6 Dining Days 5 Character Meals?

DisneyFansInNYC · Sep 23, 2016

Indee96 said:
This is our first Disney World Trip and first family vacation. I'm trying to squeeze in as much as possible without being too overwhelming for all of us. We are doing a 7 night Western Caribbean Cruise before we arrive at Disney. We're staying at AoA. It will be myself, my husband and our two daughters ages 9 & 6. Is 6 character meals in 6 days too many? If I was to take some off what would you suggest and what would you add in it's place? TIA

Check in at AOA - Dinner at 1900 Park Fare

Hollywood Studios - Breakfast at Hollywood & Vine

Magic Kingdom - Breakfast at Crystal Palace

Epcot - Dinner at either Akerhus or Garden Grill

Animal Kingdom - Breakfast at Tusker House

Magic Kingdom - Breakfast at Chef Mickey's

Our kids are older but we just did a trip with 3 character meals within a week and by the last one we realized it was enough. We were contemplating doing another one but glad that we left it at 3. We love them but after a while it was a lot of up and down to take pictures - we too were a large group (10 of us) so it took a lot to get up and take a picture. I would keep the ones that are different.

We love 1900 PF - funny characters - we love the evil step sisters.
We also love meeting the Pooh characters - didn't love the dinner food at CP but enjoyed the characters.
We really love Akershus and Garden Grill for food and characters. If this is your only princess meal then I would take Akershus.

We just had dinner at H&V and it was good - I was expecting it to be worse from reading reviews. We also just ate breakfast at Chef Mickeys and enjoyed that too. I would pick just one of those though. Unless you are driving - I would probably cancel Chef Mickeys - it is harder to get too from AOA.

We also enjoy Tusker House - love the food.
Enjoy wherever you go!

DISNEY1975 · Sep 23, 2016

msb578 said:
Definitely agree with your philosophy

There are some exceptions for me... I can't find a buffet anywhere that I love as much as Boma. Sometimes I think I'd be ok making a day trip (from Syracuse, NY) just to go there.

Oh YES! I tried Bomas for the very first time last trip! I always stayed away because Im not a huge fan of the Tusker House breakfast (food..I love the characters) and thought it would be ver similar. Boy was I wrong! DELICIOUS! Everything you could want and Simba waffles

Yummm. Yes, this is the only breakfast I will do without characters and Sooooo worth it! If you are driving from NY for breakfast, pick me up in MA on the way!!! Yum Yum Yum. !!!!

Chrelaine · Sep 24, 2016

Indee96 said:
We do have the Disney Dining Plan. And I think with the following meals my kids will be happy meeting these characters. Does this look better? I have a few weeks before I'm able to book reservations but I'm trying to get so much done now to take a little of the stress off. Do you plan your quick serve meals too? Or should we just stop and eat when we're hungry?

Check in at AOA - Dinner at 1900 Park Fare

Hollywood Studios - Dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe

Magic Kingdom - Dinner at Crystal Palace

Epcot - Dinner at Garden Grill

Animal Kingdom - Breakfast at Tusker House

Magic Kingdom - Dinner at Be Our Guest

I think this plan looks great! It looks a lot like what we would do with DD5. She would choose Akershus over Garden Grill for the princesses because 5 year olds don't care if the food is good!
I do plan quick service but only after I choose Fast Passes. Then I look at where we will be within the park so we have some idea of where to eat. Nothing is written in stone, and we're good with changing things on the fly but it helps us to have ideas in mind. Don't forget that BOG at lunch is a QS but you have to pre-plan an ADR for it.

Indee96 · Sep 24, 2016

OK. So if we do BOG at lunch it is a quick serve not table serve for the same experience? We just need to make a reservation for it like we would a table service?

And another question. If we are staying for 6 nights and have 5 park passes we still get 6 ts, 6 qs and 12 snacks each right? So if we go to 1900 Park Fare our first night it will use a table serve credit but we don't need a park pass to get in because it's on a resort?

I have so much to learn! lol So thankful for everyone's help!

MagicSoup · Sep 24, 2016

Indee96 said:
OK. So if we do BOG at lunch it is a quick serve not table serve for the same experience? We just need to make a reservation for it like we would a table service?

