character opportunities in the park.

One thing to know about the Halloween party is he character lines are usually very long, particularly for certain characters so I may not count on those. But plenty of characters to meet during regular park hours!

 

[Mikamarii]

I was able to get reservations for breakfast at Tusker House too, so if we decide to cancel Akershus, we will have another character meal

We did Tusker house on our last trip for breakfast and It made our ‘must do next time list”. We really enjoyed it.

Someone else mentioned garden grill. That is also our favourite Epcot restaurant. We’ve never felt rushed there and seems to feel much less hectic than other character meals. Food is awesome as well.

We did Akershus on our honeymoon abt 8 years ago. I don’t really remember if it was good or not but we haven’t booked it since which tells me for us it wasn’t that memorable. If it was bad I would remember though!