And another question. If we are staying for 6 nights and have 5 park passes we still get 6 ts, 6 qs and 12 snacks each right? So if we go to 1900 Park Fare our first night it will use a table serve credit but we don't need a park pass to get in because it's on a resort?

I have so much to learn! lol So thankful for everyone's help!

BOG Lunch is Quick Serve and Dinner is Table Serve. I haven't eaten there yet, but from my understand it is not the same experience. Prices and menu items are different. Dinner also has a meet and greet with Beast; he is not at any other meal there.

I haven't used dining plan, but if I recall correctly it is based on the length of your stay not the number of park days. You are correct that you don't need a park pass for 1900 Park Fare since it is at a resort, not in the park.

Lisa F · Sep 24, 2016

I have 5 in 7 days planned for my 8 year old. he loves character meals and hates waiting in line for characters. your kids are prime character age too so I say do it.

Nancyg56 · Sep 24, 2016

Indee96 said:
We do have the Disney Dining Plan. And I think with the following meals my kids will be happy meeting these characters. Does this look better? I have a few weeks before I'm able to book reservations but I'm trying to get so much done now to take a little of the stress off. Do you plan your quick serve meals too? Or should we just stop and eat when we're hungry?

Check in at AOA - Dinner at 1900 Park Fare

Hollywood Studios - Dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe

Magic Kingdom - Dinner at Crystal Palace

Epcot - Dinner at Garden Grill

Animal Kingdom - Breakfast at Tusker House

Magic Kingdom - Dinner at Be Our Guest

This looks good to me!

Disney_traveler · Sep 24, 2016

OP would you mind sharing what date you are looking at for 1900 Park Fare? They have a holiday brunch thing I recently booked.

Edit: found dates

November 20-26; 12:45-2:10pm
December 18, 2016-January 1, 2017; 12:45-2:10pm

scurvyfreedman · Sep 24, 2016

We were there for 5 days last trip with daughters who there only 6 and 3, so younger than yours. But, the character meals really did help us get the autographs they were looking for. We did Cinderella's Royal Table BF, Crystal Palace BF, Lunch Hollywood and Vine, and Lunch at Tusker House.

We only had unanimous food enjoyment at Crystal Palace. The kids didn't like Tusker, but it took care of 4 of the 6 Mouse/Duck/Dog characters. I think only Pluto and Minnie aren't there. We caught them elsewhere. We covered more than half of the Princesses at CRT. Crystal Palace was great for Pooh and Friends, and the Disney Jr. characters at Hollywood and Vine were great. It made getting autographs and pics with the characters so much easier. Lunch at Hollywood and Vine was odd. Despite everyone having ADR, they were seating people about 30-40 minutes late. The crowd waiting outside was not a happy bunch. It was really hot, despite being November. Over 85 that day.

For our trip next month we're only doing one character meal - Askerhus. And, while not a true character meal, we're doing BoG at dinner to meet the Beast. We missed him last time and my 3 year old was on me for about six months, "we didn't meat the Beast" anytime someone asked her if she liked going to Disney World. Now the girls are almost 9 and almost 6, so a little younger than yours. If I had more ambition I would have booked Crystal Palace for breakfast again, but we're just eating in the hotel room for breakfast each day.

One thing I'd recommend is to make sure your meals are with different characters. I wouldn't do Chef Mickeys and Tusker House, or CRT and Askerhus. Try to cover different characters. That way you ONLY need to get Mulan, Tiana, Merida, Rapunzel, Pocahontas, maybe Belle, Ariel with a tail (yes, my girls wanted to meet both), Minnie or Daisy, Pluto, and whatever personal favorites the girls have - example - we need to Joy and Sadness and Baloo and King Louie from Jungle Book this time.

tee11 · Sep 24, 2016

What?! You cannot scratch Akershus! Akershus was the best part of our whole trip for our 5 year old!!! Like unforgettable!

Are you on the dining plan?
Then I would switch many of these to dinners!
I think two Mickey and Co. Are enough - and I would consider a unique dining experience without characters for at least one meal, or two. With unique I mean that it's either a favorite cuisine, or a special setting/atmosphere/venue.
We loved dinner at AKL and walking out to see the animals after dinner! Epcot also has many restaurants with a unique setting!!

ChasingLeslie · Sep 25, 2016

Indee96 said:
OK. So if we do BOG at lunch it is a quick serve not table serve for the same experience? We just need to make a reservation for it like we would a table service?

And another question. If we are staying for 6 nights and have 5 park passes we still get 6 ts, 6 qs and 12 snacks each right? So if we go to 1900 Park Fare our first night it will use a table serve credit but we don't need a park pass to get in because it's on a resort?

Yes, BOG at lunch is QS and you do need a reservation.

DDP is based on how many nights you stay...so yes, 6 TS and 6 QS meals per person. Snack are 1pp/pn currently, but will be changing to 2pp/pn. You can begin using your credits right away, and no you don't need park tickets for 1900 PF as it's inside the GF resort.

arcticdisneylovers · Sep 25, 2016

We prefer to start everyday with a character ADR prior to park opening so we are read roll when the park (preferably a few minutes before). We want to see all the character without standing in line! So it's always been worth it for us.

crazylady · Sep 25, 2016

Indee96 said:
We do have the Disney Dining Plan. And I think with the following meals my kids will be happy meeting these characters. Does this look better? I have a few weeks before I'm able to book reservations but I'm trying to get so much done now to take a little of the stress off. Do you plan your quick serve meals too? Or should we just stop and eat when we're hungry?

Check in at AOA - Dinner at 1900 Park Fare

Hollywood Studios - Dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe

Magic Kingdom - Dinner at Crystal Palace

Epcot - Dinner at Garden Grill

Animal Kingdom - Breakfast at Tusker House

Magic Kingdom - Dinner at Be Our Guest

I like this plan much better than your first. I don't think I would do 50s Prime Time though. The food was a little too homestyle for my kids. Do you plan to be in the park all day? Of not, there a tons of options outside of the parks to choose from.

imthemamahere · Sep 25, 2016

If you're happy with that plan, stick with it. Enjoy your breakfasts and your characters and everything.

As for quick serve meals, we like to have a sense of what might be nearby based on where we'll be (with FastPasses and such) at any given time. So once we hit the World Showcase at EPCOT, we won't double-back to have a quick service lunch at Sunshine Seasons in the Land pavilion, we'll grab a bite at the Mexican pavilion or the Japanese one, based on where we're at when we get hungry. But if we have an 11:30am FastPass for Soarin', we'll likely count on lunch after right there. So basically... we have a sense of our options, and take the one that's appropriate based on our hunger and location... Not so much a plan, nothing set in stone, but a general sense of what might make sense... (Does that make sense?)

WDWRook · Sep 26, 2016

I agree with others about 50's primetime. We were just there - the atmosphere was awesome and my kids enjoyed it. The food was meh. The fried chicken was really good. My kids didn't care for the chicken pot pie and hubs said the meatloaf and roast beef were not very good and just ok, respectively. Although, our server was a ton of fun! We really enjoyed the Sci fi diner -really liked the burgers and milkshakes with a fun atmosphere. Also maybe consider the Hollywood & Vine dinner buffet/fantasmic package. It's a fabulous value if on the dining plan plus you get preferred seating to fantasmic without waiting in long lines. Also has Minnie and Mickey/friends in fun costumes depending on the time of year. We did have a significant wait for a table there -30min plus so be sure to add some wait time into your plans if you choose this one. We did Minnie since we felt our kids had outgrown the Disney Jr characters.

For QS, we just plan on eating near where we are. We looked at menus online so we had an idea of what was served. Nothing set except the timing of when we would eat. For instance if we had an early dinner adr say 5pm, then we ate lunch early around 11am. This also helped with crowds and made it easier to find a table. We also chose QS by location. At MK we spent one day in Adventureland/Fronteirland so we ate in that area not somewhere in Tomorrowland. Your feet will thank you. Also for QS, we shared a lot of meals and traded in our dessert for snack or side. (You can do the same thing with your included drink at the resorts and having the refillable mug).

Lots of great places and it's hard to choose. You will have a great time!!

Faldred · Sep 26, 2016

Indee96 said:
And another question. If we are staying for 6 nights and have 5 park passes we still get 6 ts, 6 qs and 12 snacks each right? So if we go to 1900 Park Fare our first night it will use a table serve credit but we don't need a park pass to get in because it's on a resort?

It is based on resort nights, so you will have 6x the daily entitlements, valid from check-in until midnight following your check-out morning.

You don't need park passes for any of the resort or Disney Springs locations.

--

As for the CS question, it's ok to "plan" it out a bit, but the biggest benefit of CS is its flexibility. You can literally change your mind at the last second if your mood changes, or you find yourself on the other side of the park, etc.

BaseballMoM2007 · Sep 26, 2016

We did 5 character meals one trip and it was to many buffets for us. We loved the character interaction though. Our son won't wait in a line to meet a character so we do love Character meals for that. I would chose Ohana Breakfast over Chef Mickeys and maybe move some of your meals to dinners or lunches like one at Epcot and Hollywood and vine as Characters are at all meals there. My family aren't huge breakfast eaters but your family is probably totally different otherwise you wouldn't have chose that many breakfasts.

mi*vida*loca · Sep 26, 2016

DISNEY1975 said:
I think its too little You can only dine with Disney characters at Disney! All other meals, you can find something comparable at home. I always take advantage and book a character meal for every breakfast. Cuts down on wiating time at the meet and greets in the parks. I also throw in Cinderellas Royal Table and possibly another character dinner if I can. You cant replace a great memory with a great steak. Your kids will remember this forever. They wont remember the chicken tenders.

I agree with this, when the kids are young. Our first onsite, Disney dining plan trip we did 6 or so character meals for our 7 night trip. It was well worth it. The kids loved it, we avoided character lines and the food wasn't so bad.

Now that the kids are older DS requests Chef Mickey and DD requests CRT. Those were the only two we did last trip and we were there for 10 nights but I was also paying OOP. With 3 adults and 1 kid a character buffet gets very pricey. If we go back as a family of 4 and we get "free" dining I would definitely do 1-2 more character meals.

EatdrinkDisney · Sep 26, 2016

Indee96 said:
Thank you so much for the suggestions! So far I'm making the following changes based on your recommendations. What TS would you put in their place? We are getting park hopper if that makes a difference.

Check in at AOA - Dinner at 1900 Park Fare

Hollywood Studios - ??

Magic Kingdom - Breakfast OR Lunch at Crystal Palace

Epcot - Dinner at Garden Grill

Animal Kingdom - Breakfast at Tusker House

Magic Kingdom - ??

For Hollywood i you have little ones then Hollywood and vine For breaksfast or lunch with Disney Junior. If disney Jr is not your Jam then Hollywood and Vine dinner with Minnie and friends. They dress for each season.

LSLS · Sep 26, 2016

Indee96 said:
We do have the Disney Dining Plan. And I think with the following meals my kids will be happy meeting these characters. Does this look better? I have a few weeks before I'm able to book reservations but I'm trying to get so much done now to take a little of the stress off. Do you plan your quick serve meals too? Or should we just stop and eat when we're hungry?

Check in at AOA - Dinner at 1900 Park Fare

Hollywood Studios - Dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe

Magic Kingdom - Dinner at Crystal Palace

Epcot - Dinner at Garden Grill

Animal Kingdom - Breakfast at Tusker House

Magic Kingdom - Dinner at Be Our Guest

Looking good. Don't worry, we do tons of them on our trips cause our daughter loves them. I think I would consider Akershus if your kids are big into the Princesses.

As for your Be our Guest question, they are quite a bit different. No Beast, and it is quick service (so not a sit down, waiter brings you drinks then your food). That said, it's not your typical quick service. They bring your food to you (and there are drink stations for you to get your own drink). The food at lunch is great (we were just there last week), and different from most other places. The other big benefit is you choose your own seat at lunch, so if you want to sit in the ballroom, you do. If you would rather be in the wing (west wing? Wherever the rose is), just go pick a table there. If you want to save a table service (maybe you want to try a non-character one like the Wave or heck, maybe even do like a Cape May Cafe), I would go for the lunch (that all said, dinner is supposed to be great there too so don't worry too much).

As for planning quick service, really the only one you would need to do that for is Be Our Guest (which you will want reservations for). Other than that stop when you want. I would look at menus and reviews and plan a bit (for example, Columbia Harbor House gets Rave reviews from most including me, so maybe plan on doing rides in Adventureland around lunch time at Magic Kingdom so that when you get hungry, you are close by). But we have definitely walked across the park to get to the quick service we wanted to eat at when we got ourselves stuck around places we didn't like (including leaving Hollywood Studios to head to the Boardwalk Bakery because it is great).

